Jeff Pobst, Founder and CEO, Hidden Path Entertainment Jeff Pobst will share his experience of working on CS:GO in conjunction with Valve. In his talk, Jeff will cover topical subjects for game developers: working with big publishers and strategic investors, paving your way in VR and self publishing, and compare and contrast those experiences.

1. FROM CS:GO to VR
Stories & Insightsfrom 11 YearsofGame Development
at Hidden PathEntertainment
Jeff Pobst

2. Hi,I’mJeff
• I learned toprogram at age10 on a TRS-80, at alocal church
• Alwaysbeen enthralled by computerand videogames
• Went tocollegetostudy Aerospace Engineering (planesandspacecraft)
• Worked in thelab forone professor, taught FORTRAN tofreshman asaundergrad T.A.
• Stayed for grad school and did aPh.D. thesison spacethrusterplumes
• Took film classeson theside, wroteand directed student films
• Worked in thespacecraft industry forfour years
• Sat on an airplanenext toagameproducer from Sierra Online
• Shortly thereafter becameaprogrammer on King’sQuest: Maskof Eternity
• Two yearslater, became Sierra’s first external producer for core games
• Helped ship gamesin theHalf-Life, Homeworld, Lord oftheRingsfranchisesover3+ years
• Joined Xbox and led agroup ofgameconsultantsthat provided freeassistancetogamedevelopers
• Was part of theXbox 3rd party portfolio team for ~4 years
• Decided toget backtomaking gameswith otherex-gamedevs, weall had worked together
• And that’swherewestart today’s story…

3. Creating a New Studio

8. Game Industry 2006
ConsoleGames
• Most peoplepurchasegamesat retail stores
• Onlineaccessis~33% of theplayerbase
• Console isdominant in market shareand growth
– PS2, Xbox 360, NintendoDS
– PS3& Wii won’t come out until theend of2006
• Big 2006 titles:
• Madden, NewSuperMario Bros DS, Kingdom HeartsII, Gearsof
War, GTA: Liberty City Stories, World of Warcraft
• Xbox LiveArcadewas relatively new
– Bejeweled, HexicHD, Zuma, Hardwood Hearts, Marble Blast
Ultra, Jewel Quest
• Gamesfor Gold & PSPlusprogramsdon’t yet exist
PC Games
• Steam exists.
– Used for Half-Life2, Counter-Strike:Source, and acouple
dozen other games
• PConlinegaming isbig inAsia,
• OutsideofWOW’s second year, not strong elsewhere
• Indiegaming wasn’t astorecategory yet
• Kickstarter is6years away from launching
Monetization
• Premium PurchaseorSubscriptionsdominatethemarket, even in
Asia
• Fewhaveheard thephrase“free toplay”outsideofAsia
• Nexon’sQuizQuizmay bethefirst f2p game
• RuneScapeand MapleStory were soon thereafter

9. Game Industry 2006cont’d
Mobile Games
• Peopleare talking alot about raising money formobilegames
– For flip phones
• Monetization isdonewith carriers and money forgamepurchase
iscollected viaphonebill
• There isn’t an iPhoneyet oran App store(1+ yearaway)
• First Android phoneis2+years away
Web Games
• Casual gaming isstarting tocatch on viabrowsers
• First hidden object web gameforBig Fish isjust starting up
development
• Kongregatewill launch laterthisyearpopularizingflash games
• Facebook isn’t outsideofcollegesyet
– Definitely isn’t agaming platform yet
– Zyngawill launch in 1.5yearswith TexasHold’em Poker
– Farmvilleis3+years away
• HTML 5 is8years away

10. Ok, Youget it…
• Making gamesin 2006 wasquitedifferent than today.
• What should we takeaway from thisasgamedevelopers?

