XBLA Week: Peggle Interview

Continuing our XBLA Week, that kicked off yesterday with a Castle Crashers interview, we've been talking to PopCap about their recent XBLA release, Peggle.

First, could you just introduce yourself.

My name is Greg Canessa. I am VP of Videogame Platforms at PopCap Games where my role is to extend the leadership of PopCap’s casual games on new and existing platforms such as video game consoles, MP3 players, ultra-mobile PCs and handheld devices and more.

I was previously General Manager of Microsoft’s Xbox Live® Arcade service and was an early advocate of bringing casual games like PopCap’s to the Xbox Live Arcade service on the original Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles.

Why choose XBLA as a platform to distribute Peggle?

We, at PopCap, know that everyone is a potential player of casual games. We make games that appeal to everyone and anyone - from mothers to their renowned nemesis’, hardcore gamers. To reach these diverse audiences, our overriding mission at PopCap has to be to have our games in as many different places, and on as many platforms, as possible - to make them accessible to this audience of ‘everyone’. So every platform is beneficial and important.

In a way, PopCap Games validated the great experiment – could casual games do well with the hard core gamer audience on a console? Would core gamers buy and play Zuma? What XBLA has proven is that the answer is a resounding yes. PopCap was a launch partner for Xbox Live Arcade on both the original Xbox and on Xbox 360, so we’ve been there since day one and all titles have far exceeded our expectations. Furthermore, Peggle is definitely one of our most successful “cross-over” games, in that both hardcore and casual fans have embraced the game on PC, Mac, DS, iPod and mobile phone. Given the makeup of the XBLA audience, Peggle is pretty ideally suited to appeal to a sizable portion of the XBLA players. And if initial reviews are anything to go by, Peggle looks set to be a hit on the platform too.

What was the biggest challenge developing for XBLA?

We, at PopCap, are committed to building experiences that uniquely leverage the characteristics and capabilities of each platform. So, it’s not just a case of simply porting the game to a new platform, it’s about taking the time to make sure the game is as good as it can be on a given platform.

To that end, often the biggest challenge centres around translating the controls - figuring out how to translate that to a joystick took some tweaking as without great controls, the prettiest graphics in the world couldn’t save a game.

Did you have any problems with keeping Peggle's filesize down?

XBLA definitely promotes quality over quantity in this regard – so perhaps that’s where PopCap has a big advantage. We are all about quality! For us, file size limit is less of an issue since our games don’t tend to be that large to begin with. By definition, our games are more casual, pick-up-and-play experiences that everyone likes to play. PopCap is actually the #1 developer on XBLA because our games perfectly fit the model of what an Arcade game is and appeal to both hard-core and more casual Xbox 360 gamers.

While it’s always good to have breathing space to potentially enhance games with more music tracks or more voice, PopCap games have simple game mechanics and our art style doesn’t require huge 3D environments etc. For us, it’s important to reach the largest possible audience, so where possible we like to keep titles <50MB so our games can be enjoyed by as many Core System users as possible. Of course, compared to games like “Watchmen” our XBLA offerings are downright svelte ;)

What would you say it is about Peggle that makes it so addictive?

Peggle combines elements of pinball, pool and pachinko to create a completely different kind of casual game that plays with the casual games genre. Peggle is as accessible and fun from the very start as say, Tetris or Bejeweled. You can be enjoying the game within fifteen seconds of launching it…but unlike those other classic casual games, Peggle is very ‘deep’ and continues to surprise and amaze you even after 100 or 500 hours of playing!

On the surface, it might look like a purely luck-based game, but as you progress further in main Adventure mode, Peggle sucks you right in - the levels get harder and require more and more skill to complete. Mastering Adventure mode basically prepares players for Challenge mode, 75 mini-games which are all variants on the basic game play. Some of these require you to choose the right power up, or time your shot so you can get a ricochet into the free ball bucket, or earn extra points by getting style shots, etc. So it’s possible that hardcore players like Peggle for the challenges.

I wish we could say we had a magic formula for determining what makes a game like Bejeweled or Peggle such a huge success, but we don’t. PopCap starts from the standpoint of “do WE like playing this game? Is it adversely affecting productivity because everyone in the office is playing it all the time? Good - that’s an excellent sign!”

Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions.