XBLIG News, Reviews & Previews

I was lucky enough to have Andy "The ZMan" Dunn take some time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions. Here's what he had to say:

Firstly, do you prefer Andy or ZMan?
Its not just Zman its 'The Zman' ;-) But Andy is fine too.

From what I have noted from posts in the forums you are a Brit living in the US, so is ZMan pronounced Z(ed)Man or Z(ee)Man?
ZeeMan is the accepted pronunciation. Though many find it humorous to use the other when they find out where I am from originally.

Why "The ZMan"?
It was a historic thing to get some internet anonymity when I first started out but I was outed very quickly see here.

You are by far the most active member of the XBLIG community in the forums. Where do you find the time?
I just fit it in around work. I tend to hit the forums 1st thing in the morning, around lunchtime, and then I come and go in the evenings. I've been known to answer questions during compile time while I work. It’s really not as bad as you think but I do have to watch myself to ensure it doesn't get in the way of paid hours.

You have previously stated in the forums, you don't get paid for all the work you do for the XBLIG community, so what is your motivation?
Really I just enjoy it. I find I learn stuff by answering questions too - it always amazes me how people would rather ask a question than try to work out the answer themselves. Often I can read the help and write some code in 10 minutes that solves the problem and I just learnt a new API. Plus it’s always good to get the MVP renewed every year and since I've let http://thezbuffer.com lapse this year it's the easiest way to stay visible to the XNA team.

What is your biggest gripe with XBLIG?
In general, though the process has a few minor flaws I think it's a very solid setup given that it's been available for less than a year. My biggest gripe is with some sectors of the community:

• People who don't review or playtest at all. With 400+ games on marketplace that's a lot of developers who could give their time for quality
• People who do 'ebay style' reviews and playtest. You've seen them in the forums - "Pass. Great game. A++++++. Would play again" feedback on other peoples games

I think if everyone gave 20 minutes to playtest or review a game once or twice a week and gave constructive but critical feedback then many of the games would be of a better quality.

Are you planning on submitting a game of your own at any time?
I have plans for several hundred - all of which would be best sellers!
Between forums, my work and my running I don't seem to have the time. I'm working on a small project with George Clingerman right now which we have both declared is going to be finished in September (oops now looking like October). So watch the playtest forums for Kissy Poo - especially if you have small children.

How did you get into games development?
When I was a kid I always wanted to write a game. This was in the era where you printed off a listing and sent it to a magazine and people would type them in. As an adult I was getting bored of being a web developer so I did a game development class at the University of Washington. Sadly without the 2+ years of C++ a career change was not an option. So I looked into quitting my job and taking a low paid job in a studio to 'learn'. I realized I could afford to give up for a year and try to write a game. During that year XNA was announced (good timing! I honestly had no idea) and I did some of the early demos for Microsoft and it all grew from there. I don't really consider myself a proper game developer yet. More of a XNA developer for hire. My last XNA project wasn't even a game.

What advice would you give to anyone hoping to get into games development?
Start small. Don't assume that you will be John Carmack in 3 months. Read "The Masters of Doom". Use XNA Game Studio :-)

What do you think of the current quality of playtesting and peer reviewing?
It needs to improve. There's a solid set of regulars who get it right, but then there's a larger group of people who don't make the effort needed. Of course if developers would test properly so that reviewers can concentrate on real bugs that would help a lot too.

I've seen a couple of high quality games get through peer review when they have in fact what would be considered failable issues. Do you think that too many people are just playing the game and passing it based on how much they like it rather than actually peer reviewing it?
I think there are a few people who do this, but they are generally new folk who haven't found the checklist yet. I think the reason some games get through is because many reviewers don't spend the time needed. I think 20 minutes should be the minimum but on games I like I can play for an hour.

What are the major things that peer reviewers should take into consideration?
Reviewers have a very strict set of things they need to take into account. Crashes, hangs and things on the various checklists. Most importantly though is that developers take these into account. 1 year in and we are still failing games for not supporting multiple controllers for example.