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LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
G A M E D E S I G N | C O D I N G | A R T | S O U N D | B U S I N E S S
OCTOBER 2011 | #121 | 4 / e7 / $13
WWW.DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
Be a
Clif Bleszinski explains
how games developers can
fnd fame in the 21st Century
person,
be a
inside the new fmod london games conference scotland focus popcap dublin
brand
01 DEV121 COVER_final 23/09/2011 16:35 Page 1
xx MCVxxx_v1_Layout 1 14/09/2011 12:12 Page 1
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 03
ALPHA
05 12 > dev news from around the globe
An in-depth interview with Cliffy B on life after Gears of War, a detailed guide to
next months London Games Conference, an analysis of Tiny Towers success, and a
catch up with the concept designer of Borderlands 2
14 17 > opinion and analysis
Nick Gibson ponders the motivations of the industry doom-mongers, David
Braben muses on the evolution of the controller, Tim Heaton considers the Agile
Manifesto, and Will Luton explores a post-free theme park
18 19 > the develop diary
A round-up of the key events on the industry calendar including MIGS and NEoN
BETA
24 27 > new payment models
An overview of the new trends, technologies and challenges defining the
evolution of in-game payment systems and other models of revenue generation
29 36 > region focus: scotland
An in-depth look at Scotlands thriving games industry, with input from
developers, tech companies, service providers, trade bodies and government
38 39 > inside popcap dublin
Develop visits the giant of casual gamings European headquarters to find out
about the creative culture of the mystery-shrouded studio
BUILD
44 45 > interview: fmod studio
FMODs soon to be released technology could change the audio sector for good,
say its creators
46 > key release: bigworld technology
All the details on the coming versions of the MMO tech companys tools
49 > epic diaries: mass effect 3
Epics Mark Rein looks at UE3s role in the forthcoming BioWare epic
51 > unity focus: air band
Thanks to Relentless Softwares effort with Air Band, the first Unity-authored Kinect
game has seen a commercial release
53 > heard about: forza motorsport 4
Develops audio man John Broomhall talks to the team that gave the engines in
Forza 4 their roaring realism
CODA
66 > faq: hidetaka swery suehiro
The Deadly Premonition creator talks movies, TV, music, drinking, food and women
Contents
DEVELOP ISSUE 121 OCTOBER 2011
57 63
studios, tools, services and courses
06
49
44
21 12
24
32
38
03 Dev121_final 23/09/2011 14:33 Page 1
w w w. c r c p r e s s . c o m
3D Math Primer for
Graphics and Game Development
Second Edition
Fletcher Dunn
Valve Software
Ian Parberry
University of North Texas, Denton, USA
With solid theory and references, along with practical advice borne from decades
of experience, all presented in an informal and demystifying style, Dunn and Par-
berry provide an accessible and useful approach to the key mathematical operations
needed in 3D computer graphics.
Eric Haines, co-author of Real-Time Rendering
Catalog no. K13210, September 2011, 846 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-56881-723-1, $69.95 / 44.99
Also available as an eBook
Practical Rendering & Computation
with Direct3D 11
Jason Zink, Matt Pettineo, and Jack Hoxley
... an optimal blend of concepts and philosophy, illustrative figures to clarify the
more difficult points, and source code fragments to make the ideas concrete.
Books do not get any better than this!
David Eberly, Geometric Tools
*see page 60 for an excerpt from the book
Catalog no. K13207, September 2011, 648 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-56881-720-0, $69.95 / 44.99
Also available as an eBook
*Enter code 501HM when ordering at www.crcpress.com to receive a 25% discount.
Game Development Tools
Edited by
Marwan Y. Ansari
WMS Gaming, Plainfield, Illinois, USA
Helping you to improve work flow and build games faster, this volume offers prac-
tical, implementable tools for game development professionals. Topics range from
managing complexity in build pipelines, to real-time constructive solid geometry,
to GPU debugging with NVIDIA's Parallel Nsight.
Catalog no. K13066, May 2011, 344 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-56881-432-2, $49.95 / 31.99
Also available as an eBook
GPU Pro 2
Edited by
Wolfgang Engel
Confetti Special Effects
Packed with hands-on advice for resolving common graphics programming issues,
this book focuses on advanced rendering techniques that run on the DirectX
and/or OpenGL run-time with any shader language available. It also covers
techniques for handheld programming to reflect the increased importance of
graphics on mobile devices.
Catalog no. K00418, February 2011, 470 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-56881-718-7, $69.95 / 49.99
Also available as an eBook
501HM_K13210_SP_AD:501HM_K13210...SP_AD 8/22/11 1:31 PM Page 1
GAMES DEVELOPMENT
visionary David Cage has said
he would be working in Canada
if France ever dropped its
games tax break policy.
To tell the truth, without tax
breaks, Im pretty certain wed
be in Canada right now, Cage
told Develop.
The Quantic Dream boss
confirmed that Frances
generous tax credits policy
which provides studios a 20 per
cent refund on production
costs had significantly helped
the development of their
Heavy Rain project.
But he rejected the notion
that video games studios are
living it easy with the extra help
in the form of tax breaks from
their governments.
Tax breaks are not a
benefit, he told Develop. They
are used to do a better job.
Simple as that. If there were no
tax breaks well, Heavy Rain
would probably still exist, but a
lot less money would have
been spent on it.
If you miss a milestone, its
only the money that keeps your
project away from death.
Quantic Dream launched
Heavy Rain in February last year,
and since then, the French
studio has seen worldwide
critical acclaim and awards.
But the studio itself is in a
constant race with other games
developers across the globe,
Cage said, and Canadas tax
break haven is giving the Maple
Leaf an edge.
When a game arrives,
people just compare the titles,
people just look at if it works or
not, Cage said.
They dont look to see if our
studio is fighting with the same
weapons as a Canadian studio.
Life is easy in Canada. Youve
got all the money in the world.
You can recruit like mad over
there. Youll have tax breaks
and more tax breaks and nearly
40 per cent tax breaks on every
project that you do. Its crazy.
The French games industry
couldnt compete without tax
breaks. And I look at the UK and
think its all quite depressing.
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 05
ADVENTURES IN GAMES DEVELOPMENT: NEWS, VIEWS & MORE
Any successful team
is already agile in any real
definition of the philosophy.
Tim Heaton on studio management, p16
How to be
famous,
Cliffy B-style
p6
London Games
Conference
speaker roster
p9
The art and
design of
Borderlands 2
p10
by Rob Crossley
The French games industry
couldnt compete without tax
breaks. And I look at the UK and
think its all quite depressing.
David Cage, Quantic Dream
Cage: No games tax breaks
and Ill quit for Canada
Government support gave Quantic Dream a commercial a edge it might not otherwise have been able to afford
Quantic Dream received
critical acclaim for
Heavy Rain, which
David Cage says would
have had millions less
spent on it without tax
breaks
05 Dev 121 Alpha COVER_final 23/09/2011 16:52 Page 1
Cliff Bleszinski is the game development
celebrity incarnate. He has famously
devoted Twitter following, and is mobbed
by fans wherever he goes.
By his own confession he is a brand
almost as much as his recently completed
Gears of War series, and as a result he has
enjoyed a very successful career. So how
can you do the same?
Develop asks the man himself.
When you spoke at GDC this year you
talked about presenting yourself as a
brand. Should all developers aspire to
become one?
Ive found that the talk was well received. I
was able to I hate to reuse this term
because it sounds so cheesy, and its from 30
Rocks Tracy Jordan I believe drop truth
bombs on your ass.
It was just a lot of things on my chest that
I believe not a lot a lot of developers really
have it in them to say, or the capacity or the
ability. The funny thing was that when I said
Ive never met a Rockstar employee in that
talk, shortly after that I got an email from
Sam Houser saying anytime youre in New
York lets have dinner. I said sure man, but
who built your games? Id love to meet
them too.
This is why if a developer Tweets me and I
can check them out and really see that
theyre legit, I will follow them and well
have back and forth interactions. Not only
because Im an advocate of developers, but
because its also a nice recruiting tactic.
I go from being that guy who does all the
interviews and talks to becoming a real
person and we can actually work together
and be creative together. Developers by
nature were the ones at the back of the
class drawing in their pad, and not the ones
going to parties and things like that, so they
have a hard time of putting themselves
out there. Its not always easy for the
majority of them, but the best thing
you can do for your career is to be an
actual name as opposed to just, and I
hate to say it, a gear in the machine.
In terms of becoming a brand, what
advice would you give to the new school
of indie developers?
With Notch, a lot of the news from Minecraft
comes directly from his Twitter account. He
and I have a playful banter back and forth
on there which is great because hes a cool
guy and helps gives me indie cred to talk to
him and know that the first PC game I
bought in years was Minecraft.
But look at him, hes got over 300,000
followers and he has the hat. Clearly the guy
gets a certain amount of the branding right,
hes got the cool nickname, hes got the hat
he wears everywhere. You spot him and
know what he looks like. Hes an example
like John Blow.
I know who these guys are more so than
others. I mean, Ive had developers send me
their resumes who worked on triple-A titles
and Im like: Ive worked in this industry for
20 years and Ive never met you? They say
Oh, I never got to go to GDC or anything
like that and Im like: Yeah. Thats probably
by design, or people arent getting paid
what theyre worth.
Now you only see agencies getting
involved to make sure that developers do
get paid well because by and large, those
who are creative will always have the
money surgically removed from them by
those who are business people.
And what about those indies that have
the potential to be in that position in a
couple of years time, or a few months?
Well, first you have to make great games. If
Gears of War 3 was getting horrible reviews
then suddenly next year, if were working on
something, nobody would want to talk. Its
just the truth of the matter. You go into
what is the games equivalent of movie jail.
First and foremost, make a great game
but also have a personality. Be the guy with
the hip glasses, with the one gauge earring
and the gamer tattoo all the way to the
sleeves with a skateboard. Stand out.
Dont be a developer archetype: Theres
the big chubby guy with the beard. Theres
the super skinny guy with the glasses.
THERES A moment, 721 words into our
interview with him that Cliffy B makes an
excellent, if contentious point.
I wont spoil it, but its the one about not
being an awkward looking social misfit
developer in order to make yourself famous, a
power creative as he calls it, just like him.
I know what youre thinking.
Who the hell does this good-looking guy
think he is, with his 117,359 Twitter followers,
personable nature, esteemed industry
reputation, regular TV appearances, enviable
CV of game credits, beautiful fiance and oh.
Exactly.
No one says Cliffy B is perfect first of all Cliff
himself, just check out his anecdote about a
tweet with the word cum in it.
But when it comes to an answer to the How
can we have games superstars akin to
Hollywood superstars? people like him are the
closest thing to a perfect answer.
I was sat front row at GDC 2008 when he
chainsawed his way through the scenery to
unveil Gears of War 2.
It was a preposterous moment, for any
medium, let alone just games.
Would George Lucas wave a toy lightsaber to
unveil his next bit of Star Wars merchandise? Or
JK Rowling cast fake spells with a wand when
talking about a new Potter movie? Yet
Bleszinski pulled it off.
He and his games may not have appeal to
everyone one of his aliases is, after all, Dude
Huge but Bleszinski has managed to not only
court the media and build a reputation, hes
got form as a game designer and design
director of note. As he says, he knows when to
be PR, and when to be a person.
Forget the jokes about appearance: thats the
unique skill that made him famous. And one
youll want to learn yourself as developers
become more connected to their audience.
ALPHA | NEWS
Editorial
Michael French
michael.french@intentmedia.co.uk
STAR POWER
The gears
With Gears of War concluded, Will Freeman asks Cliffy B what
other developers can do to become a games dev superstar
06 | OCTOBER 2011
06,07,08 Dev121 news_final 23/09/2011 18:06 Page 1
Theres the creepy guy who smells funny
whos awkward and hovers around people.
Theres the different types, right?
Be a person, be a brand. Just do something
so that people know who you are. Have an
online presence more than ever. Understand
social channels. Look at people like Veronica
Belmont who puts herself out there and now
has over a million followers. I know actors
who have been in Oscar winning films who
dont have that much. It is the digital age in
which we live.
Youre a normal person, but
youre living a life in the
public eye. What advice
would you give dealing with the pressure
and experience of that?
Its fine, honestly. Its fun. I havent had
anyone be overly negative with it yet. I do
occasionally get in trouble for some tweets
once in a while. There is a comedian that I
follow who tweeted at one point Drinking
cum makes pineapple juice smell delicious
which I thought was quite hilarious, but PR
pointed out the point that its not edgy; just
pretty fucking gross.
Im honestly having the time of my life and
I feel this weird responsibility to share it with
people. Being a games developer and getting
to work on all this creative stuff and travelling
the world, meeting celebs all that stuff. This
is hopefully helping to redefine the image of
what it means to be a creative in 2011.
Gears of War 3 is the final game of the
series. So much of brand-Cliffy B and
Gears of War are interlinked. How does
that leave you feeling?
Im relieved. Theres so many stories that can
be told in this world. The brand is stronger
than ever. Hopefully the game sells more
than Gears one or two, but well see. The final
cut scene still gets me a little bit misty eyed
when I watch it. I dont know if its because
Ive been working on the franchise for so
long or just because a lot of it is personal for
all of us on the development team.
NEWS | ALPHA
of change
OCTOBER 2011 | 07 DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
Dont be a developer
archetype: the big
chubby guy with the beard,
the super skinny guy with
the glasses, the creepy guy
who smells funny whos
awkward and hovers
around. Do something so
that people know
who you are.
06,07,08 Dev121 news_final 23/09/2011 18:06 Page 2
ALPHA| NEWS
My main advice that I tell a lot of
developers is just make sure you make your
game personal.
Dont make just what you think the market
will want. Dont make it like I loved bunnies
when I was growing up so Im gonna make a
game about bunnies. Make something thats
deeply personal.
You know, a metaphor for family or abuse
or experience or loves lost. I guarantee you
the creator behind the cult PS3 game
Catherine has got some stuff going on. So
make games personal and ultimately theyll
resonate, and you know if the game sells well
maybe youll have a chance to keep
exploring those themes.
Obviously Gears of War has done well. Do
you feel satisfied at this concluding point?
No. We can do better. We can always do
better. The number of gamers playing the
game online Im hoping Gears of War 3 has
more than Gears 1 or 2 ever did, especially
considering how competitive the
market is.
You look at the numbers that Call of Duty
and Halo pulls and were not at that point
yet. Im hoping Gears of War 3 brings us
closer to that point. People forgot also
that were only the third game
of the series.
Theres been a couple
more Halos and a few more
Call of Dutys so who knows,
maybe well be able to
build upon that success.
I want with this game,
more so than any other
game weve ever
made, for people to
avoid the perception
of what the game is. If
you havent played a
Gears game, now please
give this one a try. We
really do think youll like it
a lot.
Concluding a creative opus like Gears of
War must have been difficult. Calling it a
wrap in particular, must have been near
impossible for you.
Creatively, the second you ship a game all
you see is the holes. Earlier, me and some
colleagues were talking about George Lucas
and how he cant resist putting his grubby
little mitts all over everything.
Thats because, if I could go back, as theres
tons of things I would change about Gears,
tons of things Id change about Gears 2, and
even Gears 3. Id tweak things in it. The key is
knowing when to stop because were still a
business and you have to ship a damn game
and sell it at some point.
So, from a creative culture perspective,
how do you balance that need to respect
business and your vision for your games?
I have an amazing producer. Thats the ebb
and flow. Whereas Im asking for 40 weapons,
and Rod and the other producers are certain
we can only do 25, I have to make a choice.
Theres a certain minimum that you can
ship with a game that will make your gamers
happy. As a creative you will always want
an infinite amount and its your job as a
creative to push for that too much and
when the pushback comes, be mature
about that decision and ultimately
shift the product.
And thats part of building
that role as a what you call a
power creative?
Thats one of the things I said
in my talk. If I went off
tomorrow and some
investors came along and
gave me a billion dollars
to make my dream game
Id be terrified because I
need that system of
checks and balances. I
think as a creative you
need to be edited.
Theres certain film directors who have a
certain amount of success and then they go
and make this one movie that they want
thats three and a half hours and you end up
thinking: really dude? I liked your old one
that was two hours long.
Theres the same thing with authors who
reach a certain amount of success. Book one
is a normal thickness, book two is a normal
thickness as well, and then book three
becomes 1,000 pages because they have this
sense that this was the story I had always
wanted to tell.
Half of the time when you see the
directors cut of a movie, youre like actually I
can see why they cut all that out. You need
that system of checks and balances to keep
creators in check sometimes. Were not just
art, were still a business.
Having finished Gears of War, do you have
a feeling of creative freedom, or is that
intimidating to you?
I feel like weve wrapped it up and put a bow
on it. It is what it is and weve put it under the
tree for the proverbial Christmas morning.
But that said, theres the long history of
this war, tons of different stories to tell and
thematically if you figure what makes a
Gears game in the future, theres a lot of
different directions we could go in. Im not
burnt out on it anywhere as some might
assume or think.
wwww.epicgames.com
Make something
thats deeply
personal. You know, a
metaphor for family or
abuse or experience
or loves lost.
Cliff Bleszinski, Epic Games
Cliffy B knows how to
milk a photo opp as
shown here (above right)
skateboarding in the
offices of Microsofts UK
PR agency when posing
for Develop
08 | OCTOBER 2011
1
2
3
4
5
HOW TO B CLIFFY
Craft a unique image
Be a person, be a brand. Just do something so that people know who you are.
Make your games personal
Make something thats deeply personal. You know, a metaphor for family or abuse or experience or loves lost.
Speak your mind on Twitter
I do occasionally get in trouble for some tweets once in a while.
Listen to your producer
I have an amazing producer. Thats the ebb and flow.
Get some social skills
Theres the creepy guy who smells funny whos awkward and hovers around people.
06,07,08 Dev121 news_final 23/09/2011 18:06 Page 3
EVENTS | ALPHA
The London Games
Conference will feature
focused discussions and
keynotes from a host of
top industry professionals
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 09
Online games experts to speak
at London Games Conference
Schedule and line-up locked in for November 10th conference discounts for UKIE and Tiga members
LONDON GAMES
CONFERENCE
SCHEDULE AND THEMES
4pmOpening remarks
4.05pmOPENING KEYNOTE: GameStop
(Mike Mauler)
4.35pmThe Digital Transition: The
Winners and Losers (Nicholas Lovell)
4.55pm Sega & Digital Distribution
(John Clark)
5.15pmDigital Developers Share Their
Secrets (Guillaume Rambourg, GoG.com
and David Bishop, PopCap)
5.35pmThe Future of Video Games
(Peter Molyneux & Ian Livingstone)
6.15pmCoffee break
6.40pmWhat Video Games Can Learn
From Music (Feargal Sharkey)
7.00pmThe 5 Events That Will Change
Video Games (Nick Parker)
7.10pmVideo Games and Digital
Security (Professor Sommer)
7.30pmOnLive & Cloud Gaming (Tom
Paquin)
7.50pm CLOSING KEYNOTE: Valve (Jason
Holtman)
8.20pmDinner & networking
LONDON GAMES CONFERENCE SPEAKER LINE-UP
Jason Holtman, head of biz dev, Valve, Mike Mauler, international EVP, GameStop, David Bishop, senior designer, PopCap, Tom Paquin, CTO
OnLive, Peter Molyneux, founder, Lionhead, Ian Livingstone, life president, Eidos, John Clark, UK MD, Sega, Feargal Sharkey, CEO, UK Music,
Nick Parker, Screen Digest, Nicholas Lovell, GamesBrief, Prof Peter Sommer, digital forensics expert, Guillaume Rambourg, MD, GoG.com
To book a place, contact Hannah.Short@intentmedia.co.uk or call 01992 535 646.
High-profile sponsorship slots are available - contact Lucy.Hall@intentmedia.co.uk
or call her on 01992 535 647 to find out more.
DIGITAL GAMES experts from around the
world will convene in London this November.
The final schedule for November 10ths
London Games Conference has been set, with
speakers from leading online games firms
PopCap, OnLive and Good Old Games plus
analyst Nick Parker joining the roster.
