Akihiro Hino's Keys to Success

Link to Gamasutra report on this talk given by Hino of Level 5 (which is one of my favorite developers) - Prof. Layton, Dark Cloud, Rogue Galaxy.

One of the things he is advising for, is to keep the "boom triggers" or buzzwords in mind from the beginning of the planning stages for a game.

This is very good for me to keep in mind moving forward for new game. The more we are in the same mindset, the better.

The first concept that Hino brought up was the concept of "catch copy" -- a Japanese expression he translated as "buzzword" but which might also be broken down to a "bullet point" -- something unique about a title, that catches the attention of the audience.

The key, though, is something many developers might not agree with -- Hino suggests that "Promotion has to be taken into account from the point of planning a game. The creators also have to think about promotion, and promoting the game as they start planning the game itself."

Hino even admits that this may be his weakness. "I think more about the successful launches than about the [game] story itself. Sometimes I say something so outlandish that we have to worry about how the creators will make it later."


The first example he cited was the company's Professor Layton series. Though, as a questioner noted that these points refer to the Japanese market specifically, the concepts do map globally (just not all of them, in this specific case.)

- Mix of puzzles and story
- Collaborative work with Dr. Tago, whose book sold over 12 million copies
- Voice over casting of stars, and movie-quality animation

Mission Kenny

placeholder for blog re: Kennydash with designers - in motion walking to his lunch interview at the W in the midst of GDC.

Wandering Willows

Some of this may or may not wind up on the new PlayFirst blog, but I wanted to write something here amongst all my extra-curricular gaming interests.

NOW THAT WANDERING WILLOWS IS FINALLY OUT!!!

Please download it and play it for its free trial!

A shorter version of my "behind the scenes" internal email, to follow up to Erin and DRP's blogs:
Overall: this is really one of the most rewarding professional experiences I've had to date.
Working with a small but talented and experienced team of people who really care about the game we're making, is really rare. And in a company of people that I like and respect.

I guess since everyone is using names I will too for now. I don't think anyone actually reads this blog anyway :-).

Guy Romhild and Adam Gourdin, QA
Peri and Bryan - site QA
QA really are the unsung heroes of all software projects, and PF is no exception. All of these people really care about the quality of each game and site feature that the customer sees, and have been fans of the project since the beginning (also Chris D had been waiting for more quests since an early version. Now 162!)

Dan Chao - Lead Game Designer, Original Concept:
I've worked with external developers and also huge internal teams, so I really enjoyed being able to work with Dan directly as he came up with the idea for the game and moved it forward. Then we had to pitch it to various sets of executives at different times.
And then together with the team, he crafted out this large game, its design, wrote the 162 quests, and much more that really underscores the game's "surprise and delight" that so many reviews call out. For example, I totally forgot that we had a quest in the game that involved pinkeye (JJ). In the midst of a small "pinkeye plague" at the office, I came upon this quest while playing through Willows and LOLed.
It's like when I re-read a favorite book - I know exactly how the game is going to end but I am still surprised every time by the path(s) we take to get there.

David Ryan Paul, Lead Artist
DRP's blog really speaks for itself. He is a world-builder - the entire game has such a unified visual style. I am really glad to have the chance to work with him on this - his opinions in general are usually spot on, not only about art issues, but the project itself.


Erin Middendorf, Associate Artist
Erin's blog speaks for itself too! Maybe she could have the nickname of "expert on cute"! She also revised one of her personal designs for me to use on a magnet for my Hike for Discovery thank you gift, which I still need to distribute.

Jim Brooks, Lead Engineer, Game
He's the ninja-neer!
I was just talking about him to another developer at the PF GDC party - he is the bedrock of Games Engineering, and I am lucky enough to also have worked with him on Diner Dash: Hometown Hero. I think I am spoiled.

Me: I often feel like I am here to make sure all those above can do their jobs - it's really moving stuff forward as much as I can and not standing in their way accidentally. In the end we did ship on time for all of our dates for the last 8 months, so I take that as a personal milestone because that hasn't happened for past projects.

Managers and Execs: I have had several managers over this timeframe - Rebekah was a huge force during the early period, and Michael has been a good influence at the end as well.
Nick, Michael McC, Kenny, Bernie, Brad, Sheridan, John, Anne Marie, Heidi, and Sean (marketing) have all been very supportive and provided for the funds!
Basically it's the whole company - the whole site team and everyone making stuff work.

