Blackwell Convergence Postmortem

In a postmortem written for Gamasutra, Wadget Eye Games CEO Dave Gilbert delves into what went right, and more interestingly, what went wrong during development of the company's latest Blackwell game.

Some of the more remarkable observations come from the developer's insight into the creative process. By taking advantage of an already existing development platform, in this case, Adventure Game Studio (AGS) Gilbert was able to keep costs in check by doing the majority of the work himself.

However, despite these cost cutting measures the company was disappointed to discover that higher production values (in the form of sprite art/animation) and an increased marketing budget did little to make the game more profitable.

"The slicker production values did help Convergence sell much better than its predecessors, but it also took much longer to earn back the production costs. So in terms of pure profit, my earnings are exactly the same as the previous titles. I am satisfied enough with how the game is selling, but I do have to ask the question: would I have been better off keeping the lower production values (and cost) of the original games?"

Here’s to hoping the company can learn from the experience and incorporate this knowledge into their next project.

Check out the full write-up for yourself by visiting: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4188/postmortem_wadjet_eyes_the_.php

(via Gamasutra)