I placed a countdown clock on the site to track the number of days until the release of “Grimm” Episode 1. July 31 2008 EST is the official time set by Gametap. Be sure to check the Gametap Grimm Site for updates in the coming weeks.
Category Archives: GameTap
The Beginning of the End
Matthew Razak over at That Video Game Blog revealed in a post today that the new episodic game Penny Arcade Adventures has set a record for being the highest grossing debut of an Xbox Live Arcade game. The article says:
It must be good to be the PA guys. Not only are they basically nerd gods, read by millions, funny and the originators of one of the most popular gaming conventions out there but now they’re also the creators of the highest grossing debut in Xbox LIVE Arcade history with their new episodic game Penny Arcade Adventures. The game has made a massive $330,000 over three days, obliterating Worms HD’s previous hold on the spot by $50,000. Yup, it is pretty good to be Gabe and Tycho.
“Massive” might be overstating it, $330,000 over three days translates to 16,500 downloads – and it remains to be seen how long those initial download rates will hold – but two things are clear: download game content of an episodic nature IS viable and XBLA as a distribution platform for this sort of content IS gaining traction. Is this the beginning of the end for the traditional game development model?
Grimm Musicians
Razak goes on to say:
It’s also good to be XBL Arcade. Not only did this game prove that people are willing to pay a bit more for bigger games, it also marked the arrival of said bigger games with Penny Arcade Adventures being the first game to exceed the 150 MB limit. This is also the first outrageously successful episodic content to be released on XBLA and if the second chapter, which I’m sure is now being pushed forward with even more gusto, is just as successful, hopefully we’ll be seeing more game designers jumping on board with the method.
I think the “hope” that game designers will jump on board is a valid one. But the issue isn’t game designers. Of course they want more platforms and models to push their ideas upon. The obstacle in my opinion is the publishing environment. With the exception of a few specialized (Gametap being one) publishers, the concept of digitally distributed small-to-medium scale game content is still regarded with suspicion – even hostility – by the publishing establishment. This resistance is of interest to me – and I think it should be of interest to game makers and gamers as well.
In many ways digital distribution of game content threatens to destroy the current box product based financier-publisher-distribution model. It renders useless the mechanisms of marketing, packaging, distribution, and perhaps most importantly – financing. Ultimately, it means freedom for content creators and consumers – but a “captured market” is suddenly lost for retailers, publishers, and marketers. This same thing happened to music, almost overnight.
At the same time I recognize the “threat” – that big publishers aren’t fully embracing smaller budget, faster scheduled, inexpensively distributed episodic download game content is a bit of a mystery. There’s always opportunity in change. It seems that the ideal “game producer” (I mean producer in the Hollywood sense) would model itself after a company like Jerry Bruckheimer Films – bridging the gap between commercial, TV, film, and more (btw, I’m not saying they always produce good content, just that their wider format model is something to be envied.)
The market of the future there will always have a place for $100mm Grand Theft Auto 4 type “blockbuster games” – and in fact, it might turn out that publishers ONLY want to make big budget blockbusters, the same way Hollywood would prefer to make a $100mm movie over a $20mm one. The format is big – the gamble is big – and the reward is big. This has been the logical progression over the last decade. But a gap is left – a space filled by commercial/TV/mini-series content in the “linear world” – and one that can (perhaps should?) be filled by casual/episodic/downloadable content in the interactive world.
Like Penny Arcade Adventures, Grimm is an experiment in this new model. It gives me hope that PAA has done so well – it means there’s a mechanism and an audience – supplying good content is what’s remaining to prove the model.
We think Grimm is great content. I hope you will too.
Grimm Outdoors
Flickr friend Static Eddie kindly sent along this photo of a Grimm outdoor billboard. This was spotted in Atlanta, near the Gametap offices. Nice to see Grimm getting some spotlight in the “real world”.
