Interview with Apezone Games & two mini-reviews
Talking with the Independant Developer responsible for the strategy games Starships Unlimited and Battleship Chess, Andrew Ewanchyna of Apezone Games.
Thanks for giving-up some of your valuable time for a Q & A session.
My pleasure, David.
Could you tell me a bit about Apezone Games- about yourself and the team?
Sure, ApeZone was started in 2000, with the release of Starships Unlimited. A game that I wrote full time for 3 years after quitting my long-time (11 years) day job as a programmer for military flight simulators. My "team" consists of myself, but I do contract out some art and music from others. I started the company so I could, essentially, handcraft games. I thought of it as my little booth on the internet where I could sell my wares. Like so many other indie game developers, I was naive and believed that if I built it, they would come. Well, they didn't. At least, not at first.
What makes a good game- moreover, what makes a good independent game?
Without getting into the philosophical discussion of games as art and the subjectivity of good, I'll try to stick to the brutal realities of what makes a successful game. Realities gleamed over the 6 years that ApeZone has been providing my paycheck.
Good games need to hook you into their game play and provide enough variety to keep you hooked. Good independent games need to do that immediately as they use demos as their main means of marketing.
Of course, the last statement can be countered by lots of examples, including my own Starships Unlimited. In this case, you need really good word of mouth and/or marketing. The latter is harder on the indie developer and the former requires a lot of luck.
Let's separate the wheat from the chaff: what do you think differentiates independent games from their commercial counterparts?
Basically, Independent games fill in a lot of the holes that the commercial side doesn't address anymore or very well. This is the very reason that I started writing games. I really just wanted to play the games that I wrote. It's this last reason that I think created the indie movement. Not only in games but in film and music. People play/watch/hear the mainstream offerings and find them lacking.
Commercial games have become bloated. Every game tries to be an epic. Indie games are usually smaller in physical size and scope. This makes them easier to download and try, which is a real convenience. They also tend to be less complicated, concentrating on fewer game play mechanics. This is why I think we often see the word "retro" associated with indie games. Older games had simpler play mechanics due to the hardware limitation of the time. I know that I don't have time to play the commercial games anymore, opting for either older games or indie games to fill the niche. I must be the target market as the last few games I bought were "Strange adventures in Infinite space", "Oasis" and "Heroes of Might and Magic ONE".
As an independent developer, what are the biggest challenges you face?
Well, there's so many, but the biggest would have to be marketing. It's simply hard to get noticed and getting noticed has a direct relation on how much money you make. Before people start thinking that I'm greedy to say that, it's important to understand those brutal realities I hinted at earlier. If you want to make this a full-time job, like I have, you have to think of the bottom line. I started Starships Unlimited with a dreamer's mentality. Lucky for me, it worked. But that first game will be your last game as a naive, starry-eyed idealist. Once the money starts rolling in, you don't want it to stop. So you begin thinking about how to keep it up, but without having to spend as much time in development. Because you learn that there's a whole list of other tasks you need to do besides development, namely marketing and PR. Which kind of brings us back to where we started. :)
Starships Unlimited has enjoyed some success- what was your inspiration in creating Starships Unlimited and were there any other games that inspired you during the game's development?
Like a lot of people, I grew up loving Star Trek and Star Wars. Throw in Babylon 5 and you get the kind of sci-fi that I like (ones with lots of starship combat). I initially wanted Starships Unlimited to be like the game Civilization, but in space. But then I heard of Masters of Orion. I looked at similar games out there like Stars! and Space Empires but didn't like their spreadsheet-like game play. I wanted something you could almost hold. Something you could get close to. This is why Starships Unlimited is so starship-centric.
As a strategy game, what sets Starships Unlimited apart from other strategy titles?
Starships Unlimited is a bit of an odd duck. Not quite a real-time game and not quite a turn-based one. I tried to blend the best of both worlds by having the game pause only when there was something that needed your attention. I'm not a fan of pure real-time games. I like to stop and see what's going on, but I don't want to be bothered with every little detail. One thing people who are new to the game don't realize, as this isn't the default, is that you can handle combat totally manually, moving and firing your starships as needed. This makes each battle like a tactical game of chess, but with starships.
