Latest Blog Posts:
Episode 18: Unstoppable New Art Direction Sep.2Jermaine Uberheimer Concept Art Jun.25
JForce: Now Working Full-time Jun.16
Ep 17: JForce + Egoraptor = Best Game Ever Apr.29
Avatar Showdown Updated Apr.25
Showdown Press Roundup, Disgusting Interview Included Apr.10
Sales Stats Now Public Apr.4
Avatar Showdown Released! Feb.24
Latest Blog Comments:
-Ty: Thanks, guys!
-Ty
Jake: You guys are EPIC, the sprites are EPIC.
Looks like you're having fun with it, which of course is what it's...
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Gerald: lol - that video was funny. the animations look nice
Abbey: FUCK YAAAAAH! :D :D
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JForce's First Interview (funny stuff)
September 23, 2009
"You guys are kind of like the "bad boys" of indie game developers, does that image bother you or do you thrive on it?"
Read the interview!
EDIT: That site is no more. The interview is reposted here:
Interview with the guys at JForce Games
DateSaturday, September 19, 2009 at 01:21AM
When did you start developing games for the Xbox Indies? Did you guys have previous experience as developers?
Jeremy: Nope, we have no experience. We had our very first meeting way back in June 2007. That was when we had another programmer, who was supposed to be our main guy, but not much got accomplished. It wasn't until about spring 2008 that Jonny became competent enough with XNA. That's when we really started development.
Jonny: I first took a Java class in highschool, I don't think I learned much. Later I got a really great video tutorial series from 3DBuzz that focused on XNA development, which laid a good foundation for me. I've never completed a full game, so Unstoppable is my first.
What type of games inspire you? Where do you get your ideas?
Jeremy: I get inspired by really creative and artistic and funny stuff. I love stealing ideas too. I mostly get ideas from the games I play, like Halo for example. It seems like that’s the main game we’re always comparing a feature to. “Just make it like Halo” has been said so many times for so many different things during the development of Unstoppable, it’s odd. But we have like every weapon ever in this game, all the cool weapons in video game history. So yeah, we did a lot of idea-stealing, but we try to give everything our own unique flavor.
Ty: Growing up as friends our gaming interests intersected around certain monoliths of the gaming industry (Perfect Dark, Halo series, SMB, etc...), but each of us possesses a unique palate for gaming which continually eventuates to a vast variety of ideas thrown across the board during the development process.
I'm inspired and draw ideas from so many types of games...it's too dreadfully eclectic to categorize really.
You guys are kind of like the "bad boys" of indie game developers, does that image bother you or do you thrive on it?
Jeremy: Ha, definitely thrive on it. That's what sets us apart and gets us attention. Although in the beginning it's not like we really planned this. It just sorta happened, and we ran with it. It was probably inevitable though, that's just how we act, for the most part.
Jonny: I've campaigned against it from the start, but it doesn't really bother me right now. I think I can rightfully deny any responsibility for our image.
Jesse: The badboy image doesn't bother me that much unless it eclipses what we are trying to do, which is make great games for our fans.
Ty: There's this self-deprecating humility which seems to characterize the vast majority of indies...probably birthed outta insecurity and a general lack of ability...
We don't foster such needless pretenses...Rather, we make it hot.
Now, when I say "Hot", you say "JForce Games", and then we say, "Look behind you. Somebody's gonna get raped..."
Have you settled on the price point for Unstoppable?
Jeremy: For Xbox I'm pretty dead-set on 240 points right now. But that could change. If we end up catching "featuritis" and adding more then we expect to this game, maybe we'll bump it up to 400. Or if it turns out not as good as we hoped, maybe bump it down to 80. But I don't think either of those scenarios will happen. For PC, not sure yet. Maybe 5 bucks.
Ty: Some things in life are priceless, ok? If I told you that your family is trapped in a slow-filling gas chamber and giving me a mere $ 5 would "somehow" save their lives...wouldn't you take the offer...? ---Especially if you could get a great game in the process?
Now, if you're an orphan...maybe you should just kill yourself...after giving me $5, that is.
What has been the best thing about developing for Xbox Indies?
Jeremy: Well obviously developing for a console is a dream come true. I would hate to be limited to only PC, since we all grew up on consoles, that's what we want to develop for. The simplicity of XNA is probably the best part. Seems like Jonny is able to do anything so easily.
What has been the biggest challenge about developing for Xbox Indies?
Jonny: Having to watch so many titles receive attention that they may not deserve. Anyone who made money off a massage game should feel terrible.
Jeremy: JForce doesn’t know the meaning of the word "challenge." Everything comes easy for us.
No I’m kiddin. Seriously, I don’t know. We don’t have anything to compare this service to, and we haven’t released a game yet. But making money won't be hard, I can tell you that. We just got that gift.
