The story of Zero Point Software, a Danish Indie developer located in Copenhagen, goes back to 2003 and has been, according to Thordis Bjartmarz, “turbulent, exciting, hard and long”. She talks about their game, Interstellar Marines, and their experience with their community while updating their project.
In 2005, Zero Point Software (ZPS) published the first trailer to test how the market would react to Interstellar Marines, and it instantly went viral. Negotiations with publishers began and the wheels started spinning. When the financial crisis hit in 2008, we suffered like so many other companies, and any chance of a publisher partnership went out the window. ZPS’ vision of Interstellar Marines, however, still burned bright and with the support of the established community of fans, we decided to continue without a publisher. Today, Interstellar Marines is released on Steam’s Early Access program and is slowly but steadily building the dream of the ultimate game with the support of a strong and passionate community of gamers.
Since the Steam release, we have been able to build up a relatively small but highly motivated team once again. In the current team, there is only one person from the original team from 2003. Kim Haar Jørgensen is the game designer and the creative director of the game, as well as the driver of the game’s development for the past 11 years. The team’s beloved leader is inspired by games like System Shock 2 and Rainbow 6, where co-op was a part of the games he enjoyed immensely. So when creating the idea of Interstellar Marines, he knew that co-op should be a central pillar of the game, making the experience for players even more tactical and immersive.
It was Kim’s passion for games that involve deep immersion, an engaging storyline, and tactical gameplay that fueled the other team members to join him in creating Interstellar Marines. Currently, we are a team of 13 full-time and part-time members, 4 of whom are interns from The Game Assembly in Malmö, Sweden. Our team is very diverse, both in background and experiences as well as in nationalities, with team members representing Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Britain, and Portugal.
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At Long Last, the Co-Op Update!
In May 2014, we decided to work towards a big release where co-op would be the main feature. The technology for co-op and related features were not in the team’s arsenal, which meant that this sprint would be longer than the usual monthly updates. The production team estimated four months for the sprint, which would give enough time to work on the game mode and develop the AI, as well as work on getting the game even more immersive than before. This big update was titled The NeuroGen Incident. The name came from the research company who was conducting the research that the marines should retrieve.
When we were deep in co-op development, the team was discussing co-op games during lunch one day and one member started wondering why co-op was more interesting than other game modes. During those discussions, we realized that many of the team members had some inspiring stories to share about good co-op moments, playing with friends and having a different sense of achievement. The idea to create a video where the team would share what co-op means to them was born.
It became clear that co-op is more than just an awesome game mode; it makes the experience a million times more awesome as you get to share it with friends. There is a different sense of success when you complete a game with friends, and the experience becomes more valuable.
After creating that video, it became clear that the goal was not just to increase gameplay options by introducing co-op to Interstellar Marines players, but to enhance their experience and make Interstellar Marines worth playing and sharing with friends. The team wanted to make sure that the awesome feeling they had when playing other co-op games with friends would be translated into the experiences Interstellar Marines’ players would have.
That is why co-op became such a huge sprint. We wanted to include everything possible into the update that could impact the experience for players. But sometimes motivation and aspirations do not always go hand-in-hand with deadlines.
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Learning From the Co-op Update
The planned four months sprint meant that the deadline for release was in mid-September. However, we were unable to reach the deadline mainly because the content update was too big and therefore, the testing period had to be longer than originally planned. The consequences of not reaching the deadline were huge for the team. We felt defeated. As our CEO Maria Boye said, “We learned the hard way that you should never put yourself in a position where you depend on one big update, and where pushing it a few days risks to alter the whole company. You should really be prepared and try to predict things like that months in advance!”
The impact on the marketing initiatives planned around the date of the update was also major. The change of date left the media, as well as the fan community, hanging in the air, with the loss of a number of bigger media outlets a serious consequence.
A new deadline was set for the following week, when we released the largest map we had developed (so far) with single player and the co-op game mode. The team was ecstatic and the feedback from the community was great. It was also well-received by the media, but we were aware that the change affected some bigger media plans to cover the release. But overall, we are seeing increase in media coverage, and we are excited about that.
All that hard work and the emotional roller coaster had paid off.
One thing that came out of the whole The NeuroGen Incident process was the knowledge that the team needs to be more focused on realistic deadlines. That is easy for some to say, but it can be so hard in practice. There are always more and more features or developments you want to add in each release which will give the player a better, more awesome experience.
The next release date is just around the corner (at the time of this writing), and the great thing is that this deadline will be met. After the intense learning experience that came from The NeuroGen Incident’s release, the whole team sat down and analyzed what had gone wrong. After a long discussion, we came to the conclusion that the work method had to be more focused and organized. When planning a sprint, there is a need to think realistically about what the team can develop within the time frame and make sure that enough testing time is put into the plan. Since the co-op release, our focus and structure has changed dramatically, and the feeling at the office is becoming more confident. Reaching the next deadline will give us the confirmation that we can hit deadlines if the work is realistically organized and structured.
When asked, the team had some clear learning points they took from the sprint. One of the biggest is that “1 hour of planning saves 1 day of work,” according to Kim. For our CEO, the sprint was a time to grow into her role, as previously her role involved more of the coordination between others in management. That was a huge learning point, both for her and for the rest of the team. Another learning point is not to get yourself into a position where you need to sleep at the office in order to reach a deadline, but if you do, make sure you bring two days of spare clothes to the office instead of one, or so says Paul Allen, our the whiplashing producer.
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Community Reaction
Not reaching a set deadline, especially when you have promoted it to media and the fan community, can have devastating consequences, more so if your community decides to turn their backs on you. This was one of the fears everyone had at ZPS when we realized we would not hit the deadline. One of the most important things we work towards on a daily basis is great community involvement, and we aim to be transparent with our fans. When we told them about the missed deadline, there was, expectedly, uproar in the community. People had been waiting for this release for a long time and we had been building up a hype around it. And then we missed the deadline.
However, to our surprise, most of the feedback we received from the community was more in the form of support rather than critique. Of course, there were disappointed voices sharing their opinion, but generally, we received encouraging words from our fans. They were still looking forward to our update, and it was clear that quality was more important than quantity to our fans. The fact that the community supported us in times like this meant the world to us. The fans were so excited about trying the co-op game mode, to experience everything the team had to offer to them, that one week was not a deal breaker for them. But that also made us want to do right by the community in the upcoming releases, and make sure we hit the deadlines we announce.
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The Road Ahead
We are continuing our work. The quality of our leadership is a testament to our resolve. Kim has had this dream-game for years, and now we all share it with him. We are also fortunate for the community we have. They never cease to push us forward and always offer great critiques. They deserve the best we can give.
For the love of the game.
To stay updated with Interstellar Marines and the team at Zero Point Software, you can follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
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