I also developed Starships Unlimited to be about space combat and exploration, rather than about the diplomacy between alien races. I think most games of this type do it the other way around. In fact in these other games, combat seems to be a distant afterthought.
What inspired Battleship Chess and what can a gamer expect from this title?
Battleship Chess came from my love of naval history. Let's face it, naval combat is just the precursor to starship combat. I wanted to bring my love for the age of battleships to people who weren't already fans of the genre. I felt that the only really popular naval game was the classic boardgame of Battleship, so I tried to work some of its game play into Battleship Chess. I wanted to use the same boardgame motif and hiding of opposing forces the way Battleship does, but with deeper game play.
Each type of ship in Battleship Chess has its own limited movement, like chess pieces in Chess. They also have limited visibility, requiring you to move them around to find the enemy. This combination, along with acquiring ship technology and event cards, makes for an interesting tactical challenge. It's a far easier game to play than Starships Unlimited and doesn't require the same time investment to find its little gold nuggets.
Both Starships Unlimited and Battleship Chess have been released- what's next for Apezone and what can the gaming community keep an eye open for?
Glad you asked. My next game will be available in the next couple of months. It's called Starship Kingdom and is similar to the game of Risk, but with starships in space. There are 3 types of starships available (battlecruisers, battleships and battlestars). Its a one or two player game, where you are one of two noble houses trying to reunite the kingdom, which has fallen apart after the long standing royal family has died off.
Some interesting aspects are that each star system has technology that can be used to upgrade your fleet with, as well as the ability to build one of the types of starships. You need to control these star systems to get what they offer and you need three star systems that produce a given starship type to get one of those starships each turn. Unlike Battleship Chess, which requires player to enter their IP addresses, I intend on using the ApeZone.com webserver to act as a place where gamers can join up and play Starship Kingdom. It should even allow players to suspend a game and come back later to finish it. Visit the apezone.com website for the latest screenshots and information, as I'll be posting more and more information in the coming weeks or join the ApeZone Games newsletter.
Finally, is there anything else you'd like to say to the gaming public?
Yes, I'd like to thank all those people who have kept me in business for all these years. I admit that I had never bought anything online before I started Apezone, something that should have worried me at the time. Luckily that wasn't the case with a lot of other people. Now, of course, I buy all kinds of things on the internet, including games, gifts and game-making products. My friends and family still can't believe I make a living from this. By far, the best "job" I've ever had.
To those up and coming indie game developers, if you have any questions about making and selling games on the internet, I'd gladly answer your questions. Visit the apezone.com website for my mailing address (or email me at info@apezone.com). And thanks again, David, for giving me this opportunity to speak.
Mini-Reviews: Starships Unlimited & Battleship Chess.
Starships Unlimited
This title is Apezone Games fine addition to the 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate) world. In Starships Unlimited, you can play as one of 10 species and the game is similar to other titles of this ilk- build an empire, meet new races, explore, research technology, etc. However, this title is unique in the way gameplay is handled. Where other games (MOO3 et al.) can keep you involved in a micromanagement nightmare, Starships allows the player to define levels of automation ranging from combat to recruiting spies and using artifacts- automation that can a) be turned on-and-off during the game at your discretion, and b) be very welcome when dealing with more than 25 worlds, colonies, and aliens.
