Posts tagged "game developers"
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09 Nov 2009Some Thoughts From Develop in Liverpool
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It was just great to have Develop in our home town, hopefully they will come again. My feeling about this year’s Develop was that it was ‘Two Tribes Go to War’ to stretch the Scouse analogy. Developers seem to fall into two camps, those working for large console game developers or ‘Dinosaurs’ as we might call them and the Indie App Store gang ‘Mammals’. The Dinosaurs are in recession, general game revenues are dropping (sales down 16% in UK according to MCV) and traditional publishers finding it really hard to raise debt funding. The Mammals are in a whole different boat, low overheads, ownership of IP and decent revenues for some on mainly their iPhone titles. Don’t get me wrong most of the skill still sits with the big developers but 2009 will mark the start of a new console cycle ‘the App Store’.
One of the speakers really summed it up, when someone in the audience tried to draw an analogy to previous console booms and slumps he started very clearly that this is like ‘nothing we have seen before’. I feel that this is spot on, the industry has changed and there is no going back.
Stuart Dredge’s talk focused on the 5 app stores, iPhone, Android, PSP, Blackberry and DSi sales figures are hard to find but we can all see that the model works well for both consumer and producer. As he himself said there are many other app stores, off the top of my head Orange App Store, Windows Mobile, Wii Store channel (Wiiware), PSN for PS3, XBLA, Intel for Atom PCs, Ovi from Nokia and I am sure many others. Other the next few weeks we will look at each in detail from both a business and technical veiwpoint and try and think about their pros and cons.
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Hello everyone, i thought i would insert some information about the Devlop event this Thursday which i will be attending along with some other members of the Onteca family. See blog for full event programme.This Thursday sees the popular Develop conference make its debut appearance in Liverpool.
Set to bring together the best and brightest game developers from across the UK for a day of learning, sharing ideas and networking, Develop in Liverpool boasts an impressive range of sessions and panels. Below are details of the currently confirmed panels.
Highlights include the keynote by Michael Denny, senior vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, Europe, and speakers from Bizarre Creations, Natural Motion, Team 17 and Jolt.
Those interested can still register here; tickets currently cost £265 plus VAT. The event takes place at Liverpool’s Arena and Convention Centre, and offers a unique opportunity in a city many consider the cultural capital of the north.
The sessions:
OPENING KEYNOTE: Quality, Relevance, Innovation
The talk will provide a visionary insight into what Sony Computer Entertainment First Party studios are looking for now and in the future when commissioning Original IPs from Independent developers.
Speaker: Michael Denny, senior vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, EuropeEVOLVE: Turning Browsers into Gamers for Fun and Profit
The biggest platform with the most potential isn’t owned by a manufacturer or run out of Redmond. Web browsers and social networks host tens of millions of games a day, bring gameplay to new audiences, allow innovative new gameplay ideas, come with a diversity of business models, and are wide open to new entrants. But what can traditional games companies bring to the party, and where should you focus your efforts for maximum impact and reward?
Speaker: Dylan Collins, Jolt Online GamingCODING & PRODUCTION: PlayStation: Cutting Edge Techniques
The talk will provide an overview of the current state of the PlayStation platforms and games from a technical perspective. There will be a coverage of several real-world examples of cutting techniques as used in recent and soon to be released PlayStation3 and PSP titles developed by Sony Computer Entertainment worldwide studios.
Speaker: Neil Brown, senior engineer, Sony Computer Entertainment EuropeART & DESIGN: Blocking to Rocking! The art of LEGO Rock Band
Travellers’ Tales has won endless plaudits for the distinctive and humorous characters in its LEGO games. But having mastered a plastic fantastic take on much-loved cinematic heroes, how would its artists tackle real life musical legends for LEGO Rock Band? Matt Palmer, Head of Animation at TT Fusion, gives us a unique insight into capturing the essence of Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and the game’s other rock gods in LEGO guise while operating within the constraints of the Rock Band format.
Speaker: Matt Palmer, head of animation, TT FusionEVOLVE: Five App Stores Under the Microscope:
iPhone, Blackberry, Android, DSiWare, PSP Minis
There’s plenty of excitement around digital distribution of mobile and handheld games, but it’s early days – the various stores are finding their feet, while developers figure out how best to approach them. This session will look at five key digital stores: iPhone’s App Store, BlackBerry App World and Android Market, as well as DSiWare and PSP Minis. What are the trends in terms of pricing and categorisation? Which games are doing well and why? And how are developers increasingly looking to release games across several or all of these stores?
