Hunters dev reveals triple-A woes

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 25 March, 2011

Ex-Bodycount staffer heads for iPad.

One of the founders of UK powerhouse mobile phone studio Rodeo has railed against the frustrations of creating triple-A video games.

Ben Murch, who was group lead environment artist on still in development first-person shooter Bodycount at Codemasters, and an artist on open world arcade racing game Burnout Paradise at EA-owned Criterion Games, left triple-A development behind last summer to form iPhone and iPad studio Rodeo Games with three former Lionhead, Criterion and EA staffers.

Rodeo's first game, Hunters: Episode One, is a science-fiction turn-based strategy game inspired by board games such as Space Hulk and classic turn-based video games such as XCOM.

Explaining the decision to Eurogamer, Murch said he and his colleagues were dissatisfied with the triple-A creative process.

"It's down to a lot of people wanting more creativity in the games they're making," he said. "When I was working at Criterion it felt like it was a great big team, and I wanted to have more in the decision-making.

"On Burnout it felt a lot more like you were a cog in the machine. There were the big guys at the top and they were making the decisions. To be fair, that's absolutely fine, because when you go to work and you're an artist, you can't really expect to be making calls on design and those sorts of elements. Otherwise it would just be an absolute mess. So you need people to just go to work and do their jobs.

"Whereas during Bodycount, we were all getting into the... We feel like we've got something more to add here. Almost like, why aren't we running the show? Which is a bit of an egotistical thing to say.

"Quitting then starting up this, there's definitely an element of just having all the power in your hands and being able to do whatever you like and not having to run through a million meetings to make a decision on something."

Murch is the latest in a long line of former triple-A developers who have answered the call sounded by Apple's App Store.

Only last week former Bizarre Creations developers formed Hogrocket, a micro-studio targeting iPhone/iPad, PC and Mac.

Murch said Rodeo considered creating an Xbox Live Arcade game, but decided it was "impossible".

"Doing things like the Xbox Live Arcade stuff never seemed like something we'd be able to go into and make a good living for ourselves," he explained.

"It's a hard submission process, and it's hard just getting your game into the queue. We looked at that a couple of years ago, and it seemed almost impossible to make any headway into that kind of market, whereas all the Apple stuff is ultra developer friendly."

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (16) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Butr0sButr0s #1 1 year ago

    I may be getting old and have my opinion clouded by nostalgia, but I feel like we're in the midst of the second great video game collapse. Where the first one came about because there was zero regulation on the market (so it was flooded with garbage titles, and back then without demos, game magazines, or the internet it was hard to know what you were buying) this one is the opposite, corporations and heavy handed development has led to making a quick buck over risks and innovation. Its a lot like the movie industry - new ideas run the risk of being bit hits or big flops, where sequels and re-makes usually have a better estimate of income, which stockholders and CEO''s like.

    Unfortunately, it's us the gamers that get to bear the brunt of the stagnancy. Year after year of shovelware - essentially every franchise has become madden, the same thing every iteration with minor tweaks. Now, madden has its place, just like call of duty, but when 75% of major releases are going that route it becomes a bit depressing.

    The good news is the small (or even 1 man/woman) teams have been stepping up lately and that's where my money has been going. Games like VVVVVV and Amnesia have shown there's still room to make something different then whats out there and have people buy it, and with services like steam and the app store it's easier to get your content into gamer's hands.

  • Naptime #2 1 year ago

    So it all came down to him not liking being just a employee without much creative freedom on the projects he's working on, and therefor wanting to start for himself. Congrats you just described why people go into business for themselves.

  • Naptime #3 1 year ago

    Butr0sButr0s, this is nothing more than a business cycle. For all the talk of developing for the iphone being so easy, its nothing more than the first step in a cycle that will end with them needing 50 man teams to develop titles. Every year the phones will get more and more powerful, and every time that happens consumers expect the games to increase in (graphical) quality. This will require more manpower which will require more money which will require save bet titles like sequels and remakes.

  • Kerome #4 1 year ago

    Not quite true, that. The bar on visual quality is limited by screen size and res, and the total investment needed by the short-session play pattern. Mobile games will stay lower cost, although they probably will rise a little to an average $400k-$500k range and then come back down again as engine tech catches up.