11. Change Is Ahead!
• Your gamestudiowill likelyface major
industrychanges ifit sustains!
• Platformswillchange
• How peopleplay willchange
• How peoplepay willchange
• How andwherepeopleaccesscontentwill change
• How theyfind yourgame willchange
• Why theyplaycanalsochange
• New audiencesmayappear
• Existing audiencesmay wantchangestowhatthey
like

12. Responding to Change
• We couldhave followedevery new trend, butdidn’t
• We choseto followthe trends that matched our team’s strengths
• We spentalotoftime self-scoutingeachtimenew opportunitiesarise
– Whatarewe good at?
– Whatarewe not good at?
– Whattypes of peoplehavewe assembled?
– Whattypes of entertainmentmatchourskills?
– How does whatwe dowell map tobusiness & creative success in thecurrent environment?
• When youare passionateaboutmaking games, change doesn’timpactyour passion

13. Evaluating Opportunities
• Critical choices forpublishingopportunities:
– Which opportunitiestotake /whichto avoid?
– Which are goodforbothusandthem? (correlates with actually shipping)
– Q: Can webe successfulifwe godownthisroad?
– Q: What doessuccesslooklike if wedo?
– Q: What doesfailure looklike if wedo?
– Q: What doesthe mostlikely outcomelooklike?
– Q: Isthe project set up forsuccess?
– Will both parties rememberthe initial situation at the end?
• Youcan’t always choose your opportunities, butyou candecidehow to respond.

14. EARLY OPPORTUNITIES
HIDDEN PATHENTERTAINMENT

15. Our FirstOpportunities
• Networkinganda greatenvironmentfor independentdevelopersgaveusmanyopportunities!
– Firstcompany project wasa gamesigned with Microsoftto build the firstXNA demo / game
– Second company projectwassigned with Nintendo to build an early Wii title
– Third company projectwassigned with Sony to build a huge downloadable title
• All ofthe aboveweresigned in the first year of thecompany– 3different internalteams= ~25 people!
• All ofthe abovehadpublisher personnelchangesduringthecourse ofdevelopment
• All ofthe abovewereeventuallycancelledbythepublisher
• Eachof thecancellationsappearedtobeout ofour control
– Appeared to have more to do withinternal changes atthe publishers (we’re biased ofcourse,and can’t knowfor sure)
– We had builtmany games, buthadn’t shipped anything inour first 2years
• We were frustrated,andveryeagertoship something wewere proudof

16. Shipping an HPE Game
• We were pitchinglargeandsmallprojectstoall
• We did sign one verylargeprojectfor most of the studio
• And wegot an opportunitytobuildDefense Gridon our
own,with a small team,acovetedXbox Live Arcade
(XBLA) slot, andsupportfrom a projectinvestor.
• Defense Grid wasone ofthe first HiddenPath
Entertainmentgamestoship.
• But,surprisingly,it didn’t ship first on XBLA

17. THE COUNTER-STRIKEOPPORTUNITY
HIDDEN PATHENTERTAINMENT

18. The CS Opportunity
• HiddenPath’sCounter-Strikestory starts with Defense Grid
• Youcanread all theDG detailsonline &in thisbook
• Short version
– DG wasplannedforXBLA exclusive
– DG launchedonSteambefore XBLAin 2008 because...“politics”
– Afew hundredgameswereon Steamat thattime
– We implementedSteamfeaturesfor DGlike we hadplanedfor Xbox
LIVE
– ValvelikedDG &liked ourSteamfeatureimplementation
• They asked inlate 2008ifwe coulddo somethingsimilar forCS:Source
• We had a small groupof5people on theproject
• Valve made itclear:donotalter the members onthe team

19. Awesome to Disaster& Back
• Meanwhile, majority ofthe studiowas developing our “dream” game
• A year earlier, aKorean publisheragreed to financean originalAAAconsole& onlinegame
• So we grew & had 2 projects –largeAAA game, and small team working onSteam features forCS:S
• Months later, the Korean company had a major leadership shakeup
• Replacements said“North Americais nolonger part ofour strategy”
• And game funding stopped
• We shoppedthe in-progressgame to other pubs / investors,but2009was atoughyear forfunding
• We lookedfornew work… and landed alicense-based projectwitha newpublisher...
• ...Whichwas then cancelled ontheday itwas supposedto start

20. Stressful Moments & Choices
• With theproject suddenly cancelled, and cash very low, layoffs looked like theyhad tobe done
• That implied a change totheValve project staffing (which weknew wasa sensitive issue tothem)
• Wecalled Valvetoexplain staffing changes beforewe tookaction
• “Instead, why don’twejust hireyourwhole teamto help us out?”was theresponse. Wow.
• Wewent overtoValvethe nextday andtalked aboutpossible ways we could work together.
• They talked aboutsplitting ourteamup tohelp in multiple areas
– Artists:levelsand props forLeft4 Dead 2
– Designers:Team Fortress 2 tutorial experiences
– Programmers: porting Counter-Strike: Source to Xbox 360
• Looking back, itappears Valvewas evaluatingthe team’sstrengths and weaknesses
• Wehad beenworking on ourown project -we weren’t any more.
• But we keptthe team together,and learned alot abouthow Valve approaches development.