Another aspect of this 4X title that makes it singularly unique is that the focus is around exploration of the galaxy and space combat. While diplomacy and and research play a role in Starships, it is not where the emphasis lies. Furthermore, Starships offers excellent replayability with a variety of gameplay options to choose from as well. This game is easy to play with and easy to use- you'll not find level-upon-level of screens to tab through to manage your Galactic Empire. Make no mistake, easy to play and use does not mean a lack of richness and detail- both are present and accounted for in this title. Would-be Galactic Explorers and Warlords: Starships Unlimited is worth a good look. I took a good look at this game and wish I had done so alot sooner:-)
Battleship Chess
I know, I know... you're thinking this is just another re-tooling of the classic boardgame, right? Well, so did I until I sat down with the game and took a good look... so, c'mon, sit down and form a circle cause we're going to do a little "show-and-tell". Once you start a game of Battleship Chess, your point-of-view is high-above the 12x12 playfield, it looks a bit similar to the boardgame. What brings flavor to this title is that the game mimics chess in that each of your ships, like chess-pieces, have specific fields of movement. There are other elements to the gameplay that offer the player in-game bonuses as well as opportunities to upgrade your ships while you are waging a multi-game war. In short- this is a game that is easy to pick-up and play, but without having the game in front of you gentle readers, it is a bit complicated to describe the mechanics.
So, if describing the mechanics is difficult, why not just dig-out the boardgame from your closet? Well, that is something I can dissuade you from doing by describing the rich detail that is a part of this game. The game is broken into five chapters- the length of the chapters is at your discretion; one, five, or ten battles per chapter. Each chapter deals with a different aspects of World War One naval battles, and your fleet can be composed of up-to seven ships. Present in some of your battles are islands and coastlines, which can be a help or hindrance- but don't worry, since there "special zones" on the playfield that affect gameplay as well- all to the player's advantage.
So, what do you get visually? The graphics in the game are nothing less than excellent. Playfield rotation, zoom control, smoke leaving the ship's smokestack, and the splash of ammo as it hits the water- it's all there. "The Devil...", it is said, "...is in the details" and were I to at length rattle-off every feature of this title, well, the Devil would manifest itself as confusion for you. So, I will end this mini-review with the following: I was recently looking for a "battleship-like" game to purchase/play from the Indie Community (By now it should be clear to regular readers that I like to blow-up stuff and wage desktop battles). Make no mistake, there are many available, ranging from strict-interpretations of the boardgame to assorted variations on the theme. Dollar-for-dollar, Battleship Chess is the most detail-rich and playable that I tried, with SeaWar: the Battleship 2 in a city-block-walking-distance second.
So, in the mood for a game of Battleship?
Thanks for giving-up some of your valuable time for a Q & A session.
My pleasure, David.
Could you tell me a bit about Apezone Games- about yourself and the team?
Sure, ApeZone was started in 2000, with the release of Starships Unlimited. A game that I wrote full time for 3 years after quitting my long-time (11 years) day job as a programmer for military flight simulators. My "team" consists of myself, but I do contract out some art and music from others. I started the company so I could, essentially, handcraft games. I thought of it as my little booth on the internet where I could sell my wares. Like so many other indie game developers, I was naive and believed that if I built it, they would come. Well, they didn't. At least, not at first.
What makes a good game- moreover, what makes a good independent game?
Without getting into the philosophical discussion of games as art and the subjectivity of good, I'll try to stick to the brutal realities of what makes a successful game. Realities gleamed over the 6 years that ApeZone has been providing my paycheck.
Good games need to hook you into their game play and provide enough variety to keep you hooked. Good independent games need to do that immediately as they use demos as their main means of marketing.
Of course, the last statement can be countered by lots of examples, including my own Starships Unlimited. In this case, you need really good word of mouth and/or marketing. The latter is harder on the indie developer and the former requires a lot of luck.
Let's separate the wheat from the chaff: what do you think differentiates independent games from their commercial counterparts?
Basically, Independent games fill in a lot of the holes that the commercial side doesn't address anymore or very well. This is the very reason that I started writing games. I really just wanted to play the games that I wrote. It's this last reason that I think created the indie movement. Not only in games but in film and music. People play/watch/hear the mainstream offerings and find them lacking.
Commercial games have become bloated. Every game tries to be an epic. Indie games are usually smaller in physical size and scope. This makes them easier to download and try, which is a real convenience. They also tend to be less complicated, concentrating on fewer game play mechanics. This is why I think we often see the word "retro" associated with indie games. Older games had simpler play mechanics due to the hardware limitation of the time. I know that I don't have time to play the commercial games anymore, opting for either older games or indie games to fill the niche. I must be the target market as the last few games I bought were "Strange adventures in Infinite space", "Oasis" and "Heroes of Might and Magic ONE".
