I attended the inaugural Northern Exposure gaming conference yesterday, which took place at York Racecourse. The event was organised by North-based games networks GameHorizon and Game Republic and was focused on the future of games publishing and the impact of digital distribution. There were a number of interesting and lively talks given by a variety [...]
After much consideration the devil has decided to add a new level to hell. This level will be a lake a raw sewage, topped with a scum of soap bubbles and washed by incessant rain driven by lukewarm winds. The main inhabitant of this foul domain will be the inventor of the utterly useless automated, [...]
…and I think it would make a great game” I have had quite a large number of meetings over the years that started with that line, both as a publisher and as a developer. My reaction has always been the same; I feel used. From talking to other game people they seem to say the [...]
In a recent blog post (Pag on Games » Designer’s Intent) Pierre-Alexandre Garneau talks about something he calls Design Intent, which I have always referred to as design objectives. In essence the designer sets objectives for the project and for each section/module of the project that the team can clearly understand. When setting objectives I [...]
Grand Theft Auto Syndome is a disorder which afflicts small start-up developers and causes them to believe that their small team is actually five or six times its actual size. As a result they decide that their first project will be a Grand Theft Auto beater, requiring three years development and a $15 million development [...]
Well I took a couple of weeks holiday, packed my bags and headed off for a break from work. While I was away I went on a short walking tour of the lesser known parts of Kyoto. I guess it was too much to expect to escape entirely from video games in the home city [...]
The concept of selling game ideas is one that appeals to a lot of people, especially those outside the industry looking to break in. In a recent post over on Gamedev.net (Link) someone once again asked the question of how to go about getting $10 million from a publisher for a game idea (with no [...]
Making games requires creativity and a great game idea is an important part of that. However, starting a company need more than just a great game idea. If you are looking to go the digital download/self publishing route you also need to know how to market your company and your games to customers and how [...]
Let’s assume that you have managed to negotiate a deal where the publisher doesn’t recoup advances (as mentioned here) or maybe you have self-funded development and will be earning a royalty from unit one. It might seem that all is looking rosy is the cash-flow garden. Sadly there is a weed in the flower bed [...]
A sudden change of circumstances isn’t a good reason to start a business (unless you have spent the previous few months planning to do so). Being made redundant can be a stressful event and for that reason isn’t ideal for planning a company. There is a lot of planning and research that should be undertaken [...]