Life at an underground game company.
Posts tagged business
Business concerns: Why we will never use recruiters.
01 year ago
by Azrael
in Double Cluepon
As our funding has picked up for Emerald Kingdom, I have begun putting together the requirements for contract job for some client work. One of the most common emails I tend to get are from recruiters. Double Cluepon will never ever use recruiters. Why you ask? It has to do with a great deal of experience in working with them.
Recruiters are the greasy car salesmen of the job and hiring industry. They are the guy who asks you on the street if you want to buy a gold watch. In my own personal dealings with them, I have had them act unethically and unprofessionally. I used to think they were always looking out for their client, the person who paid them. However, over time that perception changed to thinking they are only thinking of themselves. The recruitment industry, more or less is a middleman industry that gets in the way.
In my own professional career, I have had recruiters ask me to “re-target” my resume, which winds up being explained as a rewrite…so they can pitch it better to their client. While some feedback on resume tweaking is valid, and I have done so…I’ve had recruiters want whole swaths of changes to make their sales pitch to their client easier. If I don’t fit the job, why would you pitch my resume? Why would you do that to your client? Why would you do that to me? Furthermore, why would you ask me to put my career at risk with a bad fit?
I’ve had recruiters cold call me to get my resume, only to find out they simply want to pad their database. Leliel has had recruiters cold call him in order to pump him for CTO Contacts. In my capacity as a person who hires and fires, I have heard all sorts of wild things from the mouths of recruiters. People who tell me if I don’t use them to vet candidates, I am not only a bad company player…I am running the risk of bringing my company down. I’ve had recruiters cold call me with candidates who live in other countries, having never read the ad I placed. I have had recruiters and placement firms send me people, only to not pay them even though we have paid their invoices. This reflects badly on us, and lowers the quality of work.
Now, I am sure there are some reputable recruitment firms out there. However, the industry is rife with so many…the ratio of good to bad makes the industry as a whole unattractive as an option for scouting talent. At my last private industry position, we paid 3 invoices for a placement firm for some work with a temp I.T. worker…only for that person to not get paid for 4 months. While I realized we had fulfilled our duty in paying our bills…it still made things awkward. Fortunately, in that case…we wound up privately contracting this person. It worked out in the end…but still a wholly unprofessional situation.
I almost always add recruiter email domains to our e-mail server blacklist. Simply because, they tend to be more trouble than they are ever worth. I have yet to have any positive experience with a placement or recruitment firm. All of my peers in the I.T. industry, whether they have been placed or not placed: none of them ever talk about positive experiences. I hear nothing but horror stories.
I bring this up, because recruiters like to hit new businesses. If you’ve got a small business, steer clear. While there may be good ones out there, a great many of them are ticks. It’s better to be in there, vetting resumes and networking with people. Putting such a crucial part of your business in the hands of a middleman is a risky proposition. Middleman industries can be poison to small business. It’s best to steer clear, and stay in charge of who you bring in. It’s also what you signed up for when starting a business.
So, we will be staying away from recruitment firms, for these reasons…and many others. Anyone of you have experiences you want to share with recruitment?
Support of products.
21 year ago
One thing, that really bugs some of us here is the sheer lack of technical support for indie/underground games.
Let me be frank, and cut to the chase: If you don’t want to support your game…don’t release it for sale. Play it by yourself, and keep it to yourself. I know this sounds harsh, but when you release a game, take money for it and do not support it you make it harder for other indies to put their stuff out, and attach a price for it. Monetization is already a big issue with indies, and you stand to make it that much more difficult for the people who are trying hard to make a living at this. I have personally spoken to some dev heads who live in a constant quandry: how should I sell my game? How can I ask for money for this? Creating a game for many of these folks is a labor of love. They have a hard time with coming to terms with figuring out how much someone will pay for it, versus what its worth to them. This becomes an even bigger problem when you deal with a hostile public that has prior experience with poor support from other indies. Everyone more or less accepts that once a AAA house has your money, they have your money. But when a person or a small group have your money…
Why? Because whether or not you have an under $5.00 price point, when you don’t respond to support issues, the person who buys it and cannot run it will scream loud and hard about this. When others see this, whether you want to acknowledge it or not, it will be a weighing factor on whether to not only buy that game, but any other indie title. Let me give you some examples of what I have seen as of late. I wont name names, but…these are real issues I have encountered:
- Dead or dry forums. (Forums that are neither visited by, or used by the developer who set them up)
- Going more than 10 business days without any kind of official status for a show stopping bug.
