Mission Statement: David Edery Dispells Rumors
David Edery, Worldwide Portfolio Manager for XBLA, has spoken to Develop Magazine about the ups and downs of developing on and for XBLA. There are plenty of choice quotes to pull but I have only pulled five. I'll let those truly interested read the whole two-part article (Part 1, Part 2).
To whet your appetite (or just upset you) I've got some teaser quotes after the break. Read 'em, comment on 'em, comment on something else entirely -- whatever floats your boat.
[via Develop Magazine]
The big quote everyone has jumped on so far is the third one down but there are some other gems scattered throughout the whole interview.
"...developers need to produce an experience that literally sells itself within minutes."
"...XBLA will attract more than its fair share of innovative games. Those games may not be the most consistenly profitable, but over the long-term, they make the difference between growth and stagnation....between happy consumers and bored consumers."
"Rumors of bottlenecks in the XBLA title schedule are precisely that: rumors. Once an XBLA game clears certification, it almost always makes it onto the service right away."
Responding to a comment about the size limit on PSN (1GB + up to 4GB of add-ons) compared to XBLA (150MB) he retorts:
"Anyone who thinks you need 5GB to make a good game hasn't payed with a Nintendo DS recently. And anyone who thinks you can't make a beautiful game in under 150MB hasn't seen RoboBlitz or Undertow -- both XBLA games that clock in around 50MB."
Regarding concern over Nintendo's WiiWare platform stealing attention away from XBLA:
"Ultimately, we aren't seeing any reduction whatsoever in developer interest in XBLA, so we're pretty happy with the current state of things."
And that's kinda the point
And that's kinda the point he was making. Free trials and a captive console audience is a powerful thing but you can't squander it. Make it fun, now, or perish.
Well, it would help if they
Well, it would help if they gave us longer-lasting demos. I realize there are a few exceptions, but most of the time when I download a trial game, I end up feeling I shouldn't have bothered as it took longer to download than to play. If I get less than five minutes of playtime before the "buy now"-screen pops up, I just delete the game. Or if I buy, it's going to be based on reviews, not my own experiences.
Besides, I like complex games. I enjoy casual stuff and arcade stuff as well, but most of my favourite games tend to be a bit on the complex side. It's not always possible to make those super-fun within a few minutes, so I hope Edery isn't trying to discourage developers from making more complex stuff for XBLA.
A trial can limit you to a
A trial can limit you to a few minutes of gameplay while still letting you get into the game. Developers should realize people will load up a trial a few times before deciding to purcfhase or not.
Geon is a a prime example of a game which had a bad trial which many gave up on the second time loading. You were forced to redo the tutorial everytime you started it up. XBLA games are generally of the sort designed to pick up and play then after a bit walk away. No one is going to leave their 360 on just to get deeper in a trial. I have been told Geon has a fair bit of depth, but no one knows that since the trial was so poorly designed.
There have been a few other poorly setup trials, but that is the latest I can think of...actually SPyglass was a bit worse since you couldn't actually try it out in multiplayer which is the whole crux of the game. [Although I may end up buying that soon jsut to play chess]
"...developers need to
"...developers need to produce an experience that literally sells itself within minutes."
Yes, because for some reason most demos on XBLA are horribly limited and will only give you a few minutes to actually play the things.