Bill H.R. 287 Video Game Rating Enforcement Act Update

After having reached out to some contacts in D.C., some new information is in.  H.R. 287 is basically a non starter in their trusted opinion.  A Democrat proposed the bill in a Republican controlled body.  The Republicans aren't going to let Democratic proposed legislation move forward, and as of writing they have not.  The Bill has been "Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce".

My contact has some alerts set up and will notify me if anything changes...  All that sound super formal, but it's really little more than a 'google alert', but from gallerywatch.com.

Bill H.R. 287 Video Game Rating Enforcement Act

Representative Jim Matheson of Utah introduced a bill on 1/15/2013 which would require ESRB ratings on games.  Some folks feel this would put an undo burden on indie game developers.  There would be a $5000 fine for violations, and I know that would sink Dormouse Games at the time of writing this.

However, from my reading of it the bill itself doesn't mention anything about games online.  Now I am not a professional lobbyist, but this seems relatively simple.  It says

"Conduct Prohibited.--It shall be unlawful for any person to

ship or otherwise distribute in interstate commerce, or to sell or 
rent, a video game that does not contain a rating label, in a clear and 
conspicuous location on the outside packaging of the video game, 
containing an age-based content rating determined by the Entertainment 
Software Ratings Board."

That appears to effect Dormouse Games very little.  We have no intention whatsoever to issue a game with packaging, to a retail location.  So this would hurt established game companies more then indies.  Assuming Indie game development companies don't want to put games in packages.  Then again larger companies could simply move to digital distribution.  They could also enforce the law completely differently then worded here.  There could be some translation issues between Legislative and Judicial wording.

I have asked some advice of some friends down in Washington.  They aren't directly involved with this bill, but have more experience reading bills.  Recap of their response here.  What do you think about my interpretation of the wording of the bill?  Am I not understanding the legal ramifications of the wording?  Are you worried about this?

5 paper prototyping tips from Boston Indies Demo Night

Eric and I went to our first Boston Indies Demo night as Dormouse Games to do some paper prototyping.  We learned a few things about how to do a paper prototype and why it’s a valuable process to go through.  We were not the only guys there, Legend of the Cipher a CCG that teaches you how to rap, had made some cards and were play testing.  Good stuff!

New Office

Today Dormouse Games moves into Intrepid Labs.  We have an office!  Intrepid Labs is a fantastic co-working space which houses some of our closest friends and mentors in the game design world.  The Tap Lab has been there for a while, and suggested we look into getting a desk there.  Owlchemy Labs moved in recently.  Some ex Zynga Boston folks (who I haven't met yet) are there.  And a few other companies are starting soon as well.

Blog on Blog.

Is white text on black lettering a little too harsh?  As I was reading an article on another game designers blogger, who happened to use the same template, I noticed reading white text on a black background was a little too harsh.

I am not actively trying to burn the retinas of my readers.  I'm assuming that most of you are reading through an RSS feed anyway.  But I turned the text color down, and increased the font size.  If you have opinions on how to make things more legible, please feel free to comment.

Also blog posts have been a little spares lately...  I've co founded a game design company.  Check out the facebook page.  I really do intend to keep this blog running, and keep writing articles.  Time is simply not on my side at the moment.

Any requests for topics?

No console? No problem!

Having not owned a console since Super Nintendo, but feeling a certain lack of gaming exposure, the near future is looking pretty bright.  Ouya had a super successful 8 million dollar kickstarter.  Gamestick is looking pretty awesome, and passed it's goal in 6 out of 30 days.  Nvidia has created the Shield...  A hand held console thing...  And finally Valve has released information about the Steambox called Piston at CES.

Price points are going to be a big deal.  The super portable Gamestick will retail for $79.  Add $15 shipping on the kickstarter to get it in April 2013 on launch.  Ouya is a $99 dollar console that promises 'free to play' as the basic purchasing mechanic of every game.  The Shield should be priced somewhere between $100 and Pistons $999.  Piston will be more like a PC meant to attach to your TV, rather then a bargain device.

By the time the Piston becomes available the desktop PC where I play all my steam games will be just about ready to be replaced.  $1000 is a terrible price point for a console...  But a great price point for a replacement of my gaming PC.  Having missed the Ouya kickstarter, the Gamestick is awfully tempting.  Super portable and cheap, even if it's games kinda suck the form factor and portability is tempting.  Although I don't feel the need to pay $90 now, when I could buy it for $79 later, which means their kickstart campaign isn't efficient.

With a flood of new consoles in 2013, will you be buying anything?  With Windows increasingly becoming a game tyrant, will Linux be coming to your rescue?   2013 might be the year of the console...  Therefore is 2014 the year of the console game?  Start coding folks!

Investopedia loves gamers.

As a lot of you know as well as creating an app, and cofounding a game development company, I’m also a financial services guy.  Call volume to 529 plans isn't steady, so occasionally I get to spend some time learning about finance, instead of just taking calls.  Today for example I found this article on Investopedia.  

I love this article.  The author is clearly a gamer or someone that loves one.  The article tackles the benefits of many different kinds of games with care and rational thought. He mentions many games by name from Chess to Magic: the Gathering as well as Dungeons and Dragons and points out the positive cognitive effects of each.

It makes me happy to know there are more financial services gamers out there.

Firelfy MMO?

As a huge fan of the masterful story-telling and world-creating of Firefly, I'm not sure how I feel about an MMO.  Fox seems to be down with it.  But what of Whedon?  The key word is verisimilitude.  If the MMO can do a good job, it just might work.

So many great things happening all at once...

Dormouse Games has officially filed for LLC status.  We're a real company!  The twitter account is more interesting then the website right now.  I'm running the twitter, Eric's running the website so there is a bit of light hearted satisfaction there.  I made the logo, can you tell!?

I mentioned an app idea in previous blog posts.  The prototyping has begun!  It will be completed before the end of January, and I have to decide whether to put it up freely on the App store, or gather feedback from a community of users to refine it.

This is going to be an amazing week.

Cortex Command

This is a crazy game.  It is not finished yet, and its been in development for quite a long time.  But it is weird, and fun, and has a ton of potential.  At first it looked like a Terraria knockoff...  But it is so much deeper and more interesting.  I really like the setting and the story ideas that explain the game setting.

There are two huge downsides about the game.  1.) It's an 'unpolished alpha'.  If you buy it now, you are not getting a polished product.  2.) There is some crazy drama, which I neither care about nor understand.  I paid full price almost instantly for the Alpha.