Making games for PSN

[DJ12]

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17707

Quite a good little read, some interesting points dealt with.

Anyway, thought I'd share.

 

[tirminyl]

It was a great interview but how does one start the certification process to become a certified Sony developer?

Edit- http://www.scedev.net/

Something for those definitely interested. With the $1200 debug unit, the free PhyreEngine and possibly Nocturnal, it seems the community has a good way to enter, and good development support.

 

[Zassk]

Well, that's nice, but $1200 and special hardware requirements won't get the hobbyists dabbling in your platform.

The article was long on hitting the competitors' bullet points, but really weak on specific information.

I am surprised to learn how small the number of registered PSN accounts there are. It would seem that the rate of people going online for PS3 is below 25%.

 

[Gradthrawn]

I am surprised to learn how small the number of registered PSN accounts there are. It would seem that the rate of people going online for PS3 is below 25%.

The article says 50%. What instal base are you using and what install base are they using?

 

[Zassk]

The article says 50%. What instal base are you using and what install base are they using?

The article doesn't say 50% anywhere, it actually says:

Eden said there are currently 2.8 million registered PSN users (March 7, 2008)

 

[Gradthrawn]

The article doesn't say 50% anywhere, it actually says:

It does say 50%.

The service has seen 46 million downloads total, with 50 percent of PS3 owners going online, 82 percent downloading at least one piece of content, and 65 percent downloading something the first day they connect. As for the audience makeup, 92 percent are male, and 79 percent are between 18 and 34.

I'm just wondering what install base you used to calculate your figure, and what install base they used.

 

[archie4oz]

Well, that's nice, but $1200 and special hardware requirements won't get the hobbyists dabbling in your platform.

That's a bargain considering what you get as far as I'm concerned. If you're a hobbyist, then the linux kit is probably more appropriate.

The DC Home Devkit was something like $5K (*AFTER* the DC was pretty much dead), and I believe the Wii is in the same ballpark (assuming you can even become a licensed developer for it!). XNA is a fantanstic bargain, especially for the hobbyist; but there's no forward path to revenue generation other than either hope that MS will option your work into a full XBLA title.

 

[Gradthrawn]

Is this the start of the registration process for independent PSN development?

2006 October 06

PLAYSTATION®3 Independent Developer Licensing Program Now Open for SCEA
We are pleased to announce that our independent developer licensing program for PLAYSTATION® 3 is now open for the SCEA territory. For application forms etc please contact your SCEA Developer Relations Account Manager or email: devrel-scea@playstation.sony.com

I thought I remember hearing something about a PSN specific independent development site some time ago. I can't seem to find it now, though.

 

[Zassk]

It does say 50%.

I'm just wondering what install base you used to calculate your figure, and what install base they used.

Hmm. So, he said PSN has 2.8 million registered users, and he said 50% of PS3 owners go online. Can "PS3 owners go online" without registering? Does 2.8 million = 50% of the installed base? I can't reconcile these two statements.

I took him to mean that 2.8 million out of 10-11 million owners use PSN, which, to me, is a low percentage.

 

[Gradthrawn]

Can "PS3 owners go online" without registering?

Nope. Everything require registration so far as I can tell. Maybe firmware updates don't, I'm not sure. Maybe the browser doesn't too. I'll have to try later. But PS Store and online gameplay definitely do.

Does 2.8 million = 50% of the installed base? I can't reconcile these two statements.

I took him to mean that 2.8 million out of 10-11 million owners use PSN, which, to me, is a low percentage.

Hmmm, I wonder if he was talking about US install base, or global. That's not really clear.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

US user base would explain it. The article is too concise to know for sure. I've seen the 50% of PS3's online elsewhere though, and that'd tally with XB Live! ratios. The demographic here is mostly young men, so you'd expect the same sort of behaviour.

As for being expensive and keeping out the hobbyists, that's kinda the intention. To quote Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes regards the Universe, '[SIZE=-1]They should have a cover charge and keep out the riff-raff.' Sony don't want to be inundated with cheap works. They've said they are going for quality, not quantity. If it's free to try, you'll have everybody trying. If you set an entry price, only those serious enough to the level of the entry price will consider trying. As archie4oz states, there's Linux for messing around (is the PhyrEngine available for that?). Heck you can even just use the PS3 PSN SDK on PC to create a title, and if you think it's up to it invest the money in a PS3 debug kit.

This is a clearer situation than MS finds themselves in at the moment, and I'm in favour. PSN title developers won't be competing with freebies, nor will they be struggling to get noticed (because there's so little on PSN! ). The outlay is very reasonable, a spit in the ocean of development costs and totally within the realm of serious startups, even bedroom startups.

Overall it's a great time to be an indie developer! Loads of opportunities and options. Developers have never had it so good!
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[desmond]

Overall it's a great time to be an indie developer! Loads of opportunities and options. Developers have never had it so good!
[/SIZE]

totally agree. this is a great opportunity for people to get into this business.

 

[archangelmorph]

I agree..

My only question would be whether download access to the PhyreEngine is provided to the public domain or only after you pay the $1200 fees?

If it were provided beforehand (a la XNA GSE) then it's an excellent platform for multiplatform development:-

XNA
- compile on PC for free
- ship & sell on PC for free
- pay $99 for creators club license to compile on Xbox360 (requires code modification) w/ the 'promise' of an XBL based distribution platform that may or may not provide commercial incentives..

