Archive for the 'Game Industry' Category

Top Indie Game Developer Blogs

Friday, March 10th, 2006

For the past year or so I’ve been organically growing my RSS feed collection with a focus towards what other indie game developers have to say. My collection has grown to a pretty good size including game industry veterans and stalwarts to first-time designers and rookies.
There is a lot to read, and many [...]

Jeff Vogel on the View From the Bottom

Saturday, March 4th, 2006

Spiderweb Software’s Jeff Vogel (Avernum, Geneforge) describes his
View From the Bottom of the game industry over on RPG Vault. Or what Joe Indie calls the “anti-Pavlina” view of game development.

What is the moral of this? The game industry is a highly competitive, scary place. It’s not hopeless, but it’s a tough road. And that’s [...]

A few good things…

Wednesday, January 11th, 2006

MacBook Pro!
Amazon just notified me that my copy of Civilization III – Complete is on the way!
Stubbs the Zombie Demo has been released
Call of Duty 2.0 for the Mac has been announced.

Tracking Game Hype

Friday, December 23rd, 2005

Robert Blum shares a few links he’s found useful in tracking the hype and success of computer games.

2005 OMG Cup – 36 Free Mac Games

Thursday, December 1st, 2005

The 2005 Original Mac Games Cup has now officially opened for public voting. The submission phase has closed and there are 36 entries.
36 Free Original Mac Games to download and play. All we ask is that you take the time to vote and rate the games you play.
Related Links:

OMG Downloads Page
OMG Voting Page

Update: It [...]

How To: Start Your Own Game Company

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005

Interesting article found via MicroISV.com: Hot To Create Your Own Game Company: Part 1
Equally interesting, linked to by the above article: Starting Your Own Game Company

Play it Safe vs Play it Risky

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2005

Thomas Warfield of “Pretty Good Solitaire” fame says that playing it safe is risky ala Seth Godin’s adivce in Purple Cow.
So many newcomers seem to believe that the key to success is to make a game just like some other successful game.
But the reason the original game was successful was probably because it was original. [...]

Game Developers’ Bill of Rights

Saturday, November 19th, 2005

The IGDA (International Game Developers Association) has posted a Game Developers’ Bill of Rights on their site.
Some interesting rights are listed. Though I agree with the thoughts behind them. I would think these are all contingent on the contract you sign with your publisher.
For example:

1. The right to full ownership of what [...]

Advertising in Games

Tuesday, November 8th, 2005

Wired has a write up on the subject.

On Monday, online game provider Shockwave.com will begin offering advertisers a way to insert ads within the games themselves. While it’s believed to be the first such invasion in web-based games, it’s only one of a growing number of venues advertisers are using to reach its shifting and [...]

How to Succeed as an Indie Game Developer

Tuesday, September 6th, 2005

Joe Indie has a bullet point list of what to do in order to succeed and survive as an indie game developer.
The points that jumped out at me, were the first two:

Run your business like an indie, not a retail publisher
Choose your projects like an indie, not a retail publisher.

It surprises me how many indie [...]