The Development

By Jesse Lowther, Medaverse Studios CEO and Lead Designer

I've spent a good deal of time deciding how I want to conclude this series, mainly because it has been difficult to find anything good to say about the situation and to end this on a somewhat uplifting note. It seems that brutal honesty has gone over well thus far, so why stop now?

Let's start with me: I'm angry, depressed and generally put off from the idea of making games anymore. The sad part is that I'm not even sure who to be angry at. Should I be angry at playtesters for enjoying the game and giving us false impressions of how people would react to it? Should I be angry at myself for not seeing some of these issues coming and doing something to avoid them? Should I be angry at potential customers for not buying it? I just don't know, and while placing blame would only serve to make me feel a bit better, its usefulness pales in comparison to figuring out what to do differently next time. And here's the really bad news: we have NO idea what to change based upon the feedback we received, other than make the next game prettier. There have been WiiWare games that have been loved by critics and have sold poorly. There have also been WiiWare games that have been hated by critics and yet continue to sell. Right now, there's an aquarium screensaver with roughly the same aggregate score as Gravitronix that hasn't left the top five in quite a while. Huh?

Then again, none of this should be a surprise to me, or to anyone reading this, for that matter. Think back to all the games you loved over the years that didn't get noticed. These are the games that you could mention to a group of gamers and the odds would be that none of them would've heard of the game, yet you loved it and found it an all but life-changing experience. Looking at the situation now, the game developers of the world just don't know what will become popular and what won't. There is literally no developer in this day and age who consistently brings out new ideas and finds that they're always met with praise and strong sales.

In hindsight, why would Gravitronix be any different? I probably should've known that from day one, since this is a concept that WAS staring me in the face from the beginning...

I realize, looking back, that a great deal of what went right on the development of Gravitronix happened purely by luck. We got lucky in acquiring Wii developer status and we got lucky in finding the extra help we needed, but in both of these cases, I was always pushing for these things to happen. As I like to put it, my hook was always in the water. I suppose that this metaphor applies to the entirety of game development and business on the whole. Applying this to a bigger picture, releasing a game that gets noticed and sells well is just as much luck as anything else along the way. Why else do developers roll out sequel after sequel? It's the only guaranteed way of releasing something that has a better chance of selling, and even then, sequels have still bombed, sometimes selling less than half of the previous title.

When it comes right down to it, Gravitronix could've been the best game ever, past, present and future, and that STILL wouldn't have guaranteed that it would sell. There is literally no threshold of quality, no overwhelmingly positive aggregate score and no amount of money spent on advertising that guarantees sales (or at least recouping losses).

Realizing this now, it doesn't feel as bad. It's a staggering thought, but in game development, you can literally spend two years of your life working on something and still have it amount to absolutely no sales or popularity. The only thing you can actually do in response to this? Make another game. Try again. Remember that even the greatest minds in game development still produce duds and that your experience will certainly be no different, especially starting out on a shoestring budget with zero prior experience. The only thing you can do is keep your hook in the water.

So this brings us quite naturally to the final advice I have to offer on the subject of game development: if there are no guarantees as to what will become popular, what SHOULD you develop? The answer: anything you damn well please. Look at it this way, Gravitronix was a game that was designed to appeal to everyone: it's pick up and play and it has an amazingly simple concept so as to appeal to newer players. It has a great deal of hidden depth for hardcore players. We kept it small at the cost of graphics because of the complaint of the lack of space. We made use of the Wii's motion controls in a good way, ensuring the game couldn't be done on any other console. We basically bent over backwards to try and make the game as customer-friendly as possible and it didn't work out terribly well.

Don't go into this whole thing looking for "approval". Really, we spend our whole lives looking for approval from others, and people who are looking for approval are the most off-putting of them all. Make a game that you love and be happy with it. I spent a while looking for approval, but I've realized that nothing good has come of it and nothing ever will. I love Gravitronix. I've had hours of fun playing it, especially against other people. If I'm the ONLY one who feels that way, so be it. I'd rather make a game that I alone love than a game that I don't enjoy and didn't enjoy making that sells incredibly well.

If you want to make money, be a real estate broker. If you're going to develop games, it should be because you want to develop games. I started developing games because there are a number of game ideas I'd like to see made real so I could play them myself. I lost sight of that a few times along the way and started thinking too much about what the customer would want and less about what it is I want to make. I had forgotten why I truly wanted to make games in the first place. This is a mistake I will not make again.

Gravitronix is not perfect. It's a good game and it's certainly functional, but it's nowhere near what my full vision of it was. I hope to revisit it again when I have more resources at my disposal to do the game justice. In the meantime, I'm going to make whatever game I feel like making next. If you want to develop games, take my advice and do the same. Even if the game isn't popular, you'll be proud of what you've made. Trust me.

Today's Lesson: Game development isn't easy. Trends are always hard to figure out, and seeking approval isn't always the best thing to do. In the face of adversity the only thing to do is keep moving forward with your dreams and enjoy doing what you love. Make the game you want to make and be happy with the end result, regardless of its overall acceptance by the masses.

Nintendo World Report would like to thank Jesse Lowther for taking time from his busy schedule to share his very honest and candid thoughts with our readers and interacting with our forum members. We hope that the hardships his development team faced during the creation of Gravitronix will help them make better games in the future, and gain a better understanding the gaming industry in general.

We are looking forward to their next game, and will be sure to bring you coverage as it soon as it's announced!