It's not easy being an independent game developer. If you don't believe me, just ask one. Oh wait, I did that for you.

6 Mar 06

I had a bunch of things planned for today, but my allergies had other ideas. Today was one of those days when it feels like someone hit me with a baseball bat only they were doing inside of my head. It one of those days where you wish you had an emergency article ready to go so you don't have to worry about the website. Unfortunately, emergency article is still on the to do list.

Fortunately, I had some help today. Two weeks ago our game of the week was Horizon from L30. A little later on in the year we're going to have an interview covering that game, but right now, Raffi Parsekhian (aka Raf aka Zaimat) the Lead designer of Horizon has come here to give us some insight on making an independent game today. Before we jump into the interview, Raf wanted to invite everyone to stop by their forums to converse with the team, get information and provide input on Horizon.

TS: Tell us about the L3O team and how you got together and decided to make a game.


I first got the idea that I wanted to make a 4x space strategy game back in 1994. Several things had happened from 1992-1994, Master of Orion (the original) and Star Control 2 were released and then Babylon 5 the TV series came along. This was an amazing time for sci-fi fans/gamers and what influenced me to embark on this journey.

Fast forward to 1999, I had taught myself game programming on Windows (before that I was a Commodore/Amiga fanatic) and had a rough draft of what I wanted to do. I had the good fortune of meeting a talented and creative artist (Andy Nastase) with a decade of experience in 3d and graphic design in TV broadcasting. With his commitment to the project we could build the rest of the team. It took two years but at the end of 2001 we had three artists, two programmers and some financial backing to begin development.

The project has so far involved roughly ten people with most of the work done by our core team of five people.


TS: Please describe your development schedule. Did you use traditional milestones and methods?


An excellent and very important question. As an independent developer one of the few advantages we have had is that we were not constrained by funding as-you-go or other milestones set by a publisher. Often what happens is tough decisions are made to meet those deadlines which affect how people work and the product ultimately suffers.

Of course you still have to set deadlines and make tough decisions to finish the product but you have much more flexibility and balance between what is good financially as well as making the game you want.

Big publishers are publicly traded companies and they are usually more concerned about their quarterly earnings and getting products out one way or another. I was just talking to a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago who happens to have worked for two such publishers and the things you hear you wouldn't believe on how they run internal development teams. It's no wonder why the majority of games released feel like re-packaged goods with a graphic re-vamp because often they are!


TS: In general, how would you describe L3O's design philosophy?


In two words I would say 'balanced' yet 'ambitious'. We wanted to strike a fine balance in making Horizon a game that would appeal to both new and veteran players. That meant keeping it simple and easy on the surface while giving enough options and detail underneath it all to keep veteran players satisfied. We have tried to stick to proven and popular things from past games and adding to that what we wanted and thought players would want to see in a new space strategy game.


TS: How have you financed the game thus far? What do you expect to change once you pick up a publisher?


Financed the game? Why by delivering newspapers every morning. Okay maybe not to finance the game but hey it's a great way to meet your neighbors while keeping fit!

We've used every possible means short of taking major loans. We've used our past experience and contacts to continue doing consulting and other work to pay for most of our personal expenses. Our core team has made huge sacrifices, we all work 60-70 hour weeks, sometimes more.

It is almost impossible to make a commercial level game as an independent in this day and age without the dedication and sacrifice of people (and their families) both in time and financially.

Once we sign on with a publisher the best thing we could hope for and expect would be for them to do a good job at marketing and bringing the game to retail. The strategy gamers and sci-fi fans are out there but they need to hear and find out about the game in order to purchase it.


TS: Probably when you started Horizon, digital distribution was mostly a pipe dream, but now there are options out there including Steam and Stardock.  Even EA has launched their digital download service. How does that change things for the independent developer? Do you see a bigger effect on the industry?


It is certainly very encouraging for small developers like us. The game industry is constantly changing and for a while it looked bleak for independents. But as computers, the internet and high-bandwidth become more main stream globally, along with people becoming accustomed to buying online, it is having and going to have a major impact on how software and other products are distributed in the future.

This will make it easier for independents to distribute/sell their games directly to consumers. This gives a steadier source of income that in turn helps run their business day to day while they continue making games.

Publishers will still be there of course. Not everyone will want to handle sales and there is still marketing and customer support that many developers will want publishers to handle. There will still be partnerships but independents will be able to better control their business and not be so reliant on the publisher for success.


TS: Do you have any interest in console development? How about Xbox Live Arcade?

While I prefer pc gaming if there was a market for our product and it made sense, I would be interested. It would certainly be fun to try. But I don't currently see it happening for Horizon or turn based strategy games which are better suited for PCs. And our focus right now is only on Horizon.


TS: Fan support is often key to the success of independent games. Tell us a bit about your fans and how they've affected your thoughts on the game.

We have had a small but steady following ever since going online with our site. Many of them I would describe as veteran turn based strategy players with lots of excellent ideas and input.

I've always believed in being accessible to our fans and directly answering their questions as best I can. Hence my presence on our forums from day one and it's been as pleasant an experience as I had hoped.

Our fans have had a great and positive impact both encouraging and sharing their thoughts with us. They would be surprised how many little (and a few big) changes we've made based on their suggestions and comments in our forums. And their impact will certainly increase as we get closer to release and thereafter.


TS: What can you tell us about L3O that might be a surprise?

We are really alien scientists from another planet and are making this game to analyze 'advanced' earthling brain thought patterns to better control, err.. I mean understand you! You really didn't think you were alone in this galaxy did you?

L3O is a play on LEO for those who didn't pick up on it.

I can't think of anything else at the moment but we hope Horizon will be a pleasant surprise to strategy gamers.


TS: What advice do you have for any aspiring game makers out there?


My advice would be to get in the industry any way you can and learn as much as you can before attempting a full-fledged commercial game. It is harder than you think and more time consuming than people realize.

I would also advise to start with small games. It's smarter to work on and finish multiple mini games before attempting larger more complex games that take years to develop.


TS: Finally, what's up with Canada? It seems like there's a ton of game development going on up north.


You've noticed. Canadians seem to be good at games. we just won 24 medals at the Turin Olympics, although we lost the Hockey medal, what's up with that?

Canada has always had a strong game development industry. From original classics like Boulderdash, Wizardry and Jagged Alliance to more recent games like Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Homeworld and Splinter Cell games are just some of the games made up here.

In closing I want to thank you for the interview and I must say it's nice to see a well run site dedicated to strategy games.

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Thanks to Raf for the interview and for bailing me out on a rough day. As always, I appreciate your thoughts on this feature.

Jason