Interactive Design and Game Development

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How Double Fine Studio is changing the face of game funding

February 23, 2012 in Interactive Design and Game Development, News | Permalink

By Jeremy Kahn

You may have heard of the over night success of Double Fine’s Kickstarter program. In less then 8 hours their project met their goal of $400,000. Then in less than 24 hours they surpassed one million. This massive, homegrown success story has repercussions not just in the video game industry, but also in the entertainment industry as a whole.

For a long time now point and click adventures have been going the way of the dodo, only a few games popping up here and there that actually stand out. Today more attention is paid to bigger AAA titles, while games fitting in the point and click genre are labeled as niche. Many publishers won’t even take a chance on games of this type, seeing them as too much of a risk.

For a while now Tim Schafer, Double Fine Studios founder, has tried to pitch the idea of a new point and click game, but to no avail. Knowing that there were still fans willing to pay money for a well produced point and click game, as well as desiring to make another one himself, he turned to Kickstarter.

Fans of both point and click games and Tim Schafer, flocked to this new project idea. If the total amount could be reached, Tim Schafer would go on to create a point and click game for the fans through his studio Double Fine. The total need was reached in less then a day.

This is proof that gamers know what they want, and if given the opportunity they will do whatever they can to achieve their goal. For a long time now it’s been said, and proven, that big publishers don’t listen to their fans needs. Rather they make what they think will sell, which results in less original and creative games. Fans have proven, however, that there is still demand for point and click adventure games despite what publishers say.

In addition to please the fans, this project marks a great new opportunity for developers in general. By using the fans, they can appeal to their desires in order to create games that may not have originally been seen successful. Imagine Capcom rethinking their decision to cancel Megaman Legends 3 if they could garner enough fan support through something like Kickstarter. Other games plagued with funding problems could do the same.

Here’s where we have to be careful though. Obviously the majority of the money for this project came from people both desiring a new point and click adventure game and trusting Tim Schafer to make it. Honestly, who wouldn’t trust him, seeing as he helped create such gems as “Day of the Tentacle” and “Grim Fandango.” Then there’s Ron Gilbert who’ll also be working on the project. He’s famous for helping revolutionize the point and click genre with games such as the famous Monkey Island series.

These two have proven to be masters in the genre. If other developers were to follow this example then they would most likely need some big names behind their project. If Yu Suzuki was attached, a Kickstarter campaign for “Shenmue 3” could be very successful.

With big names and popular franchises, more than enough fans would come to support the game being made. If you don’t have a big name or a beloved franchise, or even enough fans of the game’s genre you want to make, you could be out of luck before you start. It all comes down to star appeal. How much we trust the person handling the project, and the actual demand for such a project.

If done successfully developers can be free from their creative bonds, allowing them much more freedom. When creating a game for a publisher there’s not much wriggle room in how the game can be made. Not to mention the fact that publishers get the majority of the profit a game makes. With this new way of funding, developers can bypass all this hassle, literally cutting the developers out of the loop.

Of course publishers could very well look for some way into the action. Games that are owned by the studio and not a specific developer could be used to take advantage of the fans. They could literally hold a game hostage until they feel they have enough money to release it. The amount they ask could in fact be way more than needed. If this kind of funding really takes off, these are the kinds of problems that the industry is going to have to face.

There are a lot of eyes watching how Double Fine’s project turns out. For better or for worse, the result could be a major turning point in how games are made.

 

Educate (and get educated) with AltDevConf

October 21, 2011 in Interactive Design and Game Development, Uncategorized | Permalink

By Carlos Serrano

#AltDevBlogADay, a community of video game developers that came together to write about their experiences in the industry, will soon be host to a new kind of conference. AltDevConf, which will begin February 12th of next year and be presented completely online. Anyone can view any of the lectures that will be available. Heather Decker-Davis (M.F.A., interactive design and game development, 2012) calls it a “very different sort of conference, the likes of which I’m not sure we’ve ever seen before.”