- Asking for more information from the players, and then not responding with any updates.
- Blaming the user for their hardware/software.
- Letting showstopper bugs languish for months.
Keep in mind, I fully understand that devs have lives too. But, community relations with the people who want to enjoy your stuff is paramount. Absolutely paramount. If you can’t handle even visiting your own forums, then you have a problem. So, here are some tips, based on what I have learned about CS, and what I have implemented as policy here for Emerald Kingdom, and all subsequent titles:
- Release a demo. This is one thing that can save you many a headache. If it wont run for someone in the demo, you know this BEFORE you take their money. You’re still obligated to fix the issue, but more at your leisure. Depending on how critical it is.
- For any bug that results in someone not being able to play at all (showstoppers), acknowledgment should be made within 2 hours. 6 on the outside. That acknowledgment should contain any request for more information if needed. Status should be provided in 24 hours, and that status should contain when you will next update the status of the issue. This should be no longer than 5 business days. Wash rinse repeat.
- Check your forums, if you have them, daily, and multiple times. This is what RSS is for, when you get right down to it.
- Be transparent. If you have forums, asking people to email you only gives you an avenue to procrastinate away from the eyes of your customer pool. Your forums are there so if people are having problems, you can get a bigger picture. All too often I have seen forums that have a faq, no answers from the devs on topics, and a sticky post saying: email us here if you cant solve your problem.
- Do not ignore your users. Also, do not blame them for issues such as their combination of hardware, or just because they run XP or Win 7/Mac OS and you do not. You can make suggestions, or even recommend. But do not blame people because their computer is not up to your standards. The exception is: if their computer does not meet the minimum reqs, and these have been posted.
- Show stopping bugs should be fixed within 30 days. No more. You took their money, you owe them a fix so they can play. If fixing the issue is not possible, offer them a refund.
- Minor bugs and other issues can and should be rolled up into a bigger patch. This is not only standard, but it also gives a good impression to the customers.
In closing, I am not saying don’t charge for your game. I am not saying don’t release your game. I am saying if you release your game, and charge money for it: support it. If you don’t, you are making it harder for each and every other indie community member to get their offerings in front of the very people you just alienated by taking their money and giving them silence in return.
Don’t mistake this for “The customer is always right”. That is not the message here. The message here is: “The customer bought it, and they deserve a working product”
Plans for the New Year.
21 year ago
We have plenty of things on deck for 2011. While I can’t give you a ton of details, as some of this is still in the staging phase…I can tell you…
Emerald Kingdom will be going into a closed, followed by an open beta. Do not ask us for a date. One thing I have learned is that giving dates is always a bad idea. Right now, StoryTeller is talking to the server, and world development has taken somewhat of a primary seat.
We will be incorporating our art studio as a separate entity. Test Room Thirty Seven. While TRTS will be primarily doing work for Double Cluepon, we also recognize there are a lot of underground game developers who could use professional art services, without having to pay several thousand dollars. I have been tightening up the business model for TRTS, and plan to get it incorporated soon. What does this mean for the underground/indie game developers in Chicago? It could wind up meaning quite a bit actually. Our goal is to provide economical and sliding scale artwork for game developers who can’t draw. One of the things I learned early on, from speaking to other developers (as well as our own) is that some of them would have been making their own games sooner if they could draw, or had access to an artist. Many more would use an art studio, or an artist if it was not stupidly priced. We see a market here. But more than that, we see a community waiting here.
