Self-Publishing
Posted on | November 28, 2009 | 2 Comments
I’ve just self-published my very first books - The Game Developers’ Sketchbooks - via Lulu. Here’s the story of how and why I did it.
Breaking News: People Are Going To Stop Buying Games
Posted on | October 4, 2009 | No Comments
The internet has been alight with stories heralding the imminent death of the newspaper industry. Just this week the London Evening Standard has decided to become a free offering. After 180 years of being sold to Londoner’s on their way home from work, the only way they can see a future for themselves is to give their product away for free.
So why does this interest me, a game developer? Well I think the signs are that we might well be exiting the last generation of customers that are willing to pay, en masse, for their media content, whether that is newspapers, music, films, or videogames. Soon we won’t be able to sell videogames.
Silicon Valley Diary #6 - Pixar
Posted on | April 20, 2009 | No Comments
With three frantic days of meeting and visits nearing an end, and some of the group feeling the pace, I was still in a buoyant mood. Our next visit had, at one point, been cancelled. When we heard the news I was gutted. Fortunately, one of Cross Creative’s previous visiting presenters, Dan from the fantastic Six to Start, had managed to pull a few strings on our behalf and had sealed the deal (thanks). This was it - we were going to see Pixar!
As the minibus rolled up to the gateway of the complex, pilgrims to this digital Mecca were taking snapshots of the public face of our hosts - the iron lettered Pixar logo. Those five letters were the boundary between the fanboy tourists (which I would normally have been very happy to be one of) and the very lucky buggers like us that were going to be allowed to enter…
Silicon Valley Diary #5
Posted on | April 19, 2009 | No Comments
Cross Creative’s tour of Silicon Valley was beginning its third and final day. We’d already seen some stellar companies, and the invites that Carole (from TRC) and Will (from UKTI) had secured for today were going to continue that trend.
Our first visit of the day was back over in Palo Alto, with the current daddy of social networks, Facebook. Read more
Silicon Valley Diary #4
Posted on | April 10, 2009 | No Comments
Just to set the scene - I am a big fan of Star Wars. I was born just at the right time to get caught up in the whirlwind of the first film, and became an instant addict.
Today we were going to meet with some of Lucas’ key staff… Read more
Silicon Valley Diary #3
Posted on | April 9, 2009 | No Comments
The early night had done the trick; my batteries were recharged and a quick trip to the nearby Starbucks for a burst of caffeine before we boarded the minibus was the ideal setup for another day of meetings.
We had an earlier than usual start to the day so that we could squeeze in a hastily rearranged meeting over in Palo Alto.
Read more
Silicon Valley Diary #2
Posted on | April 6, 2009 | No Comments
Given the previous day’s travel and excesses, I woke with a spring in my step - no doubt propped up at the excitement of our first day of appointments, including a date with one of my ‘must-see’ companies - IDEO.
After months of anticipation we were finally going to meet with some of Silicon Valley’s finest companies.
Silicon Valley Diary #1
Posted on | March 25, 2009 | No Comments
To say that I was excited about the prospect of meeting with some of the world’s most celebrated digital companies would be a massive understatement. As an attendee of the Cross Creative programme, I’m given the chance to meet lots of exciting companies and individuals. And this penultimate session was the jewel in the crown – a tour of Silicon Valley and some of its finest companies.
Now that I’ve completed all of the meetings I’m hoping to share the experience – so, here goes…
Why Games Are Like Sledges
Posted on | February 15, 2009 | No Comments
I’ve played games for over 30 years now and developed them for over 13, and yet there are times when I still struggle to explain parts of the games industry to non-developers. While flicking through some old pages in my OneNote notebook I spotted a set of notes that were going to form a presentation to a class of 14-year olds. One unanswered question I’d asked myself read, “How do you get kids to look at non-mainstream games??”
I often find myself resorting to analogies, and re-reading my notes, with the last of the snow quickly melting away outside, I realised what I had been trying to say back in summer, it was, “Videogames are like sledges.”.
Let me explain. Read more
4iP Failure #479
Posted on | January 30, 2009 | No Comments
What should you do when one of your ideas gets rejected by 4iP?
You could ‘tut‘ loudly, you could release the inner teenager and moan about the submission panel’s “lack of understanding/vision/taste“, or… you could try and do something positive about it…
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