Indie Game: The Movie Page #7

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Because I've spent several years

working on this thing in isolation.

And then suddenly it gets out.

And a lot of people...

... like tens of thousands of people

play it in the first few days.

You see that all over the Internet.

And, for me,

that was a very negative experience.

When Braid was coming out.

People would talk about it online.

And this was around the birth of

serious video game blog commentary

Lots of people writing really good

stuff about games.

Every time you mentioned his name.

He would show up in your comments.

Almost instantly.

He must have something even better

than 'Google Alerts'

So he'd pop up and reply to things.

Or correct people on things.

And became sort of famous for it.

Penny Arcade even cracked about it.

John:

I found that there was this...

Perception of me on the Internet ...

...that was running away, very quickly

from who I think I am

And that was ... kind of ...

disturbing.

And there didn't seem to be much that

I could do about that.

So that was actually a pretty negative

experience.

I was actually seriously depressed for

about 3-4 months after Braid came out

When you work a long time on something

really intricate like that.

There's a hope that ...

... people are going to understand

the things that you did.

And that you'll have some line of

communication with your audience.

And actually, some of the most

demoralizing things...

Were actually positive reviews

of the game.

People would say

'Oh, this game's great!'

'9 out of 10!'

'10 out of 10!'

And they'd say what's good

about the game...

And in many cases it would be just a

very surface understanding of the game

That didn't even see what I thought

was most special about it.

Not that many people understood.

And that was heartbreaking.

In a way.

I visualized I was going to have some

kind of connection with people.

... through this game.

And they think it's great,

but the connection isn't there.

Because, they're kind of living

in a different world still.

So they think it's great ...

for some of the reasons I do, but...

... but not for other ...

...

[There's no point to the game!]

[You just walk around jumping on sh*t]

... they're not seeing the most

important thing.

[This sh*t's stupid as hell man...]

Today is Monday.

And that's the 'Embargo' Date.

Do you know what an 'Embargo' is?

I didn't.

And I got in trouble for not knowing.

An Embargo is:
You set a date

when press can review your game.

So, midnite rolls around. And I start

refreshing 'Twitter mentions'

You can search who's talking about

Super Meat Boy.

And reviews just start popping out.

So, I just start grabbing quotes

and posting them.

So we got:

'A great experience 4 out of 5'

'Super Meat Boy

revels in driving you crazy...'

'...but you end up

crazy in love.'

'... 9 out of 10'

'Brutal and hilarious'

'5 out of 5'

'I've never felt so challenged

and rewarded...

... in all my years playing with meat'

I don't know who that is.

But I posted it.

All these reviews keep coming in.

And the whole time, I'm thinking...

...I'm waiting for the really bad one.

Some one has to hate it.

'Super Meat Boy

can stand confidently ...

... next to Mario

and the platforming elite.

'It's the best game on XBLA'

'This game is wonderful: 10 out of 10'

It's a love letter to

everything great about video games.

'This is nothing short of greatness.'

'Buy it now! '

'5 out of 5!'

They just kept coming and kept coming.

I did not expect this. At all.

I honestly

did not expect these reviews.

'Get this game now!'

'10 out of 10''

'4.5 out of 5'

'9 out of 10', '9.5 out of 10'

It's weird to be launching the same

time as 'Fallout'...

... and be getting reviews that are

almost better.

That's weird. Especially since it's

a game I'm going to be buying.

It's pretty f***ing awesome.

I don't know if you guys realize

how frustrating it is.

I don't think you understand

what's weird about it.

I don't care...

I really don't care what any

of the reviews say.

It's just weird that they're there.

Positive or negative.

It doesn't matter that we get

nines and tens...

... it doesn't matter.

Yeah, but, I've been weird all my life

about stuff.

It's kind of weird to have people say:

'Hey, you're going to be rich.

You can buy me a car...'

You know, just joking kind of stuff.

But they're not joking.

I mean, they're joking about

me buying them a car.

Because I'm totally not buying anyone

a car.

Except my parents, if they want one.

But, to hear that ...

...

To hear that everything that I dreamed

about for years and years and years...

... is going to basically come true,

in like two days.

And has already started to ...

is very...odd.

I cry at the idea of crying about it.

That's weird.

I cried when we submitted

the game to certification.

I cried because it was like...

It was like sending

your kid off to school.

And we just had to wait.

We worked on it so hard.

We were non-stop for, like, two months

Doing ungodly amounts of work.

Then we send it off to certification.

And its like:

'OK, we'll let you know in two weeks'

It's like:
'Aarrghh!'

Is it going to pass?

Is it not going to pass?

Am I going to have to fix bugs?

And then when I would play the game.

And I would see bugs.

And then I'd panic and I'd email

Microsoft. And I'd go:

'Oh God! The game doesn't show

PEGI ratings ...'

'... if it's run in European regions.'

'Is that going to be a problem?'

And they're like: 'Oh no, it's fine'

And it's like:
'Oh? Okay then.'

[laughs]

I can't shake the idea that...

...even though they're good reviews.

That we'll still fail.

Is that weird?

Is that weird to feel that way?

Because it feels normal to me.

And I know it feels normal to Tommy.

But, there's still a part of me

that says:

'Even though we have the highest rated

game on Xbox Live...'

'...we're still going to fail.'

Tommy, Do you feel the same way?

There's still a part of me that

worries we can fail.

Yeah, it is there

It's there. It's a real thing.

The only way I could see it failing...

...is if the first 1,000 people

download the game...

...and get the game save error...

... and then get online

and trash the sh*t out of the game.

Yeah... those are different worries

for you.

I know that, yeah, people may

lose their save.

But they'll still enjoy the game

and we're going to fix it.

Ouch!

So this is press contacts to

578 people.

So I'll send out the press release.

Update the website. Update my blog.

Update my Facebook,

and call it a night.

What are you going to do Tommy?

Uhh... What happened?

I just fell asleep.

Really?

Yeah... uh...uh...

What, what did you say?

Um, nothing.

This morning I got an email

from Renaud saying that...

...my ex-associate was on his way

to PAX...

...for some other game

he's working on.

He still hasn't signed.

He's going to be on the road most of

the day...

...and then he's going to be at

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