21. Evolution of CS Projectwith HPE
• CS:S for Xbox 360(~8months)
– Initially ported CS:S to Xbox360over8months
– Dida full passonconsolecontrolsand consoleUI
– Select UI upgrades,butnomajor art or designchanges
• Valvedecides we should go biggerwith theproject (+1year)
– Movethe project over tothe newPortal 2 engine
– Add PS3consoleplatform,create newlevels and content
– Update existinglevels & weapons–evensignificantly
• CS:GO multiplatform (go biggerstill: +1year)
– NewGoal: UnifyCS 1.6& CS:S audience (ifeven possible)
– Redesign& data drivea unifiedmovement/jumping/weaponsystem
– Growto 4platforms(PC / Mac /consoles)wLinuxservers
– More levels & modes,newmatchmaking,newfeatures, etc.

22. Early Community Interaction
• Early involvement withpro players
– ValveinvitedCSPros to play at theiroffices
– We conducted interviews,play sessions&then did next-day iteration
– Pro Playersallowedto post to socialmediafreely
– Droveearly anticipation and buy-in significantly
• PAX reveal
– Firsttimepublic could play
– Huge unexpected interest followedby positivereaction
– Betacodesgiven out long before betaopened
• Tournaments
– Valvestartedsponsoring CStournaments
– Gameplayedby prosbefore itwent to open beta
– Couldn’t find 2011/2012 footage, but it wentsomething likethis...

24. Managing the Beta
• Eightmonth Beta with18 updates
– New featuresreleasedevery weekatfirst,every fewweekslater
• Beta process
– Slowly ramped up beta participation
– Pros first,then 10kplayersper week,then evenlargergrowth
– Lotsofdirect forumcommunication
– Highlighted community memberswho accumulatedfeedbackin one place
• Releases
– Coordinated our betareleasesaround topic &themes
– Setup metrics& collectionplan ahead oftime
– Identified how we might takeaction basedon data collected
– Playersgot advancewarning on the testofthe week
– Important toplan our possibleactions beforethe test,though we could
change

25. Community Insights
• Share datawith thecommunity and exposethethought process
• Do polls (ingame,not inforums), share theresults with everyone
• Respond directly to posters with useful feedback
• Respond indirectly tounhelpful feedback
• Attention and reputation arethecurrency of thecommunity
– Rewardgood actorsin yourcommunity (pros, streamers,etc)
– Empoweraggregators, call themout
• Community is greatatidentifying problems, but many of their
solutions aremisguided (they don’thave all the neededinfo)
• Don’t mistakepoor suggestions forinvalid problem identification
• Don’t debatewithplayers – enablethemto debateamongst
themselves

26. THE VR OPPORTUNITY
HIDDEN PATHENTERTAINMENT

27. The VR Opportunity
• HiddenPath’sVirtual Reality story starts withDefense
Grid
• Youcanread all theDG detailsonline &in thisbook
• TheVR Story happensafter thebook, though:
– We talkedwith Oculusin early2014 aboutVR demos
– 9+ monthslaterweget anemail from a newOculuscontact
– “Can wemeet next weekat GDC 2015?”
– Meeting: “We thinkyourgame wouldbegreatfor VR”
• “Your game”at this timeoften meantCS:GO
• We mentioned that CS:GO wasValve’sgamenot ours
• Oculus said,“no, not CS:GO, …Defense Grid”
• We didn’t understand atfirst–why would anyone want DGin VR?

28. Defense Grid in VR
• VRexperiences involve so much more thangamegenre
– Perspective: 1st person vs. 3rd person vs. “God view”
– Movement: stationary vs. slowmovement vs. extreme
– Presence: where are you and what isyourrelation toworld
– Focus: what are you looking at /what elsedoyou notice
– Power: what doyou control vs. what doyou not control
• Turns out thatdifferent audiencesvalue different traits
above,butcommon ground formany turns outto be:
– God view, stationary, full control ofa miniatureworld with
animating /moving piecesyou could lookclosely at
• Oculus thought Defense Gridwould be agreatexample
of thatcombination
– And afun gamewith alot ofcontent aswell!