Speaker: Stuart Dredge, online editor, Mobile EntertainmentCODING & PRODUCTION: Role of the Production House in Game Development and Marketing
Created during the early development stages of a video game, concept movies can often lay the foundation in the creation of new games. They can be used as an influential selling tool by developers to gain universal buy in from international publishers whilst also giving the development team a vision of what they’re working towards, helping lock down important factors such as the overall look, style and feel of the game. Some of these movies never see the light of day once the game is complete but others serve a multifaceted purpose and are used as a powerful internal and external marketing tool. Tony Prosser, Managing Director of Lancashire based CG Production House RealtimeUK, will be speaking about the role of concept movies in games development. He will also discuss how they created some of their most well known concept movies and marketing trailers including Motorstorm for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Split/Second for Disney Interactive Studios and Napoleon: Total War for Sega.
Speaker: Tony Prosser, managing director, RealtimeUKEVOLVE: What the Music Industry Can Tell Us about Digital Distribution
The last few years have been turbulent for the music industry as it grapples with the transition from physical goods to digital distribution. What can the games industry learn from the music industry as the sales and delivery of interactive entertainment increasingly move online? Simon Watt of Universal Music reprises his very popular Brighton talk with an updated explanation of what the music industry has got right – and wrong – and what it means for games.
Speaker: Simon Watt, vice president technology, Universal Music GroupCODING & PRODUCTION: How to Get More From your Music and Audio Team (panel)
Harry Potter, Project Gotham Racing, Heavenly Sword, The Getaway, and Geoff Crammond’s Grand Prix series are just a few of the titles covered by the careers of an illustrious panel of leaders in their field. Whilst managing hundreds of thousands of game audio production dollars, procuring music, dialogue and sound design services from both in-house and external game and movie sound resources, these senior players fully recognise the commercial imperative and inextricable link of what they do in audio provision with corporate goals, gameplay objectives and console technology. Drawing on their years of experience seeing the good, bad and downright ugly of audio in games, they will distil critical insights for producers, programmers, artists and designers about how to get the most from their audio team and thereby realise the maximum potential for sound, music and dialogue to rock their game production.
Chair: John Broomhall, independent audio director
Panelists: Dan Bardino, SCEE; Adele Cutting, EA; Nick Wiswell, Bizarre CreationsART & DESIGN: Resurrecting the Alien Breed franchise
If you’re lucky enough to have a much-loved retro game to work with, how do you bring it up-to-date without damaging its DNA? Team 17’s design manager John Dennis outlines some of the challenges and opportunities the studio has faced in bringing its classic Amiga game Alien Breed back to life in the form of Alien Breed Evolution, which it is set to self-publish for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Speaker: John Dennis, Team 17EVOLVE: Keeping Northern games development on the map (panel)
Game making has a long history in the North of England and much to be proud of, but there’s no denying recent years have been tough, with key studios closing and others fading from prominence. What can be done to ensure the region remains a hub of game development excellence, and what help is already available? Could local studios do more to support each other, or is it better every studio fights for itself? A panel of leading insiders debates the issues.
Chair: Toby Barnes, MD, Pixel LabCODING & PRODUCTION: A Bizarre Way to do Real-Time Lighting
The talk focuses on the techniques used in the real-time lighting implementation for Blur, but with a particular bias for how things were done for the Playstation3. Beginning with a high-level discussion of the problems at hand the swiftly talk moves into how these were initially solved in a cross-platform way, but then later optimised for Playstation3. Along the way the speakers share their thoughts on light pre-pass rendering and SPU programming techniques, and offer a helpful ten-step guide to migrating your lighting to the SPUs.
Speakers: Stephen McAuley and Steven Tovey, Bizarre CreationsART & DESIGN: Why is Playing Games Fun?
Recent research in neurobiology reveals multiple ways in which the “pleasure centre” of the brain can be tripped, and thus multiple ways that players enjoy games. This research also dovetails with the latest player satisfaction models, which show that different players enjoy very different aspects of play. This session explores seven different ways in which the brain responds to play, each corresponding to a different play style, and thus different kinds of videogame. By understanding the variety of ways that a game can provide enjoyment, developers can learn why their games are fun – and how to make them more fun for a greater number of players.
