October 22, 2008

Worst Kept Secret in MMO Gaming Finally Released

Gee...someone else is making a Star Wars MMO?

Good name.

Posted by SunSword at 12:49 AM | Comments (0)

October 27, 2007

Me being snarky at the Austin Game Developer's Conference

I was just minding my own business not drinking the free beer when these three zombies accosted me.

GameZombie.tv Presents Heatwave Interactive

Posted Oct 21, 2007

GameZombie.tv Presents a conversation with Anthony Castoro, Founder of Heatwave Interactive, "an entertainment software company whose mission is to create original, character-based games that unite the power of online gaming with the excitement of traditional video games." Filmed at the 2007 Austin Game Developer's Conference. VJ'd by Jessica Frasher, Music by Chris Bates, Produced by Spencer Striker, Edited by Tyler Mager

Posted by SunSword at 03:01 AM | Comments (0)

February 22, 2007

Holy EMAIL OVERFLOW, Batman!

Well, the press release got some attention. Here's a shortlist...

Game Daily
Gamasutra
MMORPG.com
Fierce Game Biz
Kotaku
Games Industry.biz

Lots of legitimate questions have been raised, particularly regarding the concept of bringing the excitement of single player games to online games. I'll post more about that in a bit, but first I have a ton of work for my current client to finish, then I've got all the interviews, job inquiries, business dev, GDC meetings and general spam to get through. Wee!

Posted by SunSword at 11:45 PM | Comments (0)

February 21, 2007

In response to MMO != VC

Over on Terra Nova.com, Dan Hunter commented on the sad state of funding for online games.

It frustrated me because the MMO development as a whole suffers from the scarcity of funding. Since I consult for one of the few venture groups that actually funds MMOs, I get a chance to talk to MMO developers. Specifically, I spend a lot of time hearing one thing: “VCs and I.Banks don’t get us.” I am a gamer. I want people to understand the industry. I want my colleagues to get the MMO industry, so they fund good games.

Obviously, this topic keenly interests me, as Heatwave is considering taking on some external funding in the near future.

Part of the problem is that MMO Companies aren't great at having a strong business plan that VC's can understand. I think this is widely true of the game industry in general. It's also a hit driven business and unlikely to support as many companies as the forecasted market numbers may indicate at first blush.

To complicate matters, it's really really difficult to find developers that actually have all of the right components put together for a likely successful liquidation event. I can't fathom the number of online games that I evaluated last year that were non-starters within 15 minutes. Wrong idea, wrong staff, wrong business plan, wrong technology...

MMOGs are hard. Perhaps the hardest thing to do in this business. I imagine it's a scary place for traditional VC's and banks to find success. I can only think of one major exit of an MMO company, and that's EA's purchase of Mythic. I'm sure there are others, and yes the industry is young.

In all honesty, I've assumed from the beginning that we'd get our funding from non-traditional sources. Mostly because of the kinds of stories many game developers tell of the difficulties associated with traditional VC's. Control issues and external pressures don't always mesh well with a highly creative, iterative process. So it's possible the problem goes both ways. MMO companies may not want VC funding in the first place.

Well, anyway, there's my perspective. I too bemoan the lack of funding in the game industry, but I also believe that it takes a special kind of backer to understand what it takes to find success in the MMO business. If you know any of those folks, feel free to send 'em my way ;).

Posted by SunSword at 01:46 AM | Comments (0)

February 11, 2007

Heatwave lights up the East Coast

Since my previous post, Heatwave has already passed some very important milestones. We've made an offer to our first employee and landed our first business contract, all in the space of a few days!

I can't discuss our first client, but I have to say, I'm pleased to see Heatwave already in the black. Assuming our first offer of employment is accepted, I think Heatwave is off to a solid start.

I'd like to thank all the well wishers for their thoughts and advice on this new venture. I know some people may have felt a little "left out of the loop" because they didn't know what I was up to, and I'm sorry for that. I'm also flattered, as I didn't know so many people cared :). Allow me to explain. We have a very specific business plan that focuses on our first client and then bringing on a more sizeable staff. My experiences in the past have made me extremely aware of the affect my actions can have on other people's lives, and I'm going to make damned sure that we're only getting people excited and involved if I'm supremely confident that the time is right. That might seem like an obvious thing to say, but I've learned that even the slightest hint or indication can be taken by some as reality or a promise. Maybe that's because my enthusiasm is so infectious, but nevertheless, I've had to very carefully keep my expressions of excitement limited to a close group of trusted people.