PhyreEngine
- compile on PC for free
- ship & sell on PC for free (speculative)
- pay $1200 (£600 approx, affordable to an individual & definitely affordable by a team) for debug kit, professional indie license & pretty much guaranteed commercial distribution outlet..

If it does actually work like this then colour me impressed definitely! (may have to consider porting my current XNA game across to the PhyreEngine too once it's done..)

 

[Arwin]

What I like about the PhyreEngine deal is that as far as I know, including the 1200$ means that you really can use not only PhyreEngine (which seems to be really good in terms of performance), but you've basically got the whole thing and can take the PS3 right to its limits.

What I like about XNA is that a distribution infrastructure is there and guaranteed, and you have almost instant access - sure you need live and creator's club (150$ a year), but that's it. Of course, if your game takes two years, or three years, the PS3's cost of the one debug unit becomes comparatively cheaper, especially because you also have the debug unit, and I assume you can basically go on to develop a full BD game eventually if that's what you want to go for, but I am not sure that you're guaranteed publishing opportunities on the PSN, or what the conditions on those are.
I'd love to have some more info on that.

To be honest, I have a feeling that it is still not so easy to get a game published on PSN.

 

[JPT]

To be honest, I have a feeling that it is still not so easy to get a game published on PSN.

Just rehasing something I posted in another thread, but it got some relevance to Arwin's post, I promise

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3561/the_state_of_playstation_network_.php

There seems to me to be a kind of aggressive push now for more content from the Sony side. Is that accurate, would you say?

JH: No. I would say that we're always pretty careful about how much we put on the network.

We're very careful about how too much quantity could kill us, because it's more about having really well-selected, cool experiences. I guess we're aggressive in the sense that we're out there looking at a lot of things.

I'm looking at 20 proposals a month, and I only see the stuff that gets filtered through some of my producers. We're definitely trying to talk to everybody out there, and sometimes even if we're not into a particular game or it doesn't fit, we like to have the relationship, because we'd like to hear about what the next game is.

 

[Arwin]

Yes, partly. However, I'm not sure this is fully relevant - he may be referring here to the games Sony publishes, and you should be able to get stuff on PSN that is not directly published by Sony, I assume.

 

[JPT]

Yes, partly. However, I'm not sure this is fully relevant - he may be referring here to the games Sony publishes, and you should be able to get stuff on PSN that is not directly published by Sony, I assume.

Well, I guess Sony got the right to say yes or no whether something is allowed to get on the PSN network, even though the Publisher might not be Sony.

 

[Crossbar]

Not specifically PSN related, but shows another PS3 development push from Sony (link).

Sony Computer Entertainment offers console game development training in Taiwan

Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) on March 6 signed up with Tatung University in Taiwan for cooperation to cultivate local developers of console games, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

SCE in January 2008 signed a LOI (letter of intent) with the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) to help promote the development of Taiwan's digital content industry by offering training services. The cooperation with Tatung University, established by Taiwan-based maker of consumer electronics Tatung Company, is SCE's first move in giving support to Taiwan, the sources pointed out.

The training curriculum will focus on development of PlayStation 3 games mainly. Premium Agency, a Japan-based company specializing in 3D computer graphics and motion capture animation, will be responsible for giving instruction, the sources noted.

According to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN), students successfully completing the training can obtain a certificate from SCE and will be a priority chance of being recruited by SCE. This is the first time SCE has offered training abroad, according to EDN.

 

[Arwin]

Well, I guess Sony got the right to say yes or no whether something is allowed to get on the PSN network, even though the Publisher might not be Sony.

Yes, but a retro game like Q-Bert doesn't fit Sony's profile and isn't published by Sony. Neither is Tekken I think. Considering the type of games that Sony has published, I think it's safe to say that JH's comments below refer to SCE's publishing strategy.

However, as an independent developer, that means you may have to find a publisher one way or the other before you can publish the game you created with PhyreEngine and the debug unit under the current circumstances, and it'd be interesting to know if it is even possible to receive a debug unit as a private individual. To be honest, I would like to try - it would also be interesting to have one for say game (p)reviewing purposes. Also, I certainly know what kind of game I would be making.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

That said, PSN hasn't been swamped with cheap remakes either. I wouldn't be surprised if Sony put the kibosh on cheap ports like those after their release, deciding it was counter-productive to their image. BTW who is Q*Bert published by? According to Wiki it's SOE. That Sony chappy was saying he's getting 20 games a month to consider, and clearly they're turning the vast majority down. If that's what SCE are getting and if we accept other publishers can release stuff, PSN titles ought to be coming out of our ears! My interpretation at the moment is that Sony are being pretty restrictive. I expect that 'publisher' and 'person who allows it on PSN' are two different things, and getting a publisher for your project doesn't mean Sony will allow it on PSN. It'd be nice to get clarification on this.

As for PhyrEngine, Google doesn't throw up much. It doesn't seem to be freely available, which is pretty restrictive. It'd be in Sony's best interests to let people use it and experiment, and those who get on with it then have the option to shell out $1200, rather than people having to choose to invest without a chance to experience the development environment. In those cases, sticking with XNA makes way more sense than gambling on a PS3 debug kit. You always have the PC route is nothing else with XNA, without a significant expense.