29. Awesome to Disaster& Back2
• Meanwhile, majority ofthe studiowas developing our anew “dream” game
• A year earlier, anew Koreanpublisher agreed to financeanoriginal AAAconsole& onlinegame
• So we had 2 projects –largeAAA game, and small team working onSteam features forCS:S
DefenseGrid 2 VR
• Months later, the Korean company had a major minor leadership shakeup
• Replacements said“North AmericaThis genre isno longer partof ourstrategy”
• And game funding stopped
• Fortunately, Oculus was happy withDG2 VRand asked us to build anoriginalVR title
• Googlewas alsointerested inanoriginal VRtitlefor Daydream
• Later, Oculussigned us to athird and afourthoriginalVRtitle.
• We evenhave developed new technology forVR worthy ofpatenting

31. Suddenly WeBecome a “VR Studio”
• Two and ahalf years, fivetitles,nine releases upcoming on
fourVR platforms…
• We’regetting pretty experienced atmaking quality VR
games
• THERE IS ALOT MORE FOR USTO LEARN!
– But aswetalkwith others, we’rerealizing how much ground we’ve
already covered.
• Overall, there is somuch new tolearn making games inVR!

32. Some VR Lessons /Insights
• UI & UXreally is like starting all over
– HUD concepts, motion concepts, comfort concepts, audioconcepts
– We used toput UI graphicson ascreen plane, nowwedesign comfortableinteraction
distances, angleranges, focal depth planes, IPD’s(InterPupillary Distances)
– Each of thosesettingsdramatically impactsthe“feel”ofthegame
• Nonlinear designiteration comparedtoyourexperience!
– Need topolish much morebefore evaluating test content (animation /audio/
haptic)
• Physical interactions create muchmorecontrol dependenciesthan youmay
be usedto
– Context UI /button mapping approaches/etc. arevery different in VR
• Player communicationbandwidthisdramatically larger
– Sending much moreinfototheplayerthan everbefore
– Sending that infotodifferent partsofthemind
– Have tobeaware of what you’re communicating withyourmechanics/experiences
• More usertesting for every stepis needed
– When something worksfor you –it may or may not workfor othersat a confidence
lower than you areused to!

33. VR Development Business
• Do VR Gamessell
– Rightnow, topoutliersare making ~$1m+inrevenue
– Nota lotofROI upside,and a lotof ROIdownside
– VR games are more expensive tomake than normal games
– Public expects amazing VR experiences whichmeans significant dev budget pressure
• So, whyfocuson VR developmentwhenthereisn’t an audienceyet?
– Emphasizes Our Strengths: It’shard, challengingdesign, lots ofquality required, and we seem to be goodat it
– IPOpportunity: Create new IPfor the studio& its future
– Genre Opportunity: Weget to demonstrate design skills for RTS, Platformer, Adventure, Arcade– setting upfuture
opportunitiesinmultiple genres
– Strategic Opportunity:Studio iswell positionedfor new opportunitiesif/ as VR grows
– Strengthens the Studio:Learning even more aboutgame development and design approaches

34. OPPORTUNITIES,CHOICES,& INSIGHTS
HIDDEN PATHENTERTAINMENT

35. Opportunities & Choices
• DevelopmentOpportunitiesCome from Many Places
– Ambitions
– Survival
– Timing
– Luck
• We identified ourvalues& goals:
– Making quality games
• Helps us build a reputation with the audience, publishers anddevelopers
– Sticking with ourstrengths /differentiators
• Whichgives people a reasonto choose ourstudio
– A focusongreat design
• Whichallows developmentof fun across differentgenres &audiences
– Keepingthe team together
• Whichgives us more opportunities now& inthe future
• Here’s More aboutthe team...

37. What’s next?
• CHANGE
• We’ll be
– Striving to deliveron the opportunityto entertainmillions
– Ensuringeachproject wedomakes usbetter
– Excited aboutwhatevergameopportunitiesarecoming next
– Unlikely to predictwhatthey willbe

38. Wrapping It Up
• Hopethat helped out abit:
– Navigating ourupsanddowns
– Looking athow welookat ourselvesandopportunities
– Sharedsomeinsightsinto ourcommunity interaction on CS:GO& earlyVR work