However, now I can talk about it! So, if you're interested in working with me at Heatwave or just talking about what we're up to, you can always drop me a note at anthony ||at|| heat wave interactive . com. While we're not aggressively hiring at the moment, I'm always happy to talk with people who are passionate about making games.

Today, I'm in Philadelphia, PA. I've never been to the city of brotherly love before. So far it's been great. We came in from New York on Friday night, having completed some business there. We took the train from Manhattan and arrived in Philly about an hour later. The 30th street train station is an amazing structure. I'm staying with my business partner and Heatwave Co-founder, Donn Clendenon, in his very cool converted fire house.

The weekend has been spent working on business plans and taking care of miscelleanous corporate details, such as a failed attempt to open up our corporate bank accounts. I suppose that's a tale worth retelling...

We went to an American bank here in Philly on Saturday. The lobby was a little busier than expected, but that gave us the opportunity to watch Barack Obama's speech while we sat in the waiting area. It was very interesting to watch the other bank patrons watch the speech. Regardless of your political bent, or your thoughts about him as a candidate, Barack is undeniably an interesting person to watch. As Senator Obama delivered his speech, the bank, which had been blubbling with the hubub of tellers and customers doing business, grew noticebly quiet. Donn looked at me to get my attention and then pointed over to the teller desk where everyone in line had turned to watch Barack talk about his entry into the presidential race.

I have to wonder if that will be something worth remembering, or just an interesting mote of experience, soon forgotten.

Oh, and it was a failed attempt because after all that waiting, the computer systems went down and never came back online. We'll have to try again on Monday...

Anyway, the "big thing" we've been discussing this week is the Heatwave Interactive Inc. logo.

More on that tomorrow...

Posted by SunSword at 09:36 PM | Comments (0)

February 07, 2007

I feel a Heatwave comin' on... (holy cr4p, what have I done???)

The past two or three weeks have been incredibly busy and because of the nature of that bustle, I really haven't had much opportunity to talk about what I'm up to.

Last month, I blathered on about how I was going to make some big changes and things are going to change. I was serious.

Last Friday was my last day at Codemasters. I've started a new company called "Heatwave Interactive, Inc.", as a vehicle to bring great games to the masses and "right" some of the "wrongs" in the games business. Currently, Heatwave only has a few employees, but we've already landed our first contract for a major client. What are these great games you ask? How about those wrongs? And can I really do anything about them?

I'll get to that. But first, let me give you a little context for what my life is like in this transition.

Codemasters & England. My family and I really are very sad to be leaving England so soon. We firmly expected to be there at least three years. We've had an amazing time. We've travelled all over the UK and parts of Europe. The kids have been exposed to a very different way of life, and as a family we've had to adapt to some pretty significant lifestyle changes (family of six with no car for 5 months...). The people at Codemasters are fantastic. Along with some great professional contacts, I've made what I hope are lifelong friends. In particular, the Codemasters Online Gaming (COG) division are an inspiring group of people, weathering very difficult conditions for a vision they believe in (not to mention holding up the banner for online gaming's "forgotten continent").

I'll miss you guys.

Heatwave & Austin. So, as of Friday, I've been phoneless and computerless. That's been rough. Particularly since I've been travelling quite a bit in the US. At the moment I'm in Austin, Texas doing a little house shopping and getting some fundamentals set up. Over the next month or so, I'll move the family and get into the groove with our new client. Also, we've got some corporate branding coming along, and of course a website (the current domain is purely a placeholder). I've got a great partner in a gentlemen named Donn Clendenon, who I've been working with "virtually" for a while. We've also got some very talented folks working with us on various parts of the business. I can't wait to tell you a little more about that in the near future. So far, it's been one of the coolest experiences of my creative/professional life.

