FingerGaming

Hello and welcome to this 5th Equilibrio developer diary. If you missed the previous diaries you can still find them here.

In the last dev diary, I talked about the status of the game and posted some screenshots. Unlike what I said in the previous diary, I’ll not talk about the submission process this time (I’ll do it when the game is in the submission process). Today, I’ll talk about two distinct things: first, how to create a casual and hardcore-friendly game, and secondly, I’ll give some general information we’d like to share with fellow and wanna-be iPhone developers who’d like to launch a worldwide title.

Some of you may have noticed that I’m one week late. No need to worry — this is because this dev diary is longer than the previous ones and it took me a little bit more time than I expected to wrap it up.

Let’s get started with the first topic: how to create a compelling game suited for multiple audiences (casual and core gamers, in the case of Equilibrio).

Equilibrio development started early May 2008 and it was clear as crystal that we wanted a very arcade experience in the game mechanics and flow. The game is built around the concept of different levels where challenges and difficulty are always increasing. Creating an action / puzzle game based on gravity means creating traps and pitfalls the player must avoid. Sometimes it requires moving the ball at full speed or moving it very skillfully, and in some levels, you’ll have to defy the gravity itself (we plan to release some videos to show you what we mean by “defying” gravity).

As you’ll figure out, the game has some very hard levels, and like I said, the game should be pleasant for casual and core gamers. So how do we manage to achieve that goal without creating tons of levels?

We “simply” created a dynamic difficulty system which ranges from “very easy” to “very hard” settings. Every player starts with a “very easy” level of difficulty. Depending on the player’s skills and statistics, the game evaluates his skill and modifies the difficulty settings on the fly at the end of a level. Difficulty mainly affects the view distance of the mini map camera which becomes shorter as the difficulty increases. The difficulty also changes the rules of the mode you’re playing, giving you more time and more lives to finish a level when the difficulty is low. We also have some levels that are replaced by simpler ones when you’re at the easiest level of difficulty.

A game which is too easy or too hard is neither a very fun nor enjoyable experience. The type of fun in Equilibrio comes from the subtle point wherein satisfaction is in balance with frustration. I’m sure all gamers out there had that feeling at least once. With the dynamic difficulty system, we think we can tailor the game as close as possible to that point.

OK, enough of this. Let’s tackle the second topic of this diary: planning a worldwide release.

First of all, if you were thinking that creating a title that will be available worldwide was as simple as submitting your game to Apple…hem, how can I say this? Hum, yes, you’re simply all wrong.

In more traditional gaming relationships where a publisher and a developer are involved, it is usually the role of the publisher to take care of the localizations of the game, as well as managing the publishing rights and partners for the different territories (especially for retail).

When dealing with the iPhone, there is a single entity, Apple, and one single release platform, iTunes. However, there are several release territories. So if you want to release a game in the United States, you have to submit the game for approval to Apple US. The same applies for Europe and Asia. The approval procedure is not very long (especially compared to other console manufacturers), but sometimes, due to a large amount of applications sent, there might be some delays with which you need to work. You also have to translate the presentation text displayed on your game’s iTunes page for different territories. It is optional, but if you plan to have a multilingual version of your game, it is better to have the presentation text localized, too.

Another potential issue is content. Some territories might find the content of your application offensive, while others may not. You have to be really careful when designing your games to not offend other cultures, unless you did it on purpose.

On top of the necessary tasks that have to be carried out for Apple’s different territories, there are also more administrative tasks to do. For example, if you’re a European game developer like Fishing Cactus you must first make a phone call to a dedicated number in the US to avoid being taxed (approximately 30%) when you sell a game, on top of Apple’s 30% cut. Doing so in the US is a short process, and can be carried out in a day (you have to answer a few questions by phone). The same kind of procedure must be carried out for Asia to avoid being over taxed (but it is more like 90 days to process the request using snail mail).

I hope this diary gave you an interesting overview of the necessary steps which are to be taken if you want to distribute your iPhone or iPod Touch game on a worldwide scale, and especially if you want to please a wider audience.

For those who might be interested, the release of Equilibrio is scheduled for early February, and will be available worldwide (there might be a little delay in Asia though — see above).

See you in two weeks.

Tags: Action, Developer Diary, equilibrio, fishing cactus, Puzzle, Upcoming, upcoming release