For as long as you don’t look at the corporate meltdown associated with it, making games is an ideal job. It’s a profession built on play- deconstructing what makes it fun, then mastering everything from coding to art to give other people a sandbox to experience it with.
Yet, this year has been a sobering reminder of the uncertainties any industry can face. At this year’s GDC it was reported that many developers had simply set their goal to being “surviving” the maelstrom of 2024, as companies sacrifice game studios in the name of appearing to maintain profitability.
When we spoke to local indie developers Ammobox Studios, it was a question that absolutely had to be asked- with a year being defined by its volatility, how do you aim to weather the storm?
While they couldn’t talk about confidential processes, the general idea was simple: there are people at the studio whose job it is to deal on the business end, and as creatives they had a duty to keep making what they’re best known for.
“I think the best response is that we will focus on whatever tasks we are currently doing”, says Jack Wong, Senior Game Programmer at the studio.
“And also we don’t overhire”, chimes in Justin Oon, Game Designer, featuring co-signing from fellow game designer Kythus Chan.
It’s not just about balancing the books, however- even if they’re not handling the accounts people will want to know they’re not going to suddenly find themselves on the job hunt this time next week.
That’s where Kythus revealed the real secret weapon, one taught mostly by married couples: communication.
“One of the things that I felt was really calming was that Jeremy and Calvin, our management executive actually opened up- like publicly disclosed what’s happening in the industry and what they are doing so that we know our jobs are being secured and stuff, but by doing so we have to forego some things so that everything is sustainable”, he says.
“They’re being frank and I feel secure [knowing that]”.
Ammobox Studios Looks Back On Eximius: Seize The Frontline
It’s been three years now since the release of Ammobox Studios flagship title, Eximius: Seize The Frontline. The RTS/FPS hybrid has had decent success, with the team releasing seasonal content for their passionate community.
Some of this even includes references to the community itself, with Jack saying to keep an eye out if you’re a particularly active player.
“They feel really happy [seeing it]”, he says. “When they discover it, they feel really excited and surprised”.
That gratitude is for so much more than just buying the game. According to Kythus, with a smaller game like Eximius these players are an invaluable partner in shaping the game via communication like bug reports and other valuable feedback.
“You don’t have a whole team of playtesters that are dedicated testers for your game, so having fans and a community who are willing to spend that time playing our game and giving us feedback, that’s important for indie studios”, Kythus says.
They also wanted to shout out one other invaluable partner in the game’s development- Epic Games. Season 3 of Seize The Frontline launched on the Epic Games Store, which they credit with being responsible for a lot of fresh blood being injected into the game.
“When we were launching we were part of the free games on the Epic Games Store. Eximius was free on the Epic store for a week. From that event we gained a very huge player count. I think that’s one of the big supports we got from Epic”, Jack says.
Still, as great as the game is now, actually launching the game remains a very special moment for the Ammobox Studios team.
“The moment we launched the game, and the players started coming into our servers, I think that’s my best highlight” at Ammobox Studios, seeing a lot of players.”, Jack says.
“It was like too many players coming in”, Kythus adds on.
“It was a lot of players, then we started to receive a lot of bug reports. Our server almost crashed”, Jack smiles.
Just Make Games
One virtue of being a local studio like Ammobox Studios is you inevitably become a role model to others in your industry. Naturally, the Ammobox gang don’t take this lightly, and they had plenty of advice to share to up-and-coming game developers wanting to get their start.
Kythus, for example, offered a reality check: if you’re in love with the idea of playing games, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’d enjoy the hours slaving away at making one (especially if it eats into your dailies).
“One of the things if you really want to get into things like games, you have to really know that you want to do games because loving playing games is totally different from loving doing games”, he says.
“Back then my college mates would like, they love playing games. But the moment they get to making them… because the process itself is very very effing boring sometimes”, he explains. “Because you’re dealing with rabbit holes of “oh my god why doesn’t this feel right” and you have to tweak the numbers for days just to get the thing right. And sometimes it’s just that 0.1 value difference where you’re like “oh shit” “.
Once you know that creative minutia is what you want, however, Justin had the next step already lined up: literally just make games. He talked at length about Game Jams- 48-hour sprints where developers work together to get a playable game out by the end of the session. Considering many people think games only exist in the 5-year triple-A production cycles, it’s definitely a more refreshing way to get more games under your belt.
“So in these little sprints you can get a feel of what creating a game is like, what goes into it, what struggles you might face”, Justin says.
“You can freely fail there because all you waste is a couple hours. As you keep doing it you will build a portfolio of games you’ve made and it’ll be much easier for you to put your foot in the industry that way”, he adds.
“That was the way I did it and I gained a lot of experience from that. Most importantly, I gained a lot of contacts from that”.
He also had one more nugget for perfectionists:
“You don’t need to know programming, you don’t need to have good art, you don’t even need good design, just make games”, he says.
“If it turns out shit don’t worry, it’s part of the process.”
Jack also echoed the sentiment, with pragmatic hiring advice:
“[Your] Portfolio is way more important than grades or a degree. For this industry we don’t look at your degree, we look at your portfolio and what work you’ve done”, he says.
On The SEA Game Awards
One boon for Malaysian game developers is the SEA Game Awards– an annual show dedicated to recognizing talent in the SEA region that closes Level Up KL every year. Recognizing games at every level in the SEA region, it’s a big stepping stone for local games to get even nominated.
Jack himself is a nominee of the award- having done so in 2020 under the Best Student Game category.
“I think it makes a very impressive portfolio [piece]”, Jack says.
“Especially within our region”, Kythus adds. “Compared to other countries they all have big studios, even in Singapore you have a lot of triple-A companies. But in Malaysia there’s only a few. If you want to break into the industry you need to be like “hey there’s this guy who won the regional prize, a Malaysia guy” “.
“It’s a nice carrot to dangle in front of people”, Justin adds. “It’s like a big launching pad that launches you to another vertical height that you’ve never been to before. You get noticed by other people at the same time”.
Closing It Off
Personally, I think there’s a lot more room for Malaysia’s local game studios to grow. While many game developers will try to sell the image of laid-back bros being behind the company, there’s a burning passion that you can feel coming out of the Ammobox Studios team.
For as hard as they work, they also talk about things like keeping work-life balance, recognizing team effort and even the wisdom of not working within melee range of your bed if you want to stay productive. It’s the sign of consummate professionals- ones who’ve used their time in the industry to not only refine their craft, but also their relationship with it.
Our thanks to Kythus, Jack and Justin for taking the time to talk about the state of Ammobox Studios as well as their thoughts on Malaysia’s own blossoming games industry.
