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.
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Category: Games, Misc, Personal, Tech

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.

Category: Misc, Personal, Random, Tech

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…

Category: Misc, Tech

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

Category: Design, Games, Opinion

4iP Failure #479

Posted on | January 30, 2009 | 2 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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Category: Random

You Don’t Need A Scent of Tuna to Work Here..

Posted on | January 29, 2009 | 2 Comments

but it helps…

Welcome to Tuna HQ. Here’s a snapshot of the team hard at work making the most awesome claymation game in the world ever.

Category: Dev, Games

Tweet, Think, and Be Merry

Posted on | January 27, 2009 | No Comments

Last week’s trip to Glasgow wasn’t just to check out the BBC Scotland building, I was actually there as part of the Cross Creative scheme. CC brings together people from different fields of the creative digital industries to share their opinions with each other, and with invited guests from other, related areas of the CDIs.

Category: Social Media, Tech

See BBC

Posted on | January 23, 2009 | 1 Comment

Yesterday I spent the day admiring the (almost) new HQ for BBC in Scotland.

From the outside, you could easily mistake the building for some kind of secret service headquarters. It is unashamedly boxlike in its presence, and whereas this might normally hint at some evil corporation attempt at maximising the number of cubicles and minions it can contain, it’s actually a neat device for allowing a magnificent interior.

Category: Misc, Personal

Cletus is Heading to San Francisco

Posted on | January 9, 2009 | No Comments

2009 has started very nicely for Tuna Technologies and TunaSnax. Our clay modelled run n gun game, Cletus Clay, has been nominated for the IGF Excellence in Visual Art award.

Needless to say, we’re all delighted with the news, and firms slaps on the back go out to all those working on it, especially Anthony Flack- Cletus is most defnitely his baby.

You can see all of this year’s IGF nominations here.

Category: Dev, Games, News

IHeartPeggle

Posted on | January 7, 2009 | No Comments

I’m a huge fan of PopCap’s Peggle, and so when the haters started posting on tunasnax.com, I had no option but to stand up for the world’s best ever ball bearing based game. Head over to tunasnax and read it for yourself.

Link