Over the next week, I'll address the "rights" and "wrongs," the reason for choosing Austin as our base of operations, the motivations behind the name "Heatwave Interactive," and other various topics as they arise.

Anyway, this is just a quick update to say, I'm dead serious. I'm a man with a family of six with a good salary and I just quit my job. Serious coolness will result.

One last thing, I'm considering doing some "reality blogging" about what it's like to start a new company, or more specifically, a new game company. There are a lot of implications to consider, but very few people have an idea of what it's like to start a business, much less a game company. Am I crazy enough to let the Intarweb vote on our company logo? What about which game project we should do first? Is that pure insanity? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about that.

Peace.

Posted by SunSword at 03:19 PM | Comments (1)

January 17, 2007

Great news for the Stargate MMO

MGM has announced two Stargate-SG1 movies!

That brings out my inner geek (I was a huge fan of the series. I have to admit since I've moved to the UK, I haven't watched it as much, but I still want to see what they do with it.

I'm sure the guys at Cheyenne Mountain Studios are thrilled.

Posted by SunSword at 04:26 PM | Comments (0)

January 08, 2007

ArchLord gains momentum

Regardless of whether ArchLord is the game for you, it is an interesting product to watch from an industry perspective. Since we announced in December that no subscription is required to play, the average number of players in the game each night is up by 100% (that is to say it has doubled). Why is this significant?

First, it is significant because the game still requires a box purchase. The game's increase in users is tightly connected to new accounts which have come from box sales. Why is this important? Primarily because retail was in significant decline only a month or two after launch. The new pricing model has had (in the very short period thus far) a significant REAL impact on retail sales and active server populations.

Okay, that's all very well and interesting for AL. I'm happy for the community and of course it makes the business much more pleasant.

The second significant item here is that it validates the assertion that the MMO audience has become more price sensitive.

The bottom line is of course that now that we've found the right price for the service, we can continue the work of actually improving the game and addressing the many and various concerns that the players have with it.

The last piece of the business to shape up is item sales. So far, they've been very popular (uptake), but are they enough to operate the game service profitably in the long term (revenue)? Early indications are promising, but only time will tell.

Posted by SunSword at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

January 04, 2007

How I got back into the game industry

Thanks to Damion, I got to read a "way back when" post on UO by Dan Rubenfield. Mostly he concentrates on the amount of ganking and griefing that went on in UO, but it brought back some memories.

One of the stories he told is almost an exact retelling of the event that brought me back to Ultima Online, and more importantly prompted to me to leave my cushy Unix consulting gig to return to the game industry.

From his site:
Everyone talks fondly about it, but there’s never a happy story.

It’s always the shared moment of getting slaughtered in a dungeon, losing your stuff, hiding traps in your backpack and killing people who snooped and more.

But regardless of the tone, people still loved it. The fucked up moments, the slaughter of the innocents, the absolute depths that you could sink to.

When it first released, people would break into your house, steal all of your stuff, sapping you of thousands of hours of gameplay. Then, not content with having ruined your experience, they would leave you a book on the floor of your now empty house, with a note in it.

“You Suck”

When they broke into my house, they left all the furniture stacked in the back, with a book in the armoir. The book said "Thanks for all the cheese."

Now, I don't have the best memory, so I'll give you the romaniticised version of what happened next. I called Raph Koster on the phone (whom I had met when I was working in QA at Origin through an informal game design group called "Project Brainstorm" (memories anyone?)).

As the story goes, I told Raph, "Dude, you need to hire me so I can fix your game." A few months later and I was working my first large system in UO: House Security. Looking back an the resulting system, it seems like a fairly crude game design solution, requiring chat commands for a lot of functionality. But it sure did make houses more secure!

Thanks for the memories, Dan. Happy New year!

(As an aside, it seems like a UO day for me, as it keeps coming up. This morning I ran across the MMORPG.com Interview with UO Producer Aaron Cohen.)

Posted by SunSword at 05:04 PM | Comments (1)

January 03, 2007

A day in the life of a community manager...

Kyle Rowley, COG's RF Online Community Manager extraordinaire has penned a very readable article on MMORPG.com.

