Best Game Ever

2005-08-14

Well, Best game I've ever worked on. About 3 months ago I finally got off a failing team and on to a new project. This new project is a PSP game and I can honestly say it's probably the best game I've ever worked on. That is not to say it's the best most fun company I've ever been at but as for the game I'm pretty stoked.

First off it's super original. New idea, new style. It's also super simple to control, only 3 buttons no pad. It's super cute and it's actually fun. The designers laugh and giggle as they build and test their levels and we still have quite few features to go until we get the true feel which we are sure will make it even more endearing.

Even cooler, it could be argued to be specifically designed for PSP. While it would be possible to implement on nearly any system when you see the way you control it it just works best with the PSP layout with the screen between your hands. Sorry I can't be more specific, you'll have to wait and see.

It's also a small team and a short project, 3 month pre−production, 4 months production. 7−10 people total on the team. So it's easy to feel like part of the team and have a stake in the project. It's sad though, we could have shipped this title for PSP launch or shortly there after but it took nearly a year to get it approved. Early last summer a simple prototype was created by one programmer after a game designer had the inspiration. Then it was several months of trying to get a producer interested and convincing the company to fund it. To us game players from the initial quick prototype it was obviously a great idea but the people above never have any imagination so they require more convincing than a prototype.

Of course there's no guarntee it will be a hit and I'm sure that's a big concern by marketing being that it's an original idea it might be a hard sell. You can't say "Better than Halo!" if it's not an FPS or "Better than GT4!" if it's not a racing game. I'm hoping marketing will be able to give it the support it needs. Being that it's cute and easy it could also be a casual gamer's game as well. We'll have to do our best to make sure it doesn't get lost among PS3/360 hype over the next 9 months.

Anyway, it should be announced in a month or two so keep your eyes out for a new original PSP game from Sony Japan.

Comments
What business can NOT learn from Open Source
My Game is SOOO Cool!