Bad ship-related puns aside it's real sad news. Chris Peck, co-founder of Outerlight, is the last man standing, and he's spoken very candidly about how big publishing is antithesis to innovation, and how the true home in the future for people-who-like-more-than-just-blowing-shit-up (ie us) is in digital distribution - if you can magic the financing.
Full thing over at GAMESbrief.
I purchased BGT on Tuesday, in the uncharacteristic hope I might contribute something however small, even if only better sales.. Something to encourage him, if nothing else.
ReplyDeleteA pity. His games are good ideas, but depend upon good players to meet their potential. Left 4 Dead depends similarly, but focuses chiefly on a cooperative experience, meaning you can grossly weaken one faction (the AI) without infuriating any players. Difficulty modes.
As a solely competitive game, Bloody Good Time and The Ship, like a good boardgame, depend upon friendly and communicative players to get the best experience out of it.
Avoid the public online gameplay. A vicious, high speed deathmatch, pausing only to dodge security guards between careless kills.
Time and again we see this, and I wonder why these developers think they can work fulltime this way. The costs are astronomical, given the timescale of game development - necessitating selling your soul to the devil for the foreseeable future before being dropped. Good game design is art.. Don't expect to get paid for it.