Recently I got another chance to talk to Nathan Fouts, ex-Insomniac developer and creator/developer of the stellar Xbox Live Community Games title Weapon of Choice. The last time we spoke, the New Xbox Experience (and Community Games) had yet to launch. This time, we focused on things surrounding post-launch. Fouts and I touched on visual comparisons, large monsters with big teats, hotdogs, and his score for his game based on our review scale.

Despite the light-hearted nature of our conversation, Fouts did peg on something that many serious XNA developers are worrying about. Microsoft has yet to toss out any hard sale numbers for published Community Games. Fouts’, rightfully worried and excited about how his game is selling, expressed that the lack of data was “gnawing at [his] spine.” In a later e-mail, Fouts told me that there are a “myriad of reasons any dev would want to know how their game is selling,” and the big one for him is to determine if his company Mommy’s Best Games will “be able to keep making games or not.”

Thankfully, it’s not all gloomy – just this morning Microsoft released a list of the best-selling Community Games on Xbox Live Marketplace. Hard numbers still haven't rolled out, but it looks as though that information could be coming soon. The "My Business" section (which will give payment information) for XNA developers is undergoing maintenence over the next two days.

Hit the break for the full interview.

DESTRUCTOID:
On the surface, the first thing a player will notice about Weapon of Choice is its vibrant palette. What made you go with that? What is with the significant lack of brown? 

Nathan Fouts:
I think there are plenty of other games that have brown and grey nailed down tight. I wanted to take the player on more of a Patrick Woodruffe trip for a change.

What's with that monster with teats?

That’s the ‘environmental spectacle’ for the first level. I wanted to really catch the player’s attention and having grown up around dairy cows, it seemed like engorged, alien teats was an obvious choice.

Scale. One thing any gamer will notice about Weapon of Choice are the massive boss monsters. What influenced you to do it that way?

I blended together influences of some old and some more contemporary games for a refreshing, ‘boss gazpacho’. Obviously Contra and Treasure games have great boss fights but the constant hanging, climbing, and running on top of huge creatures from Shadow of the Colossus probably influenced the broad design the most.

I'm really digging the approach to the characters and having to choose whom to save. I can also understand how that would be a sore point for a lot of players. Did you think there would be any frustration from the character selection and loss?

Thanks! Glad you enjoy it. The player only has to choose which downed Operative to rescue mid-level during that game session. Once you restart the game, all your rescued Operatives return. I think making the painful decision of which Operative to rescue is mitigated by the fact that players can permanently gain new Operatives once they successfully carry them out of the level, increasing their playable lives count.

What did you hope gamers would get out of the title?

I hope they just get to enjoy themselves for a while, shooting weird aliens in glorious 2D. I love shooting really weird aliens and wish there were more 'absolutely bonkers' creatures in games.

Pretend you are tasked with reviewing your title. What score would you give it according to our reviews scale? What are the strong and weak points?

I’m not a reviewer for a reason. I am a rabid, insatiable, biased monster when it comes to certain genres, especially 2D shoot’em ups and run ‘n’ gun games. My keel is wholly uneven, but if I tried to right my reviewing ship, I’d put Weapon of Choice at about a 7 or an 8.

Strong points include:

• Multiple paths with unique 7 levels and 4 different endings
• New playable characters each with brand new weapons and special abilities
• Giant, bizarre creatures to fight

Weak points:

• I wish there were even more levels!
• Too many swinging, dingle-berries might turn some gamers away.

If Weapon of Choice were a hotdog (complete with bun and dressed to your tastes) how big would it be? How quickly could you eat it?

Weapon of Choice would probably be more like a mini-dog-medley on a Millefiori serving tray. There are several different wieners and buns with all sorts of condiments and flavors, which you can take your time to savor. It even includes a delicious ice cream dessert if you happen to go off the beaten path.

If Resistance: Fall of Man and Weapon of Choice got in a fight, who would win?

Seeing how I worked on Resistance, I obviously know it’s weakness—it can’t stand bright, varied colors—and I’d whisper this to WoC which in turn would flash the 'ole ROYGBIV. After Resistance was blindly lashing out with Menials and Leapers, [WoC] would strike quickly with a Vengeance Missile to finish it off.

In the form of a haiku, tell me what you think of the state of Community Games. Will it continue to grow? Will Microsoft have to revise its review methods?

I think Community Games can definitely thrive. The development community is amazingly mature, and strives hard to create polished games. With any starting system like this, it takes some nurturing and once Microsoft works out the kinks and more gamers start checking it out, I think it can grow strong.

Fall germination
Games and democracy, here--
Find them if you can

Additionally, Microsoft has assured everyone, and I do believe them, that we will know information about number of copies sold of our games, but right now that’s gnawing at my spine. 

Make games, make money
Working hard, you may enjoy
Quarterly figures

What are the "kinks" for a developer with a game already published on Xbox Live Marketplace? Why hasn't Microsoft released sales data to you? Were they supposed to?

Some developers have an issue with the four minute timed trial. There’s no consensus yet as to how to improve it but most are leaning towards wanting players to have more time with their game.

Various developers from other countries complain that their country isn’t allowed to develop and sell games yet. Fortunately, support for new countries is being slowly updated.

Microsoft made it pretty clear that they wouldn’t be able to provide sales data at launch to developers. They’ve not said why exactly but I assume it’s because they want to create a smooth, automated system rather than some quick and dirty method of telling everyone sales info. As of writing this, December 9, 2008, 8:58 PM, we don’t currently know any numbers for Weapon of Choice, but they’ve also made it clear they are working on it. It could be any day now!

There are a myriad reasons any dev would want to know how their game is selling, the biggest one being if we’ll be able to keep making games or not. We need to refinance our house soon and knowing if we’ll be doing that with Monopoly money or not would be great.

Recently, you were in the news because you hate videogames, especially Community Games. What do you have to say for yourself?

Hate videogames? More like love videogames so much I’m crazy enough to want to pay more for them!

If you had the power to change anything you wanted about XNA or Community games, what would it be?

I’d like to 'Palin' that answer by telling you about our new art calendar ready in time for 2009! It’s filled to the brim with newly designed art of a dozen, disgusting aliens from Weapon of Choice. It’s the perfect holiday gift for friends that enjoy staring at alien guts and glistening eyeballs.

Are you able to approach Sony with Weapon of Choice and get it on PSN?

While there is a faction devoted to making C# work on the PS3, I think there’s only a very, remote chance of porting Weapon of Choice.

Thanks a bunch for sitting down with us, Nathan. Is there anything else on your mind?

Did you know ‘materiel’ is a word? I’m pretty sure I would just think its ‘material’ misspelled, but maybe I just need to study up on my military terminology.

[Editor's Note: After the interview was concluded, Microsoft did shoot out a list of the best selling Community Games. It doesn’t contain the amount of units sold, but it looks as though that information is coming soon. Over the next two nights the “My Business” section on the XNA development website (where creators will be able to check payments) is undergoing maintenance.]