Interview number two of a Communty/Indie game blog special comes from Bangkok, Thailand. We’re still catching our breath…

Tidarat Thanapakpawin – Executive Producer, Biology Battle

Do you think the harsh press Community Games has received has been justified?
Generally I’d say so. There are certain technical restrictions to the platform that hurt the “best” Community Game titles, and the low barrier to entry means that there are far, far more super disappointed titles than good titles. And of course, no rating system (currently) means you’ll never be able to find the good ones.

Are you surprised to see so many Community Games developers struggling to recoup the costs they’ve sunk into their titles?
We personally spent more than $100,000 USD on the development of Biology Battle. While were not expecting to recoup costs immediately, our returns thus far have netted about 25%, which is lower than what we forecasted.

Have the reported sales figures had any impact on your motivation to continue developing games for the channel?
Unfortunately, yes. We will still be focusing on using the XNA technology. However, due to the business issues, we will be focusing on the more traditional “publisher/pitch” model, and taking the necessary steps to ensure our games can be ported to multiple platforms. We love XNA and if the commercial environment of XBLCG improves, we would be more than happy to jump back to it as our sole platform.

6. If you could wave a magic wand and change one aspect of Community Games, what would it be and why?
That’s a bit of a loaded question, isn’t it? Of course we, and the majority of the XNA community, believe that the business / commercial aspects of XBLCG need improvement. Now, just make sure you don’t ask “how” to improve XBLCG because that’s a very complex question. Also, as Microsoft’s recent announcement regarding user ratings shows, they are at least attempting to solve the problems.