Introversion Software’s fantastic strategy games Darwinia and Multiwinia are almost ready to hit Xbox LIVE Arcade together under the Darwinia+ moniker. Last we heard, it should be finalized “in the coming months.”
Originally, the indie developer wanted to get this port out in six months. They are now on year two of the process. What went wrong? Speaking to CVG, Introversion’s Mark Morris went into more depth than Microsoft would probably like. I love it when they do that.
“We hadn’t realized how important the outer game experience was to Microsoft. We sort of thought the only thing that mattered was the game itself but Microsoft had a different view.” The revision requests especially left them “incredibly frustrated.”
“Everything we did they basically said was not good enough,” explains Morris. “We must have gone back with four or five menu iterations — something as simple as that. “But at the same time Microsoft always backed up what they said with quite good evidence and facts — they were quite reliable.”
“It was quite difficult because Darwinia and Multiwinia are quite different games so harmonizing the controls between the two was a quite difficult problem. But eventually we got there and I think when we were finished we were very, very proud of the end result, which is why at the back of our manual we wrote, ‘this is the best version of Darwinia we have ever made — the director’s cut’.”
As frustrating as it must be for devs, the rigorous certification process for XBLA is only there to benefit the consumers. It’s a shame garbage still gets through to the marketplace, but hey, live and learn.
Darwinia+ Interview Pt. 1 [CVG]
