Gratuitous Developer Interview – Cliff Harris
Cliff Harris is an indie game developer in the truest form. He worked at Lionhead Studios when he became frustrated with the way large game developers worked and started his own company Positech Games.
For the past decade he has designed and coded all of his own games, done most of the artwork and sound, and all of his own marketing, sales and customer support. At one point, Cliff Harris made a bold move and openly challenged video game pirates on his blog.
The response he received was overwhelming and based on the feedback , he made four promises to his current and potential customers. He promised no DRM on his games, Low prices, better demos and quality products that he supports well after the game has been released. Because of this, Cliff Harris and Positech Gameshave become known as one of the best and most reputable indie game developers out there today.
We reviewed Positech Gamesmost recent release, Gratuitous Space Battles a few months ago and one of my only criticisms of the game at the time was lack of hull design variety. In the time since the review, Cliff has worked hard on two expansion packs that add tons of additional content to an already great game at a ridiculously low price.
With video game piracy and DRM schemes becoming an increasingly hot topic again in recent weeks, I felt it would be a great idea to ask Cliff Harris some questions and see what goes on in the mind of an indie developer. Cliff, who is a genuinely funny guy (if you don’t believe me, just ask him who is the best Star Trek captain and why) was gracious enough to answer my questions.
GG: When you first started in the video game industry, you worked for Elixer and then Lionhead games. What was the decisive moment or event that made you to decide to become an independent game developer?
I worked on two big triple A games in that time, and one of them got
canned by the publisher, and the second one went at least a year
longer in development than it was supposed to, and also suffered quite
a lot from re-design mid-project. I’d become a bit disillusioned with
the way big companies make games, it seemed an incredibly frustrating
and inefficient process to me, and I already had my little indie games
selling as a hobby and proving to me that there was another way.
GG: You are one of the few indie developers who offer a ridiculous level of support, not only for your most recent game, but for all of your previous titles, going so far as to making sure someone who purchased a game 10 years ago from you can have their download links reactivated. Have you found this to be rewarding, or stressful? and what have you learned by being this hands on with your customers over the years?
To be honest it can be very frustrating. I probably have emails every
day now from someone who has formatted their PC and needs to
re-download the game. Generally, its automatic, because the links
don’t expire for a year, and most people backup their files, but after
over 10 years of selling online, you build up quite a big user base,
and there is always someone wo needs a new link. The only stress this
stuff causes is the time it takes to deal with it all, mostly its
either re-downloads, or support issues concerning out of date video
card drivers. The thing is, how frustrating this stuff is for me is
irrelevant really, because the aim is to provide better customer
service than any other developer, so I have to look at it from the
gamers point of view, not mine.
GG: At one time, you worked for Lionhead games on the project “The Movies”.Can you describe what your time was like there working on such an ambitious title, and generally what it was like working with Peter Molyneaux.
I didn’t spend a huge amount of time directly with Peter, who was
working on fable when I was there. To be honest, most of me and peters discussions were not about the game, but about star trek or geek toys! The Movies was very hard work, because the game changed massively from original concept to final release. Ultimately,Lionhead had a scheduling problem. They had 3 games all shipping at once, and 1 lead designer trying to keep control of all three, and that was just impossible. Fable got the most attention, and as a result, it was the biggest hit. It’s a pity, because the Movies was a really good idea for a game.
GG: One event that you are well known for, was writing an open letter to video game pirates asking them why they pirate games.As a result you vowed to keep your game prices low, not use any drm and provide better demos.Has the end result of that exchange been what you expected and why?
I just expected to a get a few blog comments and emails, but it had
this enormous effect which still has repercussions today, in that
people are very pleasantly disposed towards positech and my games when
the realise I am the guy who did the talking with pirates thing. The
lasting effect for me was it convinced me that there are *some* people
who really genuinely do only pirate games because they hate DRM, and
thus it just makes sense not to use any DRM. It also amazes me that
to this date, companies arrogantly release PC games without a demo and
expect us all to buy them on the basis of some bullshit touched-up
screenshots. I find that really insulting. Clearly nobody in their
marketing department read the talking with pirates stuff at all.
GG: You are known for challenging pirates and for being an outspoken developer in general. In recent years we have seen other developers such as David Jaffe and Dennis Dyak have confrontations with forums or meltdowns via social networking. As someone who uses all of these mediums, do you think there is a fine line that needs to be walked when engaging your customers, so that it doesn’t become antagonizing?
It’s an incredibly difficult thing to do, because the vitriol and
hatred that spews onto you the moment a developer even mention the
piracy word is like a tsunami of aggression. It really is just not
worth trying to have a rational debate on the topic on most websites.
The general consensus amongst developers is that its just not worth
even discussing it any more. I think that’s a real shame, because it
prevents anyone from actually hearing the point of view of people who
make games, but to be honest, devs are busy enough as it is without
spending free time being compared to hitler because we don’t want 3
years work distributed for free the second it goes on sale. That can
be very demoralizing, both the problem, and the justifications for it.
GG: As far as the sales and marketing of your games, you do everything on your own.Do you feel you get more out of paid advertising for your games via banner ads and adwords etc, or by doing interviews and word of mouth via podcasts and video game blogs?Basically do you feel one is more productive than the other, and can an independent developer survive on one of these alone?
