~ May 2007 ~
Having reviewed my games on their site and extolled the virtues of my work in their
newsletter, my affiliation with Game Shark culminates in this revealing tête-à-tête.
Ahead of Reach's release, I contemplate what the future holds and discuss
the pros and cons of the methods that got me this far...

First question Mat - Is developing games your main occupation? Do you have a day job? Do you do other work on the side to support yourself?
I probably should, but I don't! I got into all of this by accident when I was 18, so I've never really known any better. I've pretty much adapted to this being the way life is, so I'm not aware of what I'm missing out on by not having a stable job. Let's face it, I'm probably not missing out on much. Things do get a little risky from time to time though, and I have to ask myself what I'm doing. If I don't make a game this year that thousands of people buy then I'm dead?! Better get to work! People assume I'm quite courageous for starting my own business, but there's actually a lot of cowardice involved. I'm just as scared of NOT achieving something as other people are about going out and doing it. The same emotion just drives us in different directions. I must admit that I'm working on my exit strategy though. I'm branching out into other things so that my eggs aren't all in one basket as it were. Hopefully, that will evolve from the games instead of replacing them...

How many games have you made altogether starting from the beginning of your career to the present?
Too many to mention - not least because it all depends on what you count as a "game". I've made hundreds of interactive programs, only a fraction of which I would describe as complete, playable games. It's best that players trawl through the History section of my site and make their own minds up! If you ask me, my career goes back to the first time I rolled the dice on a homemade board-game or the first ball I potted on a homemade crazy golf course...

Of those games how many were commercially viable?
Boxer's Story and Federation Wrestling were the first games I ever had published way back in 2002, and they've since been joined by 13 of my own releases and a further 3 compilations. Although trivia fans may like to note that the first game I ever got "paid" for was the original 2D Big Bumps, for which I received a replica wrestling belt!

What's your benchmark for a successful title? Is it strictly a monetary amount?
The romantic answer is to say that it's all about "living the dream" and "doing what you feel", but I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about the sales and downloads. Not necessarily for financial reasons, but simply because that's a measure of how popular a game is. It's no fun seeing the sales trickle in slowly when you've just spent 3 months of your life working on a project. It's always good when someone genuinely considers a game you've made to be their "best ever" though. That can sometimes be worth a thousand sales - to know that you've created the one game that a kid goes back to time and time again. You get to thinking of all the games that meant that much to you when you were a kid, and then realize you're now that to somebody else. Money can't buy that kind of connection. As an independent developer still learning his craft, I also tend to have different criteria for what was or wasn't worthwhile. If a game like Wrecked or Grass Roots bravely takes a shot at a difficult new genre then I consider that to be a successful exercise - especially if their efforts laid the foundations for other games and taught me a few things... 

What are the top three in the long list of games you've created?
As far as the sales are concerned, it's any given wrestling game, followed by any given Popscene style industry simulation, followed by any given Hard Time style action adventure. Rather controversially, my own personal list would rank Grass Roots and Sure Shot 3D in there amongst the wrestling games! Reach is definitely going to barge its way up there though, and I'd even be tempted to ignore Wrestling Encore because I know what it's going to be replaced with... 

Tell us about some of the challenges of being an indie - in particular not fitting in with many of your very own peers? What is it about Mat Dickie and his games that rub people the wrong way?
Well, let's point out that we're talking about a minority here - a very loud minority, but a minority nonetheless. 90% of people that come into contact with my work take it the right way and are perfectly inspired. As for the others, if I'm being honest it's partly my fault and partly theirs. They're guilty of being bitter and insecure, and I'm guilty of taunting that insecurity with my brash, assertive attitude. Fundamentally, the problem is that I come from a sporting background where confidence isn't such a dirty word. I represent a new era of game development where any guy off the street can crack open a laptop and make an impact in this business. That frightens a lot of people that see the world of computing as their sanctuary - the one place where they can pretend to be powerful from behind a keyboard. At the end of the day, I'm an agent for change in this business and that's always going to threaten those that don't want things to change. After all, turkeys don't vote for Christmas! It's like R. Buckminster Fuller once said - you don't change things by adjusting the existing model, you change things by making it obsolete. That's my agenda here - to replace scientists with artists, to replace weakness with strength, to replace negativity with positivity, and to replace $50 price tags with $15 ones. If you want those things, I'm your hero. If you don't, I'm your worst nightmare. Simple as that...

