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Southwest Gaming ExpoWorkshop on Network and Systems Support for Games (NetGames 2009)ICIDS 2009 Interactive StorytellingGlobal Game Jam
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Jump to: Game Design All product reviews |
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Chris Evans is the force behind Outside the Box software. He is an independent game developer based in Oceanside, California. Chris has spent the past two years developing an MMOG game called SocioTown using Adobe's Director 11 software. I recently had a chance to speak with Chris about this game and the interview provided a first-hand look at the challenges and success of an indie game developer.
SocioTown isn't Chris' first effort. He's seen some success with his previous games including Pow Pow’s Mini Golf, a multi-player online golf game; BlockHeads Clash, a four-player smashing arcade-style game; CityScape Battle, and Pow Pow’s Puzzle Attack. Chris has also worked on several unreleased game prototypes that were learning exercises. "With each game, I learned a little more," said Chris. "I've always wanted to do a social interactive world after being inspired by Animal Crossing, but I wanted to do more than just a chat area with room customization. I wanted to have missions that you could do."
SocioTown is built around the concept of social networks. As you play you'll meet and make friends and those friends can introduce you to more friends, so you can track a friend who knows a friend. All characters appear as question marks to you until you introduce yourself (Figure 1). Each friend has a value and a friendship level. It is this level of social interaction that makes SocioTown more than just a 3D chat world.
Figure 1: SocioTown lets you meet and interact with lots of friends.
"Anytime you release an MMOG game, it is going to be compared to Everquest and other online games, but I wanted to do something that hasn't been done before," states Chris. Chris has built SocioTown to be a social network where you meet and interact with other players. SocioTown includes tools to help you keep track of your friends and map out your social network (Figure 2). SocioTown is unique in how it keeps track of your interactions with other players and with the non-player characters (NPCs). If you are mean or rude to a storekeeper, then the character will remember this next to you visit their store and act accordingly.
Figure 2: Each player has access to tools that helps them keep track of their friends.
The interactions are based around events that players participate in. For example, SocioTown features a music aspect that lets players perform their compositions for other players (Figure 3). If your music is well-received, then people can vote on the performance allowing the player to earn a gold trophy. However, if the music is poor, players can throw tomatoes at the performer and vote to have them banned from playing music for a short period of time.
Figure 3: SocioTown players can perform their musical compositions for other players.
Another event that is in the works is Street Boxing (Figure 4), which allows players to compete against one another. All that is required to participate is to buy a set of boxing gloves from the SocioTown store. The player's skill in boxing is based on their attributes, which can be increased by completing some weight training events. This helps the player to earn legacy points which will give them an advantage in their upcoming bouts.
Figure 4: Street boxing lets SocioTown players fight against each other.
Other activities include the ability to sit and play checkers with a friend and to shop together. Other side missions are also being planned and worked on such as a laser tag event and the ability to catch bugs. SocioTown is intended for casual players that play around 20-30 minutes a day.
When asked how he intends to make money on SocioTown, Chris mentioned plans for a subscription based site for users. Users can also purchase credits that can be used to purchase in-game products. In-game advertising is also an option that Chris is looking into. Users can also earn credits by completing specific missions.
The Development Cycle
Concerning the team-size, Chris was the primary on this project and the only full-time member of the team. He outsourced much of the content to other artists. Chris estimates that the entire SocioTown world (Figure 5) was created using around 200-300MB of data using highly optimized 256x256 textures. All assets were designed to be lightweight to allow them to be quickly loaded. Chris has been working on SocioTown for about 2 years now.
Figure 5: The SocioTown world has a cartoon look that is bright and cheerful.
Chris' advice to other indie developers is to, "don't bite off too much, start small and work up from there." As an indie developer, you have freedom to do the types of projects that interest you.
Figure 6: SocioTown at night
The Tools
The main tool used to create SocioTown was Adobe's Director 11. Recently released, Director 11 includes DirectX 9 support for creating 3D environments. When asked why Director was chosen, Chris replied that it was a technology that he was familiar with having used the software since 2001. Chris has used Director and Shockwave to complete some Web3D games in the past. He also mentioned that Director fit within his budget.
The advantages of Director that Chris was able to leverage include its ability to stream media files on the fly, and Director's support for importing multiple file types. Chris also liked the fact that as an Adobe product, Director is a good solid install and it enables developers to get assets into the game quickly. Another advantage is that Director is cross-platform enabling markets for Win, Mac and Web users, which enables indie developers to maximize their reach.
All the 3D assets for the game were created using 3ds Max and audio was made using the Bass Sound Library, which enabled Chris to get past the 8-channel limit. Other tools used on the project include Fireworks and Photoshop, both which integrated well with Director.
Challenges
One of the biggest challenges facing indie developers, according to Chris, is getting exposure for your game. Chris has met this challenge by paying to run an ad campaign. "You need to expect to lose money on an ad campaign in order to build your customer list,” says Chris. Self-publishing doesn't mean that the publishing part gets skipped, it means you need to do it yourself. indie developers need to learn to do the marketing themselves or find a publisher to do it for them.
SocioTown is currently in open beta with about 9000 users and Chris expects it to reach gold status in the next month or so. You can access SocioTown online at www.sociotown.com. SocioTown is currently running on a single server, but more are planned for later as the site grows. Information on Chris' other games is available on his website at www.outsidetheboxsoftware.com. You can find more information on Director 11 on the Adobe web site at www.adobe.com.
Kelly L. Murdock takes breaks from writing books to occasionally write reviews and articles for Gamedev.net. He’s written extensively on 3d graphics including books on 3ds max, Maya, LightWave and Poser.
