One Million Downloads in One Week: The Power of Rapid Prototyping, with Mike Mika

In this episode of Playmakers, host A interviews Mike Micah, a prolific game developer with nearly 200 titles to his name, including iconic franchises like Street Fighter and Mega Man. Mike shares insights into his game development process, emphasizing the importance of prototyping and the value of an improvisational approach. He recounts his early career, starting with programming on a Commodore 64, and discusses the creation of his game idarb, which was developed in collaboration with the online community. Mike also talks about his work with Digital Eclipse, a company focused on preserving and remastering classic games with historical context.

• Mike Micah has developed over 190 games, with notable titles including Street Fighter, Mega Man, Mortal Kombat, and more.
• He created Hash Idarb, a game developed in collaboration with the community over Twitter, which was downloaded over a million times in its first week.
• Mike started writing software and selling it at the age of 13-14, beginning with a Commodore 64.
• His professional career began after college, with his first job involving point-of-purchase sales for tablet computers.

"I actually started writing software and selling it when I was. I think I was 13 or 14 years old when I started doing that."

• Mike began his journey in game development at a very young age, showcasing his early passion and talent for the field.

"I created Yars Revenge. And that was kind of the catapult to get me to do things more professionally."

• The development of Yars Revenge was a significant milestone that propelled Mike into the professional game development industry.

• Mike is involved in Digital Eclipse, focusing on emulation, remastering, and preserving historical context around games.
• Digital Eclipse aims to be the "Shout Factory" or "Criterion" of games, preserving historical documents, concept docs, and videos related to games.

"It's a bit of emulation. It's a bit of remastering and that kind of stuff. It's basically like the shout factory criterion of games kind of model."

• Digital Eclipse's mission is to provide historical context and preserve the original experience of games.

"We try to find all the historical documents, concept docs and any sort of like videos or anything that's significant in era and put historical context around the game."

• The company focuses on integrating historical elements to enhance the understanding and appreciation of games.

• Mike's interest in computers and programming began with an Apple II in school and later a Commodore 64 at home.
• His early programming efforts included creating a crude version of the game Moon Patrol.
• Mike's initial career interests were split between film and computers, but he ultimately pursued game development due to its accessibility.

"I had started on the Commodore 64, which was the first computer my family and I had ever had."

• The Commodore 64 was a pivotal tool in Mike's early development as a programmer and game developer.

"I always thought special effects would be my forte, but computers were a lot more accessible for me because one, I can actually have one, I can make things on it."

• Mike's practical decision to focus on computers over film due to accessibility shaped his career path in game development.

• Mike's first professional game was Yars Revenge for the Game Boy, which he developed while working a sales job.
• His work on Yars Revenge led to connections in the industry, including meeting Howard Scott Warshaw, the original creator of Yars Revenge.
• Mike's career advanced with a job at Next Generation Game magazine, which provided further industry connections and opportunities.

"My first job I got, I was doing, like, point of purchase sales for some company nearby, believe it or not, 1996, I was selling tablet computers for hospice and all these guys."

• Mike's initial professional experiences were diverse, including sales roles that indirectly supported his game development ambitions.

"I created Yars Revenge. And that was kind of the catapult to get me to do things more professionally."

• The development and eventual publication of Yars Revenge marked Mike's transition from hobbyist to professional game developer.

• Mike leveraged his position at Next Generation Game magazine to network with industry professionals.
• His networking efforts led to additional work, including projects with Digital Eclipse and other companies.
• Collaboration and community engagement have been central to Mike's career, exemplified by his development of Hash Idarb over Twitter.

"I was meeting every name in the game industry pretty much through the magazine. I was able to kind of parlay that into more additional work."

• Networking through his magazine job was crucial for Mike's career development and securing new opportunities.

"He had seen that I had done some Game Boy work. And he's like, hey, do you think you can do more Game Boy games for me?"

• Mike's reputation and skills in Game Boy development led to further projects and collaborations within the industry.

These comprehensive notes capture the key themes and details discussed in the transcript, providing an exhaustive overview of Mike Micah's career, contributions, and insights into the game development industry.

• The speaker recounts their experience working on a grueling project while maintaining a day job.
• They worked overnight coding and then went to their day job at a magazine.
• Testers were sent to help with the project, but the speaker had limited resources and space.
• The speaker had little knowledge of football, which was the subject of the game they were developing.

