Indie Games Con is one of those exciting secrets that is rapidly becoming an important center of gravity for anyone interested in marketing, playing or creating independent games. This year was no exception and this is the place where TLC Industries decided to unveil our new arcade platform, FlexArcade , to game developers.

FlexArcade is our new PC-based coin-op arcade platform that is designed so that operators only have to purchase expensive hardware once, not each time they want to buy a new game. In an industry where new arcade games typically cost $6,000 and even $20,000+ being able to re-use the hardware is a huge benefit. It will also increase the market for new games since suddenly the cost per game is a fraction of what it was, allowing arcades / locations to lower the cost for gameplay. More games and less cost to play them will create a renaissance in the coin-op games market and we are looking forward to leading that.

A week prior, at the AMOA tradeshow in Las Vegas, we launched FlexArcade, but we wanted to make sure game developers, not just distributors and operators, got a chance to explore our technology. At Indie Games Con, Orbz and Hamsterball for arcade were absolute hits, with game developers flocking to play and several asking if we could get their games running on the cabinet right there. Some games, like Platypus from Retro64 were very arcade friendly, but even developers of games like Dark Horizons: Lore wanted to join in the fun, so they attached a keyboard and had one player drive while the other used the trackball and buttons to fire. This was perhaps one of the weirdest moments in arcade history, but it just showed us, how exciting an arcade platform like FlexArcade is for developers.

Saturday afternoon, Pierre Maloka, TLC’s Director of Game Development and I presented a talk titled Arcade Game Development: Ten Answers Indies Need to Know. Our talk covered some of the important aspects of what works and what doesn’t with arcade games and an overview of the current market. For instance, there are many game concepts out there that will not work in retail that might flourish in a coin-op environment where the user only pays a quarter or two for a few moments of entertainment.

Another point discussed involved an overview of the efforts made by Raptisoft and 21-6 to take their great PC games and adapt them for the coin-op market. In the case of Raptisoft’s Hamsterball, the developer modified it so when the player rolled the hamsterball off the edge it froze progress right there … not all the way back at the beginning as it is in the PC version. This allows the player to continue their progress and feel as though they can accomplish something, rather than get totally frustrated and give up. Additionally, this also makes it a great coin-op game as players feel compelled to drop additional quarters just to make a bit more progress in the game.

Finally and not least by any means Saturday night, in conjunction with 21-6 Productions, we held an Orbz tournament with the top player winning a free trackball control panel and a copy of Orbz for NextArcade – TLC Industries’ download portal for home arcade gamers. NextArcade will launch later this fall.

Showing FlexArcade at Indie Games Con was a great experience for us and we appreciate the opportunity that GarageGames provided to us. We learned a lot about the games and learned a lot about what game developers wanted to see from us and FlexArcade. It is our sincere desire to work as closely with indie game developers to create a platform that isn’t just cool, but also provides a range of benefits from additional revenue to branding opportunities.

Our Schaumburg, IL offices and my email is always open for any game developer who wants to learn more about the coin-op market or just chat about games: James Hills, Marketing Director: jamesh@tlcind.com.



Editor's Note: Check out these photos from James Hills' time at Indie Games Con 2004