I think you need both, but it depends on who you are and what games
you make. I try to make really interesting games, and something
original, and say what I think, so I tend to get reasonably good press
for an indie. If you are just making some exploitative shovelware crap
like a certain browser MMO, or a complete clone, then there is nothing
to talk about and you have to exist purely on banner ads,which must
cost a fortune. Personally, I would prefer to just rely on word of
mouth and blogs and so on, but the competition is pretty intense. How
can you compete with stuff like farmville which spreads like a virus
through facebook automatically? or with adverts for Evony that are
just a pair of breasts? It’s insane.
GG: Gratuitous Space Battles, Democracy and Kudos are all strategy, simulation games that are completely different from one another. Have you ever thought of creating a game that combines these different mechanics? Such as a deep 4x strategy game with GSB and Democracy influences, or a grand scale historical war game that delves into the psyche of being a dictator or ruler combining all of your previous work?
I have tons of really complex and involved ideas. The problem is
actually finding enough working hours to get them all made. I need
several clones of me ideally. I wouldn’t turn GSB into a straight 4x
game, because frankly there are dozens of space 4x games, and I always
like to try something a bit new. Sometimes two different games ideas
can fuse together and make sense, and then sometimes its really
forced, like that cross between sim city and tetris 
GG: Is there any one type of game or genre, that you have never made, that would be a dream project to work on next?
Yes there is. And no I won’t tell you what it is. I’ve only ever told
one person what it is, and I’m married to that person.
GG: You have recently released the second expansion pack for Gratuitous Space Battles, beyond any future content for GSB, what is next for Positech Games?
I’m doing another sort-of-expansion for GSB. I’m not sure whether it
will be an expansion, or a sequel, or some other variant yet.
Basically the current plan is that it’s a sort of ‘meta-game’ that
acts as a campaign mode for GSB, but not in the conventional 4x sense.
My ideas change a lot as I work on them , so it could end up very
different. These is also a mac port of GSB in the works, and
eventually, a completely new game that isn’t GSB.
GG: You sell your games directly via your website, but you put GSB and the expansion packs for sale on Steam as well. In general how has your experience been working with Valve and Steam on distributing your games?
Steam is great. It’s not easy to get a game on steam. They are busy,
and they pick and choose what games they like, but in terms of
developer-publisher relations it’s really good. They pay you, and they
don’t rip you off, which puts them in the top 5% of publishers, sadly.
GG: Most strategy gamers line up on either side of the turn based vs real time strategy debate. GSB is neither of these and is incredibly addictive and engaging. Do you feel you have created a new type of strategy genre, and do you foresee other grand strategy games such as the Total War series etc, adopting what you have created?
If so, I demand royalties! I really like the way GSB works, because
its designed around my own frustrations with the RTS genre. I love big
huge RTS battles, but I find that once battle is joined, I am totally
powerless, overwhelmed and out of my depth. GSB solves that
deliberately by designing that whole frustration out of the gameplay,
rather than just trying to mitigate it by having fewer units. I’m not
sure it’s the first game to ever work that way, with hands-off
battles, because people who are hardcore strategy geeks compare it to
a few other games I hadn’t heard of. It was an original and fresh idea
to me, anyway.
GG: As of now, GSB is for pc only. With the a huge hole in the strategy genre on xbox live and the playstation network, do you foresee porting GSB to any of these services in the future?
I had serious talks with a developer about collaborating to get GSB on
XBLA, but on reflection, it’s just not worth doing. The hands-off
battles gameplay doesn’t mesh well with the joypad demographic, and
the costs and hassle of dealing with console publishers is huge. I’d
be interested in seeing it on the ipad though. It’s an ideal
touchscreen game.
GG: They say hindsight is 20/20.If there is one thing you could go back and change in the design of GSB, what would it be?
I’d find a way to make the battles 100% deterministic so you could
rewind, and save them, and be 100% convinced they always run the same
way on any PC. For lots of tiny complex boring geeky maths reasons,
this isn’t currently true, and not easily fixable.
GG: You work and incredible amount of hours supporting and promoting your games, what do you enjoy doing in your free time when you have some available?
I’ve recently got back into archery, after a year off, although my
arms ache right now which is a sign I don’t do it enough yet. I moved
home recently so there is a lot of DIY stuff to do, and my new house
is heated by a wood fire, so I’ve been doing a lot of manly chopping
of wood and building a log store. Anything to get away from a screen
for a few hours. But that’s not many, its gone midnight and here I am
in bed typing this…
GG: What games besides your own are you currently playing?
Mount n Blade, Men of War and Company Of Heroes.
GG: If you had a time machine and could go back and give yourself advice on the first day of working for your own company, what would you tell yourself?
Make a service like steam. Sell everything you own, get the biggest
bank loan you can and make steam before anyone else does. Then relax,
sitting on a big pile of money and make games with no money worries
ever!
I want to thank Cliff for answering my questions and you can purchase Gratuitous Space Battles and the expansions directly at Positech Games or via Steam, and if you really want to know his thoughts on all of the Star Trek captains, check this video out around the six minute mark, it’s a must watch.
