Braid Developer: XBLA Certification Was a Burden
Having released the time-warping puzzle platformer Braid on Xbox Live Arcade, game developer Jonathan Blow revealed that the service’s certification requirements had become a burden during the game’s polishing phase.
“They removed some of the requirements for XBLA games, but there are still a lot of requirements,” he said. “And I believe that, at least for a single-player game like my game, the vast majority of these requirements are unnecessary.”
He continued, adding that he put “a tremendous amount of work” meeting the requirements, which, he noted, would have been more useful if he put it to work on the game itself. Blow further said that the amount of time and energy spent on passing certification has an impact on a title’s final product.
“I definitely had a couple of unpleasant business interactions with Microsoft,” Blow admitted. “Nothing horrible—well, nothing quite bad enough to cause me to cancel releasing the game on Arcade. But what would keep me from putting another game on Arcade again is just that they’ve changed the business deal—at least as I’ve heard.”
Blow additionally revealed that there may not be a sequel to the game and that he is not working on any downloadable content for the game either.
“Money is not really my goal, so even if Braid does very well… that’s not my concern. I’m not going to do a sequel to Braid—I don’t care how many copies it sells. I mean, maybe in five years when I’m motivated, if I have a really fresh idea for it. But I’m not waiting in the wings with a level pack, or DLC or anything,” he stated.