Developing for Consoles as an Indie in 2018
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Gaming consoles are closed platforms. They demand quality over quantity. To prove you are serious as a video game developer, what should you do? What can you do to help promote yourself in the community as an indie dev? Xbox Development is improving its Dev Mode, releasing a new Creator's Program, and launching the upcoming Xbox One X. Learn what goes into the process of publishing video games to Microsoft's major gaming consoles in 2018.
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Developing for Consoles as an Indie in 2018
- 1. Developing for Xbox as an Indie in 2018 Sarah Sexton, Microsoft Technical Evangelist
- 2. Your Host & Speaker Sarah Sexton (@Saelia) Software Engineer: github.com/SarahSexton Developer of: Games, Mobile Apps, Web, Software Blog: http://aka.ms/SarahSexton “Internet Famous”
- 3. Getting on Consoles as an Indie in 2018 Consoles are closed platforms.* They demand quality over quantity. *(Some platforms are more closed than others.) To prove you are serious, you should: Be a Registered Company or Sole Trader* Secure authentication Have a “track record”* Have a VAT (value-added tax) or Tax number “The Big Three” Xbox One (Microsoft) PS4 / PS Vita (Sony) 3DS / Switch (Nintendo) @Saelia #GDEX2017
- 4. What do you mean, “Track Record”? “One shipped game, three years’ experience.” …More like guidelines than actual rules. More of a way to ward off people that aren’t serious. Console-makers want a legal business entity. Sole Trader (Single Individual) Corporation (Group) C-corp The corporation itself is a taxable entity S-corp The individual is a taxable entity Partnerships LLP (Limited Liability Partnership) @Saelia #GDEX2017
- 5. Secure Authentication Microsoft requires two-step authentication. Nintendo only requires a single username and password to look at documents on their website. You have to encrypt uploaded files. @Saelia #GDEX2017
- 6. The Process begins with… The Big 3 (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo) expect simultaneous release across all consoles. In the mind of the console-maker: If the features are the same, the release date ought to be the same. Otherwise, there should be unique features to the platform to justify a late arrival. Another work-around is simply renaming the game (example, “Gold Edition”). Speak to your Dev Account Manager (DAM) for more information for negotiation. What is the “Parity Clause”? Your Name Address Website Games already released @Saelia #GDEX2017
- 7. Expensive Items Required: Errors & Omissions Insurance Covers Intellectual Property & Copyright violations, etc. Using an insurance broker, the cheapest E&O insurance you might find could be to the tune of around $2,000. Optional: Foreign Country Rating boards To release in foreign countries, your game must be rated by the official ratings boards, PEGI (Pan-European Game Information). This can also cost roughly $2,000, depending on the country. United States requires Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rating, approx. $800 @Saelia #GDEX2017
- 8. Start Up Costs Expenses to get your studio up and running Software Adobe Premier, Photoshop, Unity, etc. Licenses Windows Developer’s License is $19 individually, $99 for a company. Maintaining your game’s domain name Hardware USB & video cables, HDMI capture, etc. Video capture device for making a trailer ($60) Production Team Professional services Bookkeeper, Lawyer, Legal fees to protect Intellectual Property E+O Insurance Work space / Utilities (Rent a desk at a co-op, etc.) @Saelia #GDEX2017
