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Autumn Moon Interview 06 Feb, 2010 / Comments: 25


Like many of you, we at Mojo have been wondering about what's going on at Autumn Moon Entertainment, who have been rather quiet recently despite putting out their second game, Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island, in Germany this past fall, with the English release coming in only a month.

So we asked.

Join us in an epic interview with CEO Bill Tiller as we discuss Ghost Pirates, A Vampyre Story, and the studio in general. You'll also find the first word on A Bat's Tale's status since the game was announced at the beginning of last year before seemingly falling off the map. Read the interview for a ship's hold worth of quality tidbits, production tales, and almost inevitable musings on the adventure game market.

Thanks are owed, of course, to the always gracious Bill Tiller and the rest of the Autumn Moon team.

Update: Because you can never get enough Ghost Pirates coverage, a brief new preview for the game has been posted by MCV, claiming a February 19th release date for the English release, although Mamba's site itself still purports March 26th. The preview also states that "Ghost Pirates will be marketed with ads and competitions in key gaming magazines and specialist adventure games websites." Evidently, they're on to something there.
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25 Comments

  • jp-30 on 07 Feb, 2010, 02:30…
    I was hoping to hear if Autumn Moon are focused on a phased gate type of a process, where they understand a greater level of granularity as they go through the development phase.

    Maybe next time.
  • Remi O on 06 Feb, 2010, 18:54…
    Wow, very candid that... Good job, Jason.
  • Jake on 06 Feb, 2010, 20:08…
    Agreed. This is great stuff.
  • Haggis on 06 Feb, 2010, 11:13…
    Fantastic interview, guys!
  • Kroms on 06 Feb, 2010, 09:00…
    H'okay, good interview. I hope they make better games in the future. But a couple of thoughts:

    1. They really, really should stop having the first game be a set-up to the second. The first should be self-contained, and with a door open just enough for a second game. I'm guessing a lot of people were reluctant to buy AVS and now Ghost Pirates based on this.

    2. He's right: the adventure game market isn't what as big as it used to be (or is exactly what it used to be in a much bigger market, I dunno). Digital distribution, however, has made it easier to reach all the fans. Why not stick the game up on Steam? A lot of people trust Steam. Bonus cherry: if they have a sale on your game, they could help sell a few hundred extra copies.

    3. I wouldn't mind smaller episodic games. I doubt their business model is set-up like Telltale's, but if they released a new AVS game every year, it'd be pretty great. Obviously, it'd have to be a bit shorter, but if it were also a bit cheaper, then hey. It could work. I don't have any numbers, but it could.

    4. It's probably a good idea to work on only one game at a time. Indie studios need to work on some other game as the first is rounding-up, and that's fine, but they shouldn't still be writing dialogue for game 1 whilst starting game scripting for game 2.

    Just some thoughts. I liked the interview and am looking forward to AVS2.
  • Diduz on 06 Feb, 2010, 13:52…
    I played Ghost Pirates and I think it's safe to say that its ending feels not as unfinished as AVS'. There's room for a sequel, but the main story is totally covered in one game, no cliffhangers. There's something missing from the ending (I cannot tell what, that would be spoiler), but you'll definitely buy a single, complete story. Don't worry. :-)
  • Kroms on 06 Feb, 2010, 18:31…
    Cheers, Diduz. Now I'll just need to find a way to be able to actually get it.

    Mind telling us how it compares as a solid adventure game in general?
  • Diduz on 06 Feb, 2010, 21:45…
    The pace of the story is much better handled this time (if we compare the game to A Vampyre Story): the parallel narration, which follows three characters in three different situations and locations, really works. The main characters are defined and nice, their motivations always clear. Graphics are solid, except in the cutscenes (as Bill himself admitted in the interview, BTW).
    The puzzle-design is the thing I didn't like that much: too often I got the impression that the characters had puzzle-solving ideas I ignored, forcing me to follow THEIR logic instead of mine.
    All in all, I enjoyed Ghost Pirates more than A Vampyre Story. As Bill says, the game is far from being perfect, but they're evolving.
    Dialogues are shorter and funnier than the endless banter in AVS.

    I kept thinking the game could be a Monkey Island rip-off BEFORE actually playing the game. When I was playing it, I was reminded of MI no more than once or twice. GP probably manages to get the Pirates of the Caribbean Ride at Disneyland even better than MI.

    For the record, I bought the German version with English subtitles, but I also did a bit of editing on the Italian translation of the original English dialogue for the soon-to-be-released (March the 26th) Italian edition. ;-)
  • AlfredJ on 06 Feb, 2010, 12:11…
    Regarding your first point: I think the problem isn't that people don't want to buy the first game because because the story might not be completed until a sequel arrives. I think the problem is that the amount of people buying the sequel to your game will be significantly smaller than the amount of people who bought the first game when the story is a direct continuation. This is why Hothead stopped production (at least for the moment) on further PAA-episodes - The first episode sold good enough, but the second episode didn't really do much. Telltale mentioned that whenever they release a new episode all the media attention to that episode leads to a renewed interest in the first episode of whatever series they're working on, so maybe it will work out for Autumn Moon in the end. I hope it does, anyway.
  • Gabez on 06 Feb, 2010, 10:55…
    How much experience do you have at being a small company games developer?