A full schedule can be found on the right.
PopCaps senior designer David Bishop and
GoG.com MD Guillaume Rambourg will take
part in a series of micro-keynotes detailing
the lessons learned as leading developers of
online games.
Casual gaming firm PopCap is best known
for the likes of Bejewelled and Plants vs
Zombies, and was earlier this year acquired by
Electronic Arts.
Good Old Games (GoG.com) meanwhile is
one of the most successful digital distributors
of games, building its business on a range of
older PC titles updated to run on new
machines it is owned by Polish games
studio CD Project.
Meanwhile, OnLives CTO Tom Paquin will
host a session looking at cloud gaming.
Paquin isn't just a games expert, but a
leading name in Silicon Valley, having co-
founded Netscape, the online firm that
invented key technology such as SSL and
web cookies, and then co-founded the
Firefox browser firm Mozilla.
Elsewhere, analyst Nick Parker will take to
the stage to deliver his views on the five
events set to reshape the games industry.
The four big names join an already-
excellent roster of previously announced
speakers focused on how the games industry
is embracing the transition to digital content.
Keynotes this year come from GameStop
and Valve, with Eidos life president Ian
Livingstone, Microsoft Game Studios Europe
creative director Peter Molyneux and Sega's
John Clark also set to deliver talks.
Other sessions will look at which
companies will not survive the digital
transition, what games can learn from the
music industry, and how deeply security
compromises have impacted publishers are
also on the agenda.
London Games Conference takes place at
One Wimpole Street, central London, and
starts at 4pm. The four-hour conference is
followed by dinner and networking. The
event is sponsored by IGN UK.
Tickets are available for 269, with
discounts for UKIE and Tiga members.
09 Dev121 news_final 23/09/2011 15:52 Page 1
10 | OCTOBER 2011
ALPHA | NEWS Q&A
First among sequels
Gearbox Software recently blasted sequels that lazily rehash the assets of their predecessors.
So Will Freeman asked concept designer Scott Kester will Borderlands 2 be any different?
Gearbox insists that Borderlands 2 is
something much more significant than a
typical sequel. Isnt that something any
developer would claim?
From the start we wanted to make a true
sequel. We really didnt want to just re-skin
environments and rework textures. Of
course there is a little bit of reusing assets;
stuff that will make the game familiar in the
right way. Characters like the psycho bandits
make a return.
But what was really important to us when
making Borderlands 2 was to take what we
did with the first game and do more of it,
give it more variety in every context.
There were so many new ideas for this
from our designers and across our office;
almost more than we needed.
That meant it was very important for
everyone from the designers to us on the
conceptual side of the design that with so
many ideas that we were all very passionate
about the game should not become a
design clone.
But you must have to balance that
devotion to new ideas with delivering a
video game that is in spirit the same as
the first Borderlands.
We do really have to be focused. Sometimes
somebody from another internal project
would come onto Borderlands 2 and do
something or conceive something and wed
have to be honest if it missed the point of
what Borderlands is. Wed just have to say no.
That said, one thing thats really
interesting from the conceptual side is that
all of the guys here have certain things that
they are better at, and in trusting in that
there is a degree of freedom to what goes
into Borderlands.
So, for example, Ive concentrated on the
characters and creatures and some
environment stuff, and then theres a
designer I work with who can do anything
but is really creative with guns, so hes going
to do guns for the game.
With that kind of focused talent, when
were designing stuff, its not so much about
designing something to fit into a box that is
considered Borderlands, but about what we
have designed that can go in there. That
helps make the sequel its own.
And part of how we define Borderlands 2 is
by letting the project be really personal if
youre a game designer or level designer or
concept designer. We put in a lot of
ourselves to the game.
So, for example I wear a lot of
skateboarding stuff, so maybe Ill try and
take that personal style and make it
influence the design of one of the characters
Im working on.
Theres a little more of me coming in, and
it gives the character a little more; some
more depth, and more the player can
associate with. So letting aspects of our
teams real world style in is part of the
consistency of Borderlands.
So that investment of personal style is
actively encouraged? Is it part of the
creative approach at Gearbox Software?
Yes, definitely. The first game had a very
different style, and after that what we were
seeing was peoples idealised vision of what
they felt that style had to be. It was
becoming watered down in its approach.
So when we really looked at the sequel,
for example when we changed the art style
and I took on doing the characters, it was a
chance to do things from a completely
different viewpoint. In designing the sequel,
we decided it was better to shoot further
and pull yourself back then take a design
side step.
In the first game if somebody suggested
an idea and it was seen as perhaps too
ridiculous, it might have still been done and
put in and it was realised to be awesome.
Im not saying were these total rogues, as
we still filter things for quality very carefully,
but I hope it showed in the first game and
will show in this one, that theres a lot of little
touches and nuances all over, that, within
reason, show personal flair. We have to keep
an eye on what is too far, but its there.
So whats too far? How do you keep it
under control?
It is hard to quantify, and theres not exactly
a rule set or anything like that. We try to
encourage our team to always keep humour
in there, but we dont want it to just turn into
lots of silly humour that just invalidates the
seriousness of the gameworld, events and
so on.
Its kind of hard to say what works and
what doesnt, as sometimes somebody does
a concept or creates something that clearly
belongs somewhere else. A lot of the
You could say we
take these elements
that maybe shouldnt go
together, and
through creativity
make them work.
Scott Kester, Gearbox Software
Through a kit-mash
design approach inspired
by the customisation of
modeling kits, the
Borlderlands 2 team are
convinced theyve made a
distinct sequel
10,11 Dev 120 Alpha News_final 22/09/2011 09:08 Page 1
Borderlands aesthetic is that sort of kit-mash
mentality of finding things and putting them
together, so its hard to say what works until
you do it.
We have a slogan, and kind of joke about
our design approach, that is kit-mash the
way to victory, kit-mashing being the model
making process of mixing-up and combining
different model kits. You could say we take
these elements that maybe shouldnt go
together, and through creativity make them
work residing in the same space.
How many of the original Borderlands
team is working on Borderlands 2? Is that
even important to balancing making the
sequel feel original with capturing the
spirit of the first?
Theres people from the first game here, and
new people, and they all have their own
opinion. Were not here to shoot down new
ideas. People can always prove to us their
ideas are good.
And its interesting to see how the team
members influence each other in the
development. We take each others concepts
and add our own ideas, and maybe even
take something too far in our direction, but
then inspire each other through that
process. Thats how we can find that perfect
balance between something totally new and
something that connects with the first game.
So a collaborative approach is important
to Gearboxs goal of making what you
called a true sequel?
Were very open with each other about ideas
that suck and ideas that dont work. Thats
part of it. One of the things you learn is not
to get attached to your ideas until they
become a reality.
How does Gearboxs approach to
technology serve to help you distinguish
a sequel from its predecessor?
We use Unreal Engine, and we do some
things with Unreal that other people havent
done. That is something everybody who
uses Unreal probably does, and our tech
guys spend a lot of time creating a distinct
system. Its a very intense set-up that allows
us to do something new in each game.
From a concept design perspective the
practice of differentiating Borderlands 2
from the first game must have been a
interesting process.
Its really interesting in that we were trying
to take something that people know and
show them something new that they still
know and understand. We want people to
see a totally new character and understand
that its Borderlands. We dont want to just
imitate ourselves, and I think sometimes
developers paint themselves into a corner
knowing people expect they will do
something a certain way.
Thats why its really important to keep
iterating on the subtle things in the building
of a game that the general public might not
even notice. There need to be constant
evolutions of how you use your constraints
creatively, and its an interesting dilemma.
www.gearboxsoftware.com
Gearbox SoftWares
concept designer Scott
Kester has been given the
oppotunity to inject his
own personal style and
tastes into some of
Borderlands 2s characters
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 11
NEWS Q&A | ALPHA
10,11 Dev 120 Alpha News_final 22/09/2011 09:09 Page 2
12 | OCTOBER 2011
ALPHA | CRITIQUE
THE SENSATION
A textbook iOS success story, from the
moment it was released Tiny Tower
enchanted the global iPhone user.
Its glorious debut reportedly saw a million
copies downloaded in its first four days on
release, and it quickly became a favourite
water cooler talking point for the iOS
trendsetters: Are you playing it?, How does
your tower look? And that all important
question: How many floors do you have?.
During July 2011, if you werent the landlord
of a diminutive virtual skyscraper, you simply
werent in with the games industry elite.
THE GAME
The premise of Tiny Tower is a simple one.
One floor at a time, the player must construct
a soaring concrete building, filling its rooms
with a variety of residential apartments,
services, retailers and entertainment spaces,
always carefully balancing the ecosystem to
maximise efficiency and growth.
Metaphorically and near-literally, Tiny
Tower serves up a neat vertical slice of the
SimCity game concept.
Heavily focused on a compulsion loop that
has proved furiously addictive the world over,
it also plays itself in the background, even
when your iPhone is out of battery. It is built
around a freemium model that tempts users
to part with their cash in return for faster
access to funds.
THE STUDIO
Before Tiny Towers foundations were laid,
NimbleBit was already infamous in the industry
as the team that created amphibian-breeding
iOS game Pocket Frogs; a title synonymous
with compulsion loop game design. The
studio has a healthy back catalogue of iOS
releases, and like so many app developers, is
somewhat publicity shy.
UNIQUE SELLING POINT
There are numerous games inspired by
SimCity, and the ballooning of the number of
titles built around tight compulsion loops is
well documented.
How Tiny Tower stands out from its dense
crowd of rivals is through its character. From
the name of its residents to the colour
schemes of each floor, much of the game is
randomised, resulting in an experience that
feels very personal to the end-user. They may
be near identical the world over, but each
Tiny Tower constructed feels like a completely
unique creation.
It also does a fine job of crafting an illusion
of depth, and most importantly boasts a way
players can share how theyre doing; the
tower itself. At a glance Tiny Tower builders
can see and show how they are
progressing by viewing their blossoming
skyscraper in its entirety, resplendent with
tiny residents beavering away.
WHY IT WORKS
Nimblebits creation is the game that keeps
on giving. Theres always new stock arriving,
residents moving in and percentage bars
reaching completion. Whats more, Tiny
Towers manically repeating core game loop
of restock-sell-buy is so compact and tidy
that it can run dozens of times
simultaneously without complicating the
gameplay. The result is a title that constantly
rewards the player, and relentlessly asks for
more. It is compelling to play long beyond
the point when it has stopped being explicitly
fun, and even after the consumer has realised
its apparent depth is all an illusion, it still
charms them into diving into its shallow waters.
TRY IT YOURSELF
Do what Tiny Tower did to the god game.
Choose a well loved strategy genre, and boil
it down to its most basic form. Dont be afraid
of giving your audience something so simple
they can learn it all in three minutes. Thats
the point.
Then create a short compulsion loop
keep it to three or four basic stages and
integrate that into you game.
Dont put a compulsion loop over the top
of a theme; put it into your creations theme.
Have it repeat over and over, slowing down
its rotation gradually as the game progresses
and the player gains experience.
Now comes the tricky part. You need to
craft a suggestion of strategy so that the user
feels they are playing in their own way. It
needs to be easy to stumble upon, but not
essential to play the game.
And, if youre fashioning a compulsion
loop to make yourself some money, youll
probably want to add in a way the player can
fill up those percentage bars a little bit faster
with some in-game currency.
Tiny Tower
PUBLISHER: NimbleBit
DEVELOPER: NimbleBit
FORMAT: iOS
PRICE: Free (microtransactions)
www.nimblebit.com
ANATOMY OF A BLOCKBUSTER
Our monthly dissection of a recent hit game...
12 Dev121 anatomy Blockbuster_FINAL 22/09/2011 16:53 Page 1
Which is the best selling
horror series?
Silent Hill Alone in the Dark Resident Evil
WeKnowYour World.com
3904_Amiqus_Ad_Develop_October.indd 1 13/09/2011 10:14
14 | OCTOBER 2011
ALPHA | OPINION
RECENTLY, an anonymous publishing
executive declared publically that the 3DS is
definitely dead unless Nintendo generates
good sales this Christmas.
The surprising finality of this proclamation,
even allowing for the unless parachute
clause, is by no means singular. Industry
history is littered with flawed prognoses of
doom for games platforms, which seem to
come thicker and faster in times of change
such as these. This month Ill explore what
makes senior industry execs and journalists
so unafraid to risk their reputations with
such bold predictions of outright failure.
Sonys PlayStation 3 launch was widely
described as a failure in the games press, as
seemingly slow hardware sales after launch
week triggered overblown, doom-laden
declarations from senior industry figures.
The PS3 is a total disaster, said one of the
industrys most vocal and successful CEOs in
2007, advising Sony that they should just
cancel it and do a do over.
While Sony would undoubtedly have
welcomed higher sales in its first 12 months,
it was far from the disaster so many declared;
and with over 53m unit sales since then, the
doomsayers now simply look naive.
IN THE RUNNING
Many went astray by erroneously extrapolating
a short-term trend into a long-term one.
Despite this being Sonys third (TV-based)
console launch, the doomsayers ignored
Sonys track record and, more relevantly, the
same sluggish starts to all its previous
consoles lives. Sony pioneered the ten-year
console lifecycle with the first PlayStation,
then extended it with the second and should
accomplish the same longevity with the PS3.
To achieve this, Sony sensibly views
console sales as a marathon during which an
explosive early sprint for example, through
aggressive pricing is not only commercially
inappropriate but would have proved
detrimental to performance later in the race
(leaving less room for later sales stimulation
by price cuts). These are lessons that all console
manufacturers have begun to take on board.
Besides this commercial myopia, the other
explanation for these outbursts derives from
publishing execs panicking about their
massive investment in new platforms not
being sustained by sales in a particular
month or quarter and simply seeking
someone else to blame for their companys
underperformance (and their over-estimates).
This self-interest lies at the heart of many
world-ending pronouncements for broader
sections of the games industry. Retail gaming
and the console business as a whole have
been declared dead or facing an imminent
fatal demise so many times they should be
regulars in George Romero movies. These
terminal diagnoses are usually given by those
with vested interests in their death; for
example, digital distributors or mobile games
developers. Console-oriented companies
give as good pessimistic hyperbole as they
get; take the still common (and frankly
risible) claim that social is just a fad.
THE PSND IS NIGH?
Although there certainly are examples of
complete commercial failure for certain
platforms, most have proven extremely
resilient. A great example of this was the PSN
outage earlier this year, which generated the
full gamut of reactionary headlines and poll
research which quantified the extent to which
Sony would experience a customer exodus.
55 per cent said the PSN breach would
put them off buying future Sony consoles,
claimed one article. Gamers will simply no
longer trust Sony, stated another. The truth
was that the PSN outage of April and May
plus the accompanying consumer and media
furore has had absolutely no negative impact
on the ongoing sales of PS3 hardware and
retail software sales.
Hardware sales between April and June
were actually higher than the previous year
as were software sales which even
experienced a noticeable upwards spike in
May and June. In the three months since it
was restored, PSN has seen three million new
registrations and digital sales that are already
above pre-outage levels.
In this case, those carrying their the end of
the world is nigh placards forgot that most
PS3 owners have little choice when it comes
to high-end gaming (owning no high-spec
PC or other consoles). That there is a sizeable
core of console owners whose loyalty
survives such tests, and that most players are
oblivious to, or simply not interested in, such
industry travails.
So, is the anonymous publisher correct in
his comments about the 3DSs prospects? No
format enjoys weak holiday sales, so his
parachute is banal. This few months to live
prognosis seems remarkably misguided as
if Nintendo would abandon such a major
new format after just nine months on sale. 3D
has its flaws and Nintendo its challenges, but
3DS has several tactical tricks to play before
giving up the ghost.
Whatever you believe, these panicky views
are best taken with a pinch of salt and a
longer view.
Industry history is
littered with flawed
prognoses of doom for
games platforms, which
seem to come
thicker and faster in
times of change.
//COMMENT: BUSINESS
Doom-mongers beware
by Nick Gibson, Games Investor Consulting
Nick Gibson is a director at Games Investor
Consulting, providing research, strategy
consulting and corporate finance services to the
games, media and finance industries.
www.gamesinvestor.com
The 3DS has been
criticised for poor sales
early on in its lifespan
14 Dev121 Gibson_final 22/09/2011 09:04 Page 1
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 15
OPINION | ALPHA
WHAT IS happening to our beloved video
games controller?
NEW PLAYERS DONT GET IT
In the last few years we have seen some
dramatic changes to gaming, but specifically
we have seen big changes to the interface for
games. Our last such change was probably
the introduction of analogue controllers; a
much smaller change, and before that the
move from keyboard to joystick and joypad.
This time there are at least three types of
interface, perhaps four: Kinect, inertial
motion sensing (Wii, Move), and touch-
screens with the rise of voice input waiting
in the wings.
All are quite intuitive, and we are starting
to see hybrids of these like Wii U, too. The fact
they are intuitive is bringing in new people,
put off by controllers and keyboards, to
gaming. It is also creating a raft of exciting
new opportunities.
STUDENTS DONT WANT IT
I recently attended the excellent Dare
Protoplay event in Dundee. Teams of
students competed to produce games in
nine weeks, which are then judged by both
the public and a panel of judges. The
students have a free choice of what to make,
and the platform and user interface system to
run it upon. The amazing thing is of the
games I saw, none of them used a controller.
Five were on Kinect running on a PC, one on
Move, and the rest on iPad (using Unity) or
Windows Phone 7 (using XNA). As a test of
mood at least, the perception amongst those
students was that they want to work on
something new, and, amazingly to me, the
controller didnt feature.
WHAT ABOUT DEVELOPERS?
Of the four games Frontier is shipping this year,
the same applies (two on Kinect, two on touch
screens). Dont get me wrong, the controller
is still an important part of our business The
Outsider, currently on hold, uses a controller
but the real change is, like it or not, the
controller is now just a part of what we do.
AND ME?
For me personally, in the little time I get to
play other peoples games at this time of year,
they are still mostly controller-based having
recently finished Valves excellent Portal 2,
and getting back to Red Dead Redemption
but increasingly I have been playing on the
iPad, too.
It hasnt reduced the time I get to spend on
console games, but I have found I play at
times when that option simply isnt there, like
at airports and on the train.
SO WHAT IS THE CONTROLLER GOOD FOR?
Thinking about it some more, the controller is
best suited to twitch games, especially
shooters, and even then a mouse can offer
much better precision for quickly changing
aim direction.
For selecting a location on a map, whether
its in Red Dead or in a strategy game, a
touchpad is ideal indeed the controller is
probably the worst of our existing set of
input devices for such things.
For a car racing game, a steering wheel is a
great deal better, for a flight sim, a joystick or
yoke is better.
Perhaps we should happily embrace
hybrid systems? We wouldnt think of using a
keyboard or mouse separately these days. I
for one have a chatpad on my 360 and a
wireless keyboard on my PS3 for those
annoying 16 digit codes we are forced to
type in, because without those, the controller
is painful for text entry.
Summing up, the point of this piece is not
to criticise the controller it is a great jack-of-
all-trades input device, one of the best for
many things but to draw attention to the
sometimes unthinking and often childish
partisanship that can happen in our industry
criticising new interfaces.
We should embrace the new audiences they
are bringing, and yes, not forget the existing
one. I also feel I have to mention one of my
soapboxes about hybrid controls lets see Call
of Duty with lean left and right on Kinect.
The fact they are
intuitive is bringing
in new people, put off by
controllers and keyboards,
to gaming. It is also creating
a raft of exciting
new opportunities.
//COMMENT: DESIGN
The Changing Face of Gaming
by David Braben, Frontier Developments
David Braben is the founder of Frontier
Developments. Best known as the co-creator
of Elite, Braben has contributed to a number
of other projects including Frontier: Elite II,
Thrillville, LostWinds and Kinectimals.
www.frontier.co.uk
The classic controller may
be a jack-of-all-trades but
the new user interfaces
such as Kinect, inertial
motion sensing and
touch-screens seem to be
the future of gaming
15 Dev121 David Braben_final 22/09/2011 09:46 Page 1
16 | OCTOBER 2011 DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
ALPHA | OPINION
JUST over ten years ago a group of software
developers and managers got together and
created the Agile Manifesto.
It was a reaction to the formal heavyweight
approaches to software development used
previously highly defined, managed and
staged processes that were failing to deliver,
causing massive slips and budget overruns.
The Agile Manifesto and its underlying
principles are available at agilemanifesto.org
for anyone whos interested and everyone
who makes games should be. The principles
and values listed are inarguably valuable, and
to some degree common sense.
From these philosophies several
methodologies were created, the best known
of which is probably Scrum. Its possible to
see some of these methods as franchises, or
even cults. They consist of a fairly rigid set of
rules, rituals and symbols that offer up a
guaranteed entrance to the promised land
that is, delivering great games.
LESS AND MORE
Now, for some software categories and some
team types I have no doubt that having a
prescribed method of working, based upon
sound principles, is valuable and successful.
Scrum has been popular in games
development for a while now, and
interestingly, it also seems to have created a
backlash from people who have tried it and
failed to achieve the nirvana it promises. I
think successful games development
requires more open minds and less manifestos.
Different successful teams work in different
ways. Their dynamics are different. Some
teams work to a clear leader maybe an
auteur figure who, by sheer force of will, can
communicate and incentivise everyone.
Some self-organise and resent regular
direction. Most teams are really made up of
smaller teams, and those may well differ
between themselves. Like any sophisticated
organism, a team forms like this because of
environmental factors. Somebodys
recruiting a certain type of person, and
theyre being mentored in a certain way.
Priorities for the game cause different
elements to exert different influences. Those
who dont fit the team, or who have different
values, leave. Teams self-reinforce and create
their own personalities.
Teams are also highly complex systems.
Theyre not necessarily complicated, in that
how they operate can be relatively easily
understood, but complex in that small inputs
can have large, unpredictable results. For
example, increase a tools capability to allow
iteration from a one-minute cycle to
immediate its possible thats a tipping point
that may change the whole way a team works.
A teams priorities, methods and personality
also change through a development cycle.
Creativity and production control wax and
wane throughout a games development.
Certain disciplines and individual staff will
have greater or lesser input at certain times.
TOOLBOX CLEVER
So project management techniques need to
match their teams, and need to be dynamic.
The only way to do that is to have a toolbox
of ways to approach problems, and to have
the ability to be sensitive to how a team
works. Its possible then to offer advice and
experience and maybe propose some very
specific tools.
The truth is that any successful games
team is already agile to any real definitions of
the philosophy. Those that arent are either
shut or failing. Our Total War team has been
making strategy games based on clearly
defined pillars for well over ten years now. Its
a big team and responsibilities and abilities
are reasonably clear. In theory that team
could make the Total War games with
traditional waterfall techniques, starting with
a fairly formal game design from the
beginning. But it would likely fail, because
wed be missing opportunities.
We push responsibility down onto the
functional groups (battle, campaign, UI and
so on), we try and keep the game working,
were happy to change features in and out as
others compete for time, or dont deliver the
goods on early inspection. Certain design
briefs are created just in time, which frustrates
some but means were making the best
decisions with the latest knowledge. And all
the time the key opinion-formers discuss the
validity of the work being done.
It feels pretty agile. However, because of
the mix of skills, the mix of abilities and the
fact that there are some hugely experienced
leaders who we need to exert their influence
across the team, we dont use an off-the-shelf
methodology that perhaps promises more
than it can deliver. We still schedule work in a
GANTT type manner, and still allow key staff to
exert influence directly onto teams at any stage.
Any methodology is interesting, and can
be another component in the toolset. But its
just that; something to trigger off a way of
thinking about a problem, not necessarily a
solution. To quote from a time before Agile,
there are no silver bullets.
The truth is that any
successful games
team is already agile to any
real definitions of the
philosophy. Those that
arent are either shut
or failing.
//COMMENT: STUDIO MANAGEMENT
Were all agile
by Tim Heaton, The Creative Assembly
Tim Heaton is studio director at The
Creative Assembly, the UK-founded studio
behind the acclaimed Total War series of PC
games, as well as numerous other works
including original and licensed products.
www.creative-assembly.co.uk
The Creative Assembly
says its games are
successful because they
push responsibility down
onto the functional groups
16 Dev121 Creative Assembly_final 23/09/2011 17:56 Page 1
OPINION | ALPHA
WHEN I WAS asked to write this column I
promised to myself that I would avoid writing
about free. Id covered it a lot, as has
everyone else, at conferences and in
specialist press and its fast becoming old and
rather tired.
Yet I still see lots of young start-ups and
repositioning giants chucking out numbers
about how well theyve done with free over
paid. When we at Mobile Pie launched Top
Trumps for iOS recently we pushed a free
version with an up sell to premium branded
decks and then those premium decks as paid,
individual apps. Top Trumps Collection the
free one hit number three in the UK all apps
chart and the top-50 grossing, whilst the paid
apps, well, didnt.
FREE TO MOVE ON
These sort of stories garner a lot of attention
in the press, so I guess theres still a lot of
people out there scratching their heads.
Whats going on is simple. We are now in a
post-free world.
The free model has been robustly proven.
It does well where it can be applied at the
moment mostly web and mobile and it will
continue to do so. Unless of course the
predicted consumer free burnout happens.
Which it wont.
The reason why Im certain it wont happen
is because whats hot now is not free itself
but the new ways of using free which are
financially viable and creatively progressive.
I dont have the keys to the Future of Free
Castle and I wont pretend to. What I do have,
having designed, released and supported
several free games, is a knowledge of the
basics. Which I would like to share with you in
a contrived, awkward metaphor.
It all starts in a far away kingdom where
games are actually theme parks. Some parks
have fences surrounding them, that millions
jump over daily, and a ticket booth. Thats a
paid game.
A free game is another type of park, a park
that has no ticket booth and no fence. People
stroll in and out of these parks freely. Inside
the park they get access to the rides and the
picnic area, where their friends are, for free.
They have to queue, but they are free.
So how does this park make money? It has
big billboards (banner ads) a branded
trampoline (product placement), and a shop
selling t-shirts (virtual goods) and VIP queue
jumps (boosts or energy).
At a paid park you make the most money
by spending lots on telling everyone that you
have the best show on earth behind the
fence and then charging lots of money for a
ticket. At the free park you make most money
by having lots of visitors all looking at the
many adverts and branded trampolines, but
also buying from the shop. Its a big
balancing act between the cost of the park,
how appealing the rides are, the number of
billboards, the number of visitors, how
expensive the shop is and how you get
people in there without pissing them off.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Paid parks have been doing and perfecting
their thing for over 30 years, but free parks
have only been around for four years since
the land became cheap (Facebook and
mobile app stores) and shops could open
(microtransactions).
What happens next in my story is going to
be the best bit. The paid parks have been
watching how the free parks have shops and
encourage their visitors to bring along their
friends and they like it. Infinity Blade Park
opened up with a shop. It means even the
fence jumpers could spend money. Meanwhile
Rockstar Games opened parks with social clubs.
Elsewhere, the free parks have been
looking at the paid parks rides and so parks
like the Quake Live Park opened. They want
the big rides to sit next to the shop and
queue jumps and the billboards and the
trampoline. Its all a bit awkward now, but
theyre working it out.
On top of this further land owners are
allowing parks to be free Sony just set up
the Free Realms Park so there will be more
and more of them. Soon almost all of the
land will be free parks interspersed with big-
ticketed mega-parks, which the free parks
will forever struggle to compete with for glitz
and glamour.
All of this is interesting not because of the
fences or the ticket booths or lack of them
but whats going on inside.
Although were an industry obsessed with
numbers and stats, we should spend less
time seeking proof of the already proven and
starting looking for and making exceptions
to the rules: Games that do free or paid in
new ways. Our industry has been given a
rebirth nobody expected.
Lets stop figuring out the inception date
and boasting the birth weight and start
thinking about what theyll grow up to be. I
want them to be an astronaut.
And thats why next month Ill be asking
the important question: Are games art?
Just kidding.
//COMMENT: MOBILE
Stories from the post-free world
by Will Luton, Mobile Pie
Will Luton is creative director at the award-
winning boutique studio Mobile Pie. They create
delicious own IP and work on licenses, with a
partner list that includes the BBC, Orange and
Hewlett-Packard. Follow Will on Twitter at
@will_luton, or visit www.mobilepie.com
The free model has
been robustly
proven. It does well where it
can be applied at the
moment mostly web and
mobile and it will
continue to do so.
Online worlds in the same
vein as Sonys Free Realms
will likely become more
commonplace in the post-
free world
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 17
17 Dev121 Will Luton_final 22/09/2011 09:32 Page 1
ALPHA | EVENTS
THE MONTH AHEAD
A look at what october has in store for the industry and beyond
OCTOBER 7th
Rage. Quake studio id takes
us to a post-apocalyptic future
in this first-person shooter.
OCTOBER 14th
Pro Evolution Soccer 2012.
Time to get angered by unjust
results again.
OCTOBER 14th
World Egg Day. Celebrating
the egg, whether it is
poached, fried, boiled,
scrambled, or raw.
OCTOBER 15th
World Handwashing Day. To
shine a spotlight on the state
of handwashing in every
country.
OCTOBER 16th
World Food Day.
Raising
awareness of
poverty and
rising food prices
affecting
developing countries around
the world, highlighting
solutions and encouraging aid
efforts to those in need.
OCTOBER 21st
Batman: Arkham City.
Batman Returns (see what we
did there), in this sequel to the
popular Arkham Asylum by
Rocksteady Studios.
OCTOBER 21st
The Sims 3: Pets is the 5th
expansion which may or may
not be adding domesticated
animals.
OCTOBER 26th
Games Media Awards. Games
journalists come together to
win prizes and drink.
OCTOBER 26th
GameCity6.
Annual
Nottingham
festival
focusing on
videogame
culture. Since
2006 they have had pub
quizzes, lego animation, world
premieres and over 3,000
zombies.
OCTOBER 28th
London MCM Expo. The UK's
consumer entertainment
show offers a mix of movie, TV,
video games, anime, manga
and comics.
OCTOBER 28th
Battlefield 3. Big guns, bigger
explosions in this Call of Duty
challenger.
OCTOBER 31st
Halloween. Giving treats to
children but not getting
arrested for it.
1,500 people expected at Canadas industry event; 80 experts due to offer talks
18 | OCTOBER 2011
O
n the 1st and 2nd November,
the eighth Montreal
International Game Summit
2011 will take place at The Hilton
Montreal Bonaventure Hotel.
Dedicated to professionals of the
video game industry in Canada and on
the East Coast, MIGS will have 80
experts from all around world offering
talks within the six main disciplines:
arts and VFX, audio, business, design,
production and technology. 1,500
people are expected to attend.
According to the event organisers: It
is aimed at developing and promoting
skills and knowledge and encouraging
communication between all actors of
the industry.
Speakers include Naughty Dog lead
game designer Richard Lemarchand,
presenting his keynote Finding the
way of Uncharted: A creative
commentary, on the same day as the
release of Drakes Deception. Uber
Entertainment art director Chandana
MONTREAL INTERNATIONAL GAME SUMMIT
1,500 attendees are
expected at the summit
18,19 Dev121 Diary Dates_final 23/09/2011 12:00 Page 1
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
EVENTS | ALPHA
OCTOBER 2011 | 19
NORTH EAST OF NORTH 2011
November 5th to 13th
Dundee, Scotland
www.northeastofnorth.com
The seven-day international digital
arts festival North East of North will
feature moving image,
performance, music and technology
driven arts.
Taking place in Dundee between
the 5th and 13th November, NEoN
exchanges knowledge in areas such
as new business models, digital
developments and latest
production techniques. It will deliver
a programme of talks, workshops,
exhibitions, commissions,
screenings, performance and more
at many of Dundees cultural,
business and public spaces.
This years festival theme is
collaboration and legacy with a
distinct Nordic flavour.
DEVELOP DIARY
Your complete games development event calendar for the months ahead
SOUTHERN INTERACTIVE
ENTERTAINMENT & GAME EXPO
October 7th to 9th
Atlanta, GA, USA
www.siegecon.net/SIEGE2011/
INTEL DEVELOPER EVENING
October 12th
Swar Bar, London
www.develop-online.net
GAMES MEDIA AWARDS 2011
October 26th
Vinopolis, London
www.intentmedia.co.uk
GAMECITY
October 25th to 29th
Nottingham, UK
www.gamecity.org
GAMES FOR BRANDS
October 27th
London, UK
gamesforbrands.com
LONDON MCM EXPO
October 28th to 30th
ExCeL, London
www.londonexpo.com
MONTREAL INTERNATIONAL GAME
SUMMIT
November 1st to 2nd
The Hilton Bonaventure Hotel, Montreal
sijm.ca/2011/
NEON DIGITAL ARTS FESTIVAL
November 5th to 13th
Dundee, UK
www.northeastofnorth.com
G-STAR 2011
November 10th to 13th
Busan, Korea
www.gstar.or.kr
LONDON GAMES CONFERENCE 2011
November 10th
London, UK
www.londongamesfestival.co.uk
FUTURE GAMING AND DIGITAL
CONFERENCE
November 16th
Birmingham, UK
futuregaming.bsp-a.com
DEVELOP LIVERPOOL
November 24th
Liverpool, UK
liverpool.develop-conference.com
EVOLVE LONDON
December 1st
London, UK
www.evolveconference.com
GAME CONNECTION EUROPE 2011
December 6th to 8th
Paris, France
www.game-connection.com
GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE
March 5th to 9th
San Francisco, USA
www.gdconf.com
E3 EXPO
June 5th to 7th
Convention Centre, Los Angeles
www.e3expo.com
november 2011
december 2011
march 2012
Ekanayake will be giving a session on
marketing and PR for indie developers,
and former EA Montreal general
manager Alain Tascan will also be
speaking at the event in the wake of
opening a new transmedia studio in
Montreal named Sava.
As well as conferences there will be
opportunities for networking and
discovering new trends, with the
organisers setting up a business
lounge, career fair, contests and parties.
MIGS has two main qualities on
which we focus year after year, says
event director Marie Claude Bernard
(right). First and foremost, it is an
international event on a human scale.
With 1,500 expected attendees it is all
the more easy to network and connect
with friends and new contacts alike.
The other distinctive aspect of
MIGS is how its program focuses on
the main disciplines of the industry
rather than types of games or console.
Along with its advisory board led by
Jason Della Rocca, the organisers pay
special attention to including talks
related to indie game development as
much as console, triple-A games;
speakers from big studios as much as
academics; inspirational talks as much
as hands-on sessions.
Registration for the event can be
filled in on the website and prices
range from $300 to $680 for Alliance
Numerique members and anywhere
between $5 and $860 for non-
members depending on which parts
of the event you want to see and with
how many people. Business lounge
fees range from $1,100 to $2,365
depending on membership and $800
to $1,025 for additional delegates, up
to three persons max.
http://sijm.ca/2011
october 2011
MIGS is aimed at developing and
promoting skills and knowledge
june 2012
18,19 Dev121 Diary Dates_final 23/09/2011 12:00 Page 2


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DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 21
INDIE PROFILE | ALPHA
Beatnik Games CEO Sherif
Aziz (above) believes its
one of the best times in
gaming history to be an
indie studio
ESTABLISHED in 2008, young property
development tycoon Damien Cerri set up
Beatnik with a vision that game development
would be easy.
The studio then rose to fame in 2010 with the
release of its PC action game Plain Sight.
The central London studio quickly built the
confidence and reputation needed to instate
itself in the indie hall of fame, having learned
Cerris initial optimism may have been misplaced.
As a result, current CEO Sherif Aziz is optimistic
about todays indie scene.
We do think its probably one of the best
times in gaming history to be an indie, says Aziz.
However, the competition is fierce, which is
good and bad. Good because it drives the quality
of games up; bad because if you do need
funding to get a new project off the ground it
can be difficult.
Despite those challenges, the democratisation
of technology through tools provided by the
likes of as Unity, UDK and Havok has allowed Aziz
and his contemporaries to build sustainable
businesses around IPs that scream indie spirit.
I also think initiatives such as Indie City and
other crowdfunding sites will play an interesting
role in the future of indie games, says Aziz of the
current indie sector. Fans and the community
get interesting projects off the ground its
definitely an exciting time to be an indie.
And despite work underway including an iOS
title and a cross-platform Vita project, Beatnik
remains besotted by the PC as a platform for
exciting indie games.
I think the PC will always be the best gaming
machine on the planet. Whatever consoles can
do a PC can do better and almost every
household has one, offers Aziz. Digital
distribution makes getting content to users easy
and cost effective. Also, youre not at the mercy
of the platform holder which can all but kill a
small indie studio.
In the third of a series looking at some of the most
exciting real UK indies making PC titles, Will Freeman
turns his attention to Plain Sight studio Beatnik Games
INDIE PROFILE
The best era yet
for independents
In association with:
Beatnik Games
Founded: 2008
Headcount: Six core staff, six contractors
Based: London
www.beatnikgames.com
21 Dev121 Indie Profile_final 23/09/2011 12:06 Page 1
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DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 23
Region
Focus:
Scotland
p29
PopCap
Dublin
profiled
p38
A new model
for game
planning
p40
DEVELOPMENT FEATURES, INTERVIEWS, ESSAYS & MORE
What happened at Realtime
Worlds is not a Scottish problem.
Sean Taylor, Denki, p34
Easy money?
With so many options for generating revenue without charging upfront for your
creation, is there a one-size-fits-all solution to keep your studio in profit? p24
23 Dev121 Beta Cover_final 23/09/2011 16:06 Page 1
EVE Onlines subscription
model has been hugely
successful and it is now
expanding to mobile and
console
Games Analytics CEO
Chris Wright (top) and
SponsorPay director of
marketing Projjol
Banerjea (above) talk
about money making
models for games
24 | OCTOBER 2011
BETA | IN-GAME PAYMENTS
Smart money
GONE ARE the days when the free-to-play,
pay-to-progress business model marked a
bold new frontier for game developers.
Today it is very much a norm in the mobile
and online spaces, and revenue generation
through in-game transactions is an
established way to turn a newly releaed
product into a breadwinner. Releases such as
Tiny Tower, meanwhile, have proved that
free-to-play games can charm the tech
industries trendsetting hegemony. And
according to market research firm Distimo,
while only four per cent of titles in the iOS
App Store feature an in-app purchasing
business model, 72 per cent of revenue
generated in that market comes from
consumers paying for in-app items.
The waters of free-to-play have not
completely settled, however. While different
payment platforms and new monetisation
mechanics jostle for developers attention,
free has a long way to go in the console
space, and in-game advertising models still
offer viable alternatives.
Distribution platforms like Steam, OnLive
and Facebook all have their own proprietary
systems for making cash from digital content,
while the average selling price of games on
app stores is tumbling.
SERVICE AND DELIVER
Free-to-play is a very innovative model but
is really the first step in a line of finding
interesting ways of monetising games, says
Games Analytics CEO Chris Wright. People
like to be given the choice on how to play
and what to spend money on. As games
become increasingly service based it will be
the service that is valuable, game developers
will need to entertain their customers and
build games that they want.
That considered, studios hoping to thrive
will also need to respect players, giving them
a range of options and incentivising them to
keep playing. Aggressive monetisation seen
in compulsion loop games like Tiny Tower can
be off-putting to many players, and rigid in-
game purchasing mechanics can limit the
credibility and creativity of even the most
well-intended titles.
That need to remain flexible may see hybrid
models emerge combining elements from
subscription, freemium and upfront payment
approaches, meaning there is still plenty of
life in the traditional premium model.
Free-to-play with in-app-purchasing is
here to stay, but success lies in the balancing
and the implementation of details that
increase player retention and morale at a
time where many publishers ravage their
respective communities by monetising too
aggressively, suggests Michael Schade, CEO
of Galaxy on Fire 2 HD studio Fishlabs.