- 9. Microsoft Apply for the ID@XBOX program. If accepted, you receive two (2) Xbox One Dev Kits and a Unity Pro license for free. This process may take several weeks / months. Overwhelmingly large number of applicants People often do not fill out the form correctly, so Microsoft cannot contact them If you know someone at ID@XBOX or Microsoft who is willing to stick their neck out… Reach out on a monthly basis to Microsoft: Send game-play videos! Screenshots! Send a PC build! www.xbox.com/developers/ID @Saelia #GDEX2017
- 10. Xbox One Farewell, Xbox Live Indie Games (XBLIG) 2008 – 2017 All console makers will want something special. Reach out to your Dev Account Manager (DAM) and ask them, “What are you trying to highlight right now?” Kinect, special character model unique to that platform, a special name Cross-Play (ability to play between Xbox One and PC) PlayStation Plus: Cloud Multiplayer Nintendo Switch: HD-Rumble pack, local-based social play www.xbox.com/developers/ID @Saelia #GDEX2017
- 11. Xbox Live Creators Program: Open to All Any developer can build an Xbox Live-enabled UWP game for Xbox One & Windows 10. Indie/Student/Small Game Developers can submit apps to the XBOX store with 4 steps. If you know of a game that would be great to highlight on the platform… Tweet @Saelia! https://www.xbox.com/en-US/developers/creators-program @Saelia #GDEX2017
- 12. Xbox Live Creators Program: Open to All @Saelia #GDEX2017
- 13. Xbox Live Creators Program: Open to All Any developer can build an Xbox Live-enabled UWP game for Xbox One & Windows 10. Indie/Student/Small Game Developers can submit apps to the XBOX store with 4 steps. If you know of a game that would be great to highlight on the platform… Tweet @Saelia! https://www.xbox.com/en-US/developers/creators-program @Saelia #GDEX2017
- 14. The Xbox Live Creators Program is an open program. Any developer can build an Xbox Live-enabled UWP game for Xbox One and Windows 10.
- 15. Xbox Live Creators Program | Overview Standard Store Policies Easy Configuration No Licensing Right-sized feature set for any game to access Xbox Live Self-publishing when game is ready to play Simple, open, and ready for any game.
- 16. Xbox Live Creators Program | What do I get? Community & Engagement Building Tools Player-managed experiences to create community around any common interests and the games that they love. Critical to the reach and engagement for any game, Beam Interactive Livestreams let everyone share the fun! Publisher-managed experiences to draw players into a community setting to share or celebrate game media & news! Low-latency, high-quality voice and text chat keeps friends together, even in non-multiplayer scenarios.
- 17. Xbox Live Creators Program | Overview 400+ Million Devices Access Windows 10 PCs and the entire Xbox One family of consoles…including a future of Windows Mixed Reality UWP games on Windows powered by Xbox Live services. …cross-platform within the entire Windows ecosystem.
- 18. Xbox Live Creators Program | What do I get? Free, World-Class Gaming Platform Features That Scale Over 1B game clips from the most trusted promoters: your friends. Text to speech, speech to text, speech synthesis and other features to make Xbox fun for everyone. Build asynchronous competition between friends or let players compare their profiles for bragging rights. Gamer profiles and game saves can roam to any device your game ships to through the Windows Store.
- 19. • Join the Xbox Live Creators Program • We invite any and all to join us in the Insiders Program we’ve created • No application process, just a first-come, first-serve capacity managed • Go here to sign up: https://aka.ms/xblcreatorsinsiderprogram • You can begin shipping your title on the Xbox Live Creator Program! Getting Started
- 20. • Xbox Live Creators Program is Open Source • Our APIs, tools and engine plugins are open on GitHub.com today • See our User Voice page at aka.ms/xblcpuv to promote your ideas • Join us more directly with submitting your own pull requests Want to get even more involved?
- 21. Questions? Up Next: PlayStation and Nintendo!
