Gaming Industry: Developers moving on - but why?

          Cliff Bleszinski – Dude Huge; Cliffy B, if you will – has departed Epic Games. It's a sad time, when one of the great designers and innovators in the way we play, and view games, decides to move on. Though, after 20 years, you can't really blame a guy, either. Some of the best games I've played in recent years have come through Epic games, and under Cliff's eye – Unreal Tournament, and Gears of War, being fairly operative. He's left an indelible mark, that will undoubtedly shape the future of gaming, and gamers, everywhere.

          Then, I think of others who've moved on, recently – Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, founders of BioWare – again, nearly two decades. Is there something about the 20 year milestone? Shigeru Miyamoto – though not a true retirement – stepped down, and took a less 'direct' role late last year, and Walter Day, renowned for his game score-keeping, called it quits in 2010 (Ok, he's not technically a developer, but you get the gist). Eventually you start to wonder, is it just that these people, and others, are done, ready to move onto the next chapter in their life, or is it that the face of gaming has changed to much, from where it once was? Could it be that, instead of the innovation of technology, methods to tell stories, and producing new and inventive ways to immerse players, that the landscape has instead become to muddied by corporate expansionism, acquisitions, stagnant creation, and repetitive cycling? Or, maybe it's something to do with the increase in digital sales, over traditional retail, having a direct impact on how DRM and piracy concerns are managed in the age of the Internet.

          Late last year, and earlier this year, there was an issue, with major UK retail station, GAME, which being the largest of the market in Europe, lost favor among major developers in the wake of its falling stock, and plummeting revenue. Unfortunately, the only thing soaring for GAME, at the time, was its operating costs. Eventually they went into administration, and were purchased by OpCapita. What this is, is a telling story on the distribution model of games today, EA promised to go totally digital in the future – and then there's the fallout of used games market, something companies including EA have taken an interest in eliminating, likely with an increase in the digital distribution market, thereby capping the total flow of lost, "potential," revenue.

          With all that together, maybe it's not just a hanging it up, but a moving on, to greener pastures, for game designers like Cliffy B, and the beloved, "Doctors." Things are certainly different, and there's a lot more corporate influence than ever before, with the need for higher profit gains, faster output, and repetitive game features and clones. If anything, it's a time to stop and assess the situation – what can we do about it, and how can we keep the strong growing indie sector from coming under the clamp, too?

Gaming Industry Trade Associations: International Game Developers Association

           You know what's cool? Ice...but other than that? The IGDA – otherwise known as, the International Game Developer Association. For the Initiated, it represents a bastion against lack of imagination and creative stifling, against potential oppressive forces in the workplace, and as a center for developer minds and would-bes to come together to collaborate, and share. Of course, for the layman, its pretty much...well, it's pretty much just like the description above, actually.

           There's a lot going on, and while a lot of it is a behind the scenes sort of element, there exists worth material at the forefront, ranging from social connections, forums and advocacy's for quality of life, censorship rights, credit standards, and academic help, as well as Special Interest Groups, or SIGs, and the Foundation, which exists in the IGDA to promote charity and enrich game developers through educational and scientific endeavors (including scholarships). With that said, some of the particular programs of interest, are the SIG's along with the forums/event elements, The Foundation, and their Quality of Life advocacy, which we'll go over.

           Right off, the IGDA gives us access to a listing of all the major events, particularly the technically direct events covering game development, with professionals, around the world, yearly. The calendar, if you will, allows us to quickly gauge the different events, their time frames, what they're about, where they're held, and how to find out more – with direct links . It's a great way to find out about events you can attend. In addition, the Social media center is a great way to get yourself in on what's going on in the different chapters and arenas of the IGDA, and connect  with a wide array of professionals and amateurs from all around the globe. Lastly, the Special Interest Groups section and forums give those looking for something specific a place to share and connect, as well as a way to reach groups and organizations apart of IGDA that are more directly related to anyone's particular interest, or specialization, where you can request memberships and become associated with any hundreds of groups.

