Editor’s note: Brad Talton is an independent game designer and developer. What kind of games? Video games? Board games? Card games? Well, yes. His company, Level 99 Games, creates all kinds of geekiness. In a series of columns here at SBG, Brad shares insights into the game creation process. In this installment, he talks about finishing everything and moving on. 

Between content creation, level design, gameplay, playtesting, getting people involved, and debugging, there’s a lot that goes into making a video game. Even with all the fancy open source libraries one can use, and all the tools that make creating art, sound, and interface resources easy, it’s still a big undertaking to put together a game. Super Psychic Chibi Fighters started up in June, and it’s now November. The game will probably be in the app store in early December. Six months and about 800 hours of development time later, the final product is ready to see the world. 

Will people like it? I feel really confident that they will. I’ve played it just about every day for these six months, and I can say that it’s still pretty fun to try and beat my high scores on the minigames, or accumulate medals, or even click through the stories and relive all the silly jokes and boss fights. Will people know about it? I really hope so. Even once the game is released, the ongoing task of marketing, advertising, and getting people to talk about the game carry on. There’s always more to do, and of course, the next project is already looming on the horizon.

In the last few days of development, I’m jamming SPCF3 full of secret features, additional content, game polish, and bonuses. There are new cheat codes (one of which I’ll be revealing here on Snackbar once the game is complete!), a few new cameo characters that appear only in the story, and additional gallery content and bonus scenes that bring out the characters’ backstories and world. Ultimately, I want to go the extra mile and deliver more to gamers than they expect when they download the app. Who knows—maybe I’ll get as well known as Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies? Unlikely, but possible in the world of direct App Store marketing.

Super Psychic Chibi Fighters has a lot going for it. From the fun stories to the stylized eye-catching characters, I expect that it will get a lot of attention in the App Store and on websites where I advertise it. Everyone loves Victoria’s art, and reception so far to the personality and humor of the characters has been nothing but positive.

One of the fun, experimental things that I’m trying out in Chibi Fighters is DLC. Some people love it, some people hate it. Personally, I really like it when my favorite fighting games offer new characters as DLC, rather than making me buy the whole game over again to get the eight new fighters (yes, I’m talking about you, Street Fighter 4). So I included two additional characters for SPCF3 that wouldn’t have otherwise appeared in the game. One is a guest character, Cosette Garidion, from my old web series Dark Magical Orchestra. The other is Cecil Kaine, a story character who is not playable, but makes several cameos. I plan to see which one of these two sells better, and if DLC sells at all, really. If Cosette sells, expect more guest characters from webcomics and other indie games. If Cecil sells, expect the world of SPCF to expand as more minor characters from the story make full-fledged appearances. With any luck, the world of Chibi Fighters will continue to expand with more exciting content and levels even after the initial release.

SPCF3 has pushed the limits of my game design ability and programming from the very beginning to the very end. I’ve learned a bunch about programming, about making the game fun, about balancing abilities and skills, and about creating engaging level. The things that I’ve learned in the course of doing this game will hopefully filter into the next thing I go about developing. I’m thinking perhaps a tactical strategy game, something in the same vein as FF Tactics and Disgaea, to offset the frantic action gaming in my two existing titles. Online play would be a fun option to explore in the next gaming endeavor.Of course, whether I’ll be able to do more gaming depends on how well SPCF does. Such is the way of indie development.

Though Chibi Fighters is coming to an end, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to put an end to Indie Dev Diary. I’m working on plenty of card and board games, as well as the RPG Mystic Empyrean, and there will be another video gaming project someday, of course.

Next time, Brad will celebrate the release of his game in style, as well as introduce some of his other projects.

Character art by Victoria Parker for Level 99 Games.

Editor’s note: Brad Talton is an independent game designer and developer. What kind of games? Video games? Board games? Card games? Well, yes. His company, Level 99 Games, creates all kinds of geekiness. In a series of columns here at SBG, Brad shares insights into the game creation process. In this installment, he talks about getting the word out about your project. 

