The lead designer of “
Deadly Creatures” recently explained to me why his — and other — hardcore games need to sell on the Wii.
If they don’t, then it’s back to mini-games.
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Last month, Jordan Itkowitz of Rainbow Studios stopped by to show me his brainchild “Deadly Creatures,” a Wii game due in February that features a scorpion and a tarantula as its protagonists. Here’s what the lead designer had to say about making a Wii title that’s attempting to appeal to both a hardcore and casual crowd — and sell:
MTV Multiplayer: How did you persuade THQ to greenlight this idea?
Itkowitz: It was pretty easy, actually, because of the fact that we pitched it on the Wii — that was the magic word. [THQ] was really interested in doing something for the Wii because they didn’t have a whole lot on the roster for that. They were really supportive of the concept the whole time. I mean, it is kind of an experiment though, because everybody — from fans to the press to gamers — have been saying they want more core stuff on the Wii, and they’re tired of the mini-game compilations. So the response to [the game] so far has been really good.
I hope people vote with their dollars in February so we can make some more. Otherwise, it’s back to mini-games.
MTV Multiplayer: How do you think “Deadly Creatures” will sell on the Wii considering the NPD numbers haven’t been as good for other core games as much as the casual ones?
Itkowitz: I honestly don’t know. All we can do is make the coolest, best game that we can and then just hope that it finds its audience. … I’d be lying if I didn’t say there’s a little bit of uncertainty there because you do look at the numbers about what’s sold, and there haven’t been that many core games that have broken out. Then again, there haven’t been that many core games, period. You had a couple of ports, “
Okami” and “
Resident Evil 4.” “
Boom Blox” is third-party but it’s not exactly core… what else? “
No More Heroes” did okay, but it was really niche.
MTV Multiplayer: I kind of had the same conversation with the guys that did “Mushroom Men.”
Itkowitz: Yeah, I really want to play that because there’s obviously a lot of overlap with the world and the sense of scale. I don’t know how that game’s doing; I guess it just came out. I want to check it out for the Primus stuff. We’ve been keeping our eye on that one.
MTV Multiplayer: Do you think the sales of “Mushroom Men” might be a good gauge for how “Deadly Creatures” will do?
Itkowitz: It could be. It’s an action platformer, and it has a different theme. I think because it’s a platformer and kind of quirky and more character-based — not as dark as this — I don’t think it will maybe capture the older half of the market as much.
MTV Multiplayer: You mentioned that there’s a lack of core games on the Wii. Why do you think that is?
Itkowitz: As you know, Nintendo’s “Blue Ocean” strategy has been a massive success, drawing in hordes of casual and non-gamers. But despite that massive install base, it stills seems like many of those new consumers are content to only play “
Wii Sports,” “
Wii Play,” and the concepts that they can easily understand — i.e. “
Carnival Games” — without having to know much about specific genres. The trick is to get those new players to step outside that easy comfort zone and try some genres and experiences that, while accessible and familiar to gamers, are still a bit foreign to anyone who’s new to the culture. So far — and given the historical shakiness of third-party success on Nintendo’s platforms — it seems like many publishers have been taking a more measured, wait-and-see approach.
I think THQ was very proactive at the outset — two years ago — in greenlighting a unique, friendly, Nintendo-styled platfomer like “
DeBlob,” and of course “Deadly Creatures,” which has an intriguing concept and the possibility to not only connect with the core gamers waiting for content, but also some casual gamers looking to try something new. Hopefully, we can make that connection.
MTV Multiplayer: Why do you think third-party core games haven’t sold that well on the Wii so far? Do you think this is related to the lack of such games for the console in general?
Itkowitz: That’s pretty much the problem. There haven’t been that many of them so far… In fact, there haven’t even been that many core first-party games from Nintendo either. I think they know that the gamers will wait patiently for the next “
Zelda” or “
Mario,” but it seems Nintendo’s real focus is on creating the new genre and cross-demographic experiences — i.e. “Wii Fit” — that will pull in as many of those blue ocean swimmers as possible. So far it looks like it’s been a very successful strategy.
MTV Multiplayer: In making “Deadly Creatures,” how do you appeal to both the core gamer and the core Wii user?
Itkowitz: It was a core goal at the outset not to exclude anyone. We specifically designed the beginning of our game to hook players — old and new — right away. You get the novelty and surprising perspectives of wall-crawling right away, some cool creature combat and then a boss encounter all within the first five minutes of play, and all with a nice, gentle ramp-up.
And we’ve structured the experience throughout the game so that we’re giving new goodies — abilities, mechanics — and challenges at a nice pace, so that we keep interest up. Some conventions of the action/adventure genre will be familiar to gamers, but if you haven’t played a lot of those games, we hope “Deadly Creatures” will feel even fresher and more fascinating. Ultimately we’d love it if some of those new players are able to play through the entire game. It’s been built to be finished.