            Of course, there's the Foundation, the IGDA charity center, which sets up donations, events, and fundraisers, as well as scholastic achievement awards/scholarships for developers, and those looking to become the next big hit. In fact, Just this month, the first recipient of their newly founded Foundation/Full Sail University joint Scholarship  was awarded to a James burns who starts his Game Design program in November.

           Finally, and most profound to myself, and many, is their advocacy and stance on Quality of life assessments in the industry, as well as on "Crunch mode" – a term in the industry for excessive work load through overtime. In addition to their advocacy, they've a repository of knowledge, and some very well written articles, specifically housed on their site on Why Crunch-Mode is unsafe and inefficient, as well as the Quality of Life Committee's infamous "White Paper" catalogue and presentation resource. This resource, has an incredible amount of information regarding the effect of working conditions int he industry, from a passionate, as well as reasonable standpoint. It covers not only the turnover of personnel, but on the economic and ergonomic effects inherent the potential issues of working conditions across the gaming industry, as well as what that means for the individual developer and how we all can establish better solutions in the workplace, and out of it, to improve our overall well-being. One of the most important areas of the IGDA, in my humble opinion, and certainly an advocacy center to check out.

           So, with that all taken in, it's fair to say that, there's a lot to be had from the International Game Developer's Association. Since it's inception in 1995, this Non-Profit society has culminated itself with thousands of developers around the world, providing career advancement, creative proliferation, and improvement in the lives of game developers through-and-through. Ultimately, it's a great investment of your time and membership, as there's no barrier to entry against the wide array of disciplines in the industry. Thus, it's a great way to connect, socialize, and be recognized by members in your industry, and across disciplines.

Dreams of Inspiration: Remembering Randy Pausch & "The Last Lecture"

          There are people in the world, who not only inspire, but have the ability, to inspire others. In many instances, these people create a lasting wonder in those around them, reaching far, effecting those, even beyond. One of those people, is Randy Pausch, whom, through work ethic, desire, and the love of dreams, left an indefinite impression. His final speech, "The LastLecture", or, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", has been seen by millions, over fifteen million on Youtube alone. Ultimately, his speech helps us to identify elements in our life to achieve success, to realize our potential, and to improve ourselves, professionally – and more importantly – personally.

          Throughout his speech, Pausch, often engages the audience, by way of resonating with them through experiences and anecdotes that are personable, and relating. It's not just the story of a man, correlating events, but a relationship being made with those in the audience, and beyond, with fulfilling lessons, ready to help actualize our potential. From the onset, we're presented with a man whose both funny and witty, consistently making the best of any situation. From the onset, you're ready to engage with him and his oratory.

            Incredibly, his inspiring strength is noted at every stage of his speech, having overcome a wide range of obstacles and adversities, not the which of least being his terminal diagnosis with Cancer, noting, "...If I don't seem as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you." In addition to that, as if it weren't enough, we're welcomed to discussion on overcoming obstacles – which he notes as "brick walls" – through the stories of his triumphs and achievement of dreams are expressed, denoting these adversities that stood in his way, and the methods employed to surpass them, as they exist for a reason, being present, "...to show how badly we want something...they're there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough."

           One of his amazing events that transpired, which combine all of these aforementioned elements together, is his journey to becoming a Disney Imagineer - the amazing talents behind the incredible attractions at Disney Land, as well as Disney World. From his incredible path as a virtual reality 'buff', so-to-speak, he eventually was part of briefing the Secretary of Defense, at the time, on the state of virtual reality – which led to an "in", using Imagineer's materials on virtual reality, as a way to write the briefing, and the later Siggraph article. Ultimately, after his sabbatical at Disney, he became a consultant for Disney Imagineers, for the next ten years, thereafter. Another dream, completed, and another anecdote that drives us, the audience, to realizing the possibility of achieving our own. 

