Rag Doll Kung Fu developers – how to deal with Sony
What does it take to develop a next-generation game? If you said a hundred people and £5 million (about $6.5 million) you’d be way, way, way off. Media Molecule, creator of the top secret PS3 game Rag Doll Kung Fu, did it with a lot less people and no money.
If you’re in a start-up game developing company with big next-gen dreams, take your cue from Media Molecule.
Media Molecule co-founders Mark Healy and Alex Evans spoke with GamesIndustry.biz on how their small company scored a PS3 exclusive title.
On choosing PS3 as the games platform
Evans: For me, the PlayStation 3 was the leveller…. loads of start-ups appear every console wave, and it’s a good time to start because no one else has used PS3. Originally we didn’t know which platform we’d go for – but Sony has been great and we’ve gone with them. We’ve decided we can focus on that platform and exploit it.
On making the pitch to Sony
Healey: You prototype and pitch and it’s the perfect sized team to do something like that. And then Sony says, “We like it, here’s some money.” And then you panic. It’s actually quite a struggle, but we’re learning and it’s really a fun experience too.
Click on the Full Article link to read more from this interview.
What does it take to develop a next-generation game? If you said a hundred people and £5 million (about $6.5 million) you’d be way, way, way off. Media Molecule, creator of the top secret PS3 game Rag Doll Kung Fu, did it with a lot less people and no money.
If you’re in a start-up game developing company with big next-gen dreams, take your cue from Media Molecule.
Media Molecule co-founders Mark Healy and Alex Evans spoke with GamesIndustry.biz on how their small company scored a PS3 exclusive title.
On choosing PS3 as the games platform
Evans: For me, the PlayStation 3 was the leveller…. loads of start-ups appear every console wave, and it’s a good time to start because no one else has used PS3. Originally we didn’t know which platform we’d go for – but Sony has been great and we’ve gone with them. We’ve decided we can focus on that platform and exploit it.
On making a game for the PS3 without the size and money
Mark Healey: Obviously it depends on the type of game you’re looking at making. We wouldn’t go off and try and make something like Final Fantasy, something with huge amounts of assets… we’ve chosen a game that suits our style but at the same time won’t be seen as a budget game.
Alex Evans: We pick our battles. And that’s one of the reason we’ve gone for a single platform project.We can do a high production value game because we’ve chosen what to do ourselves.
On making the pitch to Sony
Healey: You prototype and pitch and it’s the perfect sized team to do something like that. And then Sony says, “We like it, here’s some money.” And then you panic. It’s actually quite a struggle, but we’re learning and it’s really a fun experience too.
Evans: Part of our pitch to Sony wasn’t that we’ve just made Rag Doll… It was that, yes, we’ve just made Rag Doll Kung Fu, but we’ve got a team of five people on board already who all have a number of titles shipped.
On maintaining freedom and creativity when working with a giant publisher
Mark Healey: There’s a balance. We’ve got a producer who is forcing us to think ahead, and there’s this constant battle that says you can’t design a game on paper before you start programming it. But there’s a certain amount of stuff that you can plan on a sheet of A4. It’s good in a way, but it’s a necessary evil because we don’t have the money to fund it ourselves.
Alex Evans: It is a balance. Rag Doll was free-form, but Mark really drives himself and he did have plans… there were a lot of set goals. We might have suggested something and he was pretty sure he didn’t want that in the game. So there’s a lot of Rag Doll that was more structured than how it comes across.