Community

Many amateur game designer think that you have to hunker down and make a game by keeping it totally under wraps.  After all; game designer will steal your idea, right? There is no possible way that you can make this work.  You have to be a Mensa level coder/artist combo for this to happen.  Even so it's going to take a lot of work and luck (good decision making).

The rest of us mere mortals are going to need a team of people that can help fill in experience that you don't have.  Personally I am not a coder.  Which is most likely the most important thing I need to fix.  In the mean time I need to create a team enviroment where coding is taken care of by someone else.  For that to happen, you have to reach out to someone about game design.

Cave Johnson says, from the back of my mind: "Can't make a company in a vacuum. 'Cause there's no air in a vacuum and you'd die."  Been watching a the Portal 2 Blog's lately.

Cave is right.  You need help. Start talking about games.  You don't need to directly and baldly state what you want to do.  Just start talking with people.  The Zorts Project never would have started if I had not started talking with people about games.

You also don't necessarily need to start talking to people about a game.  You could start talking to people who work in area's that a game is based on.

"Inbound Marketing" by Brian Halligan, Dharmesh Shah

"Inbound Marketing: Get Found using Google, Social Media, and Blogs"
by Brian Halligan, Dharmesh Shah

This book is really useful if you know nothing about marketing, and most likely useful if you know a lot about traditional marketing.  Despite a cohort of class mates which work for Boston Marketing Firms, I know nothing about Marketing. As such this was a very informative read for me.  This book has great advice about how to get the word out about the work that you are doing.  Tons of great information about creating content, using the content to get found and ranked, and then converting visitors of that content into users/buyers.

The book talks about getting the basics set up; analytic, and analysis tools.  It talks about the mechanics and infrastructure required to have an effective blog.  Additionally it speaks to the timing of when you would want to start blogging about a product or service.  Combine the information in Inbound Marketing with the suggestions found on thetrafficblogger.com and you will quickly build a great community around your game.

One critical tool recommend in the book, that I really want to remember, is blog.grader.com.  Sure they grade the blog and measure your SEO... which is not that important to a new blogger.  But more importantly for new bloggers they offer a list of tools that should be on each website.  As a side note check out the rest of Hubspot's tools and services as well.  They have some neat information there about blogging and entrepreneurship.

Even if you think you know about getting your message out there, reading Inbound Marketing will make you realize ways to leverage that communication a little better.  It will fill in the reasons why taking steps to communicate through multiple channels simultaneously makes sense.  And the book also provides quick recaps which basically function as checklists.  These are helpful to make sure that you have not missed a critical step.

This book did not teach everything about marketing and blogging.  It did teach me the kinds of things that I needed to look at.  It showed me the areas that needed more practice.  "Inbound Marketing" acted as a jumping off point for a whole lot more.

What's up?

Hey there,

I am really swamped right now.  The final push is on for graduation.  I have a big paper due, a team website, and a senior project.  That means not a lot of time to spend writing blog articles or working on the Zorts project.  Although the Portal 2 ARG has caught my attention.  Time to grab some dinner before my Senior Project class.  The rough draft is due tonight.  Whee!

Ideas

All gamers have a good idea for a game.  But most gamers don't realize that it takes a lot more than a single good idea to build a game.  It takes hundreds of good ideas.  It takes good ideas about very specific portions of the game.  Layout, style, user interface, controls, mouse movement, icons, graphics, colors, storyline, game mechanics, the list goes on and on.

Bamboo Cyberdream posted an excellent write up of why it sucks for Game designers to listen to amateurs (like me) talk about game ideas.  They suggested an interesting twist by Derek Sivers about ideas which is dead on.  Honestly it's more fun to talk to game designers about their ideas...  but maybe I'm just nuts like that.  Or maybe it makes Boston Indies meetings more fun to talk to people who actually know what they are doing.

There seems to be this interesting moat between game developers and gamers with ideas.  This mote is made from the idea that 'game designers are going to steal my idea'.  It's amazing how amateur game design and litigiousness go hand and hand sometime.  I have friends (not coworkers, personal friends) who want NDA's signed for listening to ideas about a game they haven't even started yet.  It never occurred to me before, but maybe there is a reason why this myth about designers stealing ideas exists.

Maybe this rumor helps prevent people from proffering their gaming ideas at every turn.  It prevents the kinds of conversations that sjml is talking about.  Maybe that it is a good thing that gamers think that game designers are going to steal their ideas because it keeps them from talking about them.

When you boil down all the aspects of what makes a gamer move from being a player of games to a designer of games it really seems like each person needs the ability to produce.  Passion is a wash, because gamers are all passionate about gaming.  Some kind of knowledge or experience that gives them an edge in 'making it happen' becomes critical to making the leap between gamer and game designer.

It seems like learning that piece is what this year is all about for me.  Learning it by just jumping in and making mistakes.   My chosen area of knowledge is the one that few gamers go for; Business, Finance, and Project Management.  For example, my project really has no feedback mechanisms built into it.  That really needs to be fixed.

More Pax East wrap up!

Here is a great Pax East Recap/Overview by BostonIndies.  The main article itself is great, and includes links which are on my Pax Notes, but also has a ton of linked material to dig through.  Which I plan on doing at some point in the near future.  Time to add BostonIndies to my Rss feed!

