Blog for Andy Schatz at GarageGames.com

Game Guide Released

Andy Schatz — 2008-08-02T01:08:52+00:00

Some of Venture Arctic's biggest fans are adults, but I find that there is still this assumption that because it's a sim game with animals in it, it's a kid's game. Granted, kids do enjoy the games, but I have always felt that the potential audience was much larger than the one that I currently hit.

To combat this, and to try to help demonstrate the depth that's in the game (plus to support the retail release), I threw together a Venture Arctic Game Guide.

It will be interesting to see if this helps communicate the message of the game better, and if I find that I draw in more strategic fans.

What do you guys think? Do you have the impression that the Venture games are just for kids? If so, why?

Pocketwatch Games has a great week

Andy Schatz — 2008-07-26T19:04:38+00:00

Two items of wonderful news coming out of Pocketwatch Games this week:

Venture Arctic is now available on store shelves: Best Buy, Curcuit City, and a number of other major PC/Mac game retailers are currently (or will be in the next few weeks) carrying the ecosystem sim game.

AND

We've once again partnered with The WILD Foundation, providing them with financial support as a corporate sponsor. The WILD Foundation is a Boulder, CO based organization that helps protect wilderness spaces around the world. For more about our support,
CLICK HERE. Probably also worth noting that I believe that Venture Arctic will be the first game to ever ship in 100% recycled material. A minor milestone, but certainly worth something!

Finally, without getting on too much of a soapbox about it, I'd like to encourage those who can support a cause to do so. Perhaps even if it's just a 20 dollar donation to a gamemaker that you particularly like. If you can afford a computer and an internet bill, you can afford to pick one small cause to help out each year -- even if it's small, it's worth it just on principle.

If you are a developer that depends on donations, please respond here. I'd love to compile a list so I can help to promote your causes.

2007 Sim Game of the Year - Venture Arctic

Andy Schatz — 2007-12-23T19:59:29+00:00

I know it's been mentioned in a few other places around the forums, but I thought I'd just post a quick note that Venture Arctic was named 2007 Sim Game of the Year by GameTunnel. What an honor!

Poetry Slam in Eugene

Andy Schatz — 2007-11-30T01:32:57+00:00

Artie Moffa, the fella that wrote the poetry in Venture Africa, is going to be performing in Eugene on Saturday, Dec 1 at 881 Williamette St. 'Twill be a night of Slam Poetry, which is live, high-energy, quite often raucous, and a huge amount of fun. He's a blast to see, as I'm sure the rest of the poets will be as well. If you're in Eugene, seriously, go check it out. You'll have a blast!

The Abrupt Goodbye

Andy Schatz — 2007-10-17T20:22:11+00:00

EDIT: Do me a favor -- if you just want to snicker and play with smut, go to google and type "porn" into the little box. I was expecting some smut, and I was expecting it to filter itself out a bit, but seeing this junk actually in my database bothers me. I'm deleting the nasty stuff out of the database myself.
</edit>

I'm been doing some thought experiments lately on user-generated content. Here's a quick little game I threw together while thinking about conversation trees.

Play The Abrupt Goodbye

You play a character in a conversation. You are given choices of what to say, which are conversational responses written by previous players of the game. You can at any point type in your own response.

Responses are sorted and removed from the database based on their popularity. If certain responses don't get clicked, they move down the list and eventually get removed.

A conversation might go something like this:

Quote:
You are a blind man. You are sitting on a bench in the subway. Someone sits next to you.

Say one of the following:

Where you goin?

The train is on FIIIRRRREEEE!

Mornin.

Get yer own bench.

[Type your own response]

You choose "Where you goin?"

The young woman says, "Uptown, and you?"

Choose:

Oh, I got no place to go.

[Type your own response]

You choose "Oh, I got no place to go."

The young woman says, "Would you like my sandwich?"

Choose:

[Type your own response]

You type: "Lady, I don't eat ham."

The woman gets up and walks away. She is gone.

The End

Granted, this is a fairly mundane conversation. Eventually, however, you could probably get some pretty interesting (and long) conversation chains, depending on the creativity of the player base.

A system like this could be an interesting way to build complex NPCs in an MMO.

Pixel Art

Andy Schatz — 2007-10-15T18:36:59+00:00

I've been a bit lacking in motivation for the last few weeks. To perk myself up, I've been working on a few side projects in my spare time.

The first is that I wanted to learn to make pixel art. I suppose I already knew how, since I did this sort of thing when I was a kid and resolutions were much lower, but it's probably been 15 or 20 years since I last picked up the pixel-brush.

My first attempts were miserable. So I did a little research. Turns out Derek Yu of TIGSource and Aquaria fame has done a nice little tutorial on making pixel art.

Here's my first pass at some goofy little animals:

A couple that I wasn't as happy with (they didn't fit the boxy style I was going for):

I used Graphics Gale to make these, as suggested by this other Pixel Art tutorial.

IGF Entries Out

Andy Schatz — 2007-10-09T21:39:18+00:00

The 2008 IGF Entries have been announced. Here's my take on some of the ones that stood out to me:

Another year, another group of stellar IGF entrants. Unlike two years ago, where Darwinia seemed to be the clear favorite going into the competition, I don't see an immediate front-runner. On the other hand, there seems to be more innovation this year than any previous year. It feels like indie game developers are gaining some confidence in their wacky designs: while there are plenty of traditional strategy, SHMUP, and platformer style games, there are also quite a number of truly unique games as well.

