The NES launched when I was 6 and was my first exposure to video games so I was never a big Atari player. In spite of that, I recognize that the history of video games and console gaming in particular wouldn’t be the same without it.

With the complexity of game development now it’s not uncommon as a developer to look at the simplicity of video game development in the 70′s and wish it were only so simple these days. While I would never want to go back to the video games made only with technology available in the 1970′s, it’s sometimes interesting to muse about the differences between developing a game now and then. Here are just a few interesting tidbits I thought I would share about my experience.

I’ve separated my thoughts into 3 separate categories: 1. development time, 2. artwork and 3. competition.

#1 – The time factor

In 1982, when Atari was at its prime, a very successful movie by the name of E.T. made its debut in the theaters. The folks at Atari decided they needed to have a game made  based on this movie.

After buying the rights, Atari contacted a programmer to ask if they would be on board for the project. At the time, this game had a lot of buzz around it and was really meant to be a big seller for Atari. If you don’t know this story, stop reading for just a moment while you try to guess how much time they gave the developer to create this game. Certainly you realize it can’t be 2 years like today’s big budget games. Yeah, that’s not even close.

Are you ready? 1 month. That’s right a single month! The timeline they gave Howard Scott Warshaw was July 27th – Sept 1st of the same year. Sure, the game was a disaster for Atari but that doesn’t change the fact that the developer agreed to the one-month timeline.

A one-month timeline is pretty mind boggling to think of now. Certainly we have game-in-a-day or week or month or [insert short time-frame here] contests. None of those games have a hope to be the next big juggernaut of the console gaming industry though. E.T. was the next “big game”. In any case, the time factor is, I think, the biggest reason game programmers sometimes long for the development days of the 1970′s.

#2 – Developer art

It’s a common joke in the independent game development community. If a developer is showing you an otherwise great game but with questionable artwork, you know you’re talking to both the programmer and the … ahem …”artist”. Most solitary independent developers will tell you the hardest part is getting good art. Those that don’t, fall into 3 basic categories:

1. the less than 1% of us that can make their own art
2. the slightly larger percentage that think they can make their own art
3. the very rare few who are lucky enough to have a friend that will do it for free.

For the rest of us, longing for the days where a singly colored 20×20 pixel square qualified as “the hero” is something we sometimes catch ourselves doing.

Just look at the cost savings Square could have realized if only they had targeted a platform much less capable than the Playstation.

#3 – Competition

Easily one of the most discouraging things to see during the development stages of  your own game is the failure of so many other well-made games. If they’re so good why do they fail?

Everyone has multiple new and engaging entertainment opportunities pulling at them from all directions any given day. Again, using the E.T. example, perhaps Atari knew the game would be garbage and perhaps they didn’t think it would matter. They were the system and this was the newest game available for their system. Their position in the competitive space should have made the game successful on its own.

Certainly it feels like some days it would just be simpler to be the guy (or one of the few) to launch a game when no one else is really out there.

The end

Of course I’d rather be here than there. With the publishing exclusivity major developers enjoyed even just 15 years ago an independent developer’s game would never have had a chance to find an audience. The range of choices we have today to get our games in front of players is really quite good. You can quite practically tailor your delivery medium to your precise personal interests in language or technology and account for any shortcomings you may find yourself having. Things like money, marketing or even programming aptitude.

So while it’s interesting to talk about what it might mean to be able to free yourself of all of the things players take for granted with games of the current age the change would certainly be more restrictive than freeing.

What are your thoughts on the differences of game development then and now?

I tell my foot, “walk.”

Slowly it moves forward, lightly stepping inches away from the core of my soul.

“Now it’s your turn,” to which I heed the advice of my thoughts and begin to move my entire body forward.

The crunching noise of the dirt path under my feet seemed amplified by the silence surrounding me.

“Gawk!”

I cringe.

At what point do I run away?

Its gaze is burning my very insides. I wish it’d go feed on some nasty worm or carcass.