As an independent developer, what are the biggest challenges you face?
Well, there's so many, but the biggest would have to be marketing. It's simply hard to get noticed and getting noticed has a direct relation on how much money you make. Before people start thinking that I'm greedy to say that, it's important to understand those brutal realities I hinted at earlier. If you want to make this a full-time job, like I have, you have to think of the bottom line. I started Starships Unlimited with a dreamer's mentality. Lucky for me, it worked. But that first game will be your last game as a naive, starry-eyed idealist. Once the money starts rolling in, you don't want it to stop. So you begin thinking about how to keep it up, but without having to spend as much time in development. Because you learn that there's a whole list of other tasks you need to do besides development, namely marketing and PR. Which kind of brings us back to where we started. :)
Starships Unlimited has enjoyed some success- what was your inspiration in creating Starships Unlimited and were there any other games that inspired you during the game's development?
Like a lot of people, I grew up loving Star Trek and Star Wars. Throw in Babylon 5 and you get the kind of sci-fi that I like (ones with lots of starship combat). I initially wanted Starships Unlimited to be like the game Civilization, but in space. But then I heard of Masters of Orion. I looked at similar games out there like Stars! and Space Empires but didn't like their spreadsheet-like game play. I wanted something you could almost hold. Something you could get close to. This is why Starships Unlimited is so starship-centric.
As a strategy game, what sets Starships Unlimited apart from other strategy titles?
Starships Unlimited is a bit of an odd duck. Not quite a real-time game and not quite a turn-based one. I tried to blend the best of both worlds by having the game pause only when there was something that needed your attention. I'm not a fan of pure real-time games. I like to stop and see what's going on, but I don't want to be bothered with every little detail. One thing people who are new to the game don't realize, as this isn't the default, is that you can handle combat totally manually, moving and firing your starships as needed. This makes each battle like a tactical game of chess, but with starships.
I also developed Starships Unlimited to be about space combat and exploration, rather than about the diplomacy between alien races. I think most games of this type do it the other way around. In fact in these other games, combat seems to be a distant afterthought.
What inspired Battleship Chess and what can a gamer expect from this title?
Battleship Chess came from my love of naval history. Let's face it, naval combat is just the precursor to starship combat. I wanted to bring my love for the age of battleships to people who weren't already fans of the genre. I felt that the only really popular naval game was the classic boardgame of Battleship, so I tried to work some of its game play into Battleship Chess. I wanted to use the same boardgame motif and hiding of opposing forces the way Battleship does, but with deeper game play.
Each type of ship in Battleship Chess has its own limited movement, like chess pieces in Chess. They also have limited visibility, requiring you to move them around to find the enemy. This combination, along with acquiring ship technology and event cards, makes for an interesting tactical challenge. It's a far easier game to play than Starships Unlimited and doesn't require the same time investment to find its little gold nuggets.
Both Starships Unlimited and Battleship Chess have been released- what's next for Apezone and what can the gaming community keep an eye open for?
Glad you asked. My next game will be available in the next couple of months. It's called Starship Kingdom and is similar to the game of Risk, but with starships in space. There are 3 types of starships available (battlecruisers, battleships and battlestars). Its a one or two player game, where you are one of two noble houses trying to reunite the kingdom, which has fallen apart after the long standing royal family has died off.
Some interesting aspects are that each star system has technology that can be used to upgrade your fleet with, as well as the ability to build one of the types of starships. You need to control these star systems to get what they offer and you need three star systems that produce a given starship type to get one of those starships each turn. Unlike Battleship Chess, which requires player to enter their IP addresses, I intend on using the ApeZone.com webserver to act as a place where gamers can join up and play Starship Kingdom. It should even allow players to suspend a game and come back later to finish it. Visit the apezone.com website for the latest screenshots and information, as I'll be posting more and more information in the coming weeks or join the ApeZone Games newsletter.
