When
gazing upon the racks at a video game store, most titles adorning the walls are
made by giant studios that throw money at game production like a billionaire
trying to fix a dead girl in his bed.
Some of those studios are responsible for recycling the same garbage
year in and year out, justifying the marketing by adding a little extra
something the next time around: not only
will you be able to gun people down, but running alongside your avatar is your
very own unicorn that spears enemies and craps rainbows. This marketing works so well, that some
companies in the business have even declared that they’ll not be creating any
more new IP’s.
But
there is hope.
Beyond
the mountains of cash and thousands of workers lay a magical realm filled with
more creativity than currency. It’s a
place where developers eat week-old pizza and sell their bodies just to add one
more puzzle to a level. An enchanted
locale where ideas are scribbled onto soiled napkins by candlelight, because
every last cent went into making a new sprite, instead of paying the electric
bill. The place I’m talking about my
friends is the universe known only as Indie Games.
Young Horses, Inc. is one such Indie Team.
They
created a game with such originality it landed them on stage at a worldwide
event. Among seven other game
developers, Octodad: Dadliest Catch made a huge first impression in front of
many gamers by showcasing fresh, wacky ideas.
But how did they do it? How in
the world does a small—not to mention, wet-behind-the-ears—developer
climb the ranks of obscurity and end up in Sony’s Exclusive Indie Game Showcase
at E3 2013. The only way to truly find
out about their adventure was to capture one of the team members and
interrogate—er, interview them. So I set
my sights on Philip Tibitoski, Young Horses’ CEO and Community manager. Using stale cheese balls, warm starburst, and
pizza combos as incentives, he spilled every detail about the team's E3
experience.
"I don't know what the hell this thing is, but if it starts wriggling...screw the family--I'm gone."
As
Phil took in his new iron-barred surrounding, he revealed that the Sony Press
Conference or any console port in general was not always part of Young Horses'
original plan. “I think most of
us," Phil stated, "have always wanted to make a game that would end
up on a console just from being gamers most of our young lives," but then
added, "the PS4 was a very happy surprise.” An unbelievably fast, happy surprise. When Young Horses received the Sony devkit,
they cranked out a PS4 version in only four weeks. Four.
Most of the world would probably stop all other facets of a game and
have a whole team working on a PS4 port, but in fact, it was just one lone man. “The port was easier than we expected it to
be. I can't say much in the way of
technical details, but Kevin Geisler (producer/programmer) ported the game to
PS4 on a part-time basis while working his other full-time job in a single
month.” Phil ended with, “I think it
went well.” You think? That sounds like the understatement of the
year.
When
asked how Sony told Young Horses they’d be part of the E3 conference, Phil
popped a pizza combo and mumbled, “Sony really likes to go all out with their
offers. We were shipped a live octopus
with a note taped to its wiggly head that said ‘E3 <3. Yes or No?’ with
checkboxes.” Now you might call
bull-crap on that one, but would a starving developer offered junk food, lie?
Like
any independent team, Young Horses instantly crapped their pants when they
found out they’d be part of Sony's conference.
Phil stated, “We were super anxious up until and through the day of the
press conference.” But with eight
people, how does a team decide who gets the glory of marching out on stage like
a rock-star? Do they draw straws or have
a battle royale and the last developer standing gets the glory? Nah, the team decided “…to have Kevin up
there since he did a majority, if not all of the porting work,” Phil said,
while the remaining seven continued their “plans for global octopi based
domination.”
"I said periwinkle colored napkins! Not purple. Damn you, Poseidon."
During
the worldwide event, Young Horses and seven other developers stood at the
exclusive forefront of Indie games for the PS4.
Among those other developers were huge names of the industry like Lorne
Lanning of the Oddworld saga. Any normal
developer would have a fear of irrelevance swirling around in their stomach
like a dozen bean burritos fighting a pound of ice cream. Phil stopped gnawing at the bars of his cage
and revealed, “I can't speak for everyone else, but for me this feeling is ever
present. I'm always kind of in awe that
our little octopus game is standing amongst giants like Lanning's Oddworld or
something like Cerny's Knack. It’s
starting to slowly dawn on us though, that this is a big deal and something not
many developers get to experience this early in their career.”
Showcasing
a game in front of thousands is daunting enough, but let’s not forget the
millions of thoughts that would be pounding inside a person's head. Like will the game work when I turn it on? Did I take out the porno that was in the
devkit moments before? Should I have
brought two pairs of underwear to the conference? And Phil happened to be no different. “I was in a constant state of fear of it
crashing or something while it was being streamed to hundreds of thousands of
people. Even though we tested the hell
out of it beforehand and knew it was stable.”
