Good news! You made a small online game, with simple mechanics and managed to find a forum full of players who seem eager to try it out. Now you just drop it in and—suddenly, you have a hit on your hands!
Now what?
At GDC 2017, Melanie Christin of Atelier 801 will be telling this very story, and how it affected the team behind Transformice, a browser-based indie MMO that combines puzzle platforming mechanics with chaotic multiplayer interactions. It’s a fascinating story that we got a preview of when we brought Christin onto the Gamasutra Twitch stream earlier today to play some Transformice and talk about her unexpected success as an MMO developer.
Part of that success meant being on call 24 hours a day to stabilize problems with the game, something Christin told us prevented her and Transformice co-creator Jean-Baptiste Lemarchand from taking care of themselves.
“We got so busy, we didn’t have much time to self-reflect on our [work,]” Christin told us. “We kept ourselves so busy, that’s how we handled stress. Eventually I did burn out, because that did kind of go forever.”
“I’d recommend learning how to take care of yourself and not overdo it.”
Luckily, that wasn’t the end of Transformice’s story—the game is still going strong today with fans all over the world. To hear more about how it grew, be sure to watch the full interview above, and check out Christin’s talk at the 2017 Game Developers Conference.
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