Personally, I feel that premium wont go
away anytime soon, he adds. In my opinion
it is more than a mere business model, but a
core feature that differentiates your product
from the vast majority of free-to-play titles.
Despite this, Schade concedes that it will
be necessary to look for ways to redefine the
premium proposition in the future.
So far, the term premium has been
strongly associated with the pay-per-
download model, says the Fishlabs boss. But
for the future it might also make sense to
look outside the box and combine the
premium model with certain aspects of the
current free-to-play market.
BAD VIBRATIONS
Other developments in the space seek to
improve the conventional free-to-play model
by reducing the friction of in-game
purchases. BoxPAY is a company committed
to the idea that enabling mobile phone
payments will define the future of free.
One-touch billing, and in-app billing are
some of the most exciting developments on
the horizon, and you can already see it
happening on the Android platform, insists
BoxPAY co-founder Iain McConnon , who
believes that one-click billing must replace
SMS pin
entry as a payment
option for mobile.
This makes the
integration into the
gamer user-
experience
almost seamless
and will most
certainly
increase
transactions and
generate more
revenue, he claims.
Certainly, with the proliferation of mobile
phone ownership in some of the games
industrys most promising emerging markets,
solutions like that provided by BoxPAY
become increasingly interesting.
Another consideration is that of the long-
predicted advent of platform convergence.
As the power of mobile and tablet devices
knocks on the door of home consoles, and
publishers of boxed games scramble to
reinvent their business models, revenue
models that straddle devices may emerge as
the most dominant in the near future.
A cross-platform approach to
monetisation is one that we believe is and
will be of increasing importance and have
chosen to adopt ourselves, says Projjol
Banerjea, director of marketing at
SponsorPay, which offers an advertising
solution for the monetisation of premium
Success lies in
balancing morale
when many publishers
ravage their communities
by monetising too
aggressively.
Michael Schade, Fishlabs
Free-to-play has emerged as a dominant method for generating revenue from digital games, but it is only
the beginning of new ways to make money. Will Freeman takes a look at the future of monetisation
24,25,26,27 Dev121 Monetisation_final 23/09/2011 15:44 Page 1
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 25
IN-GAME PAYMENTS | BETA
content or
virtual currency. Our goal is to make our
services both easily accessible and
convenient to use for our customers,
regardless of domain, platform or device.
Certainly, services like SponsorPays and
BoxPAYs, which offer something a bit different
from the typical free-to-play model, have huge
potential to adapt to a world where console
games generate revenue without relying
exclusively on the point-of-purchase model.
That convergence could even trigger a
global standardisation of payment methods,
technologies and models, as developers
working on multiple platforms need a system
that is workable regardless of the different
OSs. As titles like CCPs EVE Online expand to
mobile and console, there is little doubt
payment solution providers need to act fast
to prevent the foundation of massively
complex
business
models that have
the potential to
bewilder the
consumer and developer alike.
NEW MONEY
The transition to these new methods of
making money is already testing traditional
developers and publishers, who have to
compete with the runaway success of more
youthful, agile studios such as Zynga and
Mojang Specifications. The latter of which has
made a fortune from charging an upfront fee
for an unfinished product.
There are challenges too, however, for the
new school of digital content developers,
who are all faced with walking the hair-thin
line of balanced in-game monetisation.
The technology that allows such steps
forward can also have potential difficulties,
warns Jonathan Mabey of ecommerce
platform holder Gate2Shop. In a way,
innovations take care of themselves, because
thats creative and human nature.
However, the payment
technology has to work in the
end, and that needs constant attention,
especially risk management and fraud
prevention. We need to find the balance
between the best flexibility for a player, while
maintaining the prudence and security
expected from us by the vendor.
In the wake of widely reported events like
the PSN hacking scandal that shook
consumer confidence, the issues Mabey
touches on are increasingly important, not
least because the developers themselves can
become as much a victim as the consumers.
We advise our customers to make sure
they dont internalise sensitive processes like
storing payment data, offers Martin Ott, chief
executive of payment system and digital
wallet specialist Skrill. The recent attacks
have highlighted that a lot of hackers target
gaming companies in particular, due to their
active large databases. While developers and
publishers cant really stop themselves from
being targeted they can make sure that
hackers come out empty handed.
And, if that werent enough to worry
about, there is also the significant matter of
FINANCIAL ADVISER
Unsure how to optimise your games non-traditional revenues?
Fishlabs Michael Schade has some advice
The onus of revenue generation
still falls on games developers,
despite the current range of
payment service providers and
monetisation models on offer
these days.
That means a delicate
balancing of creativity and
business nous, and the
confidence to contradict the
most popular business models.
Think of ways to reach out to
as many players as possible and
how to convert non-paying
members of your community
into paying members over time,
offers Fishlabs CEO Michael
Schade. But also think different.
Free-to-play with in-app-
purchase might not be an
equally successful solution for
all developers alike. Before you
blindly copy your competitors
business model, your team
should take the time to analyse
your IPs and evaluate their
chances on the market.
Schade suggests that in
certain cases it might even make
sense to do the opposite of
what your competition does.
Take Fishlabs, for example.
Despite the fact that most other
titles are either released in the
99 cent category right away or
leave the premium price range
rather quickly, we have been
able to offer Galaxy on Fire 2 on
the App Store for $9.99 over a
period of almost one year. And
the game is still very popular
and gaining good profits.
Free, it would seem, is far
from the be all and end all of
new game monetisation models.
There are now a plethora
of options for developers
to establish their own in-
game currency
24,25,26,27 Dev121 Monetisation_final 23/09/2011 15:44 Page 2
26 | OCTOBER 2011
BETA | IN-GAME PAYMENTS
consumer fraud, and before that, the very
real problem of making any money at all.
ATTENTION SEEKERS
One of the biggest challenges of the free-to-
play model in games is the lack of initial
investment from the user resulting in high
attrition, asserts Banerjea.
When paired with the vast number of
options available in the market, it presents a
formidable challenge to developers and
publishers who are consistently battling to
either secure user attention or to retain it.
The big hurdle is to secure sufficiently
high investment from the user either
monetary or temporal or emotional, or a
combination of these to prevent him or
her from moving on to another game.
Yet despite the challenges, the
potential is huge. As new platforms and
models emerge, the market today may
be unrecognisable in the next decade.
As the kinds of games played evolves,
so does the way those games make money.
If there is a general consensus between
those at the heart of the payments sector
and the developers looking at new ways
of generating profits, it is that diversity and
flexibility is key. The more ways to pay and
play means a far greater opportunity for
success, both critically and commercially.
Tiny Tower has successfully
implemented the free-to-
play model adding
payment incentives for
quicker construction
What do Facebook Credits mean
for new game payment models?
When Facebook made its Credits virtual
currency mandatory for developers in July, it
proved a controversial decision.
Ultimately, it guaranteed Facebook 30 per
cent of all the revenues of the games that
offered the likes of microtransactions on the
all-powerful social network.
Whats more, it muscled out proprietary or
external payment systems.
Still, the revenue split is more generous than
that offered by OnLive which takes a 40 per
cent cut, and provides studios with a payment
backend maintained by one of the worlds
largest and most established online outfits. It
also arguably encourages players who have the
universal Facebook Credits in their wallet to
look to games beyond the chart-toppers
produced by Zynga and its closest rivals.
Facebook insists that its Credits have been
conceived to help developers generate
revenue and allow them to focus their energy
on creating games.
With over 1,000 games and apps and over
500 developers globally using Facebook
Credits, they provide the easiest way for
people to buy virtual goods and services on
Facebook, a spokesperson for the social
networking giant told Develop. Credits provide
people with a familiar and consistent payment
experience and a trusted place to store
payment information.
The social network is today investing in new
ways to pay for and earn Credits, giving
developers additional methods to increase
their revenue and become successful in the
online space.
This means developers can focus on what
they do best building great games and
applications, insisted the spokesperson.
Facebook Credits certainly have their fans in
the developer community. French studio
Kobojo has seen a 20 per cent revenue increase
after implementing Facebook Credits across its
games Pyramidville, Goobox and RobotZ
among others. The developer now courts the
attention of more than four million monthly
active users and has made around $7.75
million to date. That success, according to
Facebook, is a reflection of the potential of its
Credits system.
CREDITS WHERE THEYRE DUE
Kobojo now courts the
attention of more than
four million monthly active
users and has raised
around $7.75 million.
It's often suggested that running a profitable virtual currency game
is about employing clandestine physiological tricks to extract
money from players that they're nothing more than a
Skinner Box with credit card details.
Coming from product game developers this is
hypocrisy. Games have always been judged on their
ability to encourage return play, from the arcades to the
100-plus hour RPG. We as an industry have,
intentionally or otherwise, evolved to build complex
systems of effort and reward which, like a film, a book or
any other artwork, invoke emotions that keep us
engaged with them. When they don't do that, they
have failed.
What virtual currency and freemium models change
is who pays and how much they pay. No longer is
everyone splashing 40 for games that they don't finish.
Instead the deal is that the game is free forever, but you
can progress a lot quicker or get a nice hat if you pay a
few quid. The game is the marketing for the virtual
currency product.
The big fans who play and love the game, pay big
bucks and bring more players to the party. Those that
think your games suck, leave with a full wallet. If those
paying players are fully aware of their spend and aren't
children, that seems a better deal for all.
IS FREE EVIL?
Mobile Pie creative director and Develop columnist
Will Luton on frees moral compass
24,25,26,27 Dev121 Monetisation_final 23/09/2011 15:44 Page 3
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
IN-GAME PAYMENTS | BETA
OCTOBER 2011 | 27
BoxPAY is a global company whose
platform offers video game
developers a self-service mobile
payments solution, which promises to
deliver a user friendly experience to
those that adopt it.
We offer game developers the
ability to charge customers for digital
goods, currency, and content through
their mobile phone bill, instead of a
credit card, explains BoxPAY co-
founder Iain McConnon.
To begin billing using BoxPAY, a
developer simply has to copy the
code we provide into their webpage.
This creates a payment widget which
customers can use to purchase items
using only a mobile phone.
Game developers can sign-up to
BoxPAY and begin billing their global
customer base on the same day.
Consumers, meanwhile, only require
ten seconds to complete a
transaction, and the only information
a user has to provide is a mobile
phone number.
BoxPAY has taken mobile billing
a step further and opened up this
technology to the masses, insists
McConnon of its potential.
Presented as a democratic solution
available to almost any developer
active in todays games industry, the
BoxPAY platform also offers in-depth
reporting and analytics, where a
developer can track its transactions in
real-time.
www.boxpay.com
BOXPAY
SponsorPay provides developers with
an alternative solution to monetising
through traditional micropayments.
In essence, its technology delivers an
advertising solution for revenue
generation via premium content or
virtual currency.
We enable users of social
networks, virtual worlds, mobile apps
as well as online games and services
to earn virtual currency or access to
premium content through
participation in targeted advertising
offers, says Sponsorpays Director of
Marketing Projjol Banerjea.
The most significant difference
between SponsorPays approach and
that of its contemporaries is that the
companys products are targeted at
non-paying users, such as those
customers who are reluctant to part
with real money for virtual goods or
premium services.
We make it possible for publishers
to monetise these users who form the
dominant percentage of their
customer base usually between 90
and 98 per cent for the average
freemium approach and convert
them to paying users, reveals
Banerjea about its advantages.
SponsorPays latest product
BrandEngage allows the presentation
of targeted video and interactive
content within the game environment
and has been designed to improve
user engagement.
www.sponsorpay.com
SPONSORPAY
As one of Europe's largest online
payment systems providers, Skrill is
also among the world's largest
independent digital wallet providers,
and has more than twenty million
account holders.
The digital wallet enables any
customer to make online payments
conveniently and securely without
revealing personal financial data, as
well as send and receive money online
cost-effectively simply by using an
email address, says chief executive
Martin Ott.
Skrills worldwide payment network
offers businesses access to direct
payment processing via over 100
payment options in more than 200
countries and territories through just
one integration. That, says its creators,
brings a clear time and cost-saving
advantage to all merchants wishing to
expand their operations throughout
the world.
Our global payment options and
the simple one-contract-one-shop
integration have been cited as the main
reason why a lot of our biggest gaming
customers switch from their existing
payment providers, suggests Ott.
Skrill, which recently secured a deal
with MineCraft outfit Mojang
Specifications, also believes its
platform is as applicable to smaller
studios looking to widen their global
reach as it is for large-scale operations
with a wealth of experience.
www.moneybookers.com
SKRILL
While not a payment platform
provider, Games Analytics still offers a
service that could prove extremely
useful to those exploring new ways
of generating revenues for them
games without adopting the
traditional model of payment at initial
point of purchase.
In effect it is a complete analytics
platform that allows web, social,
mobile and online PC developers and
publishers to understand player
behaviour through data driven
insight. Games Analytics purports to
improve player satisfaction, revenue,
retention and virality.
We collect and analyse millions of
data events within each game to allow
games publishers to make informed
decisions that will optimise the
success of their online games,
explains Games Analytics CEO Chris
Wright. We also use a number of
techniques including behavioural
segmentation and predictive
modelling to get a much better
understanding of how players are
using the game on an individual
player basis. The key is to treat players
as unique individuals and not look at
the mass as an amorphous lump.
The company believes its sweet
spot is the free-to-play model, which it
says has the best opportunity to
monetise the player and many
interesting ways of interacting with
the playing community.
www.gamesanalytics.com
GAMES ANALYTICS
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I
ts impossible to think of the recent
history of the Scottish games industry
without pondering what happened at
Realtime Worlds.
But to judge the nations game
development sector based purely on the
large scale collapse of a single studio is
grossly unfair. If those at the top of some of
Scotlands most proactive studios are to be
believed, theres rarely been a better time to
make games in the country.
And, say the studio heads most ingrained
in the Scottish dev scene, it is the regions
diversity that is its strength.
I dont believe one studio model or
development method typifies Scotland, says
Sean Taylor, producer at Denki, which has
made games in the area for 11 years.
I think its very easy to conclude that
Scotland equals Rockstar North plus loads
of wee studios in Dundee cranking out
mobile games.
But that not only ignores the sustained
success of handheld developers like
Firebrand Games in Glasgow, and also the
interesting directions people like Hunted
Cow with their web games, and Veemee,
who work on Playstation Home.
In fact, Denkis home town of Dundee
alone is host to a wealth of diverse and
varied game developers. 4J Studios is
currently at work there porting Minecraft to
Xbox 360, not far from the offices of the likes
of eeGeo, Ruffian and Tag Games; all of them
very different studios working on utterly
distinct projects.
THE SPICE OF LIFE
Scotland has studios serving every possible
platform or outlet for interactive
entertainment from lone developers on
small-scale Flash games to large companies
working on high-end console titles, offers
Outplay Entertainment co-founder Richard
Hare, who with his brother Douglas is
building what could become one of
Scotlands largest studios.
Theres no doubt that the gaming
landscape has changed dramatically in
recent years with the emergence of social
networks, extremely capable mobile
devices, tablets, and their associated app
marketplaces.
Scotland is encountering the same issues
and opportunities faced by developers from
all around the world in that we all need
make sure were selling what people,
whether they are consumers of publishers,
are buying.
In that turbulent marketplace, Scottish
educators including those at the globally
recognised University of Abertay are
noticing an encouraging trend. Scotland has
become a hotbed of new start-ups
established by ambitious development
young guns.
The Scottish games industry is thriving,
offers Abertay professor Dr Louis Natanson.
Thats particularly as new opportunities
open up with direct digital distribution for
iOS and Android, as well as gaming on
Facebook and other social networks. The
shift weve particularly noticed is our most
exceptional students now talk about how
theyre going to start their own business,
and why they want to stay in Dundee to do
just that.
Until recently the countrys reputation
was as a console development stronghold
after all, Scotland is the original home of
GTA. Times are changing, though, and today
it is becoming home to an increasing
number of mobile studios.
Now Dundee has a huge variety of
studios working on console, mobile, social,
TV and many other platforms, from single
person start-ups to established medium
sized studios we have it all, says Paul Farley,
CEO of mobile specialist and Dundee
stalwart Tag Games.
In the last year there has been an
explosion in the amount of microstudios,
adds Colin Riley, games technology director
of tools outfit and compiler specialist
Codeplay. That being said, you still have the
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
SCOTLAND FOCUS | BETA
OCTOBER 2011 | 29
In association with:
Despite the high-profile problems suffered at
Realtime Worlds, Scotland remains one of the
globes most resilient game development
hubs, as Will Freeman discovers
Douglas (left) and Richard
Hare (right) of Outplay
Entertainment meet with
Scotlands First Minister
Alex Salmond
Scotland is
encountering the
same issues and
opportunities faced by
developers from all
around the world.
Richard Hare, Outplay
Great Scots
29,30,32,33,34 DEV121 Scotland_final 23/09/2011 16:36 Page 1
30 | OCTOBER 2011
BETA | SCOTLAND FOCUS
UK Government minister
for universities and science
David Willets meets Proper
Games CEO Paddy Sinclair
(below) at Abertay
In association with:
likes of Rockstar North, Ruffian, Proper and
Firebrand developing big-name games.
There is currently quite a nice mix, and social
is becoming a larger part of it with new
players Outplay and eeGeo appearing.
If nothing else, the Scottish industry has
proven its ability to quickly adapt to
changes in the games market.
COMMUNITY MATTERS
Ask anyone employed in the Scottish games
industry, however, and they will tell you
Scotlands developers are collectively
capable than much more than diversity of
specialty and studio model.
Of late the new IGDA chapter in Scotland
has been welcoming upwards of 100 visitors
to its events, and the University of Abertays
famous Dare to be Digital talent contest has
become a recognised launch pad for success
in the games industry. The sense of
community there is intense, and in the eyes
of the Scottish Government the industry is
recognised as hugely important.
We are a proper community and we tend
not to close ourselves off from each other,
states former Cohort man and current head
of Gamify Consultancy Lol Scragg.
We can lend each other staff and we
always support each other. We do get great
support here in Dundee specifically from
Scottish Enterprise which provides access to
grant funding and advice.
The IGDA Scottish chapter has recently
had a resurgence due to Hazel McKendrick
and Kraig Walker, two students well known
to game developers, and has had fantastic
turnouts, adds Codeplays Riley on the
matter. I was invited to speak at their events
along with other Scottish industry figures.
The social aspect in Edinburgh has got a
boost after Alex Waterston of Haiku
Interactive and myself decided to have a
meet up which has transformed into
@GameDevEd, and it gets quite a large
amount of people meeting up for chats and
game-related banter bi-weekly.
The emergence of the IGDA in Scotland
has made it far easier for aspiring developers
to connect with Scottish studios, meaning
more than in other hubs, getting noticed in
the country is relatively speaking an
achievable task.
Community is something everyone in
Scotland seems keen to highlight, but there
is equal passion to talk about another local
trait; resilience.
There seems to be
fewer people
departing the Scottish
industry to the other game
hotspots around
the world which
is great.
Richard Scott, Axis Animation
The University of Abertays links with the
Scottish games industry dont stop with
games development courses and contests
like Dare to be Digital.
The institution also offers grants to
developers in the country looking for a leg-
up as they establish their reputation and
build a business. Just last month Abertays
Prototype Fund provided Proper Games
with a 25,000 cash injection; a significant
enough act to see it announced by UK
Government minister for universities and
science, David Willets.
I feel very proud of how our company
has grown over the last few years and I
relish such opportunities to tell our story
and showcase the quality of work that our
talented team are producing, said Paddy
Sinclair, CEO of Proper Games. Receiving
confirmation of the Prototype Fund
investment from Abertay University is
really great news and we look forward to
getting this project underway.
Providing a launch pad for studios
looking to flesh out new concepts,
Abertays Prototype Fund was conceived to
support youthful creative companies
demonstrating high-growth potential. The
ultimate goal of the fund is to better position
the likes of developers to attract additional
investment and establish projects underway.
prototypefund.abertay.ac.uk
PROPER GENEROUS
Artwork commisioned for
trade body Interactive
Scotland, which assists
digital media business
across the country
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32 | OCTOBER 2011
BETA | SCOTLAND FOCUS
A speaker on stage at the
increasingly influencial
NEoN digital arts festival,
which includes numerous
games elements
The Scots are resilient, and throughout
the recent tough times we have seen the
demise of studios in Scotland, some high
profile and some not so, confirms Richard
Scott, managing director, executive
producer and founder of Axis Animation,
the company behind the infamous Dead
Island trailer.