"We just met. He explained the project we just signed that day at the double decker McDonald's for this project. And I didn't realize how much work that was going to be."

• The project was initiated quickly without realizing the workload involved.

"I would just code all night, then go to the magazine in the morning and then come back and do that over and over."

• The speaker maintained a rigorous schedule, coding at night and working at the magazine during the day.

"I'm not a big sports guy. I watch basketball, and I used to watch hockey, but I knew nothing about football, so I don't even know why I signed up a football game."

• The speaker lacked knowledge about football, which added to the challenge of the project.

• The speaker partnered with Andrew, who was running Digital Clips, to work on Game Boy games.
• They decided to leave their day job and focus on game development full-time.
• This marked the beginning of a long career in game development, contributing to nearly 196 games.

"Andrew, who was already running digital clips, he pretty much said, hey, you should just quit the day job thing and come on over here and partner up with me on these Game Boy games."

• The speaker was invited to join Digital Clips and focus on game development.

"That was the beginning of the next 20 years of just making game after game after game."

• This partnership led to a prolific career in game development.

• The speaker has worked on a wide range of games, including original designs, sequels, and games based on movies and books.
• They have experience with various genres and game engines.
• The speaker created a game called idarb, which includes multiple mini-games and customization options.

"I've actually worked on everything pretty much. And I've worked on a lot of original designs. I've worked on sequels, other people's designs. I've worked on games based off of movies and books and all these things."

• The speaker has a diverse portfolio in game development.

"I did this game called idarb where we have this concept of halftime games. You have this little sports game we kind of did. It's an indie game but at the halftime there's dozens of these other games you can play."

• idarb features multiple mini-games and customization options.

• The speaker enjoys creating music and sound effects for their games.
• They hacked Donkey Kong to allow their daughter to play as the girl and save Mario, which gained significant attention.
• This experience influenced the design of idarb, which emphasizes player customization and self-expression.

"Growing up in the early days of computing, you didn't have a team. You were just like, I need music so you'd make it. And I need sound effects so you'd make it and all that stuff."

• The speaker has a background in creating all elements of a game, including music and sound effects.

"I should be able to switch this out. So I started to do that one night, and I was sharing it online with anybody who wanted to pay attention. And that just kind of exploded."

• The speaker's hack of Donkey Kong gained significant attention and influenced their later work.

"I wanted to make sure that my daughter and my son and anybody who plays this game, any color, any background, any culture should be able to be who they are and express themselves in this game."

• The speaker emphasizes the importance of customization and self-expression in their games.

• The speaker discusses their approach to game development, starting with a recent example involving a quick turnaround project.
• They emphasize the importance of simplicity and focusing on a single game mechanic.
• The speaker draws inspiration from simple, mechanically-focused games like Flappy Bird and Downwell.

"We work with this group who represents a lot of music artists, and they have Martin Garrix is in their portfolio. That's Scooter Braun. And e three was coming up in about four or five days, and we got an email from them saying, hey, one of our guys that we represent, he's created an anthem for e three."

• The speaker received a last-minute project to create a game based on cover art for a music anthem.

"So my process from that point was I was looking at that image, and I'm seeing hopping and jumping all stuff, and I'm trying to put in context, what can you make in four days, essentially, and deploy on any platform."

• The speaker's creative process involves analyzing the project's constraints and focusing on achievable goals.

"In my mind, I just kept coming back to games like Flappy Bird or Downwell, and all these things that are very simple, really, really simple mechanical games that focus almost entirely on one mechanic."

• The speaker draws inspiration from simple, mechanically-focused games for quick turnaround projects.

• The speaker explains their approach to designing game mechanics, focusing on control and feel.
• They implemented a Mario-style jump mechanic for a project, emphasizing the importance of nuanced control.
• The speaker aimed to create a game that could be played across multiple platforms with a single button.

"I wanted to capture something that even had more control than that. And to me, I've always loved the Mario jump in sonic in particular, where the longer you hold down a button, the higher you jump."

• The speaker focuses on creating nuanced control in game mechanics, inspired by Mario and Sonic.