For those of you who are not familiar with myself, or my alter ego “Laeth” I’ll do a quick introduction. My “real name” is Kyle Rowley and I’m the Community Manager (CM) for Codemasters Online Gaming’ Sci-Fi MMORPG Rising Force Online (RFO). Professionally, some could call me a n00b in the Community Management business – I’ve only been CM for RFO for around 10 months after all – so my words are not to be taken as the bee's knees on what community management entails, or how one would go about doing this for a living; but it should provide some insight for those of you who are interested."

Certainly no n00b, Kyle has done an excellent job representing a difficult project developed in a far away country through a significant language barrier.

As a bonus, there are a few shots of some of my co-workers and our office out in the middle of the English countryside.

Posted by SunSword at 03:26 PM | Comments (0)

December 29, 2006

Too close to home? Doubtful, I wasn't aiming at you...

I listed this entry under "site news," because the original post was about my site and the poor content frequency (if not quality). I feel the need to respond because someone I respect a great deal has considered taking offence (although I doubt he really takes offence).

As I didn't intend for this to become a snipe fight between myself and other people in this segment, and as I don't intend for it to devolve into such, I'm going to briefly make two points and then move on:

A) The post was about my failings on this site, and the contributing reasons. Yes, I made references to other blogs, but
I didn't call out anyone specifically because that wasn't the point. The point was that there are a lot of pressures that make posting both interesting and brutally honest articles about our industry difficult for me.

B) Scott, you only referenced one of my reasons, you left out the lack of personal time. To your point that there is room to comment on things you don't directly work on, or that are not projects your peers work on, I don't disagree, but I haven't had the time to assimilate all the data tertiary to my everyday dealings and then form a useful (and entertaining!) blog post about it. I leave that to you.

I suppose it is an interesting idea to poke the nest and see who reacts, but that wasn't my goal. Scott, I respect you perhaps above all when it comes to commenting on the universe of online games. I imagine that it is your critical nature that makes you as incisive as you are but also contributes to your own inner criticism. For anyone else tempted to take personal offense from my internal criticism, ask yourself why you assume I was talking about you. Is it because you have a popular blog? Or because you secretly suspect your site is unworthy? Either way, consider your reaction before you decide to take offense. I'm not going to get into it any further.

Posted by SunSword at 02:06 PM | Comments (0)

WTF is with SunSword's Website?

I know, I almost never post. And when I do, it's either about family stuff you couldn't care less about or some boring alert related to work that you could've gotten off of a corporate news site or press release.

So, you ask, WTF? What happened to the guy who use to "tell it straight" and talk to the players like they were real people? What happened to the straight dope?

Ready for some honesty? Click to keep reading...

The first thing that happened? I worked my way up the corporate ladder to a point where my position was important enough that everything I said was under intense scrutiny, but I wasn't high enough on that ladder to be able to say what I wanted and survive.

Now, there are some people at the producer-level and up in the industry who really say what they think in their blogs, but I've found that the most active/interesting posts are by people who aren't directly responsible for the kinds of things they comment on.

Most of the really interesting blogs out there are by people who are independent of censorship, either because they're at the very top of their organizations, or because they aren't directly responsible (or aren't generally perceived to be) for the kinds of things they comment on.

And of course, some of the most popular and respected bloggers in the online game industry don't even deal in reality. Most of it is academic bullshit and spin. Which is understandable, because again, if people dealt in reality, they'd probably get censored by their organizations. Unfortunately, it means that most of the audience for this kind of material is having a very confused discussion fueled by misinformation, hype and guesswork.

The second cause of my silence is purely my availability. In the last 5 years I've had three kids, moved from Texas to California and from California to England. Life has been crazy, and I'm a family kinda guy, so I tend to prioritize family happiness over career and personal computing time. Those of you that have had kids know about the post-birth parental coma that lasts about 9 months. Those of you who haven't had kids have no idea what I'm talking about, really. I can't explain it, but I've been in it for about 4.5 years.

It is only in the last 48 hours that I've realized what a price I've paid for the hectic but amazing life I've been living. For the past 6 months, I've averaged about 5.5 hours of sleep a night. Since the holiday break, I've gotten 8-12 hours of sleep every night. I had no idea the toll lack of sleep and stress have been having on me. When I woke up on boxing day (the day after Christmas for my fellow Americans), I felt refreshed in a way that I honestly cannot recall.