           We take in a lot of personal thoughts from Pausch, and it comes together as a culmination of a mans life, and its setbacks, victories, and ultimately, how that can embolden you, on your own journey. Ultimately, this speech has helped us to better understand Randy Pausch, by getting to know him, his views, his thoughts on the things he practices and preaches, concerning work, and education, and your passions. This is a man whose deeply into sharing, looking for the best in others and helping to bring it forward, and wanting to leave a legacy that empowers others to carry through with their own dreams and passions. That legacy includes, "Alice" - an incredible software, designed to promote computer programming to younger generations, with ease, while providing a fun environment - something used extensively across the United States, in many CS programs, more than 15%, and a wide array of K-12 schools, as of 2009. There's a lot to take away from this speech, doing the work to succeed, and being willing to do what's necessary to pass those "brick walls" in life are paramount, but most of all, as Randy Pausch states, "If you live your life the right way, the Karma will take care of itself – the dreams will come to you." Thanks to him, I reaffirmed my life direction, making a b-line for my own dreams and aspirations. Certainly, words to live by. Thank you. 

 

Kickstarter and Entertainment - New Possibilities

Kickstarter. Oh, glorious Kickstarter.

           Of the modern era, for gaming, and just about anything else, Kickstarter proposes a method of funding that was never truly integrated, or realized, until now. It's a place that allows developers and those that would be, a chance to create some promising technologies, products, services, and for me, some amazing games, where otherwise the ability to fund, and distribute might have been far less accessible in years past. Ultimately, while it still boils down to your ability to market yourself, and take the initiative, it's provided a platform to give you the chance to do so, to the masses you so despretely wish to secure, without the middleman – the publishing giants – giving you more freedom, to make these products, your way.

           From the get-go, Kickstarter is a place to provide potential backing from investors – who can be anyone – to get your product under development, and ultimately, launched. There's a great deal of amazing game projects under development, by way of Kickstarter, some of them earning amazing amounts of backing – Wasteland 2, Double Fine Adventure, Shadowrun Returns, or even the "Ouya" video game console.

           Some may wonder, "isn't this just a fluke?" or, "isn't the failure rate really high?" You'd be right, in some cases – after all, the failure rate is high, as recently stated in this article. However, in the same article less than 10% of money pledged in total on Kickstarter, has been pledged to products that have failed. And, with almost 4 out of 5 projects reaching their goals, if they make at least 20% of their total benchmark early on – that's telling sign that it's not the platform, but the method of your delivery. 

           Of course, that's not to say, making games and other projects, and using Kickstarter will somehow not be without fallacy. Afterall, it takes marketing your work, and giving something people want see, relative to your level of success of level of fame. I.e. Double Fine and the team behind Wasteland 2 succeeded so incredibly well, and so fast, due, in no small part to the level of fame attached to there teams. If you don't have that, there's got to be more to show, and more to market, to get backers.

           In a world where you can find distrubution, and financial backing at your finger tips, by way of the world-wide-web, it's important to remember, that the same skills you use to pitch ideas, and market yourself, and your projects/products, are the same you use in person as online. Anarticle at Gamasutra, went over similar pitfalls with developers, ranging from not having the press interested early on, not enough content to actually show, and lack of concept in promotional material and videos. With that in mind, having your 'ducks in a row', so-to-speak, can really lead to potential success, and it's this kind of chang ein the playing field of publishing and funding, that has publishign companies vying for space, and trying to accomodate the change in an ever growing field.

           Earlier today, Feargus Urquhart, CEO of Obsidian, made a comment on publishers desires in the face of the Kickstarter age:

                "We were actually contacted by some publishers over the last few months that wanted to use us to do a Kickstarter. I said to them "So, you want us to do a Kickstarter for, using our name, we then get the Kickstarter money to make the game, you then publish the game, but we then don't get to keep the brand we make and we only get a portion of the profits" They said, "Yes". "

           As you can see, there's a desire to to tap into that resource, at the expense of the development team(s) producing these projects. However, it also seems like it's possibly driving a wedge between these two factions. Many developers and designers come to places like Kickstarter, for a chance to have their product seen and heard, to the masses they're catering to, rather than on the whim of publishers, who have traditionally been the link to marketing products. In this new field, it's fair to say that publishers wanting to get a cut of this arena, will need to focus on Marketing, and potential retail distribution in excess of development costs covered by Kickstarter fundings. This way, developers can make the games they want, while giving some incentive from publishers, to get products into a wider market, without putting that commonly associated stress on development teams.           