I am personally working on a project to pull indie/underground game development under a more inclusive umbrella. One of the things we have discovered here at Double Cluepon is the rather fragmented indie/underground scene, here in Chicago. We have a number of little groups. That’s okay. But there is no representation, no cohesive underground/indie movement. Like Seattle was for Grunge, Chicago could be for indie games. Chicago is the spot where many game greats were founded. Midway, Williams, Bungie…Some of this has faltered. To that end, I have been speaking with a number of other indie developers, and want to speak to more. Between myself, and some core people we are looking to start some kind of a non profit indie trade group or union. Between folks here at Double Cluepon, and friends of ours in indie games…we think we have a winner here. Please note: we are not looking to form a clique or club. We want an honest to goodness indie non profit. Some of the points I and others have talked about are:
- To promote and foster underground and indie game development within the Chicago area, without undue influence: We want indies to be able to experiment, explore and create new stuff. There is plenty of time for cookie cutter stuff later.
- To help indie gamers market themselves to broader markets: We have noted a lot of good indie game devs should definitely have more exposure than they do. One person can have a hard time, however…a group might have a better go.
- To help indie gamers put together, and assemble tools needed to monetize their efforts: This is a biggie. One thing we have identified, and need to do more work on is helping indie gamers make money from their efforts. One developer we spoke to had serious issues attaching prices to his games. Because ultimately it can be hard to figure out what it’s worth to others, versus what it’s worth to you.
- To promote connections between artists, sound and music artists, and developers in order to promote better quality indie games: What good is a community if you cannot network with others?
- To provide a basic infrastructure for all members. (legal, web, protection, representation): This is something so crucial, and yet overlooked. While Tim Langdell has been pushed back, there are always 50 more to take his place. One person facing an idiotic lawsuit is one thing. Facing a whole community is another. Another thing is, simply helping developers get organized, learning how to manage basic business paperwork. How to incorporate, how to LLC, how to set themselves up so they don’t get overwhelmed later on. we think there should be more organized indies, not less. Additionally, Making the industry “safe” for newcomers will help foster its growth.
- Create an organization with a repeatable model: what we do here should be repeatable in NYC, or LA, or Dallas…or even in places as small as O’Fallon Illinois, or St. Charles, MO. Our organization model should definitely be open source. We should be promoting indies elsewhere, starting with right here. Don’t smack me for the cliche but…it fits: We need to act locally and think globally. If we can make this a successful and independent effort, we need to make sure others can do the same elsewhere.
That said: if you’re an indie game developer in Chicago, and want to know more about this, and perhaps get involved you should email Azrael. ( AT doublecluepon.com ) We definitely want to talk about this idea more. We need more ideas, and we need more eyeballs on this.
In closing, we are ready and waiting for 2011 to come along. We can’t wait.
The 5000 lb pink elephant with missile pods in the room.
01 year ago
It’s episodic content in video games. Nobody wants to talk about it. Everyone wants to do it, but in the end what it winds up being is marketing fluff to sell in the short term, and disappoint in the long term.
Duke Nukem is a minor example of this trend. A more immediate example is Half Life. Gabe Newell gives interviews, and between the vagaries of Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress and Portal 2….the thing he wont talk about in any substantive way is Half Life2 Episode 3/Half Life 3.
The problem is bigger than just Valve. It affects smaller studios and indie devs too. I think the issue comes down to a rather simple thing: the line between episodic, sequel and DLC, and update/expansion is horribly horribly blurred. I think some studios do this deliberately, but I think a majority of them don’t get or have not defined “episodic” to be something in its own right in terms of their content. Thus, you wind up with people happy about Portal 2, but lamenting that they don’t know whats happening with Alyx and Gordon Freeman. I am putting this out there now, because…the lack of definition here is a wonderful opportunity for the underground and indie game studios.
Gabe mentioned that doing episodic content like Episode 1 and 2 would “speed” things along in terms of releases. But, to be honest it’s pretty clear they never ever defined what episodic meant in terms of half life. To be blunt: Gabe slapped a half ass label on something he did not, or would not define and the fans are honked. Rightfully so. I want to also say, I really don’t blame Gabe for this. I think game design and development…as well as game business in general often fosters a lot of short term thinking for the sake of expedience. Its a culture thing.
