After the first Game Developers Meetup, I followed up with some of the developers I met there. One of which is Adam Mowery. A few years ago, Adam created a game for XBox Live Indie Games titled Curse of the Crescent Isle. You can see the game trailer below.
Do you have any sales data you would like to share? Such as how many copies you have sold, how much money you have made, sales peaks etc?
I think I ended up selling something around 1500 copies. I used to check it regularly but I don’t really bother anymore. I got about 80 cents on the dollar for that. A certain percentage went to the Daniel Davis (http://dvgmusic.bandcamp.com/album/curse-of-the-crescent-isle-soundtrack) who did the music and I paid a $99 a year fee to develop on the Xbox, I don’t remember how much was left.
What was the experience of releasing for XBLIG like?
It was okay overall. Games have to be peer reviewed before they’re released and I think that took somewhere between 2-3 weeks.
What are some tips you have for other XBLIG developers?
Start small and make games you would want to play.
What are your thoughts on Microsoft killing support for XNA?
It sucks because a lot of people got their start using it and it’s comparatively easier than some other technologies. I tried my hand at using DirectX, Java, and other assorted technologies and XNA was the easiest to wrap my brain around.
Do you have plans to adopt other technologies for game development?
I’m using Monogame for my current game which is just the XNA framework layered on top of OpenGL or OpenTK or something. I honestly don’t know. I know that the guys who made Wizorb used it and so that’s why I’m giving it a shot.
Argus 100 is your next game correct?
Yeah, I’ve been messing around with sprites and gameplay ideas on it for a year or so but making a full blown RPG with story and everything seemed overwhelming until I played a romhack of Final Fantasy V called Final Fantasy V: Ancient Cave. It’s sorta like a RPG/roguelike with very little emphasis on story.
How is development going on it?
It’s going okay. I had taken some of the code from Curse of the Crescent Isle and wrote a generic 2D engine about a year ago when I couldn’t decide on what to work on and that took care of about a third of everything that I needed to write.
When is your projected completion date?
I’m crossing my fingers for the end of the year but I made the mistake of releasing Curse of the Crescent Isle before it was done and I don’t want to do that again so I might “finish” it and then spend a few months polishing it.
What are your plans as we move into a new generation of consoles?
Nintendo and Playstation have really opened the gates to indies on the next generation and it would be awesome if I could get Argus 100 (and a revised version of Curse of the Crescent Isle) running on their handhelds. I don’t know what to think of Microsoft yet because they haven’t said anything. I bought most of the multi-platform stuff on my 360 but I’m playing mostly on PC now outside of console exclusives.
Also, do you have a website for your company/games that I could point people to?
Yeah, sure. Michael Nicolai (who did the cover art for Curse of the Crescent Isle) set up a website at www.lastguygames.com but I don’t really update there. TalkingBalrog is my youtube channel and I’m trying to post monthly updates there. Also, I was on my friends’ gaming podcast “On the Stick” a while back at www.onthestick.com/93/on-the-stick-22-wind-for-joe which was pretty fun.
To view some early shots of Argos 100, you can visit Adam’s Youtube page. I have also embedded one below. Enjoy.