    I'm sure point 4 isn't always feasable -- Bill has talked elsewhere about always having to think several stages ahead, and that can mean having more than one project on the go.

    And 2 -- sure, but is it that easy? Do you just press a button, and your game ends up on Steam? I doubt it.

    And why would people be reluctant to buy a game because it leads on to a sequel? I suppose because they think they won't be getting the full story? Personally it doesn't bother me.
  • Kroms on 06 Feb, 2010, 16:30…
    4 - It's a mistake to work on two games at once for a small studio because it puts them at a lot of risk. I obviously don't have any experience, but this article, whilst old, does a decent write-up on several failed studios.

    "I suppose because they think they won't be getting the full story?" Exactly.

    "And 2 -- sure, but is it that easy? Do you just press a button, and your game ends up on Steam? I doubt it."

    No - Steam is a business deal, not Megaupload, but it's a profitable deal. I don't have any numbers, buttt it'll at least lend a wider market. Look at me: I'd play the games, but I can't get them from anywhere. Steam would be a good place.
  • The Tingler on 06 Feb, 2010, 17:07…
    You can get AVS online from GamersGate, but it's so expensive I couldn't even be bothered to add a link. $39.99. D2D only has the Mac version, oddly.
  • Udvarnoky on 06 Feb, 2010, 17:41…
    The Adventure Shop has it for $29.99.
  • Kroms on 06 Feb, 2010, 18:29…
    Ohhh, tempting. I'm currently holding-out for Sam and Max 2010 (or Dunk, if today's Telltale Blog update means anything), but that's the next thing on the list.

    I still say that Steam would be a good move.
  • Gabez on 06 Feb, 2010, 18:49…
    In that blog post: "we still have no plans to make a Dank game"
  • Udvarnoky on 06 Feb, 2010, 18:40…
    No doubt, but it's also a Crimson Cow move.
  • Kroms on 06 Feb, 2010, 09:01…
    Errr, I meant Ghost Pirates. AVS2 as well, though I'd get the first one if it first went up on something like Steam. It's impossible to get it on retail here. I WANT to buy your game. Give me a chance to.
  • jp-30 on 06 Feb, 2010, 05:05…
    So, is the company still based in Petaluma? Cause I thought Bill moved to Boston for work?
  • Udvarnoky on 06 Feb, 2010, 05:36…
    As far as I know their corporate headquarters remain in Petaluma. I guess it's not inconceivable considering that from the sounds of it Insecticide's development was effectively shepherded over Skype.
  • The Tingler on 06 Feb, 2010, 03:43…
    Wow, excellent review, and excellent answers Bill!

    "I remember working on Curse of Monkey Island and suggesting we have a mermaid in the game, and Larry Ahern and Jonathan Ackley saying that was too fantastic for MI"

    I'm sure a few people agree...
  • Kroms on 06 Feb, 2010, 08:32…
    It was too fantastic for MI *then*, I think, but not so much now. A mermaid like Ariel wouldn't have worked, but Anemone and her crew are just bizarre enough to fit in.
  • Udvarnoky on 06 Feb, 2010, 14:46…
    What I think the mermaid image in Dread's map in Monkey Island 2 and the sea creature concept art for the MI movie show is that mythological creatures occurred to multiple people as being natural possibilities in the MI universe long before the Vacalians of TMI that rubbed some people the wrong way turned up and supposedly took things to far.

    I think if TMI is a little more "out there" than the others, the justification is in the fact that the game's setting is literally a little more out there than the previous installments, rather than because of the distance between the previous games. We're obviously still "Deep in the Caribbean" in the same universe as the other games, but it takes place a little further from home, away from the Tri-Island area.
  • Jake on 06 Feb, 2010, 20:07…
    Ha, that was my personal take as well. The stuff in Tales takes place, in my imagination at least, closer to the edge of the map of the MI universe.
  • Ascovel on 06 Feb, 2010, 10:45…
    Winslow's and Anemone's daughter could look like Ariel. Maybe in the next season.
  • Kroms on 07 Feb, 2010, 09:08…
    Haha. I hope not. Part of their charm is that you don't even know if they're gay. I mean, you'd THINK you'd know if Winslow was hetro or not by his lover, and then you realise you can't even tell if his lover's a guy or not. I sometimes wonder if his "Just don't go KISSIN' them all" was a reaction to the realisation that he'd been kissing women.