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Should we first find the developers who need it, or should we first find the developer's logistics support team?

Some games have had a profound impact on the industry with their simple design and interesting ways to play, and Mini Metro is one of them. In July, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Mini Metro, New Zealand developer Dinosaur Polo Club will launch a large-scale linkage update in its equally successful sequel, Mini Motorways. In the eyes of Dinosaur Polo Club co-founders Peter and Robert Curry, this can be said to be an important milestone.

Mini Metro was officially launched in 2015, but as early as 2013, during the Ludum Dare game development competition, the Curry brothers conceived a prototype of the Mini Metro and released a free web version. After the event, the game continued to be produced, launching a preemptive trial version in the Steam store in 2014, followed by the development of new content and bringing it to major mobile and hosting platforms. So far, the "Mini Metro" platform has sold more than 6 million copies.

The prototype of "Mini Metro", the theme of that competition was minimalism, so the Curry brothers constructed a simple aesthetics similar to the subway map.

Later, the official version of the Mini Metro. Frankly, the game doesn't sell very well, but it's easy to get addicted when you get used to it. at first, the developers of Mini Metro were only Curry Brothers, who were in charge of programming and design. It wasn't long before the team welcomed two new members, Jamie Cecchman, the art director, and Ricky Freeland, the audio director. "the four of us worked together to release the full version of Steam in 2015, followed by a transplant in the Apple Store." "at the end of 2016, we thought Mini Metro would continue to be successful, so we decided to build a studio around it," Robert said. "

"We didn't plan to set up a studio from the beginning, that's not our goal. But at that time we were too busy to focus on the development itself, so we thought, we had to hire a full-time person to handle all kinds of things, such as responding to emails!"

It wasn't until the iOS version of Mini Metro was completed in October 2016 that the Curry brothers realized that the game's commercial success had exceeded expectations. In order to ensure a sustainable working environment for the development team, they began to recruit staff and have been slowly and steadily expanding ever since. The studio insists on being self-sufficient, they say, but Apple did provide important funding during the subsequent development of the "mini highway."

Dinosaur Polo Club was founded by twin brothers, and the studio's strange and interesting name is said to have come up with the "mini road" at a party of friends when it went on sale in 2019, when the team still had fewer than 10 people. Today, the size of the New Zealand studio has expanded to 26 people and its organizational structure has become more mature than in the past.

"our idea is, first of all, to provide adequate support for the team, which is the most important." "I remember that in 2019, our CEO and COO visited a large number of studios in the United States and Canada and asked what difficulties they had encountered in expansion and how to support the team," Robert said. "We benefited a lot from that trip, learning how to bring in logistical support to help developers and make sure the team was at the right size."

"now our goal is to attract talents who can help us run the studio more smoothly, including producers, department heads, operations support staff, personnel, finance, and so on."

Most independent developers don't think about these things at the beginning of their business. "over time, you may suddenly think of the need for a programmer, a game designer or a tester. And we want to build a support team first, and then recruit more developers. We made mistakes in the past, and now the structure of the studio has become more balanced."

Robert added that he just wants to make sure that the team has enough support to do what they want to do. At Dinosaur Polo Club, for example, employees' job descriptions may sometimes exceed the company's description of the position, so they have recently adjusted some of their job descriptions, he says. "this actually relieves the pressure on employees' shoulders because we include all the work they need to do in the job description. Having a clear scope of responsibility reduces confusion." "what I want to say is that even in this kind of detail, you can give employees more sense of security," Robert said. "

In addition to constantly improving the structure, at the end of last year, the studio moved from the old office with an area of 130 square meters to a new space of 500 square meters with seven conference rooms.

In the new office, the Curry brothers not only hope to continue to support the Mini series, but also actively develop new games. Peter revealed that there is already a non-"mini" series of simulation games into the pre-production stage. At the same time, they are also developing more content for "mini subway" and "mini highway".

The new office space designed for the studio by Catalyst, a local construction company, has also won this year's New Zealand Business Project Award. "two games in the Mini series will be updated later." "in addition, we are also prototyping a new film in the Mini series," Peter said. Robert and I were not directly involved, but gave the lead to a few colleagues who were very good at it, and we would only help as much as we could. Within the team, everyone can share their opinions, and Robert and I don't want to pose high above and dictate what the new game should look like. On the contrary, we prefer to lead the discussion and control the direction for the whole project. "

In recent years, the popularity of works such as "Mini Metro", "Mini Highway" and "Islanders" marks the growing popularity of minimalist games. Robert mentioned that Townscaper is a game with a similar style. " It's essentially a toy, and players can do whatever they want, and that's enough. Nowadays, players are more open to the requirements of the game, which I think is good. In terms of mechanism and other aspects, the prototype we made in 2013 is about half of the official version of Mini Metro. The pressure we faced at that time was how to make this interesting toy big enough and attract people to buy it. In retrospect, I think it may not take so much time to do so. "

Peter added: "I remember there was a lot of pressure when we thought about how to develop the prototype into a full game. We don't know if Mini Metro has enough content, and we don't know if its framework can support the addition of more content to make the game look full and make sure it doesn't feel awkward when Steam is released."

Mini Highway introduces resource management, which needs to be more cautious and strategic when planning roads. In the subsequent version of Mini Metro, new contents such as upgrades and high score lists have been added. " We didn't add much, otherwise the core experience could be destroyed. Simple play is one of the core features of the Mini series, and we don't want to waste anyone's time. If players don't want to play over and over again from the bottom of their heart, we won't force them back into the game. "

"as Robert said, we are very happy to see the growth of the Mini series. Sometimes I think that maybe they should not be called computer games or video games, because when it comes to games, the subconscious tends to think of scoring, winning and competitive …... I prefer to use 'experience' to describe the 'mini' series, encouraging players to try rather than just pursue victory."

In a corner of the studio, if there is a suitable opportunity in the future, the Curry brothers look forward to continuing to work with Apple. "when Mini Metro entered the new platform Apple Arcade in 2021, we were a little scared because we had never been exposed to subscription services before and didn't understand how it works." Peter smiled and recalled, "I forgot what concerns we had." to this day, Apple is still an excellent partner and will discuss things very openly, which is great. "

Robert added: "Apple and we have always supported each other, and we are very happy with the results of the partnership, and I'm sure they feel the same way. of course, some of the games we make may not be suitable for mobile devices or Apple Arcade subscription models. Still, we will talk to Apple because I don't think the studio would have achieved what it is today without a relationship with Apple."

This article is compiled from: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/dinosaur-polo-club-and-the-big-task-of-creating-mini-games

Original title: Dinosaur Polo Club and the big task of creating Mini games

Original author: Marie Dealessandri

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