  • Butr0sButr0s #5 1 year ago

    I wasn't making an argument about size and power, I was making a statement that until recently there wasn't a good way to get 'home-made' content to a huge audience without going through a publisher.

    Indie developers either had to jump through tons of hoops (see the statements in this very article about Xbox Live), get lucky enough to get picked up by a publisher (who takes a large cut of the profit), or rely on word of mouth and a private server to host them. Now if joe-hobbyist makes a game they can get a product up on the app store or steam with far less trouble. Its also far easier for them to patch their content compared to having everything certified (such as MS cert. on Xbox live).

    Small titles have been around for a long time, but its always been hard to market them and make a living off of them. In my opinion that has changed recently with more friendly digital distribution methods.

  • menage #6 1 year ago

    @Naptime

    +1 Indeed, I don't even know why he's complaining. It's just not liking your job. Seems like a pretty damn obvious rant anyone can think off, nothing new.

    I wouldn't touch all these iPhone games with a stick though. Sure they're great sometimes, the format just doesn't interest me at all. Like I never touch my DS again either. Can't get immersed in the stuff and most of it is pretty shortterm/shallow.

  • Naptime #7 1 year ago

    Butr0sButr0s, my apologies I misread your intent. Although I still perceive the statement to be a bit rose tinted. Any distribution method with sufficient clout will require some kind of cut for its use, even digital. And if its to easy get on without any form of gatekeeping you run the risk of being lost in the shuffle , see indie games and xbla for a comparison on a single platform for with and without gatekeeping.

  • Naptime #8 1 year ago

    @Kerome

    I'll agree that costs will be lower for mobile games on average, but screen sizes and res will increase there is no question of that. Factor in cross platform development for tablet devices and the writing is on the wall. Phones will go HD in a year or two and the tablets will go 1080p around the same time. There is simply no escape from rising costs.

  • mkreku #9 1 year ago

    There is a physical limit as to high resolution can increase on phones, if you're supposed to be able to put them in your pocket. I think Iphone 4 is actually at that limit now (using 960x540 on 4 inch screens).

    If that does indeed become the upper limit, then graphics simply can not evolve that much more, except in terms of polygon count and post effects. One can hope it also means we'll never see the need for multi-million dollar teams for the AAA titles on such devices.

  • GreyBeard #10 1 year ago

    The collapse won't be immediately obvious because no-one's going to bat an eyelid when a small-time iOS developer goes under.
    And chances are, they will, unless they get lucky.

    Creative freedom is good, no doubt, but honestly speaking in terms of job/income security its incredibly risky given the state of the market. No matter how good the product is, given the sheer volume of stuff out there its a lottery whether its going to provide a positive ROI.

  • DirectAim #11 1 year ago

    EG had an article a few weeks back saying that DS games are far cheaper to make than a mobile app, why don't these startups make DS games?

  • evild_edd #12 1 year ago

    @DirectAim: perhaps because third party DS games don't sell?

    Also because you need a publisher to get the carts on shelves...

  • Olemak #13 1 year ago

    "Rodeo's first game, Hunters: Episode One, is a science-fiction turn-based strategy game inspired by board games such as Space Hulk and classic turn-based video games such as XCOM."

    OMG. Want. When?

  • Dilkington #14 1 year ago

    I may be getting old and have my opinion clouded by nostalgia, but I feel like we're in the midst of the second great video game collapse.

    Potentially, what the developers flocking to 'casual' gaming either fail or refuse to understand (though the article makes reference to xcom) is that everything they'll do on those platforms is heavily informed by AAA titles from years gone by, it's those titles that are largely front running 'casual' gaming.

    Fewer AAA developers/titles will result in a shallower pool for 'casual' gaming to draw from.

  • TwitchyMcTwitch #15 1 year ago

    Quick! Delete this article before too many developers read it and start getting ideas!

  • Butr0sButr0s #16 1 year ago

    Naptime - yes, I'm pretty far on the left when it comes to optimism. I agree there's a big risks of everything getting lost and muddy when you make a system too open, but I'm hoping we gamers can step up and utilize ranking systems, reviews, etc. to sort the material. I was thinking it could be similar to how NewEgg does their ratings. There's 100 ram modules you might be interested in at any given time but the user reviews and ratings do a pretty good job letting you focus on the best of the bunch.