Speaker: Chris Bateman, MD, Hobo InternationalEVOLVE: Digital Distribution: From Blue Sky to the Bottom Line (panel)
Signing a deal with Steam is no longer enough. From branding to social media marketing; from price discounts to community management, this panel will address what developers need to do to maximise revenue from their digital distribution strategy.
Chair: Nicholas Lovell, GAMESbrief
Panelists: Mark Morris, MD, Introversion Software; Tero Virtala, CEO, RedLynx; Oliver Birch, account director, PlayReplayCODING & PRODUCTION: 6 Ways to Get More Bang for Your Buck
The bad news: budgets are tight and time is short, yet everyone still wants quality. The good news: there is no shortage of talent! Outsourcing, offshoring, contractors and freelancers – thousands of externals are ready to help you stay under budget and make better games, or, if handled badly, to wreck your project. From formal outsourcing to co-development and remote teams, Beriah’s Kevin Hassall reveals six tricks to get the very best from this wide world of talent.
Speaker: Kevin Hassall, BeriahART & DESIGN: Open Mic – Voice Control in SingStar the Method and the Madness
Applying cutting edge technology to casual games in a way that enriches the end user experience in a non disruptive way. Voice recognition technology is notoriously unreliable and most user experiences with existing technology have been poor. The voice recognition technology in SingStar was designed to allow users to select songs and navigate menu options. This presented its own set of unique challenges from both technological and usability standpoints. This presentation will cover the challenges and pitfalls of using voice recognition technology in SingStar.
Speaker: Charlie Hasdell, designer, Sony Computer Entertainment EuropeEVOLVE: We’re All Indies in This Together
Digital distribution, downloadable content, and casual and social games are fast re-writing our ideas about what a game can be. Leading this charge are a new wave of small, innovative and entrepreneurial developers with very different business models – and often different aspirations – to the conventional games industry. Enter indievision, a new trade body for a new breed of studio. For the first time in public, founder Robert Swan outlines why the new indie sector needs to work together, and what joining indievision can do for you.
Speaker: Robert Swan, co-founder, indievisionCLOSING ADDRESS: The Ups and Downs of Backing 60 Start-Ups
Richard Farleigh, High Tech Entrepreneur and Dragon (from Dragon’s Den)Networking Party!
After the conference, you will have the opportunity to network with delegates from an event running alongside Develop – Software City – designed to showcase the region’s dynamic technology sector. Now running in its third year Software City attracts an international audience and is an opportunity for businesses and investors to make valuable connections, share ideas and hear from world-class entrepreneurs.Develop in Liverpool and Software City have teamed up to host a joint post-conference networking party for all their delegates. The party will be held in PanAm on the Albert Dock.
Your Develop pass will allow you free access to the party where you will have the chance to meet attendees and speakers from both events, including Software City’s star speakers Richard Farleigh of Dragon’s Den fame and Julie Meyer co-founder of First Tuesday, CEO of Ariadne Capital and one of the recently announced ‘online dragons’.
Information supplied by Develop.com event article
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02 Nov 2009Indie Game Developers shouldn’t forget the benefits of PR
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Sophie here once again, today i thought i would look at how the internet can be utilized as a PR tool to help Indie Game Developers promote their games.
Public Relations in a nutshell: PR is defined as the art of controlling information flow between a company and the outside world. When you are an independent games developer producing a game using your own IP, it is easy for your indie roars to be rendered to a pitiful whisper in the noisy and crowded sea of the internet.
This means the Indies have to swallow their pride and remember they are not an EA or Activision and cannot use the same sort of PR methods they use, therefore they need to maximise their flow of information and utilize the web as much as possible.
Making noise
The big guys tend to guard their updates carefully, rarely leaking new information about their game. When they do, it’s very controlled and polished. This strategy may make sense when you are so big that even a small leak of information means multiple Digg front-page stories and coverage by news sites everywhere. For Indies though, your carefully packaged press release would likely fall into obscurity.
This means that you need to get creative, experiment, and make noise often. Since it’s hard to predict what will blow up and what won’t, the more insights you share the better your chances are of getting people’s attention.
Remember that the upside is huge and the downside is small. The only thing you stand to lose is your time if you sink hours into a post that doesn’t earn you any recognition.
The good news is that if a PR attempt fails, no one will see it so you don’t have to feel embarrassed (EA doesn’t have this luxury). Since almost everything applies to games, there are lots of different things you can share.
Making friends
An important part of open development is reaching out to other people in the industry. Contact other Indies, they are your allies not your rivals. You also want to reach out to press contacts and distributors.
Cold emails are always tough, so don’t get discouraged. Meeting people in person is extremely valuable. No matter where you are, you should try to get involved in your local game developer scene. Raiding conferences is also a great way to meet people. I recommend having a box of business cards, an iPod touch with some videos of your game on it.
To a certain extent indie games represent a chance to find out about the next big thing before it hits mainstream so don’t be bashful, say hello. You never know who you’ll meet and meeting people in person turns cold emails into warmer ones.
Building a community
The best way to build a community is to facilitate communication. Create ways for you to talk to fans, for fans to talk to fans and also for fans to talk to you.
It’s easy to think that you might be overwhelmed by visitors to your site if you allow everyone to contact you directly, however this is a great problem to have and most Indies that are just starting out are not lucky enough to have this problem.
Start early. Starting from zero is tough, so get it out of the way now. The earlier you start the more seeds you can plant by launch.
Onsite PR implementation
Blog
The blog is your rock and your most effective tool for sharing your development process with the world. It is extremely versatile and all the original content you produce for your blog can be echoed out to your other pages.
Tips: Use pictures/videos, keep it short, encourage discussion, make blog posts often
Forums
The forums offer a place for visitors to share their thoughts. Unlike the blog which you have to power yourself, the forums are largely fan-run. They provide a great medium to share information and solutions to problems that may arise. They also allow for the sharing of creative ideas and mods.
Tips: Seed the forums with appropriate topics. Try not to crack down to hard on anyone or you may find yourself in the middle of a flame war.
Offsite PR Implementation
ModDB
ModDB is a very indie friendly collection of all video games and their mods. It’s a great place to add your game and keep people updated on its status. If the ModDB staff like your news update, they will promote it to the front page. Many people use it as a news site and keep track of gaming news. It is a surprisingly large site and the community is awesome. Some ModDB visitors have already started modding Overgrowth before it is even released.
Tips: Decorate your page to draw attention to it, update often with high quality content to attract people
YouTube
YouTube is the best place to host your videos. YouTube has HD now and an absurd number of useful features these days. The most valuable thing about YouTube is that people can easily subscribe to your channel and YouTube will funnel more viewers onto your pages by cross-pollinating your video with other related videos.
Tips: Add a link to your YouTube channel in your videos so people can subscribe to you
Facebook
A Facebook page gives you a secondary location to host your blog posts, pictures and HD videos. Facebook is the biggest social network and is designed to be as viral as possible. Whenever someone interacts with your page, the activity is splashed around to his or her friends. This helps people spread the word organically and can cause pretty substantial chain reactions.
However, a Facebook page needs nurturing.
Tips: Feed your blog onto your page’s notes, upload videos and photos individually to the wall so that they are more conspicuous
Twitter
Twitter seemed pretty dubious at first. However Twitter is unique from other pages because it offers a good medium for you to meet your peers in the industry in addition to accumulating fans. Twitter is at worst an alternative to your blog’s RSS feed, but at best, it’s a great way to keep people up to date more rapidly and lets you communicate with tons of other game developers.
Tips: Don’t just link to yourself like an RSS bot, use Twitter to communicate with people
Steam Group
Your Steam group offers a great way to introduce your game to the Steam community. Groups have amenities like screenshots and avatars that you can upload to add some flair to your page.
However, the main asset of Steam groups is the chat room that acts like a public IRC channel tied directly to your game. Because most people on Steam are active gamers looking to purchase games, this PR is extremely well targeted.
Tips: Idle in your Steam group’s chat room so you can meet visitors and answer their questions, offer visitors avatars, you can post important blog posts as announcements
Games Press
Games Press helps us auto feed our content onto certain sites. It has been great for getting our videos onto IGN, Gamespot, Game Trailers and G4. Even if you upload pictures of a pumpkin with the company logo carved in it getting set on fire with a propane torch, Games Press will get it streamed to a few sites.
Tips: just post it; you never know whose attention you’ll get
Game Trailers
Game Trailers is the biggest game video site out there. It’s a constant stream of videos that people watch like TV, so when they post your video, it will immediately get thousands of views.
Tips: Upload videos often, don’t get discouraged if people mistake your early work for the final product, they’ll catch on eventually as they see more videos.
Conclusion
What’s more interesting: a finished asset or an entire time-lapse showing you everything from the initial strokes to the final product? If you can see the appeal of a time-lapse, you should also be able to see the appeal of open development.
There is often a PR quiet period for a game between when it is announced and when it is ready for preview. It makes sense that news sites probably can’t entertain their readers with your latest updates. However, such updates are interesting news to your community, so don’t sit on your hands, and keep showing what you’ve got.
Finally remember to stay agile. The gaming industry is already moving quiet steadily and web based PR tools seem to be moving faster than that. As a small agile company you’ll have the chance to be a first adopter on the next big thing
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02 Oct 2009MonsTECA character: "Monster-Hunter"
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24 Feb 2009Of noobs and leets and crossing over…
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Alison’s Blog.
Being the noob amongst the leet at Onteca has its pros(everyone assumes you know nothing about their stuff)and its cons (normally because you erm don’t).Working with Onteca this year, attending Crossover Kids and working on an MMO created by young people, has been great. Challenging what I know as a writer and pushing me to think about what I need to. This blog is about ‘Crossover.’
So, ‘Crossover’ is:
‘…an extraordinary series of ‘innovation labs’ for creative professionals from a diverse range of backgrounds: game developers, tv and film producers, web designers, animators, theatre practitioners and others. Each Crossover lab is an immersive, five day incubator fostering new collaborations and original ideas for cross platform media content and services.’Jon and Max put me forward for: Crossover Kids (Dec 1 – 5).‘Crossover Kids’ said it would:
explore the future of children’s media and develop original ideas for cross-platform projects. Based on the knowledge that:
‘Children have always loved TV, but the days when passive viewing was their only option are well and truly over. They’re media literate and demanding more sophisticated, interactive content which is fragmenting the market. So what does this mean for content creators? A decline in traditional TV commissioning and falling budgets? Or a framework for innovation and collaboration?’
I wasn’t sure on the idea of being incubated with a load of content creators. But, on the promise of a paid trip down south,(Thank you North West Vision and Media) a hotel spa and a country walk, I bought myself a nice new networking cardigan, packed my bestest walking boots and swimming cossie and set off to deepest, smartest Sussex to find:
non-stop work and no time for a sauna, or even a stroll around the grounds. But it was jolly good work, planning, pitching and thinking a lot about how multi platforms can be used with a young audience. I spent time thinking about how creative ideas can be best delivered to an audience of children who probably don’t even think about the word ‘virtual’ because to them it just is.‘Crossover Kids’ comes highly recommended. Over the five days I worked on ideas involving Bluetooth mapping, MMO worlds and erm robot alien ponies. Obviously it was the alien ponies idea that I chose to develop. (See Recon Ponies Blog to follow.) It was constantly relentless, equally rewarding and hugely funny. Mentors were excellent and networking opportunities allowed for me to make some good contacts with lovely folk, specifically:
Childs Eye
Mustard Corporation
Unexpected Media
Red Bedlam
Tuna Technologies
Grierson Awards
Wak Studio
Poddington Peas
Milky Tea
and Capsule films
Friendship and creative seeds were planted in December and as we turn into spring I’m pleased to say they are growing.
Following the Crossover week, I also attended the first Crossover Kids pitching event, which was held at the Princess Anne Theatre, BAFTA, London on Thursday 11 December. We saw a couple of new CBeebies ideas including a great news programme aimed at 4 year olds ‘What’s your news?’ I pitched along -side virtual world creator Kerry Fraser Robinson(Red Bedlam), producer Emma Hindley (Grierson Awards) and animator Sara Quick (Tuna Technology) our multi platform animated cartoon/ website/robot: ‘Recon Ponies’. We’re still looking at developing this idea. Interest and funding most welcome. We thinks it’s got legs (and a nosebag.)
Crossover enabled me to extend the thinking that I had already been doing on my work with Onteca, specifically working story narrative in MMO and developing cross platform ideas. I am still very much a noob but with leet aspirations.
