I wish I were a casual game developer

Michael Capps, PhD, President of Epic Games

Michael Capps, the president of Epic Games, announced that Epic just purchased Chair Entertainment, a casual games developer. Capps admits that he doesn't' know much about casual games, but sees the franchise as a renaissance of game development

He went around to his Epic employees and asked them, "What are casual games?" The answers he received varied from "games for chicks", to "game development purgatory". Another description used is “AAA games are movies, casual games are TV”

Capps best answer to what a casual game is, "I know it when I see it."

Casual game developers are making money and having fun while doing it. Lots of original minds are coming back to market to make casual games precisely for that reason.

Why?

Casual games can be done in small teams who can focus more on fun and short development schedules than graphic monsters. Short development cycles can help a developer to remain passionate about the game.

Capps said that opportunity is a deadly thing as he felt that Epic is a victim of its own success as they are tied to a successful franchise and have trouble with experimenting because the field is so competitive.

He wished that games would compete in fun per minute, but the AAA games compete in visuals, the hours of game play available, and the numbers of weapons available to the player. Imagine if movies competed based on length.

Games have been selling for $59 each for a decade but game development budgets have increased 10 to 20 times in that time. Total revenue and gamer population has not significantly changed during that period, either.

Capps admitted that there's an arm race going on in the AAA games. Epic Games has to constantly trying to survive as players want to buy the most and best guns.

The casual games development process really emphasizes minimizing cost and effort and it is an exciting problem to have. Since the projects are smaller in scope, the programmer has more of a sense of responsibility as casual games tends to have one programmer. AAA games requires many different types of programmers who end up specializing and work on specific parts of the games.

So how does Epic learn from casual games?

Epic's future must be a mix of their start-up past and their current blockbuster-studio present. Capps believes that they need to keep as small as possible. That is a real balancing act. They need to be just small enough to be able to be nimble to create intellectual property (IP) and big enough to develop it. Epic saw that Chair Entertainment had these qualities, so they were bought so they can learn from the casual games company.

Capps then stressed the importance of building a franchise. A franchise goes beyond just creating a game. It's about developing robust IP that's compelling, open, and deep. It's important to support the IP as it's the most important thing. There should be numerous anchors that players can relate to.

For example, in one of their games, Epic has two different types of vehicles: a hover craft and a jeep with a gun turret. Of the two items, the jeep with the gun turret was far more popular than the hover craft because players had expectations of how a jeep works but nothing for them to relate to how a hover craft works. Adding the gun turrets to the jeep helps to exceed the players expectations. Meeting and exceeding player expectations are important. In Epic games, guns are guns. You will not find any crazy laser weapons in their games.

It's important to establish a brand. Epic did this with Gears of War and have the following themes

• Destroyed Beauty
• Humanity's last stand
• Nightmarish horror
• Never fight alone
• Marcus is the lead

They created an icon of a gear with a skull inside and really worked on creating a visual identity. Capps then showed us a poster of Raiders of Lost Ark and spoke about how we identify with what the movie was about just by looking at the poster. Epic worked on their final visual identity that incorporated all the themes above. Capps also showed us some of the art work that was considered and pointed out why they didn't fit within the themes identified above. One iteration only showed Marcus - but that violated the "never fight alone" theme and was discarded.

It's also important for a game developer to maintain control, both internally and externally. You must look at how you are going to work with your partners and with your internal teams. Capps gave the following advice maintaining your vision through execution with publishers, licensors and internal teams: It's easy to tell stupid people they're stupid. It's hard to deal with well meaning people who disagree with you.

There are six steps Capps outlined that has contributed to the success of Epic games.

Step 1: you must build a reputation. Don't lie, cheat or steal. Everyone says that they want feedback, but they really don't mean it. It's important to try giving feedback anyway. Be credibly willing to walk away from a deal.

Step 2: Have balls. Epic gets good deals because of their reputation and solid track record. They have pushy creative negotiators and are able to influence hardware based on their reputation.

Step 3: Assume everyone is wrong. It's very important to not just listen to the conclusions but to also ask for the data from testing, user testing, and market testing. Capps has been able to find errors in the conclusions by looking directly at the test results. It's also important to audit your financial partners. It is a game business not game "friends". Auditing is neither rude nor offensive. Epic has found genuine errors and improved efficiency in their relationships with their financial partners through the auditing process.

Step 4: Be consistent. Argue in-house first so you don't send mixed opinions and stick to the franchise vision and philosophy. Capps cited their policy to have no lasers in Gears of War as an example. Explain any changes in the vision very clearly

Step 5: Take responsibility. Your partners have a role and they should play it. You have the most to lose so really all roles are your responsibility. No one cares why you failed, or whose fault it was. If your partner isn't performing it is time for  honest feedback. If they don't fix it, find a new partner. In the meantime, start doing it yourself.

Step 6: Listen to smart people. Capps said that Epic has found there are some publishers/partners who are neither stupid nor evil and they really do bring something to the table.

In conclusion, Epic Games is now a member of the casual games industry and will be bringing the lessons learned in the AAA game industry with them. Capps said it is important for casual game developers to start creating franchises - not just games. He also gave the advice to not be afraid to take control of your games.

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