EA CEO: PC Gaming Growing
I’ve written a few times regarding my feelings about the “death of PC” as a gaming platform. It seems that every other interview I do I’m asked to comment on the health and future of PC gaming, and the PC as a gaming platform. Tired question. The math is simple. There are more PCs and more PCs connected to the Internet than combined consoles – so it follows that the PC is a viable entertainment platform.
Today I read on Game Daily that EA’s Chief Executive reminded the press and the industry of the same:
During the Q&A session with analysts and investors on EA’s earnings conference call, Chief Executive John Riccitiello pointed out that the PC games industry is actually doing just fine when you look at the total picture rather than isolating “soft” retail sales.
“I certainly recognize that the box side of PC is soft. It’s been soft for some time. Frankly, if it were not for The Sims and World of Warcraft PC box sales, it’d be a pretty dismal sector,” he acknowledged.
Thankfully for the PC market, retail is just one very small slice of the complete picture. “I would point, out, however, that one of the fastest growing parts of this industry is the subscription and micro-transaction [business] and casual games, much of which is centered on the PC,” Riccitiello continued. “So one of the things we try to look at at EA is the total business… and we’re seeing a growth business there. In fact, it’s been growing for several years. It’s just been categorized wrongly by simply looking at the box side of the equation.”
Yay! “…retail is just one small slice of the complete picture.” Preach on brother! Retail, box-product is in fact a dreadful place for the sort of entertainment products PC’s are best suited towards: Innovative, online, mass-market (dare I say casual?) games.
Not to toot their horn too much, but Gametap gets this. In fact, they are banking on the weakness of the “shelf-space driven box-product” model to drive their profits. Their unique offering is the equivalent of a mile long “shelf”, with minimal “rent”, and a “shop” that never closes. Where a retail PC game MUST sell strong in the first days/weeks, MUST fit into some pre-defined genre-category/slot, and MUST be driven by copious amounts of pre-awareness (translation, marketing $$$) – digital distribution allows the model to be turned upside down. All those “musts” become “eh, whatever”. To some degree, if the product is good, the audience will eventually come – and better yet, new audiences can continue to discover the product years after the equivalent box-product would have been tossed into the “discount bin”.
Grimm is going to be an interesting test of the model. I think we have good content. Gametap has the right distribution mechanism in place. All it takes is for the right audience to discover what’s on offer…
Speaking of, be sure to check out:
Gametap’s Grimm Teaser Site
My Flickr Collection of Grimm Images
More cool stuff will be coming soon!
Teddy Bugs = Hugs
Still cranking away on Grimm production here. The Chinese Government forced everyone to take a 3-day holiday at the end of last week. Actually, just a 1 day holiday on Thursday, then a “fake” day off on Friday – and here the whole country is back at work on Sunday to make up for that. But we did get three straight days of vacation AND beautiful weather to boot. Even better, my flickr posting tool is working again – so here’s a new image for you:
Seriously, what child wouldn’t love a cuddly Teddy Bear that transforms into a prickly Spider Monster?!
I posted a few more new images on flickr.
Burnt Blacksmith
Today I’m working on the script and “scene listing” for a Grimm episode based on “The Boy Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was”. So I thought I’d post a bit of artwork related to that episode. Here you see the light/dark version of a blacksmith worker from the opening scene of the episode. These guys get theirs when the happy metalworks they’re laboring in turns into something straight out of Mordor.
Internally, we refer to this episode as “BoyFear”. Other lengthy tale names also get shortened, “Cinder”, “NoHands”, “FishWife”, and “DevilHairs” being some fine examples.
For each episode we tackle there’s a tremendous amount of documentation generated. Adapted narrative drives episode design documents, VO scripts, cinematic scene scripts, asset lists (NPCs, objects, terrain textures, sky boxes, particles, sound effects, etc), task lists, programming requests, AI updates, schedules, MS Project files, and so forth. We treat each new episode as a virtual stand-alone project, and separate creative, production, and tracking information as such.
Episodic production certainly has its interesting differences from traditional single-box-product development. One of these days, when I find time, I’ll get into some more detail on the differences.