Tell us about your publishing model. How does self-publishing work for you? In your opinion what are the pluses and minuses of handling everything from developing the game to publishing it?
Yeah, publishing myself is both the greatest thing I've got going and the worst. The greatest because I can have a game in people's hands within 2 weeks of completing it. I sidestep all the bureaucracy that keeps a game tied up for months (or even years) while publishers figure out what they want to do. I know what I want to do from day one, so no time is lost in the decision-making process. That also means I get to release what I wanted to release, and don't have to worry about censorship or doubts about a crazy concept. The glaring downside is that nothing happens unless I make it happen, which often means there are no surprises. I'm never going to get that excited phone call from a publisher saying "We're in stores!" or "We sold 10'000 copies on day one!". If either of those things happened, it would be because I made them happen and saw it all pan out in slow motion. Let's face it, they're not likely to happen anyway because there are enormous limitations on my current methods. At the end of the day, I publish myself out of necessity rather than choice and would prefer to be taken under the wing of someone that knows what they're doing. I'll still be doing my thing either way though, and that pretty much sums up my whole philosophy. If something isn't given to me, I'll create it for myself. If there's no wind, I'm happy to row...

How do you market and promote your games? Do you have a core base of players that you rely on? And how do you move beyond your core demographic?
Promotion used to be my strong suit. I could make my one-man show sound like great copy to any journalist on the planet, and regularly received the kind of media coverage that most independents can only dream of. It dries up eventually though, because the angle changes from "This guy's gonna be great!" to "Shouldn't this guy be great by now?!". Like a freshly elected politician, the stakes are raised and you have to start delivering on some of those rather extravagant promises. So far I haven't done that, but this year's games look set to take us there. In the meantime, the word of mouth from that brief stint in the sun has been enough to keep me afloat. Hundreds of thousands of people know who I am, and of those tens of thousands have stayed to watch my career unfold with great interest - so I'll always have more to work with than the average independent developer. It's the one thing I've never had to worry about really. It helps that I make the kind of games that people get excited about too. If you look at most independent releases, they're all quaint "retro" concepts that are aimed at their fellow programmers - whereas mine are aimed at the outside world. I fly a little closer to the mainstream, so I have a better chance of inheriting that calibre of success...

Onto tools. You have been using the same engine to create games for a long time but it is becoming apparent that it is getting harder and harder for that technology to handle what you need to accomplish? Is it time for you to move onto big and better technology like XNA?
I came to that conclusion myself towards the end of last year and began looking at alternatives, but it turns out that Blitz 3D isn't as antiquated as you'd think. Certainly not in terms of performance. I was sitting there with products like XNA and Torque and realized there wasn't all that much waiting for me at the end of the rainbow. I saw no evidence of improved visuals. Models were showing up as grainy, shaky Playstation One style creatures rather than the thick, cartoony N64 look I have going on right now. Nor did the games on those platforms run particularly well, and the interface certainly wasn't as easy to use. My verdict was that I would be breaking my back to make games that aren't even as good as what I'm doing now, and that's obviously a no-brainer! I don't say that out of spite or because of some blind loyalty to Blitz. I want XNA to succeed and I'll be keeping a close eye on its progress, but at the moment it simply doesn't work for me. I've got my fingers crossed for a natural successor to Blitz 3D, but until then I've got everything I need to make any concept that comes to mind. I haven't yet reached the point where Blitz has held me back from achieving something. The games have always been as good as I'm capable of making them, and as long as that's true I've got nothing to complain about...

Have you thought about bringing your games to other platforms like Xbox Live Arcade or GameTap? Are you capable of censoring yourself to create a game that could fit into the games rating systems in North America and Europe?
I already censor myself quite a lot! My style is supposed to veer into Quentin Tarantino territory, but it all gets lost in translation. You get to thinking of the hundreds of thousands of hits you'll miss if you're not hosted on download sites, or the thousands of young fans you'll lose if a game isn't accessible - and before you know it, you're cutting out the bad language and distasteful behaviour. My younger self would be ashamed if he saw me selling out like that, but there really is no other way in this profession - at least not at my independent level. None of us can afford to throw away business. It would be career suicide to limit the appeal and exposure of my games. So, yeah, practically every game I've made in the past few years already is eligible for the opportunities you mention. It's just a question of getting their attention. Hard Time has done a good job of that. I'm fielding more exciting offers than I have done in years, so you can bet the playing field will have changed by the time 2008 rolls around. Reach and the new wrestling game will be redefining the boundaries of what an independent developer can achieve...

Let's end this by giving you a chance to talk about Reach. What are some of the big things that Long time MDickie.com fans are going to go bonkers over? What new gameplay elements are really going to make fans want to buy this game?
This really is the most exciting time to be fan of my work because the games are finally starting to live up to their potential. Up until now, people have been sucked in by the concepts and they've put up with the graphics - either that or they've been put OFF by them! With games like Reach, we're finally going to get the whole package and there'll be no more need for excuses. They'll be the biggest independent games on the market, the most involving and playable, and now also among the best looking. You'll have to reach for a console for a better gaming experience, and that's a phenomenal thing to contemplate when you're talking about a game made my one man. It won't stop people complaining or criticizing, but it will make them think twice before doing so! We're rapidly reaching the point where negativity about my work will fall on deaf ears, and I've been waiting for that for a very long time indeed...