Zorts

What is Zorts?  I'm glad you asked.

Zorts is a project, that someday will result in a computer game.  Some gamers would wonder why I don't call it a computer game right now.  That is an often overlooked distinction and important because it's not a computer game until someone can actually play it.  Until then it's a glorified pile of papers, and a dedicated group of people who from some unknown reason are doing what I say.  Maybe I'm really persuasive.  Or it may have something to do with the fact that they all wanted to do something similar anyway...

Some gamers would immediately try and call what I'm doing a 'company'.  It is a company in the old English sense of the word, but it is doubtful that anyone shares my interest in the most outdated definition possible.  It is equally important to realize that it is not a business venture.  We have taken great pains, while forming this team that there is no expectation of employment or monetary compensation.  If we make a terrible game, we can't really expect anyone to pay for it.

As a business student it is my goal to return some value from the game if at all possible.  That may not include money.  We may give the game away.  Internally we refer to it as a 'resume piece'.  We are making a game to show that we can make a game.  The most likely result is that we make something that we can bring to companies and present as a reason to hire us.  A demonstration that we not only can we have ideas, and build a project around them, but actually produce something.

Scott MacMillian is keen on pointing out that not everyone has to try and build a company to make a computer game.  Starting a company is a loosing proposition.  You start out with some number of dollars and watch as that number decreases steadily.  Then you come to a point where you have to ask for the people who gave you money to give you more.  Business Case studies are filled with examples of this.  The one that comes to mind readily is E-Ink.  That company almost never happened.  Now they are in every ebook reader made (except the color ones).  Most companies fail.  Its important to remember that.

"So where do you see yourself in 5 years?"  I see myself pursuing a graduate degree at BU (Or Sloan, or Harvard), with the learning and experience from a couple of failed computer games, or failed companies under my belt.  Zorts is my first learning experience.  Expect if to fail.  Expect me to succeed.

Pax East 2011

The days leading up to Pax and the convention itself were a turning point in my life and thinking.  It is really odd to look back now and realize that I never though about working at a game company before.  Having been a passionate gamer all my life, having an interest in business and finance...  Why did it take a somewhat random trip to Pax to wake me up?

The Zorts Project was already underway when the decision was made to attend Pax.  The goal of the convention quickly became about networking.  Selling the event to my wife really involved sell the idea of networking to get a job.  The vague idea was that I should also know some people in the game industry.  Maybe I could meet some at Pax.

When preparing for an industry trade show what is the first thing that you need?  Business Cards.  Although there was no way of knowing what to put on the cards before attending the convention, it seemed best to go with 'game designer'...  It's surprising how many times at the convention it was mentioned that 'game designer' is the wrong thing to put on your business cards...  But I had to go there to learn that.  Better to put yourself out there and make mistakes, then learn from them.  It's never a good idea to make a verbal statement, much better to demonstrate something.  So my business cards are a game.  Everyone who saw them thought they were great.  I owe a big Thank you to Tammy of Rubicat design for doing the graphics and getting a printer.

Actually attending Pax was way more amazing than I expected.  It was like being in reverse high school.  There were a couple sports or racing related games, but they were in the minority.  Instead of all football, baseball, soccer, it was all knights, weird aliens, or robots.  Oh so many robots.

My excuse for going was to work on getting a job.  So the business development panels were my primary targets.  The vague feeling of wanting to create a company has always been hidden within me...  But the industry that would make the best fit was never clear.  With so many various interests nothing ever seemed like a great fit.  But the panels about creating a game, or creating a game company were really truly inspiring.  I even walked past Robert Khoo.  I really should have shaken his hand.  I was too nervous.

The networking goal of the weekend was completed in spades.  I met Scott MacMillan who lead me to Boston Indies.  Gaining the knowledge of that community was probably the most important thing to happen.  Which may also inform the previous point about going.  Getting a job only happens when you can network.

Resources

Just found gamedevmap which displays a list of game developers by location.  This looks really handy if you are trying to find a job somewhere...

Hmmm.  Where am I going to work after graduation?

Gaming Chops

Back during the time when parents were still afraid to let their kids sit at a table and exercise their imagination role playing games became very important to me. This would be Jr High, somewhere around 1992, playing Dungeons and Dragons.  DM'ing a good game and the creativity it required was a real passion for me and I was considered the best DM of the group of friends that I played with. Through Jr High, High School, and college I was the go to guy for world building and storytelling in my little troupe of outcast gamers filling my and their worlds with nuanced detail and character.

Hello World!

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        printf("hello, world");
 }

My intention for this blog is to chronicle my path in learning about creating computer games.  Teaching something is the best way to learn how to do it.  Writing down what I'm learning is good for you and good for me.  The blog will start off with a recap of my gaming life, and explanation of what got me to this point.  Then will morph into current events.

If you have any questions please feel free to email, comment, post, etc.  It's my goal to provide you with useful information and the best way to do that is to get feedback about where you are and what you are up to.  Also if you have more experience in game creation please participate.  Maybe you can help me avoid some mistakes.  So welcome, let's all learn to make games together.