Interview

50,000 Ouya backers big enough for our support, says former Call of Duty man Bowling

Robotoki's Human Element Ouya bound

50,000 Ouya backers big enough for our support, says former Call of Duty man Bowling
Back in March, Robert Bowling stepped down as creative strategist at Infinity Ward – creator of the Call of Duty series.

But Bowling wasn't leaving behind one of the biggest entertainment franchises on earth for a holiday. Just weeks later, he formed Robotoki, and in June 2012 the studio announced Human Element – a post-apocalyptic survival game set for a 2015 launch on consoles and mobile.

A few more weeks passed, and another announcement followed - a $10,000 strong backing by Bowling in the Android-based Ouya project. What's more, Robotoki confirmed it would deliver the console's first exclusive – an episodic prequel to Human Element.

To find out more about building the Human Element across disparate platforms, we caught up with Robotoki president Robert Bowling.

Pocket Gamer: What is Human Element?

Robert Bowling: Human Element explores a world 35 years after an apocalyptic event has occurred and caused the collapse of society. That event just happens to be a zombie apocalypse, but this is not a game about zombies.

This is a world that revolves around the stories of survivors as they fight the true threat that follows the collapse of society – the Human Element – other survivors, with conflicting needs and ideas of what survival means.

We do this by exploring dynamic scenarios that are based around your individual identity.

This identity is defined by three major attributes. Who are you? Male or fmale? Who are you surviving with? By yourself, with a partnered adult, or with a young child? How do you define survival? Are you action focused, intelligence focused, or stealth focused.

Who you are defines the types of scenarios you'll encounter and how you'll best be able to approach them.

What platforms will the game launch on?

While that description sets the stage for what the world of the Human Element is, we're developing it as a universe that will be experienced through a myriad of ways that are dependent on the device you choose to engage the universe with.

By allowing your gameplay experience to adapt to the interface you're using, to ensure we're getting the most out of every platform. While the at-home experience will be focused around that first person survival gameplay, the mobile experience is focused on pulling in your real-world location to expand your game world.

Using GPS and buiness data of your neighborhood, to allow you scavenge them for real-world supplies which feed back into the at-home experience, or can be used in-mobile to build fortifications and maintain your world there. That mobile experience will be focused on a resource management and exploring.

We recently announced that Human Element would also be coming to the new Android and Tegra 3 powered console Ouya, in episodic prequel form.

Here we'll be focusing pinnacle moments in the collapse of society, over the course of the 35 years leading up to the Human Element. A day after the event, a week after, a month after, and so on.

Robotoki pledged $10,000 to Ouya's Kickstarter campaign, and is developing the system's first exclusive game. What is it about Ouya that excites you?

The $10,000 donation to the Ouya kickstarter was actually a personal donation that I made, prior to deciding that our studio would even bring Human Element to the platform.

What excited me about Ouya on a personal, gamer level, was the fact that they are trying to do something different. I saw Ouya as our chance – as developers and gamers – to see more innovative indie titles come to the living room.

I think that in the same way that app stores on Android, iOS and others have allowed us more flexibility and ease in bringing our experiences to mobile, Ouya will deliver the same benefits for more in-depth titles on TV, in the living room and with a controller.

Ouya is the last piece in the indie development puzzle that will allow us to bring our games to the living room just as easily and cost effectively as we can on mobile and PC.

Just how much will the Human Element for Ouya and mobile differ from the main game? Will you target different audiences, for instance, or use different business models?

The Human Element prequel on Ouya is designed to be an additive experience to the later versions to come, adding a foundation for the story, characters, and experiences of the future title.

What I love about Ouya and its Android-SDK base, is the ability to rapidly prototype experimental and innovative gameplay and allow us to introduce it episodically, while exploring the events of fall of society at pinnacle moments throughout the 35 years.

For example, perhaps in episode 1, we're focused on finding and fortifying a location – really nailing the risk and strategy behind that aspect of survival.

Then in episode 2, we have a safe house - from the previous episode - so now we're focused on going out and scavenging supplies, creating alliances, and meeting other players that we can bring back to our already established safe house.

This means that each episode can offer totally fresh experiences that are built upon the foundation of previous episodes.

From a business perspective, we recognise that the industry is changing in a drastic way. A major franchise can no longer survive as a triple A blockbuster experience alone.

With the surge of indie titles, the free to play market and mobile dominance, I think we really need to adapt our experiences and universes to the device our players are engaging with most.

For this reason, how we distribute and monetise each release will be tailored to that particular market.

While the 2015 release will be a traditional boxed retail game, the mobile experience will use a free to play model. This means that players of the at-home and Ouya version of Human Element can enjoy the mobile game at no additional cost, while also allowing it to stand as an independent experience.

What do you make of the scepticism that's greeted the Ouya from much of the gaming press?

I think anytime a new device is introduced to a marketplace, especially one designed to disrupt the traditional practices of the dominating players, there's going to be a lot of questions.

From the initial announcement, I was excited by the promise of Ouya and after meeting the team - sitting down and getting a rundown of the logic and brains behind the system - I started believing in it as a true solution that can open up the living room to independent developers and eliminate a lot of the overhead that traditionally comes with bringing our games to console markets.

Many Android developers have suffered high rates of piracy, and the Ouya markets itself as being friendly to hackers. Are you concerned that your game could be widely pirated on the platform?

Honestly, piracy isn't something I concern myself with, especially for this title.

As Human Element's episodic prequels are designed to build the lore and awareness of our brand new IP, we feel that the more players get their hands on it, the better.

As a player and as a developer, I don't personally believe in DRM solutions that hinder your players from enjoying your game, but we do plan to work closely with the Ouya engineers to share our unique experience with how we worked to keep our online experiences safe and secure for our players – that's what's most important to us.

Let's maintain quality while also encouraging as many players as possible to enjoy the game.

At its initial launch, the Ouya is likely to have only tens of thousands of users. Will you be able to generate significant revenue from such a small userbase using the free-to-play model?

Ouya is a brand new console and already has more than 50,000 backers who will be coming to the platform at launch.

I think that's a fantastic start and something I'm excited about being able to tap into as a first party title. What's more, those 50,000 users are all early adopters, who are always the most enthusiastic and passionate users that are interested in seeing these games succeed.

So I'm confident that, even with a launch user base of 50,000, we'll be able to deliver on our expectations for Human Element and hopefully funnel that excitement and loyalty into the other experiences within the Human Element universe.
Thanks to Robert for his time.
Staff Writer

PocketGamer.biz's news editor 2012-2013