Review links:
Gamezebo: 4.5 stars

Unique game play, beautiful artwork, and a funny storyline with colorful characters will prove Wandering Willows a winner among adventure and sim game fans young and old. This game offers a challenge without the pressure of time constraints, and since it will likely take you at least 20 hours to complete all the quests, it's a great value for the price.

Jayisgames: "big long sentence"

It's a pet-raising recipe-collecting item-bartering friend-gaining character-customizing leveling-up collect-a-thon!

Meryl.net:


Casualicious Review:

Most of the time when seasoned casual gamers hear of the company called PlayFirst, the name is always associated with time management “Dash” games. But aside from this, they are also known for bringing very innovative games like Chocolatier and Dream Chronicles into the casual gaming scene. Wandering Willows is one such innovation. And this time, PlayFirst again offers a gameplay never before seen on their roster of recent casual offerings.

March 19 announcements:

MacWorld - probably the best restating of the press release...
PlayFirst is best known for casual games like the seemingly unstoppable Diner Dash series of task-management games. The company is exploring new territory with Wandering Willows — they classify the game using two terms we don’t often hear together — casual and RPG (role playing game).

Dan's quote for the press release:

“Wandering Willows is a unique title in PlayFirst’s portfolio as it offers a much more open-ended experience and heightened interaction,” said Dan Chao, lead game designer. “Player progression and customisation are the key elements that were crucial to our overall design process enabling a unique and more engaging experience for every player."

GDC 2009 and PF party

So far, have not gone to any panels or lectures for GDC.
We picked up the PF badge in my name on Sunday night and went out for dinner with my cousin Chris at Thirsty Bear Brewing Company.

Little did we suspect that Satoru Iwata, president and CEO of Nintendo, would be seated at the table next to us.

Did not talk to him of course. Geeked out about it on the street outside and Chris found a picture online to compare with our memories. Yes, it was him.

Today PlayFirst launched Wandering Willows to the public and I was happy to be able to go to our PF developer party at GDC.
I met several developers who seemed excited to hear about Willows, and talked to them about their projects and all. Also really good to see Kenny who works in SF but has been in NZ for months, and Michelle who works on the East Coast.

This was the 2 year anniversary of first meeting Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games,
after my cousin Chris Dahlen smartly recognized him at the PlayFirst Diner Bash 2007 and I managed to connect him to Kenny briefly at the party. Kenny already was a fan of Dave's game The Shivah.

That led to us starting to work on the early stages of the game that became Emerald City Confidential - which along with WW is one of the other games that launched this quarter.
I can't take credit for more than that initial work to get the deal signed, since Michael and others took over at that point, and the project was nto necessarily easy to finish.
But I do feel really good to have helped them make the connection. Maybe it feels a little like being a literary agent - matching up writers and publishers. I think the game is quite good, as do many reviewers.
And Dave has learned a lot about what works to get the casual audience more into his games.

After the PF party I felt a little lost. Too early to go to the Minna Mingle, which I hadn't RSVP'ed to anyway.
Most of the other PF people were taking a developer out to dinner.
I called a couple friends and Chris to see where they were, and walked past the Minna Mingle. That intersection at 4th and Mission was interesting: small hordes of people, mostly guys, wandering around apparently from party to party? dinner to party?
I saw one small group of women go by. Also did some good eavesdropping. It didn't feel too weird to just hang out there since there were so many people around. And I still had a little buzz from the PF party.

Not too sure I wanted to enter into another crowd where I didn't know people, I decided to jump on BART and go home. I also have a dinner on Wed and Dave's Wadjet Eye party on Thursday.

Ada Lovelace Day - Women of PlayFirst

This is my Ada Lovelace Day post about a woman in technology I admire.

Is it cheating for it be about all the women at PlayFirst, especially those working directly in game or site development?
We're making games for women and a good number of us are women, which is a good thing.
And these in particular:
Erin, Sora, Peri, Jen, Angel, Vicki. Michelle, Maria. Also my new partners in design crime: Helen and Dana.
And Allison, Ji and any others I've forgotten.
Devin and Kristina in absentia...and the original gamegirls: Prof Carrie Heeter, Toby Levenson, and Pat Murphy.

(and not to be a brown-noser, but I do really admire Mari - especially this interview where she talks about her "a-ha" moment in tech.
When I first googled her I found this article and thought...hmmm!
We kind of had a similar a-ha moment, both at Stanford, except that hers was about computers in general and mine was on the web. Different time periods. )