Jeremy Throckmorton and Steve Taylor of NinjaBee let us fire a few questions at them and came up with some interesting answers, including a great line by Jeremy that will certainly become a standard question in all of our upcoming interviews: “Is a game from ten years ago a threat to a truly new and unique game?”

[XBLArcade.com] Could you please say who you are and what your role in the company is?
[Jeremy] Hi. My name is Jeremy Throckmorton, and I’m one of the NinjaBee designers. For anyone who wants to look me up on Xbox Live, my gamertag is Marmosetofdeath.
[Steve] I’m Steve Taylor (gostay on Xbox Live). I’m a programmer, and part of the team that made Outpost Kaloki X.
[XBLArcade.com] Did Wahoo submit an application to Microsoft to be part of XBLA or did Microsoft come to you?
[Steve] Sort of both. I had known Ross Erickson for a few years, and we started talking to him in general about possibilities for projects we could do with Microsoft. One of the things Ross suggested was XBLA, and after very little discussion it was clear what a fantastic opportunity this would be for Outpost Kaloki. Since Outpost Kaloki was originally designed as a console title, this was an amazing chance to realize the original vision we had for the game, and we jumped on it.
[XBLArcade.com] Will you have a booth at E3? and if so will you be showing off existing or upcoming properties?
[Steve] We won’t have our own booth at E3, but some of the things that we’re working on now (as Wahoo Studios and as NinjaBee) will be showing there, including, we hope, NinjaBee’s next XBLA game.
[XBLArcade.com] What are some of the biggest differences between developing for an XBLA game as opposed to a regular game?
[Jeremy] A Live Arcade game is smaller to a regular Xbox 360 game in just about every conceivable way. I guess it could be argued that size is the only real difference. For us at the NinjaBee hive, that means the budget is smaller, the development schedule is shorter, and the data size of the game has to be kept way down. When compared to other 360 games even the number of Achievements and Gamerpoints we can award is smaller. Fortunately, the one thing that doesn’t change is the focus on fun and gameplay. In some ways the smaller scope makes it easier for us to focus on the gameplay more than we could with a larger game.
[XBLArcade.com] Have you had any communication with any other XBLA developers?
[Steve] A bit - there’s a great online community of Indie PC developers, a few of whom are also XBLA developers, and some of us have met at various conferences. There are also forums and events that are Xbox 360 or XBLA specific where we’ve had the chance to interact with other XBLA developers.
[XBLArcade.com] What is one thing you learned while making OKX that will help the most for the next xbla project you work on?
[Jeremy] We learned so many things working on Outpost Kaloki X that it’s hard to think of any one thing. I guess the biggest thing we learned is how the gameplay experienced can be enhanced by the features of Xbox Live. Sure, that’s not something that we technically learned _while_ working on the project, but seeing the new system up and running has taught us a lot about how the features are used by the community. Educated guesses can only go so far, and it’s really helped us learn where we were headed in the right directions, and where we still need to improve.
[Steve] I agree. Seeing the system and the games in action is very helpful for future development. I feel like a big category of useful information we learned was the process set up by the Microsoft XBLA team - schedules, milestones, tools, QA, etc. Being familiar with this stuff helps a lot with future development, naturally.
[XBLArcade.com] If you had one more month of development time on OKX what feature would you have added?
[Jeremy] If I had an extra month to work on the game, I would have loved to have spent it refining what we had instead of adding new features. We had a pretty solid game, and any changes we made had the potential to be pretty major. That’s what sequels are for. And, of course, there are the bugs that got through to the final version. I would have _loved_ to have found those before we shipped.
[Steve] Besides the small bugs (which I sincerely regret), there was a graphical effect Jeremy was depending on that I just didn’t get into the final game. I feel pretty bad about that. I should buy Jeremy a puppy or something to make up for it. Maybe one of those cute little wiener dogs.
[XBLArcade.com] Compared to expectations, how have the sales been for both Outpost Kaloki X and it’s premium content?
[Steve] Honestly, we don’t have concrete numbers yet for premium content. In practice, there’s a fairly long delay between the sale and us receiving specific statistics. Since premium content for OKX was released over time after the main game, we have to wait longer to find out the details. For the game itself, sales have been better than we expected, but frankly there were so many unknown factors as we planned the project that we were pretty much guessing on sales projections. :)
[XBLArcade.com] Are you supprised that more XBLA developers haven’t released add on packs (either free or premium)?