Not including yours, whats yours favorite game on Xbox Indies?
Jesse: Avatar golf because it’s easy to play, there's no problems with finding an online match and you can use your avatar. I would choose ZP2K9 but it’s difficult to find people online and it’s not as fun playing with bots. It’s still a great game just lacking players.
Jeremy: I hardly play them, I usually only do just to check em out. If I had to pick one I'd go with ZP2K9. Also, Rumble Massage was pure genius. And that one Japanese Ninja side scrolling fighting game with the super difficult controls and really great music. AWESOME. That was good for many laughs.
Jonny: ZP2K9 or Miner Dig Deep
Any news on a release date?
Jeremy: We were shooting for the fall, but it doesn't look like we’ll make that. I really don't want to let this slip into 2010, but we will absolutely not release the game if it isn't good enough, so who knows. I'd like to say December, with the PC version a month or two later. That's what I'm hoping for. I think in the future we won't say release dates, and just give the standard "when it's done" reply. But then again a release date gives us a deadline, which makes us work harder, so I dunno. The other thing is, we just started developing another game, a very small one. It's a remake of the Samurai Kirby mini-game, but with avatars and online play. Look for it in the next month or so. Unfortunately it'll push the release of Unstoppable back about a month, but it should make us enough cash to justify it.
One last thing - (add anything here that you want, promote your website or say whatever you like(within reason ;))
Jeremy: Ummm, subscribe to us on youtube? We have epic viral videos on the way!
Jesse: I have herpes.
Ty: Sorry, Jesse.
EDIT: That site is no more. The interview is reposted here:
Interview with the guys at JForce Games
DateSaturday, September 19, 2009 at 01:21AM
When did you start developing games for the Xbox Indies? Did you guys have previous experience as developers?
Jeremy: Nope, we have no experience. We had our very first meeting way back in June 2007. That was when we had another programmer, who was supposed to be our main guy, but not much got accomplished. It wasn't until about spring 2008 that Jonny became competent enough with XNA. That's when we really started development.
Jonny: I first took a Java class in highschool, I don't think I learned much. Later I got a really great video tutorial series from 3DBuzz that focused on XNA development, which laid a good foundation for me. I've never completed a full game, so Unstoppable is my first.
What type of games inspire you? Where do you get your ideas?
Jeremy: I get inspired by really creative and artistic and funny stuff. I love stealing ideas too. I mostly get ideas from the games I play, like Halo for example. It seems like that’s the main game we’re always comparing a feature to. “Just make it like Halo” has been said so many times for so many different things during the development of Unstoppable, it’s odd. But we have like every weapon ever in this game, all the cool weapons in video game history. So yeah, we did a lot of idea-stealing, but we try to give everything our own unique flavor.
Ty: Growing up as friends our gaming interests intersected around certain monoliths of the gaming industry (Perfect Dark, Halo series, SMB, etc...), but each of us possesses a unique palate for gaming which continually eventuates to a vast variety of ideas thrown across the board during the development process.
I'm inspired and draw ideas from so many types of games...it's too dreadfully eclectic to categorize really.
You guys are kind of like the "bad boys" of indie game developers, does that image bother you or do you thrive on it?
Jeremy: Ha, definitely thrive on it. That's what sets us apart and gets us attention. Although in the beginning it's not like we really planned this. It just sorta happened, and we ran with it. It was probably inevitable though, that's just how we act, for the most part.
Jonny: I've campaigned against it from the start, but it doesn't really bother me right now. I think I can rightfully deny any responsibility for our image.
Jesse: The badboy image doesn't bother me that much unless it eclipses what we are trying to do, which is make great games for our fans.
Ty: There's this self-deprecating humility which seems to characterize the vast majority of indies...probably birthed outta insecurity and a general lack of ability...
We don't foster such needless pretenses...Rather, we make it hot.
Now, when I say "Hot", you say "JForce Games", and then we say, "Look behind you. Somebody's gonna get raped..."
Have you settled on the price point for Unstoppable?
Jeremy: For Xbox I'm pretty dead-set on 240 points right now. But that could change. If we end up catching "featuritis" and adding more then we expect to this game, maybe we'll bump it up to 400. Or if it turns out not as good as we hoped, maybe bump it down to 80. But I don't think either of those scenarios will happen. For PC, not sure yet. Maybe 5 bucks.
Ty: Some things in life are priceless, ok? If I told you that your family is trapped in a slow-filling gas chamber and giving me a mere $ 5 would "somehow" save their lives...wouldn't you take the offer...? ---Especially if you could get a great game in the process?
Now, if you're an orphan...maybe you should just kill yourself...after giving me $5, that is.
What has been the best thing about developing for Xbox Indies?
Jeremy: Well obviously developing for a console is a dream come true. I would hate to be limited to only PC, since we all grew up on consoles, that's what we want to develop for. The simplicity of XNA is probably the best part. Seems like Jonny is able to do anything so easily.
