Since the The Dishwasher trial went live, I’ve been getting a lot of emails from people. At first I did my best to answer them, but now I’ve been so inundated, and I’ve got so many deadlines coming up, that I figure it would be easier to just identify the common thread of questioning and answer that here!
Here are the big ones:
- How do I make games?
I’d definitely recommend taking any classes if they’re available, whether you’re in high school or college. Though XNA is all C#, learning C, C++, or Java will still help to familiarize you with the basics of programming.Also, my advice to everyone is always this: start small! Not to sound arrogant, but The Dishwasher is basically the culmination of 6 years of hobbyist game development experience; if you’ve only got a week of experience you’re not exactly going to be able to match the caliber of The Dishwasher. And forget 3D altogether if you’re just starting. Basically, if you set out to make something that would’ve been considered cool in the 80’s, you’ve got a fighting chance.
- Is The Dishwasher coming out for Windows?
There aren’t any plans currently, for a few reasons. The biggest reason, of course, is because Microsoft is publishing it as an XBLA title, so I’m going to focus on that. Also, the game plays like rubbish with a keyboard, and adding support for multiple gamepads is always ugly in my opinion. The Dishwasher is made for the Xbox360 controller (though I could see the DualShock working). I also think PC piracy is a really, really, really big problem. - When is The Dishwasher coming out?
When it’s done! The XNA team and I are both breaking new ground by adding all sorts of new functionality, and there certainly is a lot to do. I’m 99.9% certain it’ll be out in 2008, but beyond that, I can’t really say anything, because it would amount to nothing more than a politician’s promise.
So there you have it! I’m always happy to answer questions, so keep ’em coming!
PC Piracy is a red herring- have any of your other games ever ended up pirated? Not that I’ve ever seen. You have to reach a certain, very high, level of public awareness before you become even the most remote blip on a warez group radar- they’re in it for the popularity and bragging rights, not to fuck over the little guy.
You can release a PC game for free with antipiracy, distribution, purchasing, and consumer monitoring all handled by Steam, ala Steamworks. Even for the highest of the high profile games released on Steam it typically takes 2-3 weeks before the first crack comes out, and two months for a reliable one, long after the initial sales rush has ended and anything left is far less important peripheral sales after the fact. Steam games in general are far less effected by piracy than typical releases anyway, because they overcome one of the biggest reasons for some pirates- ease of acquiring and using the end product. In Steam a customer can click a download link, follow some links through paypal, verify the purchase, click ok, and have the game download and install on its own in a few minutes entirely without any need to mess with it. No muss, no fuss, and its made a huge difference.
Please don’t turn your back on us. 🙁 We’re the ones who know who you are. The Xbox crowd has never played SCZ. They never played Zombie Smashers. They aren’t particularly looking forward to what you’ve got. WE ARE.
I agree – James you gotta make a PC version – Piracy is not only a PC problem it’s also rampant on Console crap – I supported you in the past and will in the future for PC games
No Windows version planned? James… Please… You, I, and God know you’re going to do it so why dance around it? The game was originally announced for said system so it’s a good idea you carry on with that.
However, I do understand the difficulties of multiple controllers, shitty keyboard support for console-to-PC ports (see Onimusha 3 Demon Siege and Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition), and rampant PC piracy.
So perhaps what you could do is work on the PC version afterwards with some extra help or if you don’t want to take the trouble, dump all the porting shit onto another company to take care of.
Us PC gamers frequently get the shitty end of the stick when it comes to getting games nowadays in lust of console profits, so please don’t be like them.