Although…

maybe he’s already found it.

Whatsit?

We have probably all experienced grave disappointment from games that are either too easy or too difficult; As well as the enjoyment from a well-balanced game. Let me provide a few examples:

Fester’s Quest

This game is one you might not expect to see here, but I’m using this not only as an example of a balanced game but how a well-balanced game can help the game overcome shortfalls in other areas.

When I first played Fester’s Quest it was only because it was the only game I could afford. I was 14 and I had $15. It, on the other hand, was under $12 and so was purchased only out of desperation. This was a time in my life where I would pretty much play any game in front of me. Honestly the graphics were terrible but in spite of that the game was actually fun because of the nice balance. I don’t think this is the best balanced game of all time and it certainly isn’t among my favorites, but I find it interesting to point out how much the success of a game can ride on its balance in spite of other short comings (in this case  graphics). Each time I ran out of continues I had a new strategy to make it farther the next time and make it farther I would. The game’s balance allowed for gradual improvement on each run through which provided me with that awesome feeling of exploring a new area and accomplishing something new.

GHOST’N GOBLINS

GHOST’N GOBLINS

GHOST’N GOBLINS on the other hand was incredibly unbalanced. You  are a knight fighting demons and undead. If you are hit twice you are dead. There are few if any power ups that would restore you to full health.

Doesn’t that mean it’s just a difficult game? It does mean that, yes, but if you look at the balance of health to enemies (both their frequency and difficulty) and the character’s abilities (like speed, jumping height) to that of the enemies you can see that there are probably going to be balance issues without even playing it.

And in fact that was the case. There are tons of enemies, they move fast and if you move to the left too far an enemy you just killed is automatically respawned. The enemies often position themselves just out of your jumping range where you can’t easily jump over them. But it’s not just that, because the enemies appear in the worst possible places (such as when you have to jump over a pit) and even the pits in level 1 are only *just* within your jumping range.

On top of this you get few continues and few lives per continue. And for those that didn’t know this already, you actually have to beat this game twice to actually beat the game. Crazy! WTH? Yes you heard right, the first time through is an “illusion” and is all for naught. Play through again and really beat it to beat it.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles

Possibly the most poorly-balanced game I have ever played, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles has two separate balancing issues. The first balancing issue it had was that after playing through all of the levels of the game at a standard pace your character was too low level to make it to the final stage of the game. And I mean way too low. In order to increase our character levels to the appropriate level to qualify for entry into the final stage my brother and I playing cooperatively had to play through all of the other levels of the game 5+ times each. So the first balance issue was that your character didn’t level quickly enough to progress through the game fluidly from beginning to end. This caused the second balancing issue, and that was once you are playing through the same level for the fourth and fifth time, there was no longer any challenge at all! You’re just going through the motions one shotting pretty much every standard enemy, bored out of your mind. In fact in truth I never beat this game because after playing the same levels over and over I just lost interest. My brother ended up beating the game cooperatively with a friend.

Resident Evil

Possibly one of the most well-balanced games of all time in my opinion is the original Resident Evil. It was so challenging. The first time through I remember I was looking for secrets in the different rooms by shooting various things with my pistol. I certainly had no idea that I was going to have to kill everything with a knife at that pace. I restarted the game and started conserving everything: My ammo, my ribbons, my herbs. The puzzles were puzzling but not impossible and in the end I had just enough bullets to make it out alive. Fantastic game.

Which games do you think were the best and worst balanced games of all time? Any unique insight into what makes balancing important? Leave a comment below.

Watermint Studios is still alive and kicking! In fact, just in the last couple of months we’ve made huge strides towards extending our product tools even farther. We look forward to our next release which we’re targeting this quarter and it’s going to house a whole herd of new functionality – New functionality gathered from our community and users! We know there’s a lot of interest in getting additional Earn a Mint assets posted and I’m happy to say that the new functionality is intended to do just that. We’ve also figured out a way where art doesn’t seemingly “go to waste” if not chosen as the asset winner. This community after all is suppose to be a win-win for everyone. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please send them to submissions@watermintstudios.com.