What has been the biggest challenge about developing for Xbox Indies?
Jonny: Having to watch so many titles receive attention that they may not deserve. Anyone who made money off a massage game should feel terrible.
Jeremy: JForce doesn’t know the meaning of the word "challenge." Everything comes easy for us.
No I’m kiddin. Seriously, I don’t know. We don’t have anything to compare this service to, and we haven’t released a game yet. But making money won't be hard, I can tell you that. We just got that gift.
Not including yours, whats yours favorite game on Xbox Indies?
Jesse: Avatar golf because it’s easy to play, there's no problems with finding an online match and you can use your avatar. I would choose ZP2K9 but it’s difficult to find people online and it’s not as fun playing with bots. It’s still a great game just lacking players.
Jeremy: I hardly play them, I usually only do just to check em out. If I had to pick one I'd go with ZP2K9. Also, Rumble Massage was pure genius. And that one Japanese Ninja side scrolling fighting game with the super difficult controls and really great music. AWESOME. That was good for many laughs.
Jonny: ZP2K9 or Miner Dig Deep
Any news on a release date?
Jeremy: We were shooting for the fall, but it doesn't look like we’ll make that. I really don't want to let this slip into 2010, but we will absolutely not release the game if it isn't good enough, so who knows. I'd like to say December, with the PC version a month or two later. That's what I'm hoping for. I think in the future we won't say release dates, and just give the standard "when it's done" reply. But then again a release date gives us a deadline, which makes us work harder, so I dunno. The other thing is, we just started developing another game, a very small one. It's a remake of the Samurai Kirby mini-game, but with avatars and online play. Look for it in the next month or so. Unfortunately it'll push the release of Unstoppable back about a month, but it should make us enough cash to justify it.
One last thing - (add anything here that you want, promote your website or say whatever you like(within reason ;))
Jeremy: Ummm, subscribe to us on youtube? We have epic viral videos on the way!
Jesse: I have herpes.
Ty: Sorry, Jesse.
Comments
September 25, 2009September 25, 2009
September 25, 2009
Desert Dog wrote:
Ah, ok then. Generally, shareware games are $20 (unless they are on portals), and I've read a few indie blogs/posts, where people say that lowering their price from that, doesn't actually help sales. But your a marketing guy, so I guess you know what your doing ;)
The interview was pretty cool. :) It was funny the way Jonny was trying to weasel out of the 'bad boy' tag... :p Shoot the traitor!
The interview was pretty cool. :) It was funny the way Jonny was trying to weasel out of the 'bad boy' tag... :p Shoot the traitor!
September 25, 2009
Jeremy wrote:
Haha. But yeah I think the $20 price is just too high for most of our audience, although I do think there's a good chance we would make more money if we sold it at that price, at least short term. I think we'd be better off long term by selling as many copies as possible, so we have more customers, more subscribers, etc. to market our future games to.
The other thing is that if the PC price is way higher than the xbox price ($3), that would piss some people off and increase piracy.
The other thing is that if the PC price is way higher than the xbox price ($3), that would piss some people off and increase piracy.
October 02, 2009
Desert Dog wrote:
That's exactly how I thought, when I was looking into the type of price range, I would try sell my games, I figured that $5-$10 would be reasonable, but the more I researched, into what other shareware developers where doing, and what was working, I feel that hitting high with $20 is best.
Of course, since your game is also being marketed for xbox, too, and also, your game isn't your typical 'casual' type shareware game, so your approach seems sound. :) [the xbox market, is something I know absolutely nothing about!]
Yeah, the market can be confusing.. as if it isn't hard enough, making the game to begin with :p
Of course, since your game is also being marketed for xbox, too, and also, your game isn't your typical 'casual' type shareware game, so your approach seems sound. :) [the xbox market, is something I know absolutely nothing about!]
Yeah, the market can be confusing.. as if it isn't hard enough, making the game to begin with :p
October 11, 2009
Jeremy wrote:
Lame, guess this dude already gave up on his site. No more interviews with brand new sites...ever again.
November 30, 2009
Anonymous wrote:
Thank you Google cache!
Here is the interview:
[EDITED BY JEREMY]: Yeah I should've posted this already. I'm cutting it out of your comment and putting it in the main entry here. Also put in the part at the end that was "censored" originally.
Here is the interview:
[EDITED BY JEREMY]: Yeah I should've posted this already. I'm cutting it out of your comment and putting it in the main entry here. Also put in the part at the end that was "censored" originally.
December 21, 2009
SilentCoder wrote:
I think if the game was good enough, and you allowed for small trail version just to get a taste of the game, you could EASILY sell the game for 10$.
April 06, 2010
April 06, 2010
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Desert Dog wrote: