October 2011
1 post
“Almost every single interaction with the world you can do in Glitch benefits...”
– Glitch
July 2011
1 post
Gareth Wilson: the economics of new IP →
The former Bizarre Creations design manager gives an economist’s view of why new ideas fail to sell.
June 2011
1 post
Why Did L.A. Noire Take Seven Years to Make? →
Tip: when your president believes great games can only come through personal sacrifice, walk away!
May 2011
9 posts
Video Game Marketing: The New Bible Part 1 →
Ten Ways Game Makers Can Attract A Top VC →
“When Tiny Speck Inc. launches the beta version of its first online game next...”
– The Daily Start-Up: Tiny Speck Makes A Big Mark - Venture Capital Dispatch
Why in-app billing doesn’t solve all of Android... →
Just in case you have dollar signs in your eyes right now.
“I’m the map,” the producer says. “I can’t create the treasure—I’ll just lead you...”
– Def Leppard’s Hysteria
“Declared funding [of game companies] amounted to $1.89bn, up 130% on...”
– Games Market Monitor: Acquisitions and Funding in 2010
“Typically, the Facebook games are built with $100,000 to $300,000 budgets over...”
– Zynga’s chief designer shares tips learned from social games
“The pillars of success are play (having something fun to do), express (a way to...”
– Zynga’s chief designer shares tips learned from social games
“It started off as a free flash game, then the developers announced they were...”
– No Time To Explain
April 2011
42 posts
Are Console Games Dying? →
A good article. My take is… no, they aren’t dying, but the explosion of casual games is proving it’s always been a niche.
“Project funding site Kickstarter has revealed, exactly two years after first...”
– Kickstarter Reports Over $1M In Pledges Towards Games
TinyCo Raises $18 Million From Andreessen Horowitz... →
A new wave of companies has set its sights on a related, but fundamentally different genre: casual mobile gaming.
“Through game design alone (no marketing tricks and no ad spend) I increased DAUs...”
– Redesigning Wild Ones into Playdom’s Top Game: A Social Game Design Reboot
“What I love seeing are people who have a mobile and web strategy that work...”
– Patrick Cheng, SK Telecom Ventures
VCs see tough and exciting landscape for game startups
“I will say the teams that are focused just on the game play, I don’t get super...”
– Jeremy Liew, Lightspeed Venture Partners
VCs see tough and exciting landscape for game startups
“Game startup Sibblingz is announcing today that its cloud-based Spaceport...”
– Sibblingz’s Spaceport may be Holy Grail for publishing cross-platform games
Well, holy crap.
Anatomy of Seed →
An inside look into a $1M seed round. Slideshow with several interesting points.
“Both RockYou and Loot Drop feel that the future of social games lies in quality...”
– Inside Social Games - Tracking Innovation at the Convergence of Games and Social Platforms
“One of the big trends we’re seeing is that games are using tutorials to generate...”
– Social Game Developers Use Tutorials to Get Crucial Early Retention
Old article, but still very, very true.
“I do have to say that I much prefer the term “metrics-INFORMED design” rather...”
– Metrics Driven Design slides from SXSW, by Joshua Porter
Amen to that.
First Five Minutes of The Bang Bang Club →
This concept — war photography — is something I’ve long wanted to make a game about…
Vikings On Trampolines →
Vikings On Trampolines is an upcoming multiplayer battler about bouncing vikings around and making sure not to go splat on the floor. Two players boing around the arena and aim to land on the supplied trampolines so as not to die, while also trying to knock each other out.
IT IS ALSO COMPLETELY SILLY AWESOME
Valve 'Probably' Done With Single-Player Games →
The article discusses how this mirrors a larger transition in the industry.
A Missive From The End Of Genre: How Brink Works →
Fascinating. The integration of multiplayer and single player modes as the “end of a genre.” Hmm.
“In the new world, there is no publisher. No distributor. Only you, your studio...”