The one thing that always seems to
happen though is that from those studios
closing other studios spring up quickly with
new business models and new levels of
determination. There seems to be fewer
people departing the Scottish industry to
the other game hotspots around the world
which is great to see, people want to be
successful in Scotland.
And with resilience comes the courage to
experiment; something the wider Scottish
Government is famed for, which apparently
filters down to the games industry.
Certainly the Scottish scene encourages
experimentation in the interactive arena,
says Outplays Douglas Hare. The close-knit
community also provides good support for
new ventures, as well the government
assistance and relationships with the
universities. All of this provides a great
canvas for developers located in Scotland.
WELL SCHOOLED
If there is one area where Scotlands
development industry shines most, it must
be its games education. Abertay stakes a
claim to crafting the worlds first game
development university course, and remains
one of the worlds most acclaimed sources
for specifically trained talent.
One very fortunate thing about Scotland
is that we have universities like Abertay,
Glasgow Caledonian and the University of
the West of Scotland, and theyre producing
some fantastic talent, says Andy Cambell,
founder and CEO of SpecialMove, a recruiter
based in Scotland with a global reach.
Local companies have been able to build
long-term relationships with the universities
to ensure that the students leave very work
ready. The students are recognised as being
highly skilled and highly desirable. We can
only hope here in Scotland that those
students choose to stay.
Almost every games company based in
Scotland can count Abertay graduates
amongst its staff, and praise for the institute
along with some of its contemporaries is
absolutely unanimous.
The University of Abertay Dundee is
leading the way with its industry-focused
courses, and Duncan of Jordanstone is one
of the UKs top art schools, asserts Alan
Dobson, business development officer at
Dundee City Council. Abertay have created
Dare to be Digital and Dare Protoplay, whilst
Dundee College has state of the art digital
media facilities. The Prototype fund is here
also supporting new developments from
The University of Abertay Dundee.
As a result, says Outplays Douglas Hare,
Scotland is a fantastic location for aspiring
developers to establish themselves.
In addition to world-class game-related
courses, many companies offer summer
internships we pay as well and on-going
work experience placements, he says. There
are various competitions, most notably Dare
to be Digital, which can help propel talented
teams and individuals into the limelight and
there are numerous companies hiring at any
given time looking to give graduates their
first break into the industry.
The recruitment fair Game In Scotland,
which is held in Dundee each year, is a
further boon for both raw talent and
headcount hungry studios, and is well
attended by both.
It's a great place for aspiring developers
and has a good mix of studio needing
talent, states Codeplays Riley. This year's
event even had a mod team on the floor
asking for volunteers, which is a fantastic
way of building up portfolios and was my
own entry into the industry.
In terms of attracting existing talent from
further afield, Scotland always has studios
on the rise and theyre always looking to
secure some great talent, adds
SpecialMoves Campbell. That means its
always liquid here. Theres a continual flow
to recruitment here. Its a very good for
finding work and finding talent.
New companies like Outplay
Entertainment, which has ambitious plans
underway to build a studio that over a
course of a two or three-year period hopes
to employ about 120 people, typifies the
kind of opportunities blossoming in todays
Scottish games development sector.
DUNDEE CALLING
Whats more, game development flourishes
across Scotland, with studios in Glasgow,
Edinburgh and Aberdeen blooming.
However, it is Dundee that remains the
nations most productive industry hub.
Given the amazing gaming culture and
hub that exists here there is nowhere else in
Scotland that makes as much sense for a
games studio than Dundee, claims Tag
Games Farley. Not only do we have the
historical legacy of the first generation of
games companies such as DMA, Vis and
Visual Science; you have a wide range of
present day benefits.
Theres no doubt Dundee has a rich
heritage in video games, and a distinct
Along with Edinburgh Interactive, the
NEoN Digital Arts Festival has become one
of Scotlands most noteworthy games
industry-relevant events.
Taking place in Dundee a city
considered by many as the Scottish
gaming capital this November, it brings
together professionals who work with
moving image, performance, music and
technology-driven arts.
NEoN is an important date in the UK
calendar as its location involves all the
companies at the heart of Scotlands
gaming community, attending and
showcasing what Scotland has to offer,
says Dundee City Council business
development officer Alan Dobson.
It offers attendees the chance to
connect with international trendsetters
and listen to talks from the worlds leading
industry movers and shakers. Attending
provides workshops and talks relevant to
the sector, as well as great networking
opportunities and connections to peers.
NEoN attempts to provide a forum for
the exchange of knowledge in areas such
as new business models, digital
developments and the latest production
techniques. It celebrates on the notion that
art, digital media and gaming can come
together to explore new collaborations and
open up new and exciting projects, and,
insists Dobson, its not a typical conference.
The festival element ensures that
participants have a really memorable
experience whilst in Dundee, as well as
learning, business opportunities and
networking, says Dobson. And not
forgetting, theres the games air poker
night event.
NEoN 2011 takes place from November
5th to 13th at venues and public spaces
across Dundee.
www.northeastofnorth.com
BRIGHT MINDS
Companies have
been able to build
long-term relationships
with the universities to
ensure the students
leave work ready.
Paul Farley, Tag Games
In association with:
29,30,32,33,34 DEV121 Scotland_final 23/09/2011 16:37 Page 3
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
SCOTLAND FOCUS | BETA
OCTOBER 2011 | 33
The University of Abertay
(top) and its Hive 3D
computing suite (above)
blend of development companies perhaps
without parallel in Europe.
We are now in position where there is an
eclectic community of companies working
within different markets. We also have
innovative companies here entering
markets ahead of the curve that are always
growing, and producing great games on a
number of platforms, offers Dundee City
Councils Dobson.
POWERS THAT BE
Scottish game developers are also the
benefactors of a progressive government
attitude, and the support of a number of
high profile trade bodies.
Outplay Entertainment was even party to
a visit by Scotlands First Minister Alex
Salmond, who tops a system of
organisations that are open-minded to the
benefits of playing host to a games industry
that brings in more than 30 million every
year to the countrys economy.
To make the most of this opportunity, it's
important that Scottish Enterprise helps
existing home grown games companies
realise their ambitious growth plans and
encourages more companies to invest in
Scotland, says Joyce Matthew, account
manager at Scottish Enterprise, which serves
as the main economic development agency
in the UKs most northerly nation.
It's our job to highlight Scotland's global
reputation as a key player within the games
industry a key player that boasts the talent,
infrastructure and skills to deliver success
and to create the right environment for the
sector to continue thriving.
Scottish Enterprise has identified the
creative industries including digital media
and games as a source of huge potential
for the Scottish economy. The organisation
offers a range of services, including support
for those looking to attend trade shows, and
financial and non-financial help for local
game companies of every kind.
Certainly, Scotlands game companies
seem that their potential is well recognised
by at a government level.
I think there is high awareness of the
industry and what it contributes to the
economy and how it sends a message
worldwide, offers Axis Animations Scott.
We have had some very positive
conversations with national government
recently and a lot of that is fuelled by the
level of non UK work we are doing, the
government are keen to see exports and the
games industry can really deliver there.
Organisations like Codeplay also talk of a
positive experience with government and
trade bodies, having secured grants from
Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Development
International and the European Commission.
Tigas presence in Scotland has also been a
great help, and the countrys stand at GDC
organised by SDI has proved a great cost-
effective way of having a base at GDC.
The Scottish games industry has long
been good at supporting itself, claims
SpecialMoves Campbell. Bodies like
Scottish Development International,
Scottish Enterprise and Tayside Interactive
have all been great at supporting the local
games companies, and they really do care
passionately that there as an industry sector
employing staff here.
Scotlands games industry is full of
positivity, and theres a strong sense that
the country has emerged from a challenging
time stronger and more confident.
The last word, then, goes to one of
Scoptlands longest serving games
companies, Denki.
The entire landscape of the industry has
changed beyond all recognition over the
past few years and I think the next couple of
years will see a continuation of this, says
Denki producer Taylor.
The challenge facing each Scottish
developer is to find their place in this
evolving industry, then to continually prove
their relevance. Im very excited to see what
exactly these shifts are and how Denki and
other Scottish developers react to them.
We have innovative
companies entering
markets ahead of the curve
that are always growing,
and producing
great games.
Alan Dobson, Dundee Council
In association with:
29,30,32,33,34 DEV121 Scotland_final 23/09/2011 16:37 Page 4
34 | OCTOBER 2011
BETA | SCOTLAND FOCUS
In association with:
What happened at
Realtime Worlds is not a
Scottish problem but an
industry-wide one. The list
of studios with the
continued capability to fund, develop
and deliver truly triple-A titles is
shrinking all the time.
Sean Taylor,
Producer, Denki
I think the circumstances
and the outcome of that
story are very much
exceptional relative to the
industry at large, let alone
the Scottish industry.
Douglas Hare,
Co-Founder, Outplay Entertainment
What happened was very
much an exception
Realtime Worlds was a
symptom of the changing
landscape, from big
games on console and PC through to
much lighter development for
handheld, mobile and social
gaming platforms.
Dr Louis Natanson,
University of Abertay
Realtime Worlds is an
exceptional case. Of
course, Scotland has seen
its various low points with
studios going under.
However, Realtime Worlds had a
high-risk project and it didn't work
out. What's really exciting is the
amount of companies appearing
from the ashes of these studios.
Colin Riley,
Games Technology Director,
Codeplay
Realtime Worlds was
indeed an exceptional
case, built inside a $100m
bubble of unreality.
Whilst its demise serves as
a humbling lesson to us all, it had
very little in common with the
structure, products, business models
and process you see at most of the
Scottish studios.
Paul Farley,
CEO, Tag Games
The decline of Realtime
Worlds was a sad story for
the UK industry and of
course Dundee as they
where based here, but the
sector has gone through a
number of cycles before. We believe
with the talent pull, skills and
infrastructure this sector will survive
and evidence of this has been shown
by the number of new spin outs and
start-ups created from the ashes of
Realtime Worlds
Alan Dobson,
Business Development Officer,
Dundee City Council
As far as I am aware, no
other independent
Scottish developers have
taken that level of
investment so I think I am
safe in saying it was an exceptional
case. Unfortunately the ramifications
of their decline does seem to be used
a fair bit when games and Scotland
are mentioned, especially by the local
and national press who dont seem
that interested in the successful and
growing independent studios we
have up here.
Lol Scragg,
Founder, Gamify Consultancy
CONTACT BOOK
Looking for contacts in the
Scottish games industry?
Develop has it covered
DENKI
Specialty: Game development
Key products: Quarrel, Denki Blocks
Tel: +44 (0)1382 308 645
Email: denki@denki.co.uk
URL: www.denki.co.uk
UNIVERSITY OF ABERTAY
Specialty: Games development education
Tel: +44 (0)1382 308000
Email: institute@abertay.ac.uk
URL: www.abertay.ac.uk
CODEPLAY
Specialty: Tools
Key Products: Offload Compiler
Tel: +44 (0)131 466 0503
Email: info@codeplay.com
URL: www.codeplay.com
AXIS ANIMATION
Specialty: Animation
Key Projects: The Dead Island trailer
Tel: +44(0)141 572 2802
Email: enquiries@axisanimation.com
URL: www.axisanimation.com
GAMIFY CONSULTANCY
Specialty: Consulting
Tel: +44(0)7738 960492
Email: lol@gamifyconsultancy.com
URL: www.gamifyconsultancy.com
OUTPLAY ENTERTAINMENT
Specialty: Game development
Key Product: Word Trick
URL: www.outplayentertainment.com
SPECIALMOVE
Specialty: Recruitment
Tel: +44 (0)141 530 4555
Email: admin@specialmove.com
URL: www.specialmove.com
TAG GAMES
Specialty: Mobile games development
Key Products: Car Jack Streets, Doctor
Who: The Mazes of Time
Tel: +44 (0)1382 220925
Email: info@tag-games.com
URL: www.tag-games.com
OTHER USEFUL CONTACTS:
Dundee City Council:
www.dundeecity.gov.uk
Interactive Tayside:
www.interactivetayside.com
NEoN Digital Arts Festival:
www.northeastofnorth.com
Scottish Development International:
www.sdi.co.uk
Scottish Enterprise:
www.scottish-enterprise.com
Scottish Gaming Blog
www.scottishgames.net
Was Realtime Worlds
demise a moment that
typifies the Scottish
games sector, on an
exceptional case?
Scotlands industry
insiders have their say
THE REALITY OF
REALTIME
29,30,32,33,34 DEV121 Scotland_final 23/09/2011 16:37 Page 5
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WHEN THE chairman of Google warns that
the UK is throwing away your great
computer heritage its time to sit up and
take notice.
Eric Schmidt is right. Education from
school level through to university needs to
embrace both art and computer science, and
create graduates with a thorough
understanding of how different subject areas
overlap and interact.
Scotland has a great example of how to do
this, benefiting both the game development
industry and aspiring students. At Abertay
University, the home of Dare to be Digital, we
do things differently. Artists and
programmers work together to create games;
not dry coursework assignments.
Our industry, and the economy, need
graduates who are productive from day one
in a business. That might be someone elses
company or their own.
SKILLS FOR THE FUTURE
The excellent Livingstone-Hope Next Gen
review set out what the UK needs for its
video games and visual effects industries to
lead the world. A key recommendation is to
roll out Abertays Dare to be Digital model of
workplace simulation nationwide.
Why this works so well is that it blurs the
boundaries of traditional education and on-
the-job training. Our approach to education
is a living, breathing thing that is constantly
evolving as we work with industry to meet
changing skills needs.
It all started with DMA Design legends
David Jones and Russell Kay approaching
Abertay University in the 90s, arguing that
Dundees emergence as a major force in
computer games needed a bigger talent pool
to thrive. After Lemmings and Grand Theft
Auto, it was clear Dundee had talent. It just
needed more.
As the worlds first computer games
degrees, Abertays courses were always
intended to be different: a mix of tough
academic standards, a focus on hard maths
and physics, and an introduction to the
challenges of working life, where artists,
audio engineers and programmers need to
collaborate harmoniously.
It may sound obvious, but this industry-
focused education remains rare.
DARE TO BE DIFFERENT
Why is the Dare to be Digital model of
education so different? Why are Dare
contestants and Abertay graduates such a
keen target for recruitment?
First and foremost, their real-world
experience sets them apart. Too much
education is focused just on a single subject.
Implicit throughout our educational system is
the idea that subjects are distinct, and that art
is therefore separate from maths and physics.
What the game development industry and
the economy need is the complete opposite
of this, as Googles boss says.
Dare to be Digital distils a production cycle
down to just nine weeks, pushing student
teams to deliver fully playable game
prototypes to a fixed deadline.
Their prototypes then go on display to the
public, engaging students with user testing
and the simple commercial truth that great
ideas arent always great business. The
audience must be thrilled, excited and
engaged to buy your product.
Our Professional Masters degree takes this
idea one step further scaling up the Dare
experience to a full year. Tutors act as mentor
and business client, setting commercial
briefs. The teams manage themselves, just as
if they were running a small studio.
What weve seen from years of students
going straight into the industry is this
approach works brilliantly. Everyone benefits.
THE NEXT STEPS
Research firm Gartner predicts that global
spending on games software and hardware
will jump from $67 billion in 2010 to $112
billion in 2015. How can the UK take more
than its fair share of that massive increase?
Skills are central to this, alongside
cultivating a more entrepreneurial culture,
improving the tax environment, and
increasing access to angel investors and
venture capital right across Britain not just
in the south of England.
Engaging education right across the age
range is critical. Schools in the UK have lost
touch with our computer heritage
proficiency in Word and Excel will not make
us world leaders again. But David Brabens
admirable Raspberry Pi project to bring USB-
sized computers into schools could.
Access at home and at school to ZX
Spectrums from Dundees Timex factory, along
with an after-school club, launched two of the
biggest game franchises the world has seen
Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto. Just imagine
what bringing programmable, portable
computer to every schoolchild could do.
36 | OCTOBER 2011
BETA | SCOTLAND FOCUS
Abertay University, the
home of Dare to be Digital
and the worlds first
computer games degrees
Education, education, education
Blurring the boundaries between education and employment is the key to a world beating UK games industry, argues
Dr Louis Natanson of University of Abertay, and Scotland is leading the way
What weve seen
from years of
students going straight into
the industry is this
approach works
brilliantly. Everyone
benefits.
In association with:
Dr Louis Natanson leads
computer games education at
Abertay University.
www.abertay.ac.uk
36 Dev121 Scotland Abertay_final 23/09/2011 12:05 Page 1
xx MCVxxx_v1_Layout 1 22/09/2011 14:11 Page 1
DESPITE WORKINGfor six years on what might
be the most famous casual gaming IPs in the
world, the inner workings of PopCaps Dublin
still studio remain something of a mystery.
In the heart of a city that also plays home
to Google and Facebook offices, the
European headquarters of the company
behind giant brands like Peggle, Bejeweled
and Plants Vs Zombies houses an ever-
growing workforce. But little is known of the
creative culture, people and practices at the
outfit recently acquired as part of an EA deal
worth a reported $1 billion.
In Dublin some 80 PopCap employees
half of whom are from outside of Ireland are
busily adapting existing properties and
crafting original titles. Three months ago they
were 50 in number, and by 2012 their ranks
will have swelled to over 100.
AUTONOMY FOR
THE PEOPLE
In fact, so successful is
PopCap Dublin as a
studio, that it has now
earned itself a significant
degree of independence
from the Seattle base that is
the companys global HQ. As
well as developing games,
the office on Irelands east
coast has its own localisation
department, PR team, and all
the other elements that allow
it to operate as a self-
sufficient studio.
The studio here is younger than the
Seattle studio, so we do look to it for a few
things, such as to source any technical
knowledge we may not have here, says
Dublin studio general manager Paul Breslin.
But then we are very much autonomous in
that we have our own teams and specific
game projects, and these teams work fairly
autonomously, occasionally reaching out to
Seattle for any knowledge sharing.
Part of the reason for that independence is
PopCap Dublins track record with
regard to its specialty:
smartphone development.
While the studio isnt restricted
to portable devices, its efforts
on mobile are what affords
the outfit its self-
determination, says
senior game designer
Dave Bishop.
Weve earned our freedom from Seattle
over the last couple of years, he asserts. If
you looked back two years ago, here we were
adapting PopCap games for mobile. That was
really the focus of this studio, and then they
made the decision that they effectively
wanted to create PopCap in a box here in
Dublin, so that we could have some creative
and developmental autonomy.
For that reason the studio opted to install
someone creatively who could be an
opposite number to the key creative team in
Seattle, picking Bishop for the role.
And it seems that they have succeeded in
building that studio in a box. On a recent visit
to Ireland, EAs infamous CEO John Riccitiello
declared PopCap Dublin a company in its
own right. With the new boss suitably
impressed, the Dublin team are clearly doing
something striking.
While the PopCap Shanghai operation is
more autonomous, the Dublin base has still
begun to blossom into being one of the most
significant and influential casual studios on
the planet.
Part of the reason, argues Breslin, is an
increased focus on game design.
ITS IN THE GAMES
Weve got a number of designers here, and
thats evolved over the past few years, he
explains. We now have three very strong
designers on board, and that has changed
our ability to create new IP and new IP
adaptations. Around those individuals were
building teams to create games.
38 | OCTOBER 2011
BETA | POPCAP DUBLIN
PopCap Dublins studio
general manager Paul
Breslin (top) and senior
game designer Dave
Bishop are confident the
EA acquisition is a good
thing for the company
Pop stars
Will Freemantakes a look behind the doors of PopCaps European
HQ in Dublin, and meets the staff earning their right to autonomy
in the wake of the recent EA acquisition
We are very much
autonomous we
have our own teams and
specific game projects,
occasionally reaching out to
Seattle for any
knowledge sharing
Paul Breslin, PopCap
PopCaps hip Dublin office
houses a constantly
growing workforce,
current over 80 in number
38,39 Dev121 Popcap_final 22/09/2011 09:11 Page 1
But what of PopCaps sometimes
controversial new owners? It would be
reasonable to assume that with Electronic
Arts now at the helm, the waters of
autonomy at PopCap Dublin could be upset
just as they are settling.
