Games Industry
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Sony Developer Open Day
Previous to my attending the Indie Collective day a few weeks back, I applied for the Microsoft and Nintendo developer programs. However, I didn’t apply to the Sony Developer program, because I was given the distinct impression that it was essentially pointless to apply cold, and that it was better to get yourself known first, put your face out there in the community of developers and build up “credibility” So to further that, I headed down on Monday to the Sony Developer Open Day at Sony’s London HQ. I spent most of the time furiously taking notes, and in the spirit of indie openness, here is my take on the…
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Interlude: Pitch Jam
This weekend I participated in pitch jam, which brought together professional writers with those wanting to break into the world of games press and journalism. Of course, when I first saw “games writing,” I thought it was all about writing the storyline for games (another area where I’ve dabbled in the past), but as it transpired, pitch jam was actually about helping those going into the world of freelance journalism. The idea being that often, they’ve written a great article or piece about gaming or the games industry, but struggle to pitch the article to website and magazine editors, who will actually publish it and pay them for their work…
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Console Wars: The Battle for Indies
The big three console manufacturers have all been making lots of noise recently, espousing their indie credentials and how they are now open to all comers. Having just successfully released my first game on the OUYA, I was keen to find out how genuine a contender for title of “most indie friendly” they each were. Both in competing with OUYA, and as possible targets for my own game heading cross-platform. So last Friday, I headed down to London, to the headquarters of UKIE, for the “Indie Collective” event, where each console maker set out their respective stalls and pitched their platform to the 100 or so assembled indie devs. (I…
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Indie vs Retail
Can indie developers breath new life into flagging video game retailers? I decided to try and find out It should be obvious to all that bricks and mortar stores selling video games must adapt or die in the face of digital distribution. To make those physical spaces justify the overheads they generate, there need to be reasons for people to come into the store and spend their money in person, rather than simply going online and having their purchases delivered to their front door or downloaded straight to their gaming device of choice. One possible avenue is to get indie game developers into the stores to demo their games. This…
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Rebranding Always Online
Games that require always on internet provide immense benefit to both game developers and customers, but the case for their use is not being made The recent controversial tweeting by one Microsoft executive about the prospect of an always online console was not what lost him is job, but rather the attitude it displayed. It is one reflecting a deeper frustration amongst those in the game industry with consumer resistance to games and platforms that require a constant internet connection. There are of course a multitude of excellent reasons why game developers would want or require an internet connection for single player games, or those that do not use the…
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Finishing Service
What Indie developers really need is a finishing service Another take away from Richard Nash’s excellent (if rather long) take on the state of the literary/book publishing industry is that publishers (especially editors) actually perform multiple roles that add value, and while some of those roles are now obsolete, others are absolutely still relevant. Perhaps even more so in a world flooded with digital content. Chief amongst the tasks of an editor is ensuring that manuscripts are up to standard and ready for market. In other words, that they are polished and have had all their rough edges smoothed out. Translating this to games, I’m not talking about finding bugs…
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Who’s Curating Who?
Who should be curating content anyway? And should we trust them? I recently read this essay about the state of publishing and the literary world. It’s a long read, but well worth it, with multiple points relevant to the games industry as well. One of the big questions it raises, and one that has also been picked up by the wider games industry, is just who’s job is it anyway to curate content? Journalists and reviewers are professionals who we pay to get their opinions. They may be experts in their field, but more often are simply excellent communicators, able to articulate a point in an eloquent, amusing or concise…
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Wide Games
Is augmented reality gaming a dead end, or can open, hackable technology bring gaming back outdoors? Games have their evolutionary origins in learning and practice. For hunting and gathering, war and tribal conflict, it makes sense to have a way to practice techniques, strengthen teamwork and test outcomes without the negative consequences if something goes wrong. Sports in particular, but even the most basic of games tap into this instinct. As video games get increasingly abstracted away from that root origin, they can lose a lot of their power and meaning, and leave the experience feeling a little shallow. Computers are tools to be used, whether they are for work…
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The Right Sentiment
A tetchy games industry is getting itchy feet Sometimes, people need to just get all the thoughts swirling in their heads onto paper. Even if they’re not entirely coherent, it is part of the process of articulating a hard to pin down feeling, and one that others may well also be feeling, but can’t quite get the words out themselves. That’s exactly what gamesindustry.biz did this week, musing on the relationship between game developers, gamers and games press in the light of the one year anniversary of controversy at last year’s GDC, which rocked the niche games journalism industry, and lead to much introspection. Of course, journalists love to talk…