Thanks for being so minty

-Watermint Studios

Watermint Studios has been working tirelessly these past few months to bring you a tool that we have been using for almost a year now. This tool has done wonders for previous art acquisition issues we were having with Battleschool and we’re excited to give you all a chance to experience its benefits.

To that end we’ve put together a small show (about 4 minutes) that is intended to introduce you to a prototype of the features we are adding for you. If you’re an independent game developer and have difficulty getting artwork for your game, or would like another option available to you when scouting for artists and artwork for your game creations, we would ask that you be so kind as to watch the video here then fill out our survey (5 questions) here. It will help us greatly; And after all, these tools we’re creating are to help you. We want your input so that we know we’re creating the type of interface and features that would interest you as an independent game developer.

Thanks so much

-Watermint Studios

Concept to Company was looking for a company with a digital media idea with the best potential. Among 60 entrants, Concept to Company selected Watermint Studios’ Earn a Mint program as one of nine finalists.

Since the inception of Earn a Mint it has been turning heads. Watermint Studios takes this as another indication of the potential of the Earn a Mint product in both the Independent Game Development community and the Artist community. We are honored for the recognition from Concept to Company and grateful for the time and energy from the contest judges.

A huge thank you to the artists who submitted work in the latest Earn A Mint Request. It was pretty amazing to see the creativity and artist interpretation from various perspectives. This is why programmers should not create their own art!! Something about a left brain verse a right brain thing. Sure, some people can do both.. and sure, if programmer hobbyists want to create weird pixelated things to represent their beautifully crafted game engines then more power to them!

However, friends shouldn’t let friends create poor art and slap it into a beautifully crafted game engine.

So much of this world revolves around visual gratification, from what we eat, to what we wear. Everyone has their own personal style and taste. This leads me to the Earn A Mint Assets that just closed. While there’s no doubt there are many beautiful submissions, only one (maybe two) will closely fit the vision and taste of the requestor. It’s not an art contest as much as it really is trying to capture that requestor’s vision and style.

So, what do we do with all of the great submissions that were awesome but didn’t quite fall in the vision of the customer’s project?

Watermint Studios wants to recognize artists through badges and honor board posts. We want to drive more web traffic to your portfolios and open up more doors of opportunities for Artists. We also have a secret plan in the works that we think Artists will be pleasantly surprised about, however we can’t announce it at this time. Sorry! I know that’s like saying, I know a secret.. and I can’t tell you. If I could though I most certainly would, but… well never mind. I won’t prolong the angst (insert future winning Earn A Mint smiley face here).

Artists who also participate earn badges. These badges will be an easy way for others, and customers, to recognize the top talent artists in the community at a glance. We suspect we could even have private offerings to those Artists that participate in the community. There’s many items in the works and many of them will benefit contributors.

For more information on rewards, please visit the “What is Earn a Mint?” page.

We truly do appreciate all of the elite artists who participate in Earn A Mint. We hope to see more of your work.

Do you have a story about someone contacting you through Watermint Studios? Please let us know! Send us an email at info@watermintstudios.com.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Equip Screen

Skills Screen

For those that don’t know there are currently over $300 in asset requests open. Find them here. Adding to our previous Earn a Mint payouts we’re already getting very close to the $1,000 mark. Any artist in the artist community of the world may upload a submission to apply for the asset. Your submission is your application.

Get started here

Learn more here

And now, a taste of the newly submitted works:

Character: Iris: (Payout $100)

Submission 1: Iris Character

This character was created and uploaded as a result of the description found here in our Assets listing: http://www.watermintstudios.com/Home/AssetDetails/4

Submission 1: Orm’dari Character

This character was created and uploaded as a result of the description found here in our Assets listing: http://www.watermintstudios.com/Home/AssetDetails/7

Great work artists!

Comments and feedback solicited and welcome!