The studios staff, however, are confident
EAs role can only be beneficial.
The company culture wont be changed,
and that PopCap magic is part of our culture,
offers Breslin. None of that will be touched.
But what does change is that EA gives us the
ability to accelerate our plans to get our
games into more peoples hands. Theres
8,000 people at EA, and EAi, which were a
division of, has a very good distribution
capability. We can now tap into that
distribution network and get more of our
games out there.
Physically, the EA acquisition will have very
little effect on PopCap Dublin. The team will
remain in their current building, and for the
foreseeable future are unlikely to find
themselves sharing space with EAs Irish
Bioware operation. EAs capacity to localise
into huge numbers of languages will be a
significant boon to the team,
and the giant publishers
experience with
platforms that PopCap
has only really touched on
such as Android is
something that has Breslin
and his colleagues feeling
clearly optimistic.
But there was some scepticism
from PopCap staff about EAs
influence. The Dublin team,
however, insist Riccitiello and his
colleagues have done much to
reassure them that they will
keep a hold on creative
freedom and the cherished
company culture.
Bishop, for example, isnt afraid to
admit he wasnt sure how EAs
influence would manifest itself.
Id known lots of people at Bullfrog and
lots of people at Westwood, he says. But I
think this is a different EA to that era.
Riccitiello and everybody else like Barry
Cottle went to great lengths, sometimes in
person, to emphasise that PopCap was being
bought because of what it is and how it does
things; theyre not just buying the rights to
some brands.
I take Riccitiello at his word, and I know
people at Playfish, and it seems that in recent
times, for the most part, EAs acquisitions
have been left to be who they are. I dont
have that many concerns.
In fact, theres even personal excitement
within the EA walls about the opportunities
the deal might bring about.
Who knows; one day we might want to
take an EA property that no one else has
touched, says Bishop with a smile,
before making clear hes allowing
himself to stray from the company
line. I would love to do Dungeon
Keeper on iPad. That would be
awesome. Maybe one day Ill send
an email to Mr Riccitiello and
suggest it. Never say never.
Just nine months ago PopCaps
biggest challenge was
where to go next. Ideas and
ambitions were plentiful, but
to take on everything at
once was close to impossible. Today, on the
shoulders of EA, that is no longer an issue,
insist the senior staff.
Globally the company which once spent
three months working on the speed the
gems fall in Bejeweled is preparing for
significant and rapid growth.
MORE IS MORE
Inspired by a belief that the more they
deliver, the more autonomy theyll enjoy, the
Dublin staff are creating higher numbers of
games for a wider range of
devices than ever before, and
are focusing intently on
social connectedness as
they build their reputation
as PopCaps centre for
excellence in smartphone.
We want to do more
here in Dublin,
concludes Breslin.
We want to create
more games and
were now nicely set up to do
that. We have a number of
teams working on both new titles
and adaptations of our existing IPs right
now. Weve just got a new floor here
were going to open up, and well be
hiring people to fill that space and create
more games. Were very ambitious
and the road ahead is there for us to
make full use of.
www.popcap.com
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 39
POPCAP DUBLIN | BETA
Riccitiello went to
great lengths,
sometimes in person, to
emphasise that PopCap was
being bought because of
what it is and how it
does things.
Dave Bishop, PopCap
SETTING UP POPCAMP
PopCaps creative approach is a bold
one. It will not be hurried when it
comes to making games, and it is
famously not afraid to try new ideas
and can them if they dont work.
That approach is very much part of
the studios success, but it does
mean staff can see themselves
working on a project for many years.
That considered, PopCamp has been
created to serve as a creative release.
The quarterly PopCamp events see
staff step away from their usual roles and work in small teams to
create games internally in a week-long game design challenge.
The project is partly for fun, partly to inspire creativity, and
potentially to see future fully fledged PopCap releases conceived.
Typically when were working on a proper PopCap game
everything is really polished, but when it comes to PopCamp
everything is really immediate, explains artist Riana McKeith
(above). You dont have time to polish to such an extent,
because everyone is concentrating on making really fun, working
games that give an idea of where it could go. Art-wise that really
gives me an opportunity to take a chance and do things a bit mad.
PopCamp means that new IP can now come from anywhere,
adds Dublin studio general manager Paul Breslin. Were open to
working on the ideas that start there and see them bubble up all
the way if they have the potential.
Everyone is concentrating on making
really fun, working on games that give
an idea of where it could go.
38,39 Dev121 Popcap_final 22/09/2011 09:11 Page 2
AS AN EMERGING expert in the world of
racing rodents, I spoke recently at Develop
and GDC Europe 2011 about Playniac's
approach to preparing squirrels for
international competition, and found that
there was plenty of interest in the
techniques we were developing.
We introduced what I call interactive
wireframes for International Racing Squirrels,
a game commissioned by Channel 4 which
launches in autumn 2011. Other game
designers are already talking about applying
them, and students want to employ them in
their coursework.
The interactive wireframe really helped
the commissioning team at Channel 4
visualise and understand the game, the
mechanic and the user journeys that
Playniac was building. Even at a very early
stage, the broadcasters staff could take
away a sence of how things would work
once the game had been completed.
So what are interactive wireframes, how
do they differ from previous ways of
specifying games, and how can developers
use them in storytelling mode to do very
early user testing?
THE DISTANT PAST: USE CASES
We started off using use-cases and applied
them in various productions including Lost
Army of FuShi, an action puzzle game for BBC
Bitesize; and Alien Farm, a multi-user,
collaborative, alien herding game for CBBC.
For each element in the game, the use-case
explains in writing a users intentions, the
action they will take and the results.
Use-cases look like a handy tool for
detailing game features, but we found that in
practice they quickly became large
documents that were difficult to maintain.
They are painstaking to write and, worst of
all, no one really wants to read them. Though
excellent at specifying functionality very
precisely, they leave little room to manoeuvre
in game implementation.
The main issue was that they didnt give a
sense of what the game was like to play or
how the games graphical user interface (GUI)
might be laid out, so we decided we needed
to find a more visual technique.
THE RECENT PAST: STATIC WIREFRAMES
Many readers will be familiar with wireframes,
and we have used them for projects such as
Journey to Fossil Island, an ecological
adventure quiz game we created working
with British Gas.
This was an episodic game, with missions
for release over several weeks, and the
wireframe diagrams above show the map
view screen. The game features six island
locations that the player visits in turn, and
this wireframe could be created before any of
the locations had been designed or even
named. The wireframe makes the
functionality clear and also hints at the
possible layout of the information on the
screen, without pinning it down.
In the images immediately above you can
see a static wireframe from Journey to Fossil
Island, and how the finished map screen
appeared in the game.
Static wireframes give an immediate visual
sense of the layout of game screens and their
functionality. They also allow some GUI
design to be done early in the project and in
an abstract manner, and are very easy to
understand for both technical and non-
technical readers.
They are useful for communicating the
game to everyone involved and the design
and development teams will use them to
take the game forward.
They are not intended, however, to convey
any design for the finished screens, even if
occasionally they do include some graphical
elements for conciseness. Being diagrammatic,
neither do they convey look and feel or
colour schemes.
Overall we found that, although
supporting user flow diagrams can help, the
approach did not give a good sense of screen
flow and user interaction.
For our next game we decided to take
wireframes one step further.
THE FUTURE: WIREFRAME NARRATIVES
International Racing Squirrels is a race team
management simulation that has the player
running a team of jet-setting squirrels. They
train their squirrels to boost their stats and
upgrade them with accessories from a shop,
before sending them to race up mountains,
across deserts or through futuristic
cityscapes. Behind the gameplay, weve
turned the finances found in games fromSim
City to Game Dev Story up a notch, and
incorporated a realistic model that simulates
real-world consumer finances.
We decided to create an interactive
wireframe where all the buttons on screen
would be active, although none of the game
functionality had been implemented.
We used Adobe Flash CS4, and switched to
AS2 mode to enable us to work entirely on
the tools linear timeline using basic
instructions, rather than having to write any
separate code.
Interactive wireframe screen layouts look
quite similar to their static counterparts, but
users can mouse over to reveal tooltips
showing further information and they can
click to advance to different sections of the
game. The interactive wireframe was created
using Adobe Flash, and delivered to our
team and client via a password-protected
web page.
One of the main screens in International
Racing Squirrels is the home screen, where
the player gets an overview of their game
and can manage their team. They can buy
and upgrade homes and training activities,
view their stats, pay bills, go to races and
more. There was a lot to fit on this screen and
the interactive wireframe also shows
onscreen items in various states.
Though not usually a feature at the
wireframe stage, the diagram on the
opposite page does give a sense of the
intended setting: the background image was
added for this purpose.
40 | OCTOBER 2011
BETA | GAME PLANNING
Rob Davis of Playniac, the
studio behind the
Channel 4 commisioned
International Racing
Squirrels
So many queries can
be resolved by
referring to the interactive
wireframe that in some
senses it can seem as if the
game is producing
itself.
Inside stories
Taking a break from finishing off International
Racing Squirrels, Rob Davis introduces the
concept of wireframe narratives
40,41 Dev121 Wireframe_final 23/09/2011 16:51 Page 1
The completed screen immediately above
brings those features very much into the
world of the game, featuring an up-tree
urban training facility.
For the main race screen we decided early
on that we would not create a first-person
racing game but, as in management sims
such as Championship Manager, we would
allow players to set up their team and then
watch them perform. We provide some
interaction during races in the form of a
performance boosting mini-game and
various power ups.
The wireframe shows the race position
indicator, a loose tribute to Mario Kart, the
overhead track overview, the squirrel cam
showing the team member front-on and the
mini-game. Taking us slightly closer to a
working prototype, we were able to mock up
several versions of the mini-game before
deciding on the final form (below, left).
The finished game screen shows all of
those features in place. On the right above
you can see the Jungle Tree Run race.
Interactive wireframes have all the benefits
of their static predecessors and give a clear
sense of screen flow. They also give some
sense of the game dynamics. They are
extremely easy to understand and incredibly
useful for the design and development teams
as well as the client. So many queries about
the game can be resolved by referring to the
interactive wireframe that in some senses it
can seem as if the game is producing itself.
With some basic Flash knowledge,
interactive wireframes are surprisingly easy to
maintain once set up. They can also be easily
delivered over the web. Although Flash
Professional is our preference, a variety of
tools could be used including Flash Builder,
OmniGraffle, PowerPoint or Keynote; even
HTML or interactive PDFs. There are also
online offerings such as MockingBird.
However in our view they are not as flexible
or powerful as Flash for interactivity.
WIREFRAME STORYTELLING
An additional benefit of interactive
wireframes is that they can be used for live
testing. We found this invaluable to get some
sense of the game in action early on. For the
first time, we took the interactive wireframe
into a very early user test in a London school,
where players ran through the entire game
and using all of its features. Don't forget that
this is a game that doesnt exist yet.
The interactive wireframes were also very
helpful for Channel 4 and Playniacs school
play-testing because, as we all know, showing
people static wireframes just doesnt cut it.
The game is being played in what I'd call
storytelling mode. Off camera a games
master is playing the part of the software,
describing everything that is happening but
not immediately viewable on the screen.
The session is videoed and we observe
how screens and functionality are
understood; and how well intended game
mechanics work.
I was asked by a GDC delegate how this
approach was useful if it can't convey the
excitement or visual experience of playing
the actual game, and so runs the risk of
alienating the tester. We are not, however,
trying to create an entertainment experience
at this stage. By asking the participant to
suspend their disbelief, allow us to tell them a
story and join us in imagining the result, we
are simply trying to understand more about
our game.
www.playracingsquirrels.com
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 41
GAME PLANNING | BETA
Rob Davis is founder and creative director of
Playniac, the team behind International Racing
Squirrels, as well as numerous other projects for
broadcasters, agencies and brands.
www.playniac.com
Left: The interactive
wireframe version of
International Racing
Squirrels home screen,
and the final version of the
same screen in-game
(above)
40,41 Dev121 Wireframe_final 23/09/2011 16:51 Page 2
xx MCVxxx_v1_Layout 1 25/08/2011 10:57 Page 1
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 43
Key Release:
Bigworld
Technology
p44
Unity Focus:
Developing
for Kinect
p51
Heard About:
Forza 4
p53
THE LATEST TOOLS NEWS, TECH UPDATES & TUTORIALS
TUTORIAL:
PARTICLE RENDERING, p52
EPIC DIARIES: BIOWARES MASS EFFECT 3, p49
Remixing games audio
Firelight Technologies plans to shake up games development with the new FMOD Studio, p44
43 Dev121 Build Cover_final 23/09/2011 15:41 Page 1
44 | OCTOBER 2011
Firelight Technologies lead
designer Raymond Biggs
believes that for the
consumer, FMOD Studio
will mean more immersive
gaming experiences
The audio mixer element
of FMOD Studio brings the
production quality of
movies and albums to
game audio design, claim
its creators
BUILD | TOOLS NEWS
What differentiates FMOD Studio from
FMODs previous offerings?
The main difference with FMOD Studio is
how we approached the design. We started
by looking at the tools currently available for
music, film and television digital audio
workstations (DAWs) such as Pro Tools, Logic
and Live and we based our design on the
core ideas these tools share. We wanted
FMOD Studio to have a similar look and feel
but to be tailored specifically for games.
So what about the games audio sector
today means that a tool of this kind is
needed and wanted?
I believe theres real frustration among sound
designers and composers about the tools
currently available for game audio. For those
coming from music, film and television to
games, theres a high barrier to entry because
current tools are just too different from the
ones they use every day.
Meanwhile, those currently working in the
games industry are hamstrung by the lack of
features that are standard for DAWs. With
FMOD Studio were trying to bridge the gap
between these two worlds.
Presumably that means that FMOD Studio
could change the way games audio is
implemented in the future?
If you look at how game audio tools are used
today, youll see that mostly theyre just used
to import and organise assets. Most sound
effects in games are simple random playlists,
even though our tools provide the ability to
make much more dynamic sounds.
I believe a major reason for this is that the
interfaces of game audio tools today just
arent designed for audio creation. They have
more in common with file managers and
databases than audio sequencers and
software mixers.
By designing FMOD Studio to be more like
a DAW, we believe sound designers and
composers will spend more time creating
within the tool and experimenting with
dynamic sounds and music.
And how will it change the games that
consumers play?
Ultimately, we hope FMOD Studio will help
create more immersive and engaging games.
One unique aspect of game audio that sound
designers and composers have to take into
account and try to avoid is listener fatigue
caused by repetition. If sounds and music are
dynamic and ever changing, the player will
feel more engaged with the game.
FMOD Studio is designed specifically for
creating sound effects and music that have
variation and respond dynamically to in-
game action. Potentially, every sound effect
and music track created with FMOD Studio is
its own mini synthesiser.
Why is the virtual mixer element
particularly important to FMOD Studio?
The mixer is actually a very important
creative tool in any audio production.
Creative mixing is really an art in itself and
many highly regarded audio engineers get
paid big bucks to mix the likes of albums and
film soundtracks.
There have been some experiments in the
past to bring mixers to games starting with
in-house tools and more recently in
middleware. But we havent seen anything at
the level youd expect from an audio
workstation or hardware mixer.
The mixer in FMOD Studio is special
because its the most capable mixer ever
created for games. We think it sets the bar for
how games will be mixed in the future.
What other significant features and
abilities does FMOD Studio introduce
beyond the mixer itself?
The other major feature in FMOD Studio is its
multi-track editor. Its a unified editor for
both sound effects and music that supports
flexible track routing, effect chains,
automation of effects by the timeline as well
as game parameters, and tempo automation
for music.
Were also including some long requested
features, such as shared workspaces for
teams, Perforce integration, mixer snapshots
and support for hardware control surfaces.
And its fair to say FMOD Studio will
provide games audio professionals with a
parallel to that of film and TV audio?
Our aim is to reduce the learning curve, not
just for newcomers but for those already
working in the industry with current tools.
If you look at audio tools available outside
of games, they are very mature pieces of
software that share fundamental design
features, conventions and terminology.
But if you look at current audio tools for
games, theyve got more in common with
data entry applications like spreadsheets
than with DAWs.
For someone coming from film or
television its a very steep learning curve
and for those currently in games, a lot of time
is spent figuring out how to do things in the
We believe sound
designers and
composers will spend more
time creating within the
tool, experimenting
with dynamic
sounds and music.
Raymond Biggs, Firelight
Opening the DAW
FMOD Studio is here to bring the digital audio workstation concept closer to games
development. Will Freeman talks to Firelight Technologies lead designer Raymond
Biggs about a tool poised for what promises to be an industry-changing release
44,45 Dev121 Build News_FINAL 22/09/2011 17:01 Page 1
game audio tool they already know how to
do in a DAW.
Weve based the design of FMOD Studio on
those things common to all DAWs and
expanded them to achieve things that are
unique to games. If youre already
comfortable with DAWs, using FMOD Studio
should feel very natural.
Audio teams, of course, work in tandem
with game developers specialising in other
disciplines. How will FMOD studio improve
the interplay between sound teams and
the likes of coders, designers and so on?
I think were seeing a trend, in both internal
tools and middleware, of reducing iteration
times. The best way to see if something works
is to quickly try it and if it doesnt work, try
something else. Accelerating the iteration
process for the audio team gives them more
time to experiment and collaborate with the
art, design, and writing teams.
With FMOD Studio weve actually tried to
eliminate iteration time altogether by
skipping the build step. Our live update
system allows sound designers and
composers to make changes on the fly and
hear them while the game is being played.
Is FMOD Studio exclusively for triple-A
development, or will it offer pricings and a
feature set suitable for smaller studios,
and even indies and microstudios?
From a design standpoint, weve worked hard
to layer the complexity in FMOD Studio.
Although there are some advanced features
that triple-A titles will exploit, there is a core
set of basic features that will be used by
projects large and small. Weve focused on
making these everyday things easy and upfront.
Well be announcing pricing closer to the
release date. However, it will follow our
current pricing philosophy of offering the full
product to everyone free for educational
and non-profit use, and variably priced for
other projects, depending on their size.
What challenges still face those working in
game audio today?
I think a common fight for all of us in game
audio is for bigger budgets. Not just money
although that would help but for system
resources. High quality effects and synthesis
used in the film, TV, and music industries are
computationally expensive the algorithms
are very complex. For example, a reverb effect
of the quality of Waves IR1 convolution
reverb would blow the entire audio CPU
budget for most games and thats just for
one effect.
However, we are beginning to see greater
value placed on game audio as attention
increases from the press and from gamers.
Were also on the verge of the next console
cycle with the muscled up Wii U launching
next year. Its a very exciting time to be in
game audio and I think were going to be
blown away by advances both technical
and artistic in the next few years.
How important is integration with other
tools and technology to FMOD Studio?
Its easy to forget when youve got your head
stuck in developing a tool that youre only
one stop in a much larger pipeline. FMOD
Studio sits between the DAW and the game
engine, so anything we can do to improve the
flow of content will help speed up the process.
FMOD is already integrated with all the
major game engines, and well be looking to
continue those integrations with FMOD
Studio. Additionally, features like the live
update system will allow sound designers
and composers to get content into the game
almost instantly.
In terms of technology weve been lucky to
have attracted some really great partners;
companies like Dolby, iZotope and Audio
Gaming have incredible technology far
beyond anything we could do in-house. We
know our own limits and we can rise
beyond them by working with great partners.
www.fmod.org
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 45
TOOLS NEWS | BUILD
In designing FMOD
Studio to be more like a
DAW, Firelight
Technologies hopes sound
designers and composers
will feel able to spend
more time experimenting
with dynamic sounds
and music.
