[Episode 45] The 2010 IMmies

[Ravenlock]

http://image.colonyofgamers.com/imcast.png (http://www.immortalmachines.com/)

It’s been a long while since we did a monster-sized show. Consider this your warning: this is a monster-sized show.

2011 has begun, but before we rush ahead to the onslaught of gaming the coming year promises us, it is right to look back and give thanks for the year that was. Join us as we bring a full house to the table and discuss our favorites of 2010, and the trends that drove PC gaming over the last twelve months. You’ll notice we have some long-absent members rejoining us for this episode, and it felt great to have them back.

It seems a little cliche to call any year “The Year of Indie Gaming” at this point – I think everyone has acknowledged, tacitly or explicitly, that small dev shops continue to release quality products and compete well in the gaming marketplace. That doesn’t lessen the happy surprise I felt when I realized that almost half of the games we brought up as the best of 2010 didn’t come from large developers or publishers. We talk about a lot of games in this episode, and a lot of them are indie games. And that’s awesome.

Also, you may be aware we ran a contest (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=20765)! So we have the results of that. Yes, of course I’m going to make you listen to find out who it was. You can skip ahead if you want; only your conscience will judge you.

Without further ado… welcome to The 2010 IMmies (http://www.immortalmachines.com/?p=601)!

Hosted and summarized by Eric [Ravenlock]
Participants are James [Vigil80], Steve [Dukefrukem], Chris [JPublic], and Jacob [MagGnome]
Produced by Clayton [Voodoo]

Direct Download (http://www.immortalmachines.com/public/podcast/IMmies_2010.mp3)

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[Voodoo]

There's a bit of an oddness to my voice...

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[Dukefrukem]

It's obvious I'm rusty. Bah.

[Fatal_Papercut]

After reflecting upon everything discussed in the IMmies podcast, I can only laugh at those that claim PC gaming is dying or dead.

I have a lot of free time on my hands these days; according to Steam, I've gamed for over 102 hours during the past 2 weeks, and that doesn't even count the time I've put into non-Steam games, including 10 hours or so of BC2 Vietnam.

But even with all of this time to devote to gaming, I still haven't caught up with all of the games in my backlog. I'm afraid to even count how many games I own that I haven't played yet. The simple fact is, there are too many good games on the PC. (P.S. This is not a bad thing.)

I've always been one to buy a game that I hear is really good, even if it's not from a favorite genre. I buy great RTS games like StarCraft 2 or Dawn of War, even though I suck at the multiplayer portions. I bought Amnesia, which is an Adventure game for all practical purposes, even though Adventure games have never been my cup of tea (it was great, by the way).

Even by limiting myself to purchases that come highly recommended, and with gaming being my primary activity, I still don't have enough time to play all of the good games out there.

When someone says that PC gaming is dying, I think they simply fail to recognize that the PC gaming industry is changing and becoming a bit different than what it has been in the past; one common bit of "evidence" often presented are the declining numbers of retail sales, without any mention of direct online sales. Another factor is that gaming has gone "mainstream"; it's enough that our grandparents are playing with a Wii, and a bit much to ask them to sit down and figure out how to game on a PC with a mouse and keyboard. The consumer-base for gaming is much more diverse, and consoles are no longer seen as something "just for the kids".

I had to make a tough resolution for the New Year: I will only buy single-player games when they are on sale (minimum 40% off release-day price); I will skip new games in 2011 that are not really in my favorites genres (FPS/single-player RPG/racing), even if I hear they are otherwise really good; if I feel compelled to buy an Indie title to support the developers, I will gift the game instead of purchasing it for myself; and I am going to finish at least half of the games in my back catalog this year (at least for those games that have a definite ending).

[Doogie2K]

Yeah, I was gonna say something about that. Drove me nuts.

So I just finished the first segment and had a couple of comments. First, not to be a pedant, but Jacob's original description of Everyday Genius is most accurate. There is no math whatsoever in Sudoku: it is a logic puzzle from start to finish, which just happens to contain numbers. It could have letters or planets in it and be functionally identical. In essence, you have the standard Sudoku rules where all the rows and columns must have 1-X, then replace the "1-9 in this 3x3 grid" rule with a bunch of "these three numbers multiply to 90" sort of blocks shaped like Tetris pieces, and that's the game. It's like a cross between Sudoku and Kakuro (cross-sums). In case you can't tell, I'm a fan of all these things. ;)

Also, I had to laugh at Eric's comment about developers not charging for a game that isn't finished yet. There's so many low-hanging fruit there, I don't know where to start. I feel like an eight-year-old turned loose in a piñata warehouse with a baseball bat. ;) Point taken, but amusingly put, given our favoured platform's longstanding issues with quality control.

Edit: Boy, I hope Voodoo's quote shows up on the web version. Tapatalk ain't showing it, and I'm still new using it.