- 22. PlayStation Sony is the only platform who actually demands: an attached file proving that you are a registered company an attached file describing the game you want to develop (for example, a Game Design Document) .PDFs are preferred Response time from Sony is fast – only 1-2 weeks. Sony generously doles out Dev Kits. www.nohurdlesjustgames.com @Saelia #GDEX2017
- 23. PlayStation You can barter for what you need: Timing: When in the year does it launch? Exclusivity length: How long does it need to be exclusive? Marketing & funding Pub Fund: Sony doesn’t own your IP rights You can get an advance on sales/royalties in exchange for limited platform exclusivity. www.nohurdlesjustgames.com @Saelia #GDEX2017
- 24. Nintendo As an indie, start focusing exclusively on Switch and 3DS. Apply for Nintendo’s Self-Publishing Program. These are the most common approaches to developing games: C and C++ works on every console DirectX on Xbox Open GL on all others Unity or Unreal 4 work for the Switch They loan Dev Kits for 1 year. There is an opportunity to buy refurbished Dev Kits in addition to what you are loaned for about the cost of a PC ($800). www.developer.Nintendo.com @Saelia #GDEX2017
- 25. Console Development Environment SDK is downloaded from each company and installed. Dev Kits are connected over a local network. Visual Studio integration allows deploying to consoles and loading files from PC over the network, without explicitly making and pushing builds. Tools available for profiling bottlenecks on Xbox and PlayStation platforms. PIX, Dev tuning & Debugger Additional tools are included for final packaging, which can be cumbersome. @Saelia #GDEX2017
- 26. Console Design Considerations Naming and branding guidelines must be adhered to for release. (Proper names for buttons, proper usage of capitalization.) Important visual elements must be within TV-safe margins. User management and controller assignment edge cases must be thoroughly tested. Requirements must be met for load times, warnings, and other issues related to maintaining general consistency on each particular platform. Additional items like achievements, saves, leaderboards, generally require a fair amount of implementation time. @Saelia #GDEX2017
- 27. Community If the console-makers don’t believe you have a good game, they will not be quick to get back to you. If you show great promise as a developer, all three of these companies have opportunities to loan/give you their Dev Kit for free. The Chicago games community is very supportive!! Indie City Games Chicago Unity 3D MeetUp Indie City Co-Op + weekly Friday Indie Lunch Voxelles: Chicago’s Women in Game Development International Game Developers Association (IGDA) Indie Video Game Developer Association @Saelia #GDEX2017
- 28. GDC 2017 Presentations Meet the Converged Windows Store for Windows and Xbox Reaching More Gamers Through Xbox Accessibility Features on Xbox One & PC Windows Holographic Rendering – One SDK to target VR and AR ecosystems Extending your Game’s Reach with Interactive Broadcasting on Beam Game Mode and the Evolution of Cross-Platform UWP Game Development @Saelia #GDEX2017
- 29. Questions? Thank you: http://gamasutra.com/blogs/SlawaDeisling/20150223/237040/How_to_get_ on_consoles_as_an_Indie.php http://www.gamedevblog.com/sixty-second-shooter/ Dave Voyles and Patrick Owens for consultation! Shameless Plugs: Voxelles I Make Games Project YouTube Channel Games for Everyone Play for Change Lab at DePaul CDMSheBuildsGames @Saelia #GDEX2017
Editor's Notes
- Introductions
- “Some platforms are more closed than others.” Nintendo is the most closed, Sony is in the middle, Creators Program is the most open. A value-added tax (VAT) is a type of consumption tax that is placed on a product whenever value is added at a stage of production and at final sale.
- (Stay on this slide for audience notes) It definitely helps, but all these platforms have accepted people who have not released console games before. So even mobile app games are a solid track record.
- Generally, large companies will have business internet and opt for static IP, but those are much more costly than residential.
- It comes down to, how well does someone negotiate with Chris Charla and the legal team? They are the ones who can kind of slide with the parity clause. But the idea is that you want, as a platform-owner, we would ideally like to have “timed exclusivity.” “We don’t want people to release on other platforms first.” Day and Date, we want the same release. For more information, contact your Dev Account Manager, because almost every platform has one. It all depends on time, who is in there, and what the current state of the industry is. Everything is negotiable.