Features like the live
update system will
allow game sound
designers and composers to
get content into the
game almost
instantly.
Raymond Biggs, Firelight
44,45 Dev121 Build News_FINAL 22/09/2011 17:01 Page 2
46 | OCTOBER 2011
BUILD | MMO TECHNOLOGY
FOR THOSE considering the creation of a new
MMO, BigWorld Technology presents a
tempting offer.
The result of ten years work, the tech
outfits middleware platform is designed
specifically for developing massively
multiplayer and other online games. It
provides users with an infamously highly
scalable server capable of supporting
millions of players, a 3D client that promises
to deliver an increasingly robust experience,
integrated content creation tools, server
tools, mobile and browser integration, a
third-party plugin library and a complete
support service.
And with a number of new features
incorporated in 3.0, BigWorld is set to
increase its standing as a prominent player in
the competitive middleware space.
The main areas were currently focused on
are improving shadow and lighting
performance in the core DirectX client,
extending iOS and web browser integration,
a big client facelift, social networking
functionality, extended web services for
BigWorld Server, and Collada support, says
the firms social media director Matt Daly of
the companys plans for the platform.
In order to open up the field of play to
indie developers, were now also offering
offering a BigWorld Indie licence, in addition
to the commercial licence, he adds.
SMALL CHANGE?
Perhaps surprisingly, Daly claims that the
underlying needs of massively mutliplayer
developers have not changed all that
drastically over the past decade; albeit with
the caveat that the likes of browser, social,
mobile and free-to-play have marked
important milestones in the evolution of
crafting MMOs.
We've had the BigWorld client in a
browser since March of last year, and have
seen the browser-integrated game space
growing rapidly, confirms Daly. Online
publishers like Bigpoint, Aeria and Perfect
World are creating a richer and longer-term
social context for gaming experiences with
browser-based games.
Aeria publishes Realm of the Titans and
Kingdom Heroes Online, two games that have
benefited from some level of out-of-game
social networking connectivity. World of
Warplanes, another BigWorld-powered title,
is integrating Overwolf to bring social
networking, chat, one-click machinima
publishing, and other such functionality
directly into the game UI.
The impact of social networks on MMOs
certainly cant be ignored especially as they
give developers a direct route to extending
user engagement to include time not
specifically spent in-game.
Its that trend that inspired BigWorlds Web
Player, which helps bring MMOs to web
browsers, allowing licensees to take their
games and players deeper into the realm of
social networks.
APPLE IN ITS EYE
BigWorld is also increasing its focus on iOS.
While the company has supported mobile for
several years, the ongoing rise of iOS has
prompted the tech outfit to increase its
support for Apples portables.
As a result, BigWorld currently has a
working demo of an iOS client connected to
the same server that's running its PC Fantasy
Demo, meaning that two users can share the
same game space and all data exchange
therein while one is on a computer and the
other is on an iPhone or iPad.
While the introduction of support for iOS
Apps to connect to a BigWorld Server is one
of the most substantial updates to 3.0, it is
the many more subtle changes that may
have more impact on the daily workload of
MMO development.
Besides browser, mobile and Collada
integration, we have quite a bit of additional
shininess coming to our client in version
three, confirms Daly. We're implementing
brand new lighting and shadowing
capabilities, including deferred lighting
rendering, PSSM, HDR render, SSAO, dynamic
shadow maps, and lightmaps. FXAA anti-
aliasing is being worked on, as well as soft
particles and other similar goodness.
Over on the server side, noteworthy
improvements include new components to
better support external services like
TwistedWeb, as well as asynchronous two-
way calls within the server.
Certainly, Bigworld Technology is set to be
kept very busy over the next six months as it
extends version 2.X and readies 3.0.
Fortunately, the efforts of the team at the
Australian based company mean that if
youre an MMO developer, your workload
should be a little more manageable once 3.0
is in the wild.
BigWorlds Matt Daly
(above) says World of
Warplanes (top) is being
integrated with Overwolf
to bring social networking,
chat and one-click
machinima publishing into
the game UI
BigWorlds Fantasy Demo (above) is provided to licensees of
the companys middleware platform, and shows example
code for trading systems, AI, combat and other systems
To open up the field
of play to indie
developers, were now also
offering offering a
BigWorld Indie
licence.
Matt Daly, BigWorld
KEY RELEASE
WHAT IS IT?: A broad middleware offering
specifically for making MMOs and online games
COMPANY: BigWorld Technology
PRICE: See website
www.bigworldtech.com
This Month: Will Freeman looks at v3.0 of BigWorld Technologys MMO suite
46 Dev121 Key release_final 22/09/2011 09:14 Page 1
xx MCVxxx_v1_Layout 1 28/07/2011 10:08 Page 1
xx MCVxxx_v1_Layout 1 20/09/2011 16:54 Page 1
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 49
GAME ENGINES | BUILD
THE MASS EFFECT franchise is a behemoth in
video game entertainment; a series that has
reshaped the way players think about
gaming and its immersive possibilities.
The upcoming third installment, along
with its predecessors, is built on Unreal
Engine 3.
Mass Effect 3 will feature not only improved
environments and enhanced cinematics, but
also Kinect integration.
So much has changed since we began
working on this series, say Casey Hudson,
executive producer at BioWare Edmonton.
When we began, the Xbox 360 hadnt even
come out yet, and yet we had to design a
game for it. Now, looking back, weve been
working with Unreal Engine 3 for quite a few
years. Even with Mass Effect 3, weve been
able to find huge new improvements to the
engines performance.
PERFORMANCE CAPTURE
And performance is key, according to
Hudson. Thats allowed us to do everything
from getting much better acting with the
characters to introducing better storytelling
methods, he explains. In addition, the
engine allowed us to create a richer world
and produce more entertaining cinematics.
Weve also utilised the improved
performance of the engine to bring more
enemies on screen at once, so players will
contend with a lot more stuff happening in
this game.
Gameplay has also changed dramatically,
says Jesse Houston, producer of Mass Effect 3:
If you look at Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 3,
theyre almost completely different games at
this point.
Youve seen major changes in combat.
Youve seen major changes in role-playing
elements. Youve seen massive lighting
changes; now we have real graphic fidelity
that is just so much better than it has been
historically. Youre going to see performance
improvements. Were 30 frames per second
yet again, locked across the board. You can
really feel the difference in the controls.
Were ultimately an Unreal Engine 3 game,
and Unreal Kismet and Unreal Matinee are a
major part of any kind of cinematic experience,
continues Houston, adding: Our team has
been able to utilise Kismet and Matinee to
create Hollywood-style cinematics that bring
the story to life and enhance the gameplay
experience. Mass Effect 3 will be released for
Xbox 360, PlayStation3 and PC in early 2012.
MINORITYS REPORT
While Unreal Engine 3 is the choice among
many established developers, indie studios
like Montreals Minority also rely on the
technologys power.
Minoritys upcoming PlayStation Network
exclusive, 3D puzzle-platforming adventure
Papo & Yo, has already snagged impressive
critical accolades. These include six awards
and 20 award nominations at this years E3,
such as both IGN and GameSpots Best Puzzle
Game of E3. GameSpot stated: Its deeply
personal subject matter, clever implantation
of puzzles, and surreal art design combined to
make something unique and engaging.
Minoritys choice to go with Unreal
Engine 3 had to do with not only the teams
great track record with the engine but also a
need for agility throughout development.
Julien Barnoin, lead engineer at Minority,
explains: We knew Unreal Engine 3 would
get us creating gameplay mechanics and
levels very quickly. We wanted to quickly start
building gameplay elements and puzzles and
iterating on them. UE3s material editor
allowed us to achieve beautiful characters
and environments without a lot of work.
When artists or designers come to me
asking for a new feature, I can often just point
them to how to do it right in the editor, and
can get back to coding the features that are
really unique to our game.
Papo & Yo is scheduled for release on
PlayStation Network in 2012.
Mass Effect 3 (above) and
Papo & Yo (inset) are two
utterly distinct games
made with the same game
development technology
EPIC DIARIES
Mark Rein looks at two very different Unreal Engine 3 titles
upcoming epic
attended events:
Please email: mrein@epicgames.comfor appointments.
To discuss anything raised in this column or general licensing opportunities
for Epic Games Unreal engine, contact: mrein@epicgames.com
FOR RECRUITMENT OPPORTUNITIES PLEASE VISIT:
www.epicgames.com/epic_jobs.html
Canadian-born Mark Rein is vice president and co-founder of Epic Games
based in Cary, NC. Epics Unreal Engine 3 has won Game Developer
magazines Best Engine Front Line Award five times along with entry into the
Hall of Fame. UE3 has won four consecutive Develop Industry Excellence
Awards. Epic is the creator of the mega-hit Unreal series of games and the
blockbuster Gears of War franchise. Follow @MarkRein on Twitter.
GDC Online
Austin, TX
October 10th to13th
Montreal International Game Summit
Montreal, Quebec
November 1st to 2nd
Weve been working
with UE3 for quite a
few years. Even with Mass
Effect 3, weve been
able to find huge
new improvements.
Casey Hudson, Bioware
49 Dev121 Epic Diaries_final 22/09/2011 09:36 Page 1
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ME Awards 2011 - Advert 20/09/2011 16:41 Page 1
WHEN Microsoft threw open the doors of the
Kinect Fun Labs to developers, the Relentless
Software team knew it had to move fast.
Earning a space in the area would give the
Brighton studio a chance to engage with
consumers through some of its most
experimental concepts; an alluring
opportunity that would prove equally
popular with developers across the globe.
Fortunately, as a company already au fait
with using Unity as a rapid prototyping tool,
Relentless was primed to pounce on the
Kinect Fun Labs prospect.
When we were bidding for the Kinect Fun
Labs project we wanted to show we could
turn something around quickly, so we used
Unity to make a demo of a similar Kinect
Fun Labs-style game in two weeks with a
handful of us, says Tim Aidley, lead
programmer of Relentless Fun Labs game Air
Band. This must have made an impression -
we started on Air Band almost immediately
after that.
In short, Unity was an obvious choice for a
tight schedule, even though it had not been
used to author a released Xbox 360 or Kinect
title previously.
We worked closely with Unity to make
sure all the functionality we needed for Air
Band would be ready in time, states Aidley
on the matter of project speed
This, combined with our own plug-in
provided, meant we could achieve the
quality we wanted.
BAND TOGETHER
Air Band itself is a music game free from the
shackles of scoring, winning or losing, and it
demands no musical skill. Its also one of the
first games on Xbox 360 to augment the
players image with virtual objects; a factor
that is a testament to Unitys potential.
What impressed all of us most is the level
of productivity we can achieve with Unity,
says Aidley of the technologys attributes.
The intuitive layout and interface are
straight-forward and the online reference
manual is also a great feature its
comprehensive and very accessible.
Many ready-to-use features cut down the
need for what normally takes programming
time, like the integrated audio filters. Our
audio designer was impressed with the
ability to embed audio trigger events into
animations, as it was a great way to get audio
quickly synced to some of the art elements in
the game.
Air Bands game designer, meanwhile, was
also particularly impressed by the ability to
quickly tweak values and see the results in
real time.
From a production perspective it was
incredible to have a team who could be really
versatile and adaptable, thanks to what Unity
had to offer, confirms Aidley.
But it wasnt just that Unity allowed Air
Bands artist, audio designer and game
designer to add or tweak elements in the
game without assistance from a programmer.
For the games all-important audio the engine
was particularly useful to set up animation
curves that mixed the balance of individual
music tracks according to the dynamics of a
players movement, all of which could be
quickly modified in the Unity editor.
WELL KINECTED
Looking forward, its likely well see many
more Kinect games authored using Unity.
The engine now supports most of the Kinect
APIs, leaving Relentless most eager to access
the ability to connect the motion detecting
hardwares input into the Unity editor.
There were, of course, challenges in
crafting Air Band Microsoft certification and
timing being the most prominent but
despite working on a new platform with an
engine yet to be used for Kinect, and having
to overcome the problems inherent in trying
to blend multiple music stems, Relentless
and Unity prevailed.
Thanks to Unitys strength, the team was
able to spend more time focusing on the
game and less time wrangling with the
engine. Also, the 360 Unity code was very
stable, concludes Aidley.
The team was able
to spend more time
focusing on the game and
less time wrangling
with the engine.
Tim Aidley, Relentless Software
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 51
GAME ENGINES | BUILD
Relentless Software's Air
Band team (top, clockwise
from top-left) Paul
Grimstone, Tim Aidley, Will
Tarratt, Jonathan
Wingrove, Mona
Quintanilla, Dave Miller
and Tim Ansell, and the
Kinect Labs Game they
created (above)
UNITY FOCUS
A look at how Relentless crafted the first Unity-authored Kinect game
AIR BAND
Developer: Relentless Software
Platform: Xbox 360 (Kinect Fun Labs)
What is it? A new music game specifically for
Microsofts Kinect Fun Labs
51 Dev121 Unity Tech_final 22/09/2011 09:23 Page 1
BUILD | TUTORIAL: PARTICLES
THIS IS THE second and final part of an extract
from Practical Rendering & Computation with
Direct 3D 11. Check back with issue 120 for
part one.
The particle system we will build in this
section represents a particle emitter and
consumer, where the emitter creates
particles and the consumer destroys them
when they get too close to it. The system will
be governed by a simple gravity system
based around the consumer. This could be
thought of as a simplified black hole, which
exhibits a large gravitational pull on each
particle and will swallow them up once they
pass the event horizon. Before moving to the
implementation of the particle system, we
will examine the basic laws of gravitation in
order to implement our particle update
method in a physically plausible manner.
Newtons law of universal gravitation states
that there is an attractive gravitational force
between two point masses, which is
proportional to the product of the two
masses, and inversely proportional to the
square of the distance between them. This
relationship is depicted in the diagram
above, and is defined in the equation below,
where F is the gravitational force, G is the
gravitational constant, m1 and m2 are the
masses of the two objects, and r is the
distance between their centre of mass:
According to this relationship, we can see
that the closer two objects are to each other,
the greater the attractive gravitational force
between
them becomes. In
addition, the more massive the objects are
the greater this force is as well. This makes
sense when considering a black hole, which
represents a singularity of infinitely large
mass (this is a simplification, but it will serve
as an adequate explanation for our
purposes). If an object approaches a black
hole, at some point it will be too close to the
black hole and will be dragged into it. The
acceleration of the particle caused by the
gravitational force is calculated with
Newtons second law, which is shown in the
equation below. The acceleration can be
found by dividing the gravitational force by
the mass of the object that it is acting on:
In the context of our simulation, the black
hole will represent a very large mass instead
of an infinite mass, due to the obvious
calculation issues with using infinite
numbers. Each particle will have a fixed mass
and will be subjected to the gravitational pull
of the black hole. In addition to the
gravitational effects on the particles, they will
be created with a randomised initial velocity
as they are emitted from the particle emitter.
This will let the user see where the particle
emissions are
coming from, in addition to
where they are being attracted to. To
calculate the particle velocity after each
simulation step, we will use the equation
below where v0 is the initial velocity at the
beginning of the time step, a is the
acceleration caused by the gravitational
force, and t is the amount of time that has
passed in this time step:
After the new velocity of the particle has
been determined, we can determine the
modified position of the particle over the
current time step. This is performed as shown
in the equation below. With these basic
physical interactions clarified, we can
continue to the implementation design that
will use the GPU to efficiently simulate how
these bodies will interact:
52 | OCTOBER 2011
In our ongoing series of book excerpts, here we present the second part of an extract from Practical
Rendering & Computation with Direct 3D 11 by Jason Zink, Matt Pettineo and Jack Hoxley
A K Peters, an imprint of CRC Press, is a
predominant publisher of books on game
development and game design. Its books,
written by leading industry experts, are on the
cutting edge of today's technology.
www.crcpress.com
If an object
approaches a black
hole, at some point it will be
too close to the
black hole and will
be dragged into it.
Authors of the book as
shown top to bottom:
Jason Zink, Matt Pettineo
and Jack Hoxley
Particle Systems Part 2
Practical Rendering &
Computation with Direct
3D 11 provides a deep
understanding of both
the high and low level
concepts related to using
Direct 3D 11
52 Dev121 Book Excerpt_final 22/09/2011 16:55 Page 1
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 53
BUILD | AUDIO
PUT TOGETHER Forza Motorsport 4 and racing
car audio specialist Nick Wiswell, and
arguably you have a marriage made in game
audio heaven. UK game audios loss was US
studio Turn 10s gain as Wiswell and his family
upped sticks, moving from Cheshire to
Redmond just over one year ago.
With a wealth of experience garnered
whilst working on global hits like Project
Gotham Racing, he nevertheless faced some
fresh career challenges. Previously heading
an in-house team of sound designers and
audio programmers, he was confronted with
a fundamentally different modus operandi a
small core staff team focused on the bigger
picture scaling up with outsourcers and
freelancers based on specific project needs
and using audio middleware.
The manifesto for audio was clear: to
make the racing sound more exciting,
improving the car audio to be more visceral,
explains Wiswell. My predecessors had been
looking at the potential for additional
dynamic mixing and DSP which fell right into
my wheel house; so I took that and ran with
it. We didnt want to over-amp things too
much and break realism, but we were
definitely looking for enhanced excitement.
TRASH TALKING
Wiswell identified two key areas where a
different approach could supply big wins: I
developed already ongoing discussions with
iZotope about getting their Trash distortion
running on FMOD. They gave it a go and
made it work. The result is we have Trash
running real-time on our car audio.
Sure, its a little cut down from the pro-
audio plug-in but its still allowed us to shape
the sound significantly and really capture
some of that visceral feeling. In real life, these
cars are seriously loud, and trying to simulate
the awesome volume that kicks you in the
guts as they pass by on tiny half-inch LCD
TV speakers is just never going to happen.
However, using something like Trash, we can
get an on the limit vibe the way the sound
kind of distorts in your head. It helps give the
cars an extra sense of power and speed.
This TV speaker awareness also informs the
mixing methodology, with Wiswell always
mindful that some 50-to-60 per cent of
players will hear the game on limited
playback systems - which is why a pair of
Avantone Mix Cubes are standard issue for
audio staff. Not that those with high-end
hi-fi are forgotten.
Weve created bespoke LFE content to
create something consistent across all cars
just as for the car engine, we have a bed
thats sitting there tracking the game physics,
trying to respond and communicate the feel
of the car, says Wiswell.
The other area of audio weve really focused
on is the tyres such a crucial game-play
feedback mechanism. Quite often, though
you cant feel it, you can hear the limit. On
joining Turn 10, I found out they were getting
new tyre physics data direct from Pirelli for
use with a new tyre physics model.
This presented a great opportunity to
take the tyre audio up a notch, adding
parameters for much more fine grain control.
This means you can hear a clearer difference
between various types of forces being
applied say, skidding due to locked brakes
as opposed to drifting sideways or wheel
spin. Its a whole new layer of feedback thats
not been in the game before.
ELECTRONIC ART
One of the many benefits of being part of the
Microsoft Game Studios family is a central
audio resource storing extensive libraries.
Wiswell discovered a tyre recording session
on file that had been conducted using a Tesla
electric sports car no petrol engine but
power enough to light up the tyres.
The bespoke library had absolutely
everything we needed and we didnt have to
spend hours trying to extract the engine
audio, he confirms. So in the new tyre model,
we have hundreds of different sounds and
skids for each surface type. In fact, its more
complex than the engine model overall
because were tracking lateral and longitudinal
forces as well as the amount of load on each
tyre there are different sample sets for
loaded/unloaded. As you go into a corner
and turn, one tyres being forced into the
ground, while anothers being slightly lifted
off the surface and the sonic characteristics in
each case are completely different.
Apparently, hardcore Forza drivers within
the studio expressed some hesitancy about
changing the tyre sounds until they found
they could actually improve their lap times
based on the added feedback.
With a smart dynamic mixing system,
Kinect support and a collaborative
partnership with BBCs Top Gear featuring
entertaining VO from Jeremy Clarkson plus
more than 500 vehicles worth of expertly
recorded and implemented car audio that
changes as you upgrade and customize your
motor, Forza 4s audio is all set to impress.
