Interview With A.R.E.S.: Extinction Agenda Creator

 

 

 

 

 

Nenin:

 

First of all, A.R.E.S. is the first game from my studio. Two years ago, My friends and I from our university started to develop it together. We shared the same interest which is to create a fun-to-play title. We'd like other gamers to have fun when they play our games. So, we chose the retro theme for A.R.E.S. to make gamers regain their fun experience in their childhood. And we believe that our A.R.E.S.: Extinction Agenda is easy for everyone to play since the game is an action-packed side-scroller which gives a player distinct retro feel that they cannot find in today’s AAA blockbusters.

 

We are not saying that A.R.E.S. already succeeds. But, we can say that we are really proud of this game.

 

A.R.E.S. succeeds to gain some attention from the indie developer community. The feedback from gamers and developers helped a lot in many parts (development, testing, PR, etc). We are very happy that we decided to bring A.R.E.S. to the community from the very beginning, instead of secretly keeping it in our room.

 

A.R.E.S. succeeded to make a deals with many stores including Steam and D2D. We understand why the good distributors are important partners for selling the game. Moreover, A.R.E.S. is the first Thai game sold on Steam. It was like getting double experience points or something. 

 

There is nothing that we think is failure. We just think that it would be better if we could finish the game faster. :)

Nenin:

 

As we are indie, we need to do develop the game and manage our cash flow at the same time. So,we need to balance everything well and that is the toughest thing. Another thing is selling the game. It is very tough too. 

Nenin:

 

Actually, we are just one of their customers who used to buy games from their channel and we don't personally know anybody in Valve. However, they are very nice and professional when we submitted the game to them. 

 

Nenin:

 

Steam will give you the access to their Achievement system if they think that your game suits for it. Then, you can do whatever you want for the achievement. Steam Exclusive is our idea. We let Steam know and they were very pleased to do it.

Nenin:

 

The digital distribution means a lot to the developer like us, especially when we live in the country that's very hard to do a good numbers from selling retail copies. We may not make A.R.E.S. on PC if we don't have this channel. We haven't had any actual plan for the retail outlet yet, but we would do it when everything is ready.

Nenin:

 

We can set the price by ourselves. They will ask us first. However, If we ask them for the recommendation, they will give us a very useful number.

Nenin:

 

It's very important to know the feedback very soon, so you know what you should do with the game to make players happier. The fastest way to get feedback is always checking those online forums and social networking sites.

 

Nenin:

 

Yes. It is very important to check the review professionally and try our best to improve our game.  A very good comment from gamers who really play our game before reviewing is very helpful. We really want to say "Thank you" to the people who review our game since it helps make others to know our game.

It's fantastic. The idea is as good as the result. I always love to hear when indie developers do something that big companies can't do. We are looking forward to doing something like that too.

Nenin:

 

We don't support anyone with any reason to pirate the game. We also don't think that DRM is needed for the game. But, if you have a chance to do it for free and it won't do any side effect to the player's computer, you may include it in your game. Anyway, our game is free-DRM as we think it is our way.

It's awesome. We really feel that the game achieves its first target. Our game is more recognized from the competition and it did helped a lot.

Yes. We love those games and both of them are ones of our inspirations (you forgot to mention Metroid). We don't think that it is bad to remind people about those favorite childhood games. Actually, it is the goal of A.R.E.S. to give players the retro feeling. I personally think that it is a good way to promote. 

 

The classic action game fused with the modern indie shooting style is what you will get in A.R.E.S. Extinction Agenda.

My favorite genres are action and RPG. I always love to play Megaman X and Final Fantasy series and yes. I am a big fan of indie games.

1. Think hard and set your goal and go for it no matter what it takes. 

2. Make the prototype before everything else.

3. There is an important difference between making the finished game and making the game finished. Try your best to polish the game is the key.

 

 

Thanks again to Nenin for allowing us inside the mind of the up and coming Extend Interactive.