"I came up with the idea of letting the character basically run on his own and try to center on these platforms as he lands."

• The speaker designed a game mechanic where the character runs automatically, and the player controls the jump.

• Building the jump mechanic required iterative testing and adjustments to achieve the right level of control.
• The initial design aimed for simplicity with a single button press controlling the jump.
• Continuous testing and feedback from colleagues helped refine the mechanic until it felt polished.

"Seeing that he would land on these platforms, and I kept feeling every step of the way, I felt like I didn't have enough control yet."

• The process involved fine-tuning to ensure the jump felt responsive and intuitive.

"I just kept piling it on and piling it until it felt like it was almost going too far. And I would just have everybody test it as I would do it."

• The success of the mechanic was confirmed by colleagues' engagement and competition with scores.

"By the next morning, people were coming in with their scores because we're just tracking how far people could get."

• After perfecting the jump mechanic, the focus shifted to adding variety and progression to the game.
• Adjustments were made to platform movements and timings to create a dynamic difficulty ramp.
• The introduction of the double jump added depth and allowed for more complex level designs.

"I worked on making sure that the platforms, I figured out what the minimal amount of movement of the platforms, so the maximum amount of movement on platforms would be in that threshold."

• Traditional mechanics like quicksand platforms were incorporated to enhance gameplay diversity.

"We came up with these quicksand things where if you jump on them, they just drop the platforms."

• The game, "Martin Garrix's Oops Pizza," was developed in a rapid four-day production cycle.
• The project emphasized quick iteration, extensive QA, and leveraging familiar mechanics within tight constraints.
• The game was designed to be accessible on both web and mobile platforms.

"That was a four day production with as much QA as we could do along the way. And we shipped the game, and it's still really, every day we're getting hundreds of people playing it."

• The challenge of creating a game within a strict timeline provided motivation and focus.

"I love working with limitation, and that timeline was just the right nudge. I needed to try to force myself to make something happen."

• The improvisational approach involves starting with a basic idea and iterating based on feedback and spontaneous creativity.
• This method was successfully used in the development of the game "idarb," which began as a simple concept and evolved through community input.

"It started life as a tweet in which I put an image of a red box in the center of a screen that I could control. And I asked the Internet, what should I do with this stuff?"

• The improvisational method keeps the development process fresh and engaging, preventing boredom from repetitive tasks.

"Something has to have kind of that impossible sense to it or that it's like the challenge is really like ripe and ready for the taking."

• Embracing the unknown and taking risks are crucial for creating innovative and engaging games.
• Planning is necessary, but excessive planning can stifle creativity and innovation.
• The excitement of exploring new ideas and mechanics drives the development process.

"When you're unsure of, and you're walking into that undiscovered country of innovation and whatever, right, like you don't know what you're going to do the next day based off of what you're seeing. That's really exhilarating and really exciting."

• Engaging with the community and building a game that resonates with players can lead to organic growth and success.
• The game "idarb" experienced significant success through word of mouth despite a challenging launch date.

"When we launched that game, it was this simple game we built over eight months. Launched on Xbox one on the worst possible day to launch. We were on Super Bowl Sunday and we're like, okay, we're launching."

• The game's quirky and humorous elements contributed to its popularity and player engagement.

"It was such a fun, weird game to do and it was bizarre. It made people laugh a lot that we had people calling us up saying, hey, how do we get in on that game too?"

• New developers should focus on completing projects quickly rather than extending development unnecessarily.
• Shipping games, even if imperfect, is essential for gaining experience and improving skills.
• Developers should not be discouraged by negative feedback and should use it constructively.

"The desire to take longer than you really need to make a game... you lose track of the time. And if you don't get really good at hitting your sprint as early as you can and getting something completed, and it may not be the best game in the world, but it probably never would have been the best game in the world, you just got to get it done and move on."

"Don't let stupid comments that people are making online or any of the stuff about your work affect you. In fact, try to feed off that and move forward."

• Digital Eclipse has reacquired the label for classic game collections and is focusing on presenting old classics in a manner similar to the Criterion Collection for films.
• Emulators available online often fail to accurately recreate the original artistic intent of classic games.
• The Mega Man Legacy Collection was developed with a focus on accurate color palettes, pixel aspect ratios, and artistic imperfections inherent in the original hardware.