It felt like waking from a dream that had lasted 6 months. All my ambition and energy returned in a rush. I realized that despite myriad crazy/cool things I've done in the last few years, I've been treading water professionally and creatively.

What the hell? It's about to be 2007? People are still rehashing the same ol' MMORPG format? Shit is about to change y'all.

So what does that mean in reference to this post? Well, sunsword.com is going to change quite a bit. I'm going to separate the personal from the professional. I'm also going to take a new tact with the professional, to be revealed in January. I'm also considering bringing the forums back, let me know what you think about that. I found forums to be a more satisfying, interactive experience than blogs and comments.

On a personal note, I'm also going to start prioritize sleep. And on that note, see you in the AM.

Posted by SunSword at 12:41 AM | Comments (0)

August 04, 2006

More on Archlord

We've begun a "grand experiment" in pricing for MMOs with Archlord, which is sure to set off some controversy as people try to absorb the implications.

The system is called "PlayPLUS" (thanks marketing!) which is a hybrid scheme combining the typical subscription model with item selling.

The basic idea is that for a low subscription of $9.99, which is less than your average MMO subscription (around $14.99), the player is also granted a monthly allowance of credits to spend on in-game items.

For the average gamer, this presents the opportunity to play Archlord for less than they would pay for another top-tier MMO.

A detailed chart of the various subscription levels and their corresponding credit allowance can be found here.

Obviously, the trick to making this all work is that the items for sale must be balanced carefully so as not to create too much of a difference. The kinds of items available are consumable benefits that give temporary improvments such as stat buffs, increased XP, and other benefits. They do NOT allow you to buy the "uber sword of doom" or "elite armor." For those who have lots of time to play and are powergamers at heart, item selling won't allow the casual player to keep up. But it will let them stay closer.

I expect a lot of feedback on this system. It's basically the first of its kind in a major MMO title in the West. Feel free to leave a comment, or bounce over to the Archlord Forums and join the discussion.

The Beta Test is scheduled to begin soon, and we expect to figure out how well this system will work in practice rather quickly.

Posted by SunSword at 01:00 PM | Comments (0)

Pre-order now and rule the world!

The pre-order campaign for Archlord has begun!. Order now and get exclusive access to the beta and while supplies last collectable postcards stickers, and soundtrack CD!

Posted by SunSword at 10:54 AM | Comments (0)

July 28, 2006

Wake up and do something about it...

Dan's been dreaming... And for the most part, he's right.

Obviously, as a publisher I get a lot of exposure to other companies and their thoughts about the MMO space. This particular quote is so accurate it gave me the chills.

There’s a palpable sense of fear and terror amongst mmo developers right now. They’re scared shitless of WOW. They see it, believe it’s insurmountable, tuck their tails and go the opposite direction.
What does that mean?
It means you’re going to have company after company fucking around with smalltime, smallscale free products. Myspace Killers, Habbo Killers, Runescape Killers, you name it.

You make some great points, Dan. So, are you just going to point out the obvious while you sit at home being armchair exective producer in your underwear, or are you actually going to do something about it?


Posted by SunSword at 12:36 AM | Comments (1)

July 12, 2006

How to get into the game industry

Someone has suggested that I give my thoughts on "how to break into the game industry." Sure. Why not? Everyone else does it. More on this tonight...

***Updated***

Okay, "in a few days" would have been more accurate.

I only have a few thoughts for you, the first of which is a cop out.

Go visit Zen of Design's Breaking In Page and follow all of the links. Plenty of good advice there.

In no particular order, or mixed together do the following:

That's it. It's not genius. As my mom has said to me in the past about the book trade, "Writers talk about writing. Authors write." Get out there and make something. It won't be brilliant at first, but as everything in life, the skills you need to succeed in this industry are not latent. You must build on whatever talent you have by constant practice. The end result will be some rudimentary skill and something demonstrable to talk about when you apply for that entry-level position you found on http://www.gamasutra.com.

Posted by SunSword at 07:37 PM | Comments (3)