Santa Monica-based Tarver Games is today officially unveiling itself to the world. The company was founded in 2008 by President Chris Cross (a 16-year veteran best known as the game design director on EA Los Angeles' Medal of Honor franchise) and CEO Quinn Banks who brings experience in Asian management practices and software implementation to the fledgling studio.
Tarver considers itself to be more than just a game studio, however. The company is positioning itself as a new IP development house, which hopes to bring fresh ideas to games, movies, and other platforms. That said, it's starting out initially by creating iPhone games “as a way to quickly enter the market and establish a brand name while building a customer base for future titles.”
The company's first iPhone game, Cold War, was actually released back in April for just $0.99. Starting this month, though, Tarver's going to push forward with its “flagship IP” called Ghosts Attack. Available for $4.99, the game is described as an “epic first person shooter for the iPhone and iPod Touch 2G that integrates Google Maps technology with a dynamic alternate reality gaming (ARG) experience. Explore a parallel world that was accidentally inhabited by a group of scientists forty years ago with only Google Maps as your guide. Discover the histories and mysteries of Torgan Science and fight the hostile inhabitants to salvage data recorders, equipment, drop a network of beacons and buy upgrades for your rover.” Tarver is planning on releasing a series of episodes soon afterwards for $0.99 each.
Then, late this year, Tarver intends to release BrickMan, which is a sort of classic brick breaking game that introduces a character who needs to earn money to take his girlfriend out.
Eventually, Tarver will extend its IP to other platforms, but it's not clear at this point exactly how or when that will happen. IndustryGamers recently caught up with Cross to find out much more about his design approach and future plans for Tarver Games.
IndustryGamers: Your focus is on creating new IP, but that's not always easy to do in this industry. How do you know when you have something that will "click" with your target audience?
Chris Cross: That would depend on who we pick as our target audience. Our goal is to create IPs that resonate on very broad levels. The most successful Intellectual Properties have appeal across age, gender and social demographics. Star Wars and Star Trek don't have lasting appeal because they have cool technology. It's the stories they tell with the worlds and characters they created. The “what character are you” quizzes are very popular on Facebook - because people can relate to at least one of the characters in those worlds. That's the ambitious part of what we're going to try and do. I want people to first say, "Cool world! I want to play there!" followed by "I want to play there as this character or as myself." Providing those opportunities in as many worlds as possible is what Tarver Games is all about. We'll gauge our success by our numbers. If something is doing well that means it's being recommended to other people by somebody that we reached.
IG: You're known for designing the Medal of Honor games, which are big budget, epic experiences. Now, however, Tarver is focusing initially on iPhone games. That's a vastly different type of game. How does the design approach change? What special considerations need to be made?
CC: The main design differences are interface and where the games are being experienced.
The iPhone is very limited in what you can do as far as player input and keeping the experience satisfying. The main things to remember - when transitioning from games on other platforms to the iPhone - are that the accelerometer is a poor analog stick replacement, and the finger is a great pointer but not the most precise instrument. When using the accelerometer as an input I have to remember that the fine motor control of the three joints of the thumb is far less taxing and natural than having to coordinate the various joints of the wrist and forearm. We could use the screen for stick control but it doesn't have the same tactile feedback. I could probably write a paper on this topic so I'll cut to the point. A game designed for a two-stick, d-pad and button layout will probably feel awkward if ported directly. Designs have to start with what feels good on the phone first. That's how Ghosts Attack - our first title to launch in a few weeks - was conceived, from the interface and mechanics out.
The depth of the experience is the second part of the equation. Most games and apps on the iPhone are experienced in transitory conditions, like waiting at the dentist's office, riding in the back of a car or just killing time. At these times it's inappropriate to blast the player with long text sequences or movies or design levels to be longer than an average of 5 mins. That definitely affected the design of Ghosts Attack. Being able to play anywhere in the world, including where you're currently at, is supposed to induce some exploratory thoughts. The reward system is designed to allow the player to make progress without having to follow the story missions. As the game/series moves forward we'll start hiding things around the world and allowing players to build their own areas and affect the world. That's how we'll keep it fresh and relevant on a continual basis. There'll still be a story that the player can follow and even dive very deeply into but the philosophy is to let the player engage those parts as deeply as they want to go instead of force feeding them cutscenes. This allows the gamer to stop and absorb the game when they can make the time for it.
[Also see: Industry Insights: 10 Tips to Succeed on iPhone]