Another thing to note is that every year I seem to know less and less about the entrants. Partly this is because there are many MORE entrants (173 this year) but also because there doesn't seem to be a centralized place where I can follow indie games anymore. TIGSource is starting to be my primary reading these days, though their coverage (like GameTunnel's) tends to be a mite skewed towards a particular style of game.

Anyways, in my cursory glance through the entries, these are the ones that stood out to me. It's heavy on titles that aren't out -- it's easier to see potential in something you haven't actually experienced.

Gish 2
gish2.com/
Hard to ignore this one, but my prediction is that if it's an evolution of the original concept rather than a revolution it will be rewarded by customers but not the IGF.

World of Goo
2dboy.com/
Another game about sticky balls. Based on a much smaller experimental title that got huge critical acclaim. My guess is World of Goo FTW.

The Path
www.tale-of-tales.com/ThePath/
Horror and Little Red Riding Hood. Production values look stellar. One to watch.

Schizoid
www.torpexgames.com/
A coop gauntlet style shooter. Looks like a ton of fun.

Threadspace: Hyperbol
www.hyperbol.com/
An impressive and unique strategy hybrid. Multiplayer focused games haven't fared that well in the IGF in the past, but this one certainly makes an argument for its inclusion.

Tree of Life + Axiom Overdrive
www.reflexive.com
Reflexive has been known to put out some real pablum, but they also poured their hearts into the unique Wik & the Fable of Souls. These two titles could have promise, though to be honest, I have no idea what they are.

Masq
www.alteraction.com
A text adventure that has a unique feel to it.

Fret Nice
www.fretnice.com/
Control a platformer with a Guitar Hero controller. Somewhere in the cobwebbed portions of my brain I remember several people speaking highly of this. Sounds interesting.

Soup du Jour
www.digital-eel.com/soup/
From Digital Eel, the makers of IGF-nom Weird Worlds. Is this something interesting or a casual-friendly portal sell-out?

Polychromatic Funk Monkey
www.farbs.org/games.html
A fun, simple puzzle game. Would be nice to see the concept expanded upon.

Immortal Defense
immortaldefense.com/
The best tower-defense game ever created. Probably not different enough from other titles of the same genre to pick up awards, but certainly notable.

Venture Arctic
www.venturearctic.com
Yes this is my game. I like it a lot. Unique gameplay, interesting topic.

Phew... what a great group of games.

TV Appearances

Andy Schatz — 2007-09-27T22:41:05+00:00

I've been on TV a bunch lately. Links to some of the appearances:

Talking about Halo, M-rated games and more on the Halo launch day on Fox 6 San Diego:
(by the way, Angela Chee, the interviewer, was in Blades of Glory, as, you guessed it, an anchorwoman)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTFADd2W5RI

Venture Arctic on KUSI:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC4ee6OFaGQ

Venture Arctic on KFMB
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBmHpa2zx14

A short post with regards to a TV PR strategy:

The following thoughts, by the way, are essentially parrotting what my PR Agent believes. I don't have a ton of experience or knowledge in the matter, but his thoughts might be enlightening for some.

TV Appearances don't generate sales. You will not see an increase in website traffic due to a TV appearance. BUT, they can raise your profile, the profile of your company, and your access to press.

National TV appearances are often not as useful as local TV appearances. With national news, the power is in the hands of the networks: they don't want to advertise your games. You are there as a service to the news shows. You'll be lucky to even get your company name on screen, and there's very little chance you can get your website up there.

Local TV Appearances are generally a bit more gracious to their guests. They are willing to put your website on screen, and on their website as well. Also, with local TV appearances, you can develop relationships with individuals at the networks. I'm starting to become one of the go-to guys for the local Fox station on video game issues.

Talking to media takes practice, of course. I've grown to enjoy this sort of thing, but it's not easy. Being clear and concise yet conversational is something I am still learning. So, when you have an interesting product with a compelling story, why not try it out! Don't dream too big! Start small! After all, the smaller venues often are more gracious and appreciative to their guests.

Austin GDC Keynote

Andy Schatz — 2007-09-05T02:14:34+00:00

Hey folks- If you happen to be at the Austin Game Developer's Conference, I'll be the keynote speaker at the Game Career Seminar on Friday (September 7) at 9:30 AM.

From the program:

Quote:
From his start as an intern at one of the first internet gaming portals in 1995 through his work in the big budget console world to the happy land of indie game development and the casual gaming gold rush, Andy has seen it all. Learn about how to break into the industry, and then how to break out of it.

It should be a fun talk :) Hope to see some people there!

Local San Diego TV Spots

Andy Schatz — 2007-08-14T19:49:23+00:00

I think there's a San Diego person or two around here so I thought I'd plug myself --

I'll be on the Fox morning show (local) tomorrow (Wednesday, 8/15) between 7-8AM talking about environmentalism, kids, and games,

and I'll be showing off Venture Arctic on KFMB - TV 8 on Thursday, August 23 around 7:35 AM. Tune in!

EDIT: Here's the Fox News spot YouTube style!