Bill Tiller, Gene Mocsy – Duke Grabowski: Mighty Swashbuckler!
[b]Ingmar[/b]: There’s an enormous amount of games getting released on Steam nowadays. It has become pretty much impossible to keep track of them all as there’s just so much stuff out there. How difficult is it for a niche game to get noticed these days?
[b]Bill[/b]: Luckily, Alliance Digital Media has good people, so we’re kind of relying on them. But I still think it’s a bit of a struggle, and I think you need a good marketing budget to get people interested. I mean, I worked on a few games that have gotten great reviews but just didn’t sell well, mostly on the iTunes platform. I worked on one called Snuggle Truck which did well because it was kind of controversial. So, that’s one way of doing things. You do something that’s controversial, everybody will hate it, and it ends up on the news. (everyone laughs)
[b]Ingmar[/b]: I remember when Snuggle Truck was launched that reading your press release was quite funny by itself! (everyone laughs)
[b]Bill[/b]: It’s a fun game, you know. People took it the wrong way, but it ended up being a blessing in disguise. Some people totally got it, though, and got the whole irony in it. But then we did a follow-up game which we thought was better, and it didn’t sell well. It’s just hard to stand out. Then I worked on another game which was kind of a kids-friendly, funny first-person shooter called Bounty Bots. It got good reviews, and people who played it loved it, but while there was some marketing for it there just wasn’t a lot of it. So it’s not enough to make a good game, you’ve got to make a good game and then go to town, pushing it and pushing it.
This whole month, I thought I’d be working on just [Kickstarter] rewards and episode two. But now it’s like I’m working half-time on PR and marketing and working half-time on rewards, artworks, and game design. I should have known that, but it kind of struck me as a surprise and I was just like “D’oh! Come on! You’ll also have to do PR and marketing!” That’s fine, as I like doing everything that helps the game, but yeah, it’s a struggle, you’re absolutely right!
[b]Gene[/b]: At least there’s a really solid adventure community, though. And – of course – sites likes yours and KickstartVentures that celebrate these games constantly keep us in the news, and continually help kickstarting adventure games, so there’s some great support. Actually, discovery isn’t so hard if you know your niche, and you’re friends with your niche. I think that’s a blessing!
[b]Bill[/b]: I also think that adventure games don’t age in my opinion. I could still play Grim Fandango – even the old version…
[b]Ingmar[/b]: … or Monkey Island 3!
[b]Bill[/b]: Exactly! Monkey Island 3 doesn’t look that old. These games are like cartoons. You know, you can still watch Warner Brother cartoons from the ‘30s, but if you’re watching a melodrama from the ‘30s, you might feel like, “what the hell is this?!” So cartoons tend not to age. Maybe you don’t need to be a big-splashy success to be a success, and you just need to have a good game that’s solid and steady, and that becomes a hit through word-of-mouth and reputation…
[b]Gene[/b]: … and Bill Tiller art on your screenshots!
[b]Ingmar[/b]: Never a bad idea!
[b]Bill[/b]: We hope that our screenshots make you go: “I want to adventure there!” I mean, that’s kind of my goal when I draw the artworks. I want to make something where I would like to go and explore. You know, sometimes I compare this to designing an amusement park. You want to create an environment people want to explore and just immerse themselves in. That’s the goal, and it doesn’t hurt the screenshots either.
[b]Ingmar[/b]: That’s also something I remember of the time when A Vampyre Story was announced. There wasn’t that much visual material available back then, and you didn’t even need to know much about the actual game. Looking at the artworks was enough to feel like this was something to look forward to; something with a unique selling point.
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