So playing a game on stage might be stress inducing, but hanging
backstage must be heaven, right? A
magical realm filled with lollipops, rainbows and power-ups? “It's really just a lot of wires, grumpy
stage-folk and green rooms that aren't all that green.” Way to be a downer, Phil. “I did however spot Jack Tretton
(President/CEO of SCEA) in the wild.”
Pfft. I’m still holding on to a vision of beautiful ladies dressed in cosplay, swinging around poles and
throwing bacon covered hot dogs at passersby.
The casting for ET didn't go so well, as Octodad spent the majority of the time trying
to hold the beer cans, instead of drink them.
So
pants were crapped, audiences cheered, Octodad was unleashed, and absolutely no
fun was had backstage. It became a
moment of crowning achievement for Young Horses, and the small development team
stayed in high spirits as they packed up and headed back to their studio. But the real work now lay ahead. The game gained new fans, a new platform, and
that meant new obligations. So was there
a change in the work atmosphere? “It
definitely caused a bit more stress," Phil responded, "but at the
same time it's given us a lot of motivation to finish this sucker. We've been working on the game for about 2.5
years now and we need to get it out the door.
E3 was a nice kick in the ass."
But Phil also expressed optimism.
"We were excited to get the game done before, but now we've got a
whole lot of people waiting on us. It's
exciting!”
Whoa,
whoa, whoa pal. Calm down. You still haven’t told the world of your
team’s secret. Just how exactly does a
small studio reach the height of Sony’s E3 conference? Is it hard work, talent,
determination…luck? “Well I don't
believe in luck," Phil said.
"Everything is a matter of hard work and grabbing hold of the right
opportunities at the right times. We're
incredibly aware of what our fans think of the game and while we may not react
to everything, you can be sure we're out there creepily observing. This helps us from missing any chance to help
others, or to get help that we might need ourselves. Being flexible is important and our small
team lets us do that.”
"Blah. Blah. Blah. The wedding needs to be perfect, and blah, blah, blah. I'll show you perfect..."
The
biggest problem for Young Horses or any Indie developer always revolves around
money. Not having the right amount of
dough can make or break a dream. Having
showcased at E3 under your belt, an indie developer might be able to open doors
to more opportunity or possibly gain a big publisher, but Young Horses decided
early on they would self-fund Octodad: Dadliest Catch no matter what. “From time to time," Phil said, "we
think about what it might be like to get funding from the outside, but as it is
we're already a team of eight plus people.
If we split the revenue of the game much further, it could lower our chances
of being able to dedicate ourselves full-time to our next project. Right now it would have to be a truly amazing
deal for us to even consider being published by another company.” Phil does believe though, that debuting at E3
did become success altering for Octodad and for Young Horses. He continued, “I think we would've done
alright without it, but E3 opened up the game to a world of players that may
have never known about it otherwise.”
Young
Horses will release Octodad: Dadliest Catch in January on PC with the exclusive
PS4 version arriving shortly thereafter.
The studio is sprinting to the finish line with five of the team working
full-time now, leaving only three members to work day jobs and pound away at
the game on their off-hours. (Talk about brutal work habits.) Currently, the workload consists of “…finishing
up some of the last levels, recording VO, creating cut-scenes, and
testing," Phil said. "Most if
not all of the major features are in and working.” But in Young Horses' eyes, what would be the
perfect outcome after release? “It would
be great if the game blew up and became super popular," Phil shared,
"but at the same time all we really want is enough money to create the
next great thing. We have a ton of ideas
that no one even knows about.” Having
tons of ideas could scream 'big publisher' next time around, but the team
doesn’t see themselves working on any AAA titles. In fact, they’d rather be “...cranking out more
of our own stuff," said Phil, "and continuing to try and make the
independent community a better/happier place for everyone.”
"First I will conquer this female. Then I will rule the...maybe I should learn how to drive. Right.
I will conquer this beast of a woman, then learn how to drive, then conquer the world."
Out
of junk food and questions, Phil’s cage was opened and he was sent back into
the Indie wild. Before reaching the door
to freedom, he turned around and stated that if any indie developers should
want to make a splash at the next E3, all you have to do is work hard. He
continued, “Within reason, you should be taking hold of every opportunity that
comes your way no matter how small. You
never know where it might take you.”
P&P
would like to thank Young Horses and especially Phil Tibitoski for taking the
time to answer preposterous questions.
For more information about Young Horses or Octodad: Dadliest Catch,
please see the links provided below:
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