[Ravenlock]

So I just finished the first segment and had a couple of comments. First, not to be a pedant, but Jacob's original description of Everyday Genius is most accurate. There is no math whatsoever in Sudoku: it is a logic puzzle from start to finish, which just happens to contain numbers. It could have letters or planets in it and be functionally identical. In essence, you replace the standard Sudoku rule of "1-9 in this 3x3 grid" with "these three numbers multiply to 90," and that's the game. Like a cross between Sudoku and Kakuro (cross-sums). In case you can't tell, I'm a fan of all these things. ;)

Sure, that's fair. You can play Sudoku without numbers - it could just as easily be 9 letters, or 9 pictures of kittens, or any 9 distinct things. Your pedantry is accepted and I withdraw my comment. Well played. ;)

Also, I had to laugh at Eric's comment about developers not charging for a game that isn't finished yet. There's so many low-hanging fruit there, I don't know where to start. I feel like an eight-year-old turned loose in a piñata warehouse with a baseball bat. ;) Point taken, but amusingly put, given our favoured platform's longstanding issues with quality control.

True, but I think my underlying point holds - notch has not been expected to behave like a company with a released product, and has not done so. He's able to get away with putting out non-optional patches that break huge pieces of functionality, or with the servers going down for hours at a time, or <insert all kinds of wonkiness here> without it really counting against his goodwill cache because "it's still a beta" and people (theoretically) understand what they're getting into when they give him the money.

If Minecraft were a game sitting in a storefront somewhere, that shit wouldn't fly at all, and he'd be being treated like Stardock post-Elemental for some of that stuff, rather than the 2nd Coming of Indie Games. If we assume that Minecraft will in fact some day be a fully released game, he's going to have to deal with a completely different set of customer expectations, and we don't really have any way to predict how that will go down. I think that sort of stuff should matter when you're handing out what are effectively industry awards for the best products of the year.

[Ravenlock]

Fatal_Papercut, thank you also for your feedback, I just didn't have much to add because I pretty much agree with it all. :)

I had to make a tough resolution for the New Year: I will only buy single-player games when they are on sale (minimum 40% off release-day price); I will skip new games in 2011 that are not really in my favorites genres (FPS/single-player RPG/racing), even if I hear they are otherwise really good; if I feel compelled to buy an Indie title to support the developers, I will gift the game instead of purchasing it for myself; and I am going to finish at least half of the games in my back catalog this year (at least for those games that have a definite ending).

I honestly don't think I have the resolve to commit to a plan like that. Good on you for trying. ;)

[Ravenlock]

If you want a great example of the expectation difference I'm talking about, go take a look at the reaction to Magicka. $10 game, released with a lot of Day One bugs, people are flipping (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/01/pc-indie-magicka-a-hit-hype-obscures-broken-negligent-release.ars) out (http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/01/26/magicka-launch-riddled-with-bugs-paradox-patching-every-24-hours/). ("30,000 people may have bought the game, but odds are most of them are regretting the decision.")

The single player for Magicka works, with some problems. I played it last night for more than an hour and encountered no game-stopping issues, though. It's crazy fun and I really like it. The multiplayer is broken.

Kind of sounds a little bit like Minecraft when he started "selling" it, hm?

But Minecraft was an "alpha/beta", so it's okay, while Magicka is A Game You Buy On Steam, so it is Not Okay. Minecraft shouldn't get the accolades of a released, supported product while not being held to the same standards and expectations as one. That's all.

[Doogie2K]

True, but I think my underlying point holds - notch has not been expected to behave like a company with a released product, and has not done so. He's able to get away with putting out non-optional patches that break huge pieces of functionality, or with the servers going down for hours at a time, or <insert all kinds of wonkiness here> without it really counting against his goodwill cache because "it's still a beta" and people (theoretically) understand what they're getting into when they give him the money.

If Minecraft were a game sitting in a storefront somewhere, that shit wouldn't fly at all, and he'd be being treated like Stardock post-Elemental for some of that stuff, rather than the 2nd Coming of Indie Games. If we assume that Minecraft will in fact some day be a fully released game, he's going to have to deal with a completely different set of customer expectations, and we don't really have any way to predict how that will go down. I think that sort of stuff should matter when you're handing out what are effectively industry awards for the best products of the year.

Oh, I understand all of that fully. I take no umbrage with your decision to oust Minecraft from the 2010 GOTY discussion, and in fact, fully support your (and Giant Bomb's) reasoning. I was simply pointing out that while Minecraft/Frozen Synapse (They also did that, didn't they? Albeit at a much later stage of development) and Magicka/Elemental are in two very different classes of game -- one is intentional and upfront about selling an unfinished game as part of a novel business model, in lieu of seeking venture capital from a publisher, with the ostensible promise of releasing a truly finished product at some indeterminate point in the future; the other is a developer/publisher fucking up and selling a game as done that very clearly isn't -- the phrasing used (selling a game that isn't "finished") can be applied equally to both. That was the joke I was making: because we've seen a hell of a lot of games sold on the PC that aren't "done," as one would generally accept the term, over the years.

That being said, in reading your reply, I guess I can see why you would be upset with how PC Gamer handled Minecraft and Magicka: essentially, in the former case, you're either tossing out the bugs altogether due to altered expectations, or even considering them part of the charm (in an Eastern European FPS sort of way), while in the other you're telling people not to buy a thing because of the bugs. I would say their treatment of Magicka (and presumably Elemental before it) is perfectly fine, and that it's the Minecraft as GOTY that has the whiff of bullshit. It's been a policy of gaming magazines and websites from time immemorial that you don't review betas and pre-release code, so why would you then give a fucking alpha GOTY? Bloody absurd.