"These games deserve a lot better than just the emulators that are out there. There's emulators online, and they do a great job of recreating somewhat of the experience, but they don't try to recreate exactly how it was intended, like the artistic intent."

• Emulators do not fully capture the original artistic intent and experience of classic games.

"Every emulator out there, including the one Nintendo shipped for their NES, had inaccurate colors in their palette. The pixel aspect ratios are wrong."

• Emulators often have incorrect color palettes and pixel aspect ratios compared to the original hardware.

"Artists would actually develop the artwork on these composite screens and use that to their advantage. They would use certain color combinations to generate a third color because they were next to each other, and that bleeding would create this new color."

• Original game artwork was developed with the imperfections of composite screens in mind, using color bleeding to create new colors.

• The Mega Man Legacy Collection includes concept art and contextual information to help players understand the game's origins and design.
• The collection aims to reproduce the original visual experience, including accurate colors and aspect ratios, while maintaining the crispness of pixel art.

"We wanted to create a simulation of that because that's the artistic. It was built on a device that did this to the image, and that's what people played when they were kids."

• The goal was to recreate the original visual experience with all its imperfections, as that is what players originally experienced.

"We made sure that every color was correct, and we made sure that the aspect ratio was as accurate as it could be because mega man and emulators out there right now, he's kind of skinny. Reality was he isn't."

• The collection ensures accurate colors and aspect ratios, correcting common emulator inaccuracies.

"We had to perfect what that would look like without giving up any of the resolution or any of these things, because pixel art is very pretty and you want to make sure you have the crispness and all this sort of stuff available to people as well."

• The challenge was to maintain the resolution and crispness of pixel art while achieving visual accuracy.

• The production process varies with each project, depending on whether it's an original game or a port.
• Early stages involve a lot of pre-production and prototyping to ensure the core mechanics are fun and sound.
• Projects that aren't fun within the first two to three weeks are often abandoned.

"For me, every project work on whether it's a port or if it's an original game or whatever I demand of myself and the people I work with, that we try to get something playable and fun within a week or two."

• The initial goal is to create something playable and fun within a week or two to validate the concept.

"If after like a couple weeks, we're still struggling, that's when we really kind of look at a project and say, I don't know if we should move forward with this or whatever."

• Projects that don't show promise early on are reconsidered or abandoned.

• Transition to full production typically occurs within three to four weeks, depending on whether the project is internal or for a client.
• Design documentation is a living document that evolves throughout the project.
• Flexibility and margin in the budget are crucial for addressing unforeseen issues.

"We try to go into full production within the first three to four weeks. So that includes design documentation and these things which are living documents."

• Full production starts within three to four weeks, with design documents evolving over time.

"You really need to have a lot of slack on that. So for me, you get to basically a high level design document and get all the stuff that you can start planning around as early as possible."

• Flexibility in planning is essential to address issues as they arise.

"At least 25% of this budget at the minimum, is going to be not planned for yet. And we're just going to have to plan on using that when the time comes for the things that we have to address as we go."

• A significant portion of the budget is reserved for unplanned contingencies.

• The conversation includes personal anecdotes about working together in the past and early gaming experiences.
• Current projects include developing a game for the Commodore 64 that will also be distributed on modern platforms.
• The team works in a creative environment in Emeryville, near Pixar.

"We're building a game on the Commodore 64 proper that we'll be able to load and play on a real Commodore 64 yet be distributed also on Xbox and all these other systems."

• The team is working on a unique project that spans both retro and modern platforms.

"In Emeryville, we're right by Pixar, and there's these wonderful red brick, big buildings that used to be like electric engine plants and stuff like that."

• The team operates in a creatively stimulating environment near other innovative companies.

• The host appreciates Mike's enthusiasm and improvisational approach to game design.
• Future episodes will feature interviews with industry professionals, including a discussion about working with Hollywood.

"I learned a lot from Mike. The kind of improvisational approach to design can be very freeing if you're worried about having to know everything up front."

• The host values the dynamic and flexible approach to game design.

"Next episode. Episode three, not episode three. It is free, but it's also three. Lev Chapelski it's a fantastic interview about working with Hollywood."

• The next episode will feature Lev Chapelski discussing collaboration with Hollywood.