Busiest Week Ever

March is a super busy month for game developers on the East Coast.  There is no end to the parties, events, and talks being held.  The week before gets busy because there is a captive audience.  Game developers from all over the eastern sea board, and some from CA (Such as the creators of PAX themselves) meet, greet, and hang out before during and after PAX East.

How the new Xbox is like the old Steam.

The next Xbox is starting to get teased by Microsoft. The new Xbox will require an ‘always on’ connection to the internet. This will be used with some form of DRM to prevent used games from functioning. Business Insider has the basics. More about what that means below the jump.

Great board games.

TempleCon was amazing!  On the ride back home from Warwick to Boston all we could talk about was going back next year.  Considering that this conversation took place immediately after a 6 hour game of Arkham Horror, that's high praise indeed.  If you live in the New England area, definitely attempt to make it next year.

We spent the majority of our time in the Board Game room.  Played Carcassonne, Small World, Lords of Waterdeep and Arkham Horror.  Lords of Waterdeep is an amazing game.  I loved it, and reviewed it.  It is based on a D&D game world, but that does not get in the way of a great European Resource style board game.  Even folks who know nothing about D&D (such as my wife) love the game.  But then she's a sucker for a good resource game mechanic.

The Pro's and Con's of resource game design on The Game Design Round Table Episode 2.

Pretotyping Review

Paper Prototyping, or pretotyping, has been a valuable tool through the year, as well as developing into a bit of a skill.  There is still lots to learn, but we're putting that skill to work at Dormouse Games.  Here are some blog posts about the philosophy of paper prototyping, the use of wire framing as a prototype, and finally some practical tips learned while prototyping in public.

As an amateur game developer you should be spending at least some time developing a game on paper before developing anything digitally.  In the long run it saves time by identifying areas of a game which need improvement, don't work, or have to be cut.  Most folks prototype with Unity, Game Salad, or other game development platforms.  What are the benefits of going digital for prototyping?

90% complete is done.

It's really tempting, when making games as a hobby, to think that you can lavish time and attention on a design document, or the 'perfect coding' or the perfect art.  But that idea is a trap.  Anyone who has had an investor or built an operating budget for a company knows that even the smallest indie developer needs to be producing something.  Revenue has to come in.  If it doesn't you can't pay for food, desks, or development of your ideas.

Guy Kawasaki's book "Rules for Revolutionaries" was required reading at BU, and definitely worth the time to read (it's short).  Even if you have no great love of Apple Computers you can find advice to help you get your project done.  An incomplete project is simply a pile of ideas.  You cannot pay rent with ideas.  This book can help you turn ideas into revenue faster (assuming you have a well thought out idea to begin with).

The two rules that have stuck with me the longest, which have direct impact on game development "Don't worry, be crappy" And "Churn, Baby, Churn".  If you want to find out what that means, definitely pick up the book.  If your company is just barely getting by, it might be time to rethink your devotion to 'perfection' and try these two rules.

Some people might think means you are 'just in it for the money', but those people have never had employees wages to pay.  Nor understand the heavy responsibility of taking investment to make a company.  Any company, every company, runs 'for the money'. Every indie developer wants to get money, but rarely because of greed.  They don't have a choice, they have employees to pay.  But that doesn't mean they have to sacrifice passion.  Quite the opposite, it requires passionate Revolution.

Why are game ideas worthless?

Well, it's been two years since starting this blog.  Today 51 of you wonderful folks have subscribed to, read, and liked my posts.  I really appreciate it.  Thank you.  A recent twitter conversation reminded me of an old blog post, which is still relevant today.  "Until you launch something, the time you spend is meaningless" was controversial at a time when this blog had few readers, let's dust it off and see if it still is.