Nick Wiswell is the audio
specialist for Turn 10s
Forza Motorsport 4
The manifesto for
audio was clear - to
make the racing sound
more exciting - improving
the car audio to be
more visceral.
Nick Wiswell, Turn 10
HEARD ABOUT
John Broomhall catches up with Forza 4s car audio specialist
Forza Motorsport 4
Developer: Turn 10
Platform: Xbox 360
www.forzamotorsport.net
John Broomhall is an
independent audio director,
consultant and content provider.
E: develop@johnbroomhall.co.uk
www.johnbroomhall.co.uk
53 Dev121 Heard About_final 23/09/2011 17:56 Page 1
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Adotomi Agency
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To list your company here and online every
Sourcebook dps_final 22/09/2011 09:52 Page 1
AGENCIES AND SERVICE COMPANIES
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ChaYoWo Games Inc.
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Specialmove Consultancy
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Wayforward Recruitment
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Bristol: 0117 953 0050
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LOCALISATION
QA AND TESTING
Babel
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Enzyme Labs
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GlobalStep LLC
Tel: +44 (0)7808 731017
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www.nativeprime.com
Testronic Laboratories
Tel: +44 (0) 1753 653 722
www.testroniclabs.com
Triple A Testing
Tel: +34 952 028 080
www.tripleAtesting.com
Universally Speaking
Tel: UK: 44 1 480 210621
www.usspeaking.com
week please contact lucy.hall@intentmedia.co.uk
O
N
L
I
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N
O
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www.intentm
edia.co.uk/sourcebook/
Sourcebook dps_final 22/09/2011 09:52 Page 2
GDC CHINA 2011 FEATURES

Online Track

Global Track

Social Games Track

Mobile Summit

Indie Games Summit

Tutorials

Sponsored Track
GDC China Expo
SECURED SPEAKERS INCLUDE
Mobile Games Summit
Keith Lee (Booyah)
Phil Larsen (Halfrick Studios)
Independent Games Summit
Nathan Vella (Capybara Games)
Ami Rao (Supergiant Games)
Ye Feng (Coconut Island)
Dongxu He (Gamegou)
Social Games Track
Xiaojuan He (Ubisoft Chengdu)
Global Games Track
Hitoshi Sakimoto (Basiscape International)
Maxwell Peng (IGS)
Game Developers Conference

China
November 1214, 2011
|
Shanghai Exhibition Center
|
Shanghai, China
Visit www.gdcchina.com for more information.
SAMPLE EXHIBITORS AND
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GDCC11_Develop_230x315_F.indd 1 9/14/11 11:19 AM
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 57
PEOPLE:
Former EA exec
VP Gerhard Florin
joins Innogames
p58
TOOLS:
Unity opens up
new Tokyo
subsidiary
p60
TRAINING:
48-hour
Train2Game and
Epic Game Jam
p63
The worlds premier listing of games development studios, tools, outsourcing specialists, services and courses
KEY CONTACTS
STUDIOS
Amiqus 01925 252 588
BigWorld +15122890145
Epic Games +1 919 870 1516
IndieCity 01926 880 081
TOOLS
Fork Particle 1(925) 417 1785
Jury Rig Software +44 (0) 203 286 4432
SERVICES
Codeplay 0131 466 0503
inComm +44 (0) 1489 556 700
MPG Universal www.mpg-universal.com
COURSES
University of Hull +44 (0) 1482 465 951
University of Abertay 01382 308080
RATES
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booked for a minimum of six months)
Contact:
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T: 01992 535 647
GREAT ADVERTISING
OPPORTUNITIES
57 Dev121 directory cover_final 23/09/2011 13:37 Page 1
studios
58 | OCTOBER 2011
Former EA Europe boss Gerhard Florin,
has emerged as chairman of browser
games developer Innogames.
Florin had previously worked as
executive vice president at Electronic
Arts and was responsible for sales,
marketing and distribution across
Western Europe.
Innogames plans to explore business
opportunities across Europe, UK and US
with the help of Florin.
He says he is looking forward to
working with the studio and feels the
developer has a strong market position,
especially due to its unique browser
based games targeted towards high
monetisable core gamers.
The studio has worked on online
games such as Tribal Wars and The West.
The former director of the US National
Cyber Security Center Philip Reitinger
has joined Sony to help fortify its
PlayStation Network, months after the
online service was hacked.
Reitinger joins as chief information
security officer, with the appointment
coming after the sensitive personal data
of more than 100 million PlayStation
accounts was compromised in April.
Sony was forced to close down its
network for nearly a month, and offered
free games to customers in a
comprehensive compensation initiative.
Certainly the network issue was a
catalyst for Reitingers appointment, a
Sony spokesman told Reuters.
We are looking to bolster our
network security even further.
The founder of Exozet Games, Bartol
Ruzic, has resigned from his position at
the developer to join German studio
Spellbound Entertainment.
Ruzic will be leading the developers
activities within the range of browser,
mobile and serious games.
At Exozet, the German studio which he
co-founded in 1996, he held the role of
Chief Operational Officer and has
previously worked as a producer and
project manager for other European
based studios.
With Bartol Ruzic we welcome an
experienced online and mobile games
manager at Spellbound Entertainment
AG. We look forward to expanding our
business with him, said Spellbound CEO
Andreas Speer.
Decorated venture capitalist Jay Hoag
has joined Electronic Arts board of
directors, the company has announced.
Hoag, a technology investor who sits
on the boards of eHarmony, TechTarget,
Zillow and Netflix, has become the
eleventh member of EAs board.
Jay Hoag is an extraordinarily
valuable addition to EA, said the
publishing giants CEO John Riccitiello.
His early investments in Expedia,
Netflix and other technology leaders
demonstrate his unique insight into
mass-market consumer technologies. We
look forward to his leadership and vision.
Hoag said he has followed EA closely
and is looking forward to working with
the firm to expand its global leadership
in this market.
PERSONNEL
This month: This month: Innogames, Sony, Spellbound and Electronic Arts
WeKnowYour World
Amiqus is a leading provider of specialist talent
to the video games industry.
We recruit for some of the worlds premier studios
and publishers across all industry disciplines.
Since we started in 2002 we now work with clients
in 13 countries across the globe.
Let us show you how we know your world. Call:
or visit:
01925 252588
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Amiqus 01925 252588 www.amiqus.com
BigWorld +15122890145 www.bigworldtech.com
58-63 Dev121 Directory_final 23/09/2011 12:02 Page 1
WWW.DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 59
studios
Epic +1-919-870-1516 www.epicgames.com IndieCity 01926 880081 www.IndieCity.com
Escapist Games was founded just two
years ago after ex-EA veterans, former
senior producer San Shepherd and
Criterion previs lead artist Chris Walley,
left the publishing giant following
completion of Burnout Paradise.
Looking to break into the digital scene
with their own studio, Shepherd says
they set out to focus on developing
innovative software and arcade action
games, taking cues from their previous
EA titles.
The two founders also wanted to
control their own content and have a
direct relationship with their consumers
as they began their move into digital
distribution.
We quickly found out that the app
store was where a developer of talent
could make a mark, whereas XBLI,
however much we wanted it to, just
couldnt support professional
development, said Shepherd.
The studios first release wasnt a game,
but an augmented reality app called Star
Chart, which has now been installed on
over one million devices around the
world. Shepherd is keen to highlight that
it is now considered one of the top AR
apps in the world and has been featured
on both Apple and Google whilst
appearing with an exclusive version on
Samsungs app store. The studio has also
published indie games AtomHex and
Platypus on Xbox Live.
Looking to the future Escapist is in the
process of developing its own games and
is also creating a new version of its most
popular app, called Star Chart Solar, with
the plan to bring it to more devices and
expand the content.
The studio now employs six members,
including Walley and Shepherd, and is
actively looking for more talent.
STUDIO SPOTLIGHT
This month: This month: Escapist Games
P: +44 (0) 1483 454099
E: info@escapistgames.com
W:
www.escapistgames.com
Contact
Escapist Games Ltd
1st Floor, 16 Haydon Place
Guildford, Surrey
GU1 4LL, UK
58-63 Dev121 Directory_final 23/09/2011 12:02 Page 2
The free-to-use CryEngine 3 SDK has
been downloaded more than 300,000
times in just three weeks since its release
in August, according to company data.
Cryteks powerful engine had already
passed 100,000 installs in less than a
week since it came out.
Its great news for us, and it seems
like global coverage, not just Europe-
heavy, Crytek co-founder Avni Yerli told
Develop. Its being picked up equally
across the US, Europe and Asia.
Before it was released for free, studios
needed to pay for a licence agreement to
use Crytek's flagship engine. The
CryEngine 3 SDK relaxes those restraints
by allowing anyone with a PC to
download it for free. A licence deal is
only arranged if the user decides to build
a commercial PC project.
Yerli also told Develop the studio is
preparing to evolve its business beyond
traditional games development details of
which he said he cant yet disclose.
The free edition of Unreal Engine 3 has
had more than 900,000 unique installs
since its release in November 2009,
according to vendor Epic Games.
The studio added that the figure has
been drawn from unique installs and if it
counted the gross number of downloads
the figure would be higher.
The UDK is Epics own alternative to
Unreal Engine 3 that is completely free to
download and operate, and has proven
popular among indies and enthusiasts.
If a user wants to produce a
commercial game a one-off $99 fee is
charged and Epic has said it will take a 25
per cent share of subsequent revenues
after a UDK games first $50,000 in sales,
which it will not take any royalties from.
However, Epic only calculates its 25
per cent after separate charges are
incurred from a game's digital
distributor such as Apple and Google
which each take 30 per cent from games
hosted on their mobile platforms.
60 | OCTOBER 2011
tools
Jury Rig Software +44 (0)20 3286 4432 www.juryrigsoftware.com
telephone +44 (0)20 3286 4432
email sales@juryrigsoftware.com
web www.juryrigsoftware.com
Never lose your
memory again with
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Elephant Memory Manager is a league apart from your average memory
manager. Designed specically for games, with superior performance and
advanced debugging features, Elephant serves as a complete replacement
for your memory allocator. Visit us at www.juryrigsoftware.com to nd out
what Elephant has to offer and download a free trial.
TOOLS NEWS
This month: Intel, Unity, Crytek, Epic
The Intel graphics performance analysis
tool, used to help optimise games, media
and other graphic-intensive applications,
is now available at no charge exclusively
to members of the free to join Intel
software partner program.
The developer tool suite allows users
to analyse CPU and GPU workloads
enabled by web browsers such as
Chrome, Explorer and Firefox. It also
provides media analysis tools to visualise
code efficiency with Intel Media and
OpenCL SDKs whilst adding a hardware
thread-view in the graphics performance
analysis platform analyser.
The new GPA media performance
analyser also allows the ability to create
media performance trace capture files for
visualisation and detailed analysis and
can provide capture trace files for a
system-wide picture of how your code
works with Intel media SDK and
Microsoft DXVA2 and how media-related
workloads execute on the GPU.
Unity Technologies has opened a new
subsidiary in Tokyo, Japan, the company
has announced.
The engine vendor said it would use
its new Tokyo office to serve as a sales,
localisation and support centre.
The establishment of the Unity
Technologies Japan office and the
addition to our company of such a
knowledgeable, passionate team further
cement Unity Technologies commitment
to democratise games development
globally, said Unity Technologies CEO
David Helgason.
We are looking forward to offering
the Japanese development community
local support.
The management team of Unity
Technologies Japan will be led by
representative director/chairman
Shinobu Toyoda, formerly VP of Sega,
director/president John Goodale, who
previously worked at Activision and
regional director Hiroki Omae.
Fork Particle 1(925) 417 1785 www.forkparticle.com
58-63 Dev121 Directory_final 23/09/2011 12:02 Page 3
U-TRAX is a company that delivers
localisation, testing and advertising
services to the video game industry.
Based in Utrecht, it was founded in
1992 as a record label, but since 1997 it
has been providing services to the
industry and they have worked on over
2,000 titles, including Plants vs. Zombies
and Assassins Creed II.
U-TRAX provides its translations in
most major European languages as well
as others such as Japanese, whilst also
offering voice recordings and linguistic
tests on localised games for its clients.
Its advertising services, which in 2005
became an independent company, has
designed and produced TV and cinema
ads, company logos, brochures and trade
show booths to various industry studios.
In September the company appointed
former Take Two/2K Games localisation
director Scott Morrow to its own
localisation project management team.
Following this and other appointments
founder Richard Van Der Giessen said the
service is keen on having a team of
service minded, client-focused linguists
that understand the predicaments our
clients are in and work closely together
with them.
For the future U-TRAX says it is
focusing on broadening its global
footprint by expanding to new offices,
new languages and innovating its
services such as MESS (Music, Effects,
Sounds and Services) in an industry that
changes ever day.
As for how they are adapting to industry
changes, Van Der Giessen said U-TRAX
keeps making its organisation leaner and
meaner and is constantly improving and
strengthening its processes, so we can at
one hand deliver exactly the service
clients want and at the other hand can
quickly react to new business
opportunities. And we keep seeing these
pop up constantly and all over the world.
WWW.DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
services
OCTOBER 2011 | 61
SERVICES SPOTLIGHT
This month: U-Trax
Codeplay 0131 466 0503 www.codeplay.com Develop Magazine 01992 535647 www.develop-online.net
Up-to-the minute news
direct to your iPhone
Free App available now from iTunes
Search for Develop on the App
Store or use your QR scanner >
58-63 Dev121 Directory_final 23/09/2011 12:02 Page 4
62 | OCTOBER 2011
Image Metrics is a facial animation
company that has provided solutions for
clients such as Activision-Blizzard,
Rockstar, Microsoft, Bethesda and
Elecetronic Arts.
Founded in the United Kingdom in
2000 by Ph.Ds in computer vision, the
firm decided to focus on facial animation
after determining that it offered the
most challenging test for its technology.
Image Metrics then began to apply its
technology to the games market on
Sonys The Getaway in 2002 before
providing Rockstar with the same
services as early as Manhunt in 2003. In
2006 the service provider had expanded
its successful business by opening a new
headquarters in Santa Monica, California.
The company has recently partnered
with Motion Technologies to expand its
technology and products to the Asia
Pacific market. Motion will be the first
company to resell and distribute the
Faceware facial animation software and
headcam hardware.
General manager of professional
products at Image Metrics, Peter Busch,
says the firms services are adaptable to
changes in the industry, such as the rise
of indie start-ups.
Because we can now certify service
providers in cost-friendly environments
like the Phillippines, China and India,
Image Metrics technology is available to
any entity looking to produce high-end
animation results without the worries of
staggering costs or losing creative
control of their respective projects.
As for the future, Busch believes the
company is well established and
respected for providing facial animation
solutions to the entertainment industry
either through its Faceware software or
its certified partner program.
He also says the company has taken
major steps into the consumer
animation space having recently
launched PortableYou which allows end-
users to create their own personalised 3D
avatars using facial photos.
inComm +44 (0) 1489 556700 www. incomm-europe.com MPG Universal www.mpg-universal.com
services
SERVICES SPOTLIGHT
This month: Image Metrics
58-63 Dev121 Directory_final 23/09/2011 12:02 Page 5
WWW.DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET OCTOBER 2011 | 63
courses
TRAINING NEWS
This month: Unreal dev kit to power 48-hour game jam
A 48-hour video game creation
marathon, using Epic Games Unreal
Development Kit, will take place from the
4th to the 6th of November at the
University of Bedfordshire.
The Game Jam, in association with
training provider Train2Game, will have
registered competitors put into teams of
six to ten going head-to-head to create
video games around a secret theme,
which will be announced on the first
evening of the event.
It is open to existing Train2Game
students and amateur developers aged
over 17, but industry professionals are
excluded from entering.
The prizes, which will be announced
closer to the event, will be available for
the three teams that make the most
innovative new games developed over
the weekend.
The Train2Game and Epic Game Jam
is a great opportunity for students and
amateur games developers to create
content for their portfolio and rub
shoulders with well known developers
within the industry, said Train2Game
marketing director Mike Head.
Working with Epic Games also means
that we have a unique opportunity to
introduce participants to the cutting-
edge UDK framework, which will allow
them to really bring their games to life
and showcase their talents.
Mike Gamble, European territory
manager of Epic Games added:
Participants will have access to
excellent tools, members of the Unreal
Engine development community and
industry veterans, plus theres potential
for the best games to gain additional
exposure beyond the event itself.
No pre-arranged teams or
development groups will be allowed so
those attending will have to work with
new people.
Computers will be provided by the
University which has offered lab space to
make room for everyone attending.
The hosts have also said that the
systems available are more than capable
of running all the latest softare required
for modern games development.
Personal computers can be brought,
and space will be made available for
those that do, but they will need to be
PAT tested (safety checked) before they
are allowed and notification must be
given when registering.
As the event is over 48 hours, room has
been made for sleeping but sleeping
bags and quilts must be brought in as
these are not provided.
Existing Train2Game students are able
to register for the competition free of
charge, with a 35 fee applicable to non
Train2Game students.
All profits from the contest will be
donated to the Princes Trust Charity that
helps the development and
improvement of young people, and
provides opportunities for them to
develop to their full capacity.
At the end of the event, the games
created are made available for free
download on the internet.
To register go to: http://train2game-
jam2.com/
The University of Hull +44(0) 1482 465951 www.mscgames.com
The University of Abertay 01382 308080 www.abertay.ac.uk
58-63 Dev121 Directory_final 23/09/2011 12:02 Page 6
64 | OCTOBER 2011
A sideways look at the games industry
CODA
1. WINNERS: Peppermint P 62 points
2. Curve Studios 61 points
3. Marmalade 57 points
4. Total War Team (The Creative Assembly) 56 points
5. Bossa Studios 56 points
6. Spilt Milk Studios 54 points
7. The Chestbursters (The Creative Assembly 54 points
8. Media Molecule 51 points
9. Datascope 51 points
10. Jagex 1 51 points
11. Splash Damage 49 points
12. Jagex 2 48 points
13. Wave Studios 45 points
14. Future Games of London 45 points
15. Universally Speaking 41 points
16. Rocksteady 39 points
17. Big Head Games 35 points
2. CURVE STUDIOS
6. SPILT MILK STUDIOS
10. JAGEX 1
15. UNIVERSALLY SPEAKING
1. PEPPERMINT P
5. BOSSA STUDIOS
9. DATASCOPE
14. FUTURE GAMES OF LONDON 13. WAVE STUDIOS
THE DEVELOP QUIZ
LAST MONTHteams from across
the UK flocked to the latest
Develop Quiz, all equally keen
to prove the intellectual clout of
their staff.
At the end of the night
Peppermint P emerged
victorious, taking home the
coveted first prize.
Hot on the PR outfit's heels
were second placed London
indie Curve, just one point
behind. In third place came
cross-platform mobile tech
company Marmalade.
Peppermint P took home the
treasured Develop Quiz trophy,
2,000 worth of studio time
with Wave, a 2,000 Develop ad
credit and lots of champagne.
Meanwhile Curve secured
themselves a cherished lunch
and interview with the Develop
team, a big box of luxury
cupcakes courtesy of Wave
Studios, and their own stash of
champagne. Marmalade,
meanwhile, made away with
champagne and luxury
cupcakes, again on behalf of
Wave Studios.
Our generous joint sponsors
Wave Studios and Avatar Games
Recruitment ensured the night
was a huge success, and a fine
time was had by all.
In order of score, starting
with the highest, the following
teams did battle at the second
2011 Develop Quiz:
Sponsored by
64,65 Dev121 Coda_v4 23/09/2011 17:55 Page 1
OCTOBER 2011 | 65 DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
NOVEMBER 2011
Regional Focus: Canada
Our yearly focus on the games development firms operating
in BC, Quebec and everywhere in between
Events:
Montreal International Games Summit November 1st to
November 2nd
London Games Conference 2011 November 10th
DEC 2011/JAN 2012
30 Under 30
Develop shines its talent spotlight on the young achievers
shaping the industrys future
Mocap Focus