[Ravenlock]

We are in complete accord. While I like Magicka very much (and hope to someday like Elemental), it is a publication's responsibility to call out a company that releases a sub-par product. PC Gamer did the right thing in each case, I think, though it can be argued whether they were unnecessarily harsh (or harsh enough) in either case.

My problem - as you correctly state - is taking a game that isn't released and essentially giving it all the fanfare they'd give a great product on the shelf while completely ignoring / glossing over the same sort of things they roast other games for. A double standard that does nobody - including notch, in the long run - any favors.

[Doogie2K]

Though all that being said, there has to be some sort of category to reward Minecraft for what it accomplished in 2010. Best Story? Best Pre-Release Experience? Best Timesuck That Isn't World of Warcraft? World's Biggest Honourable Mention? It definitely needs to be recognized for what it's done just as an alpha, regardless of how the rest of the game turns out from here. (I'm actually kicking myself for perpetually procrastinating and eventually failing to get in on the ground floor; regardless of what it becomes, it'd be good to have access to everything at any time.) Just nothing where it would compete against actual, released games, because there are just too Goddamned many of them out there that were really cool (or sounded really cool) to pass over.

[Ravenlock]

I think a million sales is excellent recognition, actually. ;)

Seriously, though, yeah, it's definitely my PC Story of 2010. Without question. One of the most remarkable things to happen on the PC in years.

[Vigil80]

Seems to me that "Game from one-man band to sell 1,000,000 preorders in 2010" is recognition enough for now. ;)
Edit: Great minds think alike.
I was simply pointing out that while Minecraft/Frozen Synapse (They also did that, didn't they? Albeit at a much later stage of development) and Magicka/Elemental are in two very different classes of game -- one is intentional and upfront about selling an unfinished game as part of a novel business model...
There's plenty of precedent for games offering early access / beta access as part of their preorder incentives. While it may be technically unusually early in Minecraft's official development, it doesn't strike me as a completely new business model.

[Doogie2K]

Seems to me that "Game from one-man band to sell 1,000,000 preorders in 2010" is recognition enough for now. ;)
Edit: Great minds think alike.

There's plenty of precedent for games offering early access / beta access as part of their preorder incentives. While it may be technically unusually early in Minecraft's official development, it doesn't strike me as a completely new business model.

I can't think of anyone else who has funded core game development based on pre-orders. I mean, normally, you get money from a publisher, or the bank, or a VC, or your mom, and you make the game, and you pray you can pay everyone back at the end, right? That's been the impression I've gotten from your interviews with indies in the past. By doing this, Notch is able to do years of development entirely through low-cost pre-orders, rather than having to go through that whole rigmarole, and giving people access to the half-done game to tide them over, neither of which is something we've seen done at all until very recently. Whereas what you're talking about is giving guys multiplayer "beta" codes or a week of early access to an MMO when they pre-order through GameStop, which hardly strikes me as the same thing: you're seeing the already essentially-completed product, with most or all of the labour already done and paid for, instead of experiencing the development of the game from the ground up and paying for it yourself with your pre-order dollars.

I guess the way I see it, this procedure is "not novel" in the same sense that releasing unfinished games for money is "not novel" on the PC. ;)

[Fatal_Papercut]

In regards to all of the posts about Minecraft:

Ok, don't shoot me, but--I haven't played it. But I believe I know a bit about it, because as a gamer that follows gaming news, well, it was impossible tavoid reading about it.

It sounds to me as if Minecraft is just another example of what makes PC gaming unique: could anyone else get away with this business model? Would Microsoft allow an unfinished game still in alpha/beta to be distributed and sold via XBLA to allow the developer to raise money?

I've always tried to be supportive of console gaming--gaming of all sorts is good, right?--but when I think of what I'd be giving up if I were to play console games, it drives me crazy.

[Vigil80]

I can't think of anyone else who has funded core game development based on pre-orders. I mean, normally, you get money from a publisher, or the bank, or a VC, or your mom, and you make the game, and you pray you can pay everyone back at the end, right? That's been the impression I've gotten from your interviews with indies in the past. By doing this, Notch is able to do years of development entirely through low-cost pre-orders, rather than having to go through that whole rigmarole, and giving people access to the half-done game to tide them over, neither of which is something we've seen done at all until very recently. Whereas what you're talking about is giving guys multiplayer "beta" codes or a week of early access to an MMO when they pre-order through GameStop, which hardly strikes me as the same thing...
Listen to episode 46 when it's released. We bring all this up again, and Voodoo provides another great example.

[Doogie2K]

Listen to episode 46 when it's released. We bring all this up again, and Voodoo provides another great example.

Frozen Synapse? I keep thinking they did something somewhat similar with that one, but I honestly can't recall.

[Voodoo]

Frozen Synapse? I keep thinking they did something somewhat similar with that one, but I honestly can't recall.
I'll give a hint... It won GOTY too.