Will: So, the PC version of World of Goo just went gold. You guys must be super excited, right?
Kyle: Yeah we’re thrilled, but it’s deceptive since we still have a bit more to finish for our Wii version. And then once that’s delivered, our full time jobs will involve reading every article and comment on the internet and freaking out if anybody says anything bad. I hear that’s how it is from other independent developers anyway.
Will: You also have a version for WiiWare. Did you develop this version alongside the PC version or was it a separate project?
Ron: It wasn’t until over a year after we started development that we started working on the WiiWare version. It took about a month to get the code flexible enough to begin porting to Wii. After that it took our resident console genius Allan Blomquist a mere 3-4 weeks to get the game up and running on Wii. Kyle and I were both amazed. Since then we’d been working in parallel on both versions.
Will: Did you face any unique challenges while developing the Wii Version?
Kyle: Not many people know this, but World of Goo was originally going to be on a Wii disc at retail. As an independent studio, though, we like to believe digital distribution is the wave of the future, so we very much wanted to experiment with this new digital distribution thing Nintendo was putting together, the thing that eventually became WiiWare.
Also, if I can rant for a second - there seems to be some expectation that WiiWare games are “smaller” game experiences than their retail buddies. We need to get rid of that expectation! We’re going to start seeing WiiWare games that totally kick the asses of more expensive retail games made by big unapologetically crappy companies. The size, in bytes, of a game does not have any correlation with quality of a game. 4 gigabytes of crap, for instance, is still crap, just more of it. A Link to the Past, one of the best and “biggest” games ever, is under a megabyte.
Will: The process of submitting software and having it approved by Nintendo for WiiWare is a bit hazy to ‘outsiders’. Was the overall experience pleasant? (be honest)
Ron: Yeah, it’s totally amazing. They fly you up to Seattle, put you up in five star hotels, and take you to the opera. Then there are the limos, the girls, and outrageous parties. Seriously though, it’s been a pretty easy process for us. We applied to be a Nintendo licensed developer, got approved, sent them a WiiWare project submission document, got the thumbs up, and then we ordered a dev kit and started working on the game. They’ve been totally hands off and at the same time they’ve been very responsive over email when we had questions or needed help.
Will: Why did you opt for Wiiware instead of the other console download services? Will World of Goo ever show up on PSN or XBLA?
Ron: The Wii remote is a great controller for World of Goo and feels totally natural. A dual-shock style controller doesn’t lend itself well to the drag’n'drop control mechanism we have in the game. PSN is still a possibility if the control issue can be overcome. XBLA is not an option because the unfavorable terms Microsoft offers to developers for XBLA games. Don’t get me started on that.
Will: With services like WiiWare, PSN, The iPhone App Store and XBL Marketplace, Do you think it’s becoming easier for smaller developers to get their projects out there?
Ron: If you can make a game you can sell it off your website. That’s easier than any of the channels you listed, so I don’t really think it’s easier to get a game out today than it was 10 years ago, but there are more opportunities to make a living off of it. Of course, there are also quite a few more developers competing for those opportunities, so even if you make a good game, it’s easy to drown in a sea of other games.
Will: Tell me a little bit about your clothing line (which is fantastic, by the way). Do you think it will broaden the audience of independently developed games? How did the idea develop?
Kyle: The first run of the indie clothing line kind of failed for various reasons, but I hope to try again, once we’re done with World of Goo. The idea was simple though - independent game developers are passionate about their creations, and they make art that’s not just pretty to look at, but art that’s witty, or slightly subversive, or just totally absurd in a way a big studio would never be able to create. And so, with shirts in major retailers, like Target, we hoped we could introduce non-game-industry people to the whole world of independent games. That, and our logic path was basically: “I’d totally wear a velociraptor with a monocle all over my chest, let’s make shirts!”
Will: After World of Goo, what’s next for 2DBoy?
Ron: I want to reacquaint myself with what it feels like to be on vacation. After that I look forward to prototyping a bunch of ideas Kyle and I came up with over the last two years and see if anything interesting comes out of them.
Kyle: I hope World of Goo does ok, so we can make more games, or have enough money to become a super villain or something.
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Some interesting tidbits about working with the digital distribution services, but mostly the interview was a good read because the guys have a good sense of humor.
Looking forward to playing World of Goo, and keep up that attitude guys!