           There's a reason people are moving away from the old model, and trying to control it, is only going to drive a deeper wedge. If publishers can't offer an incentive to developrs, there's no reason for them to let them on board the gravy-train, so-to-speak. Afterall, Markus Persson, of Minecraft fame, published, distributed, and marketed the game with his team, with his team, using whatever means at their disposal, by way of a personal network, rather than through any publishing venues. The game has sold over 9 million copies, worldwide.

           At the end of the day, Kickstarter, and various companies like it, are here to stay. The change in the landscape is clear, and there's nothing but signs of a continuing trend towards this method of marketing and funding for products, increasing the ever-present awareness of indie gaming, and other entrepreneurial persuits. If the game spotentially take longer, but have the kind of gaming aesthetic we, the consumer want to see, then that's something I, and millions of others, are clearly for, and there's never been a better time, than now.

What the iPhone 5 means for Gaming-on-the-Go

         
          Of all the tech news this year, nothing beats the announcement of the iPhone 5. As the next great contender for the modern era of casual gaming, it has the ability and power to become the next seat for a style of gaming that is anything but casual. Why? because sometimes, we're just, "Gamers-on-the-go", so to speak.

          A lot of people are going to be concerned with its implications for their mobile experience – how they talk, watch & record video, pictures, send data, check their email, stock, work and personal related content, on the go. However, that's of little importance in the world of gaming. Whether you're an Angry Birds, or Farmville kind of player, or an Infinity Blade master, it's fair to say, mobile genre has its appeal, where it is about the quality of the experience, rather than any other host of features available on that platform, affecting your purchase decision. 

          The first thing that is going to hit gamers, is the ability to have better precision, responsiveness, and timings when it comes to their ability to control a situation in their mobile games. It is rough-going to know you blocked, but nothing happened, or you crashed into that wall at 105MPH, because your screen touch control just couldn't feel that hair turn. Better precision means better controls, and that means a lot more investment for players across the board.

          In addition, you've got more 'finger space' as the screen has increased to almost 4 inches, or morespecifically, 176 pixels, giving us a nice HD format, at the standard 16:9 layout. A lot of games on the iPhone have virtual buttons, overlaid right on the screen. With that smaller space, you've got a portion of those controls taking up your screen space. Less cramped area is always a nicer feature, and so is the elimination of letter box.

          Even among these incredible revelations, there's still some amazing things going on that have an impact for gaming. In fact, three things: the change in LTE and wireless 4G, superior sound quality, and lastly, the A6 chip. Three reasons why these are amazing: The improved 4G networks LTE, allows a greater range of data to be ferried, faster, which could potentially lead to a kind of multi-player experience that you generally only see on console or PC. Systems like the Nintendo DS and PS Vita have this ability – generally directly with other handhelds in vicinity. However, imagine being able to play, with anyone, anywhere, across this network – as anyone knows, real multiplayer is the hot trend in gaming the last few years and it shows no sign of slowing progress. It's almost impossible to find games that don't have multi-player as a feature, so having this, is a great feature.

          Sound quality is important, as well. Music and video is much better when the quality of your sound is improved, yet the quality of your games become that much better, when your sound stage is increased – something the iPhone 5 promises with its 5 piece sound system, three microphones and noice-cancelling, as well as their "wideband audio," creating a purported larger frequency base, which improves the range of sound. Anything to better hear those zombies, or experience the deep narration of games like Bastion, or the all-sound masterpiece, Papa Sangre.

Finally, the A6 chip, from Apple, promises us double the processing power and graphical performance,and incredible energy efficiency – something any gamer and developer can get behind. Gaming can take a chunk out of your battery life, and when you've only got an average of 8 hours (just talking), using all that sound, video, and wide band, can really take it to you, especially in the long run of your battery's overall life.

          So, ultimately, we've got a product coming, giving us a lot of promises. We've heard them before, time and again, and it is hard to say whether or not things will pan out. One thing is for sure: everyone will be waiting to see, just what the future of gaming-on-the-go, really has in store, not just for the gamers, but for the potential innovative capabilities of designers in the future.