In through the
Trapdoor

Small is beautiful, more creative and more
fun for local game design company

A LITTLE FREEDOM GOES A LONG WAY: Ken Schachter

by ERIK LEIJON

It’s obvious upon entering Trapdoor Inc.’s downtown studio the nascent independent game developer and publisher will not be your typical office. Sporting a kitchen stocked with every employee’s favourite grub and an adorable dog scurrying about, Trapdoor was conceptualized by game designers tired of massive, impersonal studios working on AAA blockbusters.

“The larger the team is and the bigger the stake from whoever is financing it, the less involvement you’re going to have,” says Trapdoor founder Ken Schachter, who is also Niva the dog’s owner. “So even though these organizations tend to attract the best talent, few of them actually have any freedom and creative involvement. There are dozens of talented people working on these products that never get to spread their wings.”

For the 32-year-old Montreal native, now was the ideal time to spread his wings. In 2007, he left local studio Gameloft, where he served as manager for three years. With the rise in digital distribution game services—such as Microsoft’s XBox Live Arcade (XBLA) and Sony’s Playstation Network (PSN)—the financial model was there for a smaller budget game to make money. Trapdoor’s nine employees will be specializing in games with shorter development cycles (around 12 months) that can be downloaded directly onto consoles instead of being purchased at brick and mortar stores.

In 2009, they’ll be releasing and self-publishing a game for XBLA and PSN, as well as an iPhone exclusive. “This is the right time to make that gamble [on digitally distributed games],” says Schachter. “Two years from now will be too late and two years ago would have been too early. One main difference between us and the current portfolio of downloadable games is we’re investing a little more in terms of budget. We’d like to bring the sensibilities of our past experiences working on AAA titles, but deliver them in a more bite-size package.”

There has been a lot of interest within the local game developer community since the studio opened in August. Schachter was able to court both Far Cry 2 designer Alex Charbonneau and Shaun White Snowboarding’s Kelly Smith to leave Ubisoft Montreal to join his team (even foregoing their Ubisoft bonuses). What makes the studio enticing for experienced designers, in addition to the small team size, is everyone gets a say in the creative process.

“Because we’re self-publishing, we don’t have that outside force, so we have to motivate each other. We have complete control over our products—it’s really exciting, but it poses a major challenge going forward.”