At this point in the development, when the modes are laid out and the graphics are starting to come in, it’s important to get started on spreading the word about the game. I’ve learned the hard way that generating excitement isn’t easy, and it doesn’t happen on its own. Posting “here’s my cool game” on your niche blog just isn’t enough to get people involved. Personally, I’m still learning a lot about how to advertise and make a game popular in the pre-release stage, so this section is a combination of what I’ve learned and what I’m still trying.

The most important lesson that I’ve learned about promoting a game is that you can’t do it all yourself. You only have so much reach, and if you’re a cloistered independent game developer like myself, then there’s even less you can do to reach out to the people around you, but hopefully you have friends, colleagues, and just some random associated parties that you can call on for help. This is the best chance to actually spread the word about a project or idea. Hopefully some of your friends will think it’s cool enough to tell others about, and some of their friends will think that it’s cool enough to repeat, and so forth.

My strategy this time is leveraging more social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter and my own site. I’ve also created a teaser site, which has some downloads and additional information about the game. I drop the address to this site just about everywhere I can. I’m also running contests, giving free copies of the app to a few lucky followers once the game debuts.

Games bank on different things for success. Even if you have the exposure to show off your game to everyone, without a hook of some kind, you’re just wasting time. There needs to be some catch that draws people into your game. With some games, like Chibi Fighters (and my older Internet Defense), part of the allure of the game is quirky humor, and I try to bring this out in the marketing. On the promotional site, I’ve tried to make the character personalities the centerpiece of the site, and show the players how much fun they will have by displaying how much fun the characters themselves are having with the game. 

This kind of character-based interest building is especially good for fighting games, like SPCF3, where the players will tend to pick a favorite character and master that specific one. Letting the players get to know the characters deepens their interest in the game, which helps them to have more fun as well as making them more excited about the game’s eventual release. When I work on my RPG, Mystic Empyrean, in the coming months, I’ll use a different strategy—one that appeals to player creativity and the allure of building a world and a persona from scratch.

Giving people a reason to get interested in your game is just another piece of the puzzle. Once they are interested, they need a means to get involved in spreading the word. This usually means something interactive—not just a cool gameplay video or some neat graphics (though these certainly help). Memes, interactive videos, comics, and minigames are just a few of the ways that a developer can get people telling their friends about a game. I’m still investigating a lot of these myself with Chibi Fighters, but there are as many ways to get people involved as there are incentives. 

Ultimately, the developer has to think about what he can give back to the people that are interested in your game. Some common things are status within a forum or web community, actual hard goods, in-game bonuses and rewards, involvement with the game’s creative process, or inclusion in the credits. 

If the game provides an outlet for people to talk about it and socialize, they will. OpenFeint is a free achievement system that provides this very function, and which I’ve included in SPCF3. Including a system like OpenFeint gives me an instant, free community module to plug into my game, and comes with its own range of costs and benefits. For one, I have to host the advertisements of other games on the OpenFeint screen in my app. However, an app can just as easily be advertised within the apps of others using this system.

There is plenty of opportunity for contests and community promotions that are outside of the game. Hidden bonus content or especially tough challenges that will have players asking around for the solutions to unlock or beat can be a great strategy, as can the ability to play competitively online, or competitively at all. Competitive gamers love discussing strategy with anyone they can.

A free or ‘lite’ version of the game can never hurt your cause, and gives unbelievers who are willing to try your game a chance to play it before spending their hard earned money on it. To some people, a demo version says “if you play this once, I think you’ll want it even more,” and shows that the developer has enough confidence in the quality of his work to let people try before they buy.

Of course, not all successful games have free demo versions, either. Ultimately, the question is whether the game is interesting enough that people will want to play it again after playing it once (or playing a portion of it).

There’s very little in the world of gaming that’s tougher than taking your product and showing it to the world. Some people will hate it, some will love it. It’s important not to get discouraged by negative reviews, and to take suggestions and lessons to incorporate in the next venture. If you’re confident in your game, and enjoy it, then someone else will too. Maybe you’ll even make some friends and fans along the way.