For Heather Decker-Davis, this conference is particularly important. Not only is she a contributing writer to #AltDevBlogADay, she is slated to be the co-chair for the Education track of the conference. “I originally became aware of #AltDevBlogADay on Twitter.” She says, “I was following Mike Acton and saw some of the initial announcements when he launched the site.”

Soon after seeing those announcements, Ms. Decker-Davies was chosen for a scholarship by the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). As an IGDA Scholar, she was taken to the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3). There she met Mike Acton, who encouraged her to contribute to the blog. Now she’s not only a contributor, but also a major player in the organization of the conference.

The Education track of the conference is a recent addition. There’s still time for anyone interested to submit a lecture proposal. Information on what Ms. Decker-Davis and fellow co-chair Luke Dicken are looking for in a proposal can be found here. The deadline is currently October 23rd, no word yet on whether it will be extended for the new Education track.

For those wondering if submissions are restricted to those with experience in the industry, never fear. According to Ms. Decker-Davies, “the content of the proposal and quality of the speaker is what really matters. If you have your hands in teaching or developing content for game development education and you have something insightful to share, we’re listening!”

Graduation and Portfolios

August 1, 2011 in Careers, Interactive Design and Game Development | 3 comments

Graduation and Portfolios

The moment arrived where I officially graduated from SCAD. I am the proud recipient of a B.A. in Game Development. I stood in front of my computer and moved that imaginary tassel as President Paula Wallace confirmed the graduation for students in Savannah, and yes I did cry, something I didn’t really do at the two past graduations from my high school and St. Petersburg College. My real confirmation came by email. In about seven weeks I’ll have the paper version of my degree!

Some of my peers already have jobs. I on the other hand am looking for a job. It’s a bit daunting, and I took about half a week where I pretty much just played The Sims 3. It’s so much easier to control the lives of characters on the computer. Is it productive? No, big NO, unless bill companies start accepting simoleons for my bills.

Before I seriously started looking at job opportunities I wanted to refresh my portfolio. I had one online before but I stopped using MobileMe, and you don’t have too much control or choices over the templates for iWeb unless you upgrade it each year. You want to keep your portfolio updated with your most recent and best work. New mantra: Quality over quantity. For now my digital portfolio located at www.dreamajeanieproductions.com is through Tumblr.

I had gone over other options, such as Blogger, WordPress, Krop.com or I could have also coded my site. However as a recent grad, money is a concern and I am trying to avoid other expenses and I want to have that portfolio available now. Krop.com has a free account but it’s limited unless you go pro. However I do like their simple Resume setup. I am still considering a Pro account with them since it is a clean layout and it’s connected to their Job search site too. Blogger recently had a site issue so I am kind of on the outs with them. WordPress is okay, but Tumblr just seemed new and fresh to me. Coding is still something to think about and I can work on that as a side project.
If you are still a student, SCAD has Student Pages available through the MySCAD portal you are allowed 175 megabytes of space.

I will also be redoing my other portfolio so that depending on the job I interview for I will have that ready too. It all depends on the type of work you are doing. If you have an iPad or really just a Laptop you could probably use that if you just had digital files to show.

I also refreshed my resume, resumes are critical. I remember when I was first starting off with my print design degree and I went for an interview for a possible internship. Instead the owner ended up giving my resume a makeover, lines were uneven. It was embarrassing, however it pointed out my error and I have become more conscious of keeping things neat and organized. There are quite a few examples of resumes online form the very basic and linear to the very creative.

If you have graduated, what have been some of your pursuits? Have you found a job yet, or are you still looking?

Still in classes? What are you doing now to prepare for after graduation?

Some sites to visit:

www.wordpress.org (it requires that you use a hosting site, some friends have recommended www.hostgator.com)

www.tumblr.com

www.krop.com

www.blogger.com

Games of Summer

June 22, 2011 in Interactive Design and Game Development | Permalink

By Dreama Jeantet

Summer is here, and among the many possibilities of your summer, one of them might be staying home and playing a few games and hopefully reacquainting yourself with the human race.

