(continued from previous page) ...do a good job for them then it’s quite possible they’ll want to use you for another project – ideally approaching you with another potential opportunity before your first game ships. But again, you can’t rely on this – your main contact may change, the publisher may change its approach to downloadable games, etc
-Access to much more thorough play testing and focus testing – this is really important when developing a title. Not just receiving written reports from focus groups, but watching them play – where are they stumbling, what’s causing them to swear and threaten your dog’s life, and so forth

Existing Publisher Disadvantages
-Don’t expect to own the IP (Intellectual Property) – hey, they’re footing the bill and taking the full financial risk for your game – don’t expect them to let you keep the IP (hint: they won’t)
-Less revenue – again, they’re funding your game, so they’ll understandably take the lion’s share of the revenue
-Less creative freedom – no matter how sound you think your game is they will have input, and as much as I’ve dreaded that in the past as a designer, they are paying for the development of the game so they do have the right to request and even demand design changes – pick your battles; don’t fight each request – give them ones you feel won’t hurt the game, and fight the few that you feel are potentially damaging to the game (but remember, you still may not win here)

Now keep in mind it’s more involved than the above bullet points, but I just want point out some of the main advantages and disadvantages to both publishing routes.

PSU: You've promised that an update will be released for NovaStrike in the near future. What's on the top of your planned feature list? Trophy support perhaps?

McCann: I promised? Crap.

Seriously, though, we are working an update, and we’re looking to release it later this summer. It will be a combination of things we want to add, and addressing items and issues that players are wanting for the game. Trophy-support is pretty high on that list – we want to support them once Sony has support for them (where players can see each others’ trophies).
 

We’ll definitely be adding the ability to customize controls (as this is definitely one of the higher requests from players), plus looking into the overall difficulty of certain modes. We want to make the game more accessible in general while still having challenging modes for those players that want them.

I’ll be providing a more detailed list later on Sony’s official blog. We’re still ironing out everything we can accomplish during our update development time frame, but we definitely want those.

PSU: When can we expect a demo of the title to arrive on the PlayStation Store (if ever)? Also, when should our friends across the pond expect to see NovaStrike launch in Europe?

McCann: We do want to get a demo out. Right now we’re focusing on the update and the European release. Since we’re working on this update I’m trying to synchronize the release in Europe just having the updated version from the get-go, and simultaneously updating existing customers in the United States. I don’t have a specific date for this yet, sorry.

PSU: What's your favorite title currently available on the PlayStation Network outside of NovaStrike?

McCann: This is going to sound bad, but I really haven’t played any PSN title that much. We’ve been so involved with NovaStrike (small team = long hours) that I haven’t even been playing games that much anymore. When you work all day on them (and lots of weekends) the desire to go home and play a game is often absent.

Of course I’ve played some of Super Stardust HD and Everyday Shooter, and I’m pretty sure I’d enjoy PixelJunk Monsters – those tower defense games are fun, and it looks like they did a solid job on it (and the reviews have been very favorable toward it). I’ll pick it up at some point, as it’s probably the title that interests me the most right now on PSN.

PSU: While NovaStrike is your ... (continued on next page)