[Jeremy] I’m surprised that there isn’t more out there, yeah. I think everyone is a little surprised at that. The reception to Kaloki’s content confirmed our suspicion that we aren’t the only ones who think downloadable content rocks. Our plans to support our future tiles go far beyond what we’ve already done.
[XBLArcade.com] Will we be seeing any more content for Outpost Kaloki X?
[Steve] We expect so, but don’t want to promise it yet. OKX is carefully built to support additional downloadable content, but naturally any new content has to be checked carefully to make sure it doesn’t introduce any new problems, and it has to be submitted to Microsoft for approval, so it’s not a trivial thing.
[XBLArcade.com] There have been rumours that while the idea of a sequal to OPX is being batted around, it won’t be the next game released by NinjaBee, care to shed any light on this?
[Steve] Sure! Our next title for XBLA is actually nearing completion now, but hasn’t been officially announced yet. It’s a very different game from Outpost Kaloki, but it has some similar elements like a focus on humor. We’re very proud of it, and we’re excited to see it released. Microsoft contributed a lot to this game, and it has a bigger feature set and more advanced technology than OKX.
[XBLArcade.com] There seems to be a lot of buzz around SiN for the PC and it’s episodal content. Do you see XBLA and it’s downloadable content as a way to imitate this model?
[Jeremy] Episodic content is definitely a possibility. Is it something we will see on Live Arcade? Microsoft has a strong vision for Live Arcade and isn’t treating the service as a simple alternative to traditional retail. My guess is that it will be possible for episodic content to get past Microsoft’s approval process, but only after proving itself something more than a standard game chopped into pieces.
[XBLArcade.com] It’s been noted on several independant game sites that there is a fear of the large developers moving in with there large catalogs of content and squezing out the independants. Any comments on this?
[Jeremy] The real advantage large developers have over the indies in this fight is money and established IP. The small nature of Live Arcade games helps level the playing field a bit. So what if a developer has a $5 million budget? What’s he going to do with it, add hours of cinematics and voiceover to a 30 meg download? What if he has a great game from the past he wants to port Live Arcade? Is a game from ten years ago a threat to a truly new and unique game? What will really determine a game’s success on Live Arcade, particularly in the future, is originality and quality. If an indie developer can stick to what makes being indie great, the freedom to create unique gameplay experiences outside of the mainstream marketing directed quagmire, he should have little to fear. If all he wants to do is remake the games of the past because they are ‘classic’ and nobody is making them any more, he could have reason for concern.
[Steve] Of course, developers still have to meet a minimum level of technology and resources for it to make sense for them to do XBLA development. It will be very difficult for tiny groups or individuals to compete for the limited slots available for XBLA games. At the same time, Microsoft absolutely sees the value in the vision and passion that an independent developer brings to the table. The people we work with at Microsoft are big fans of the Indie scene, and they care about the originality a small enthusiastic group can provide. I’m very sure we’ll continue to see some smaller independent developers releasing XBLA titles along with the big boys.
[XBLArcade.com] Finally any hints to rookie dev teams looking to make a name with XBLA?
[Jeremy] Any great game will come from a solid core. With a live arcade game, you only have room for the core. Define and refine your core qameplay as soon as possible. Keep it simple. Find out what makes your gameplay tick and stick with it. Get as much feedback as you can, as soon as you can. When you’ve done that, make it a priority to get the game finished. Set milestones and stick to them. You will always have more you want to do, more to make the game perfect, but make it a priority to get the game done. It doesn’t do anyone any good if we don’t get to see the result of your hard labor.
[Steve] Also, you should know that it’s far from easy. Even if you’re using somebody else’s technology, there’s a long long road ahead of a team making their first XBLA game. But if you can make it to the end, it’s all worth it. The games on XBLA are going to get better and better, and being a part of this awesome group of titles could be a fantastic experience for any development team, rookie or veteran.
[XBLArcade.com] I just want to add that I know that you are all very busy and we really do appreciate you taking the time to answer these.
It’s our pleasure. Thanks for the opportunity to talk about Live Arcade and Outpost Kaloki.