Aside from looking for work, and working with my group on a new entry for IGF. I hope to find some time to play a few games and steal myself from FarmVille (Still not sure how I got trapped in that game again).

My personal list is as follows.

5) Epic Mickey: I had bought this game a while back, even got the nifty paintbrush nunchuk (which should have had a green tip, since the nunchuk was for paint thinner). You have two options in the game, be the happy helpful restorer with paint, or destroy, destroy, destroy! with paint thinner. I tend to be the happy restorer trying to make friends with all of the unhappy lost cartoon characters.

4) Sims 3: Is anyone still playing this? I will admit that I do, although definitely not as much as when I was in the tenth grade, who knew that eight hours could fly by so quickly? At the end of this month the expansion pack “Generations” is coming out. My one favorite thing about this is memories! While others are still waiting for weather, I am just happy to have memories again! Now I can find out why my happy Sim family fell apart when I left them to get a glass of water.

3) Call of Duty: Black Ops: Well this will be a tough one since I have yet to purchase an Xbox… however if I had one, this would certainly be one of the games that I would check out.

2) Settlers of Catan: If you don’t know this board game, I highly suggest it for a future game night. In this game you are picking a settlement, obtaining and trading resources, and building roads in the goal of achieving ten Victory points. It might seem like a simple game, but once you mix in the other players and start trading, you get to experience the fun competition… and some players are very competitive.

1) Portal 2: While I still haven’t finished my game… (showdown at the end has me a bit nervous) I love the design of the game. There are a few bits that have an old factory which I think actually sold me on the game. While you won’t find me exploring any abandoned buildings in reality. I jump at the chance to explore fictional ones with nifty pre-recordings.

What are your plans for the summer, and if gaming is included, what games are you most looking forward to playing?

Alan Moore Hints at New Projects

June 22, 2011 in Entertainment, Interactive Design and Game Development | Permalink

by Jeremy Kahn

In the world of comic to movie, and movie to video game, and video game to comic, and comic to video game, and movie to comic adaptions, there are always things that can go wrong. As when people go about creating for theses mediums, they create specifically for these mediums. The end result is more times than not, hard to convert to another mediums was not meant for.

This is why adaptations don’t work a lot of times. It is why we get cheap cash-ins instead of well made and manufactured material. The people who make the item of course do what they can, they are not lazy, they work hard and do their best. The problem is what they have to work with, and the time frame they have to work in.

Remember when the Watchmen movie came out. The movie was shot almost much panel for panel. Problem was, the original comic wasn’t meant to be used as a story board. This is an example of how taking a medium from one area and converting it to a medium in another can turn out wrong. In addition, a video game was also released, Watchmen: The End is Nigh. This didn’t turn out so well either.

Alan Moore, writer of Watchmen and so much more, said at a Q&A event that his comic were written as comics. “The clue was in the word comic.” The problem is that the companies who own the right to the comics see things differently. He actually asked for his name to be removed from the credits as he’s against the idea of movies being turned into comics. Taking no money for himself, instead the money from the movie went to the artists.

Now this doesn’t mean he’s against this medium, or similar ones. Moore said that he is considering projects within a number of mediums. Nothing is confirmed though, but there could be “some surprising stuff happening in the next 12 months.”

Sims Medieval Review

April 15, 2011 in Interactive Design and Game Development | Permalink

By Dreama Jeantet
The Sims have gone Medieval… well at least in the newest game of the Sims franchise. The first thing I noticed about the game was that it separated itself from past start-ups. Instead of showing video from the Medieval town, you are presented with illustrations of Medieval life with green plum-bobs popping up here and there. I actually thought the quality was a bit off, like the plum-bobs were stamped. When it got to the main menu, I noticed that the plum-bob had a medieval metal pattern added to it with a worn look, and another button had a bit of liquefied look, which gave the idea of wizardry. The medieval music sets the tone and I do feel like I could be in a kingdom.
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