- If you build a violent game, and someone says that a criminal committed a violent act because of your game, now you’re protected. Or, games will have epileptic seizure warnings before the game starts. What if someone has a seizure while playing your game? This is to protect you from that. More information: If you create a mobile application, you still go through the ESRB and PEGI, but you self-rate. That means they’re trusting you with the Honor System to properly rate your game for everyone. If you rate a super-violent game as E for Everyone, you’ll get the BanHammer. Also, let me tell you something you might not think about: when you do submit to the ESRB or PEGI, those ratings boards are not PLAYING YOUR GAME. Those boards are watching gameplay video footage that you submit of your game. So submit the footage that you think would be the POST provocative parts of the game, so that the ratings boards can decide how to handle your game at its “worst” so that it can place it at its “best.” When you submit, you can say, “Hey, I still feel my game is T for Teen, here are the most provocative areas with context, and here’s why I think it’s T instead of M for Mature.”
- Hire Production Team / Professional services Outside of your "Zone of genius" But remember: If you can't see the end of the road, neither will they.
- Biggest points: Dev on retail xbox
- Compare and contrast to ID@XBOX program. The big selling points that ANYONE can create games on Xbox One and Windows 10. Do not have to go through ID@XBOX. They develop on their retail hardware. It’s very similar to XBLIG (Xbox Live Indie Games) on 360 – Find Chart that shows difference between the Creators Program and ID@XBOX. Biggest differences: It’s much easier to go through the CP. No cert, no ESRB, no PEGY ratings, but, the downfall is that you are missing things like Multiplayer, and no achievements. Start with the CP, get familiar with writing a game, getting it on to the platform, and then either take that same game, or later on, try going to ID@XBOX with a new game.
- Compare and contrast to ID@XBOX program. The big selling points that ANYONE can create games on Xbox One and Windows 10. Do not have to go through ID@XBOX. They develop on their retail hardware. It’s very similar to XBLIG (Xbox Live Indie Games) on 360 – Find Chart that shows difference between the Creators Program and ID@XBOX. Biggest differences: It’s much easier to go through the CP. No cert, no ESRB, no PEGY ratings, but, the downfall is that you are missing things like Multiplayer, and no achievements. Start with the CP, get familiar with writing a game, getting it on to the platform, and then either take that same game, or later on, try going to ID@XBOX with a new game.
- Compare and contrast to ID@XBOX program. The big selling points that ANYONE can create games on Xbox One and Windows 10. Do not have to go through ID@XBOX. They develop on their retail hardware. It’s very similar to XBLIG (Xbox Live Indie Games) on 360 – Find Chart that shows difference between the Creators Program and ID@XBOX. Biggest differences: It’s much easier to go through the CP. No cert, no ESRB, no PEGY ratings, but, the downfall is that you are missing things like Multiplayer, and no achievements. Start with the CP, get familiar with writing a game, getting it on to the platform, and then either take that same game, or later on, try going to ID@XBOX with a new game.
- Connect with your gamers
- Xbox Live is about access to devices. Last GDC, Windows 10 was an opportunity to reach 200M devices. This year, that install base has grown to over 400M Windows 10 PCs and Xbox One consoles that games can reach through the Windows Store. …access to Devices. 400M Devices https://news.microsoft.com/bythenumbers/windows-ten
- Plan for success. Think ahead to the day your game is incredibly popular and you need to keep thousands upon thousands of gamers happy…AT THE SAME TIME. Xbox Live is designed for scale by default, providing secure services that can handle high traffic and complex network communication. Do you want to build these services or do you want to leverage services we’ve already built for you and continue to improve every release? We thought so.
- People are still making cross-play (Vita to PS4) games.
- The Dev Kit is hard-wired, connected to your development PC via local area network (LAN) so that the Dev Kit cannot be used as a retail console. (Patrick Story, We had a Wii U dev kit that was in the other room from the PC and had a 100ft, Ethernet cord running down the hall. At PS All Dev Kits are wired to LAN ports that talk directly to Dev Net. No Wireless)
- Your game has to “fail gracefully.” That means that if a controller comes disconnected, the game has to react to that in some graceful manner. Have the entire game pause, and have an overlay that says “Controller X missing” or some such. If someone is writing a save to the memory card, and the memory card is pulled out, the game cannot crash.