Character art by Victoria Parker for Level 99 Games.

Editor’s note: Brad Talton is an independent game designer and developer. What kind of games? Video games? Board games? Card games? Well, yes. His company, Level 99 Games, creates all kinds of geekiness. In a series of columns here at SBG, Brad shares insights into the game creation process. In this installment, he talks about building out a game from the base concept.

With the skeleton of the game built, my next step is to identify which parts of the game require fleshing out. This is a problem that can usually be attacked on several fronts. The player characters need to have all of their attacks programmed, the stories need to be written, and some of the minigames have stages that need to be programmed. These different aspects can be approached as they become relevant, or according to whim. Once the shape of the skeleton is established, the actual content insertion can be done at leisure.

All the while that this is happening, there will be new ideas that come along, and need to be accommodated or thrown out. I had originally intended to put a kind of Pong variant into the game as a two player minigame, for example, but that idea was dropped out for various reasons. On the flipside, while writing the story, I discovered that writing the characters in a sort of “fourth wall” style was very interesting, and decided to include unlockable comic mini-stories as part of the gallery mode, as rewards for some minigame achievements.

When developing different game modes, the big question is “what can be salvaged from the existing game modes to make new game modes.” Training mode and story mode can be derived easily from versus—just include some extra controls or an AI engine. 

The deconstruction of the game’s premise to make minigames isn’t just in terms of coding, however. One of the minigames, Corridor Runner, focuses on using your character to dodge a series of hazardous  traps and reach a target—the dodging aspect of SPCF3‘s versus mode. Another, Trick Shots, allows you to use a set of limited shots to eliminate targets that have been placed in hard to reach spots. This minigame is a deconstruction of the variety of attacks available to the different characters and how they can interact. If the minigames aren’t derived from the same premise and mechanics as the base game, they will feel out of place when bundled with the main game.

Minigames and derived modes need to not only be culled from the premise of the main game, but they need to be rewarding in their own right. Playing the story unlocks new characters, so players are motivated to play the story. There needs to be some incentive associated with the minigames as well. 

For achievement driven players, a series of medals and leaderboards are enough. Unlockable gallery content can be a big motivator for others—especially if the unlockables drive the story or characters forward more. 

By creating a wide range of achievements and unlockables—ranging from the simple to the near-impossible, it is possible to get a great deal of mileage and playability out of game modes which would otherwise be discarded quickly. Most gamers are goal-driven, and will play a game mode relentlessly to achieve their goals. The same game, equally as well-built and fun, would be forgotten by these players if it did not present some concrete goal.

There are a lot of reasons to include cheats and secrets in your games. Some of these are obvious—it’s nice to include fun bonuses that don’t quite fit on the options menu. It’s fun to leave in a few easter eggs for people to find. When you’re developing independently, you can and should include things just because you think they’re fun—it’s part of the charm of doing it yourself. 

However, cheat codes and secrets have other uses, too. Including cheat codes that can only be found online or via leaks will entice players to go online and talk about the game, to scour your forums, and start up dialogue about how to get a particular unlockable or cheat code. You can even sponsor community-based “treasure hunts” for your cheat codes, or save them as additional press releases and hooks to continue generating news about your game even after release. If you release a fun easter egg or cheat code in your site’s posts or newsletter every third week, you can bet your bottom dollar that subscriptions to your RSS will go up and traffic will increase. Effectively used, secret content can give your players a more enjoyable game, and boost awareness of your future projects.

In the next installment, Brad will talk about generating buzz and interest for your project before release.

Editor’s note: Brad Talton is an independent game designer and developer. What kind of games? Video games? Board games? Card games? Well, yes. His company, Level 99 Games, creates all kinds of geekiness. In a series of columns here at SBG, Brad shares insights into the game creation process. In this installment, he talks about when the rubber hits the road: taking all your planning and assets and starting to put everything together.