Nobody gets as upset about MMORPG expansion packs. They come when they come. There are usually always things to do while waiting. But the idea you have to wait several years for expansion is also very outdated as well.
DLC is a fine idea. But again, I think it means different things to different people. I recently bought Blade Kitten on steam. It was amazingly short. A bit shorter than I expected for a $17 price point. It’s frame capped at 30 fps, cell shaded…and while I did enjoy it, I cant begin to tell you the disappointment I felt when I reached the end of it…after much less than a day. I said to myself: this is what happens when you rush to market in the hopes of capitalizing on DLC later. While we here at Double Cluepon believe strongly that shipping is a feature, we also believe punching customers is wrong. I definitely felt a bit punched by Blade Kitten. That feeling influenced some of my later opinions about functionality as I went back through the game again. Developers, especially underground and indie houses need to be aware of that. They are not, either by choice or by mere ignorance. It’s a really sad thing.
But, let’s get to the point; episodic content means something very specific, at least for us. What it means for us is: episodes, content delivery, with expedience. Many MMORPG’s cant meet this demand, because of testing and debug cycles. C++ and other major languages just wont allow for it. Because often times the new content is bundled in with new functionality.
FPS’ like Half Life cant meet this burden, because again: debug and testing. Game Studios often times, again, bundle in new functionality with new content. Half Life: Lost Coast was released to gauge and sample player opinions about this. Since its release, there has been nothing but some matte painting concept art of HL3. What happened to short, controlled episodes?
Until someone sets up a modular system, that separates content from features, true episodic content cannot be a reality. Bold statement, I know. But let’s look at the best example of real episodic content: Television. Imagine if you had to wait three years between season 1 and 2 of LOST, or Law and Order. And the reason was, they had to internally test a new lens for a camera to make sure it would do exactly what they wanted it to do. Television would be markedly different in the US.
Using the word episode in your game title does not mean you have episodic content. The sooner everyone realizes this, the better gaming will be. I say this because true episodic content, at least how we define it is…
- Rapid Content Creation. – You have to be able to develop story, and events rapidly.
- Rapid Content Delivery – You must be able to deliver your aforementioned content rapidly. bi weekly cycles would be great. 30 day cycles would be fine. Anything more than 3 months and your dawdling.
- On the Fly changes, while not regular, are possible – Simply put, you have to be able to change the world on a whim sometimes. Life is more fun with spontaneity.
To do the above three things absolutely eliminates beta testing because of new code, or features. Those things have their place. But when it comes to delivering the main piece of story driven games, the CONTENT…function and feature has to be separated. The time has come in game development to let the coders and the content creators: writers, artists and such…diverge a bit. Let the coders do what they do, but if a story teller has to bug a coder to put a new piece of content in…something is wrong.
Let me just close here by saying: Emerald Kingdom will be doing episodic content.
Smiles and Kisses,
Az.
One year of the rollercoaster!
01 year ago
Double Cluepon is one year old this month.
What better birthday present for a company than to learn that one development avenue which was originally closed off to us is now open. Apple recently announced that they are loosening the restrictions on development for the iPhone and the iPad.
What does this mean? Well, for us it means we can make stuff like WireWorks available on these platforms. That alone is great. I know I personally would love to see Emerald Kingdom on an iPad at some point.
Another great thing about being one year old is, we are actually still quite alive and kicking. Many businesses do not make it to the one year mark.
Aside from all that, we have been busy busy! We have recently added another artist, who is hard at work getting Twin Perennial into a working process for publication, among other things. We are also searching for a couple of new Developers, and hope to have that secured in the next couple of weeks.
Which will bring Double Cluepon to about 10 people. Not bad considering in the beginning, there were simply two.
Emerald Kingdom is slowly but surely approaching its Alpha point. That said, all of us here get more excited with every new build we see and play with. StoryTeller is coming along quite nicely, and the asset buildup is proceeding on schedule.
So, here’s to another year of fun. The next 12 months is going to be even more fun. Emerald Kingdom, and more quickplays are in the delivery chute. =)