Finally, is there anything else you'd like to say to the gaming public?
Yes, I'd like to thank all those people who have kept me in business for all these years. I admit that I had never bought anything online before I started Apezone, something that should have worried me at the time. Luckily that wasn't the case with a lot of other people. Now, of course, I buy all kinds of things on the internet, including games, gifts and game-making products. My friends and family still can't believe I make a living from this. By far, the best "job" I've ever had.
To those up and coming indie game developers, if you have any questions about making and selling games on the internet, I'd gladly answer your questions. Visit the apezone.com website for my mailing address (or email me at info@apezone.com). And thanks again, David, for giving me this opportunity to speak.
Mini-Reviews: Starships Unlimited & Battleship Chess.
Starships Unlimited
This title is Apezone Games fine addition to the 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate) world. In Starships Unlimited, you can play as one of 10 species and the game is similar to other titles of this ilk- build an empire, meet new races, explore, research technology, etc. However, this title is unique in the way gameplay is handled. Where other games (MOO3 et al.) can keep you involved in a micromanagement nightmare, Starships allows the player to define levels of automation ranging from combat to recruiting spies and using artifacts- automation that can a) be turned on-and-off during the game at your discretion, and b) be very welcome when dealing with more than 25 worlds, colonies, and aliens.
Another aspect of this 4X title that makes it singularly unique is that the focus is around exploration of the galaxy and space combat. While diplomacy and and research play a role in Starships, it is not where the emphasis lies. Furthermore, Starships offers excellent replayability with a variety of gameplay options to choose from as well. This game is easy to play with and easy to use- you'll not find level-upon-level of screens to tab through to manage your Galactic Empire. Make no mistake, easy to play and use does not mean a lack of richness and detail- both are present and accounted for in this title. Would-be Galactic Explorers and Warlords: Starships Unlimited is worth a good look. I took a good look at this game and wish I had done so alot sooner:-)
Battleship Chess
I know, I know... you're thinking this is just another re-tooling of the classic boardgame, right? Well, so did I until I sat down with the game and took a good look... so, c'mon, sit down and form a circle cause we're going to do a little "show-and-tell". Once you start a game of Battleship Chess, your point-of-view is high-above the 12x12 playfield, it looks a bit similar to the boardgame. What brings flavor to this title is that the game mimics chess in that each of your ships, like chess-pieces, have specific fields of movement. There are other elements to the gameplay that offer the player in-game bonuses as well as opportunities to upgrade your ships while you are waging a multi-game war. In short- this is a game that is easy to pick-up and play, but without having the game in front of you gentle readers, it is a bit complicated to describe the mechanics.
So, if describing the mechanics is difficult, why not just dig-out the boardgame from your closet? Well, that is something I can dissuade you from doing by describing the rich detail that is a part of this game. The game is broken into five chapters- the length of the chapters is at your discretion; one, five, or ten battles per chapter. Each chapter deals with a different aspects of World War One naval battles, and your fleet can be composed of up-to seven ships. Present in some of your battles are islands and coastlines, which can be a help or hindrance- but don't worry, since there "special zones" on the playfield that affect gameplay as well- all to the player's advantage.
So, what do you get visually? The graphics in the game are nothing less than excellent. Playfield rotation, zoom control, smoke leaving the ship's smokestack, and the splash of ammo as it hits the water- it's all there. "The Devil...", it is said, "...is in the details" and were I to at length rattle-off every feature of this title, well, the Devil would manifest itself as confusion for you. So, I will end this mini-review with the following: I was recently looking for a "battleship-like" game to purchase/play from the Indie Community (By now it should be clear to regular readers that I like to blow-up stuff and wage desktop battles). Make no mistake, there are many available, ranging from strict-interpretations of the boardgame to assorted variations on the theme. Dollar-for-dollar, Battleship Chess is the most detail-rich and playable that I tried, with SeaWar: the Battleship 2 in a city-block-walking-distance second.
So, in the mood for a game of Battleship?
posted by David at 9:19 PM
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