– Luis Levy, Welcome to the Cacophony of the Real
The Persistence of Memory: Exploring ButaVX’s... →
This turned out to be an extremely interesting read, covering cognitive short-cuts in human beings and how we encounter new ideas.
The Crowdfunding Revolution: Perspectives →
Required reading for burgeoning indies…
“The popular co-operative Last Stand™ mode from Warhammer® 40,000®: Dawn of War®...”
– Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Retribution – The Last Standalone
This is a brilliant idea, especially paired with an offer to “upgrade” to the full version of the game.
“The development team’s staff looked at what fans were saying online, and...”
– More validation of my personal philosophy from Tokita! Mine is stated “You must meet expectations to get sales, but subvert them to gain fans.”
Years After: The Final Fantasy IV Interview
“Essentially, I create the concept in the beginning, and then, in the middle, the...”
– Takashi Tokita, lead designer at Square-Enix and director of Final Fantasy IV, Years After: The Final Fantasy IV Interview
“We are not impressed with Amazon’s recent gesture, nor is this matter the result...”
– Amazon Clarifies Android App Store Terms, IGDA Says Concerns Remain
Hmm…. noted.
“s you become an adult, you make a concerted effort to rein yourself in and...”
– Hiroshi Matsuyama, speaking about Asura’s Wrath, A Video Game About The Anger We Can’t Express
“Exodus is described as ‘alien noir’, with Blade Runner a screamingly clear...”
– Preview: Prey 2
I did not expect to be interested in Prey 2, seeing as I couldn’t give a flip about the first. Whoever manhandled this extreme creative direction change needs a high five.
“2. A new questing system means randomly-generated stories. If you’re sent on a...”
– 20 Reasons To Be Excited About Skyrim
This, alone, is worth the price of admission.
“Taking out all that friction, caused by people having people figure stuff out,...”
– Brian Reynolds, The Strategic Evolution Of Social Gaming
“What is it about the Sid Meier school of design that seems to meld so well with...”
– The Strategic Evolution Of Social Gaming
How a Slacker Became Nintendo’s Chief Ambassador →
Artists and designers who are too set in their ways “don’t succeed” at a Nintendo studio, says Retro’s Kelbaugh. “It’s much more important to get an employee that’s open-minded, that is fundamentally open to change,” he says. “I would much rather have an employee like that … as opposed to someone who is exceptionally creative [and] very focused on their particular point of view. If you try to...
“And just now, when I loaded it up, the world of the Zone was no longer as...”
– Stalker: Call of Pripyat: game over?
That phrase he uses, “bleached of its narrative force,” is highly precise. The whole article, really, deserves a chapter in a book about the tenuous connection between gamer and game, and how it tapers off over time, regardless (or perhaps because...
“An error message has been added to Source sandbox game Garry’s Mod,...”
– Garry’s Mod Developer Enables Error Message To Catch Pirates
It’s not too late for a Charlie Sheen quote! WINNING!
Lord of the Rings goes free-to-play, doubles its... →
An old story, but worth remembering.
“Gaming is the most popular activity on tablets, according to a new U.S. survey...”
– Survey: Gaming Top Activity On Tablets For U.S. Users
“One of my favourite quotes is from Rack Foster, who told me once that in an MMOG...”
– Neil Alphonso, Splash Damage: Balancing Brink
“Creating a balanced, symmetrical design is similar to designing an ecosystem. ...”
“If there’s nowhere for those players to buy or preorder that game, then...”
– How early reviews hurt sales of indie games
Social Gaming “Will Be Worth $5 Billion By 2015” →
The rapidly growing social gaming market will be worth $5 billion by 2015, a fivefold increase on its current value, according to research firm Parks Associates.
“Presenting people with different units that they can easily convert between...”
– The Psychology Of Games: The Unit Effect And Player Perceptions
“But I feel like if you watch Apocalypse Now and you get done with it,...”
– Steve Swink On The Art Of Experimental Games
Weird personal footnote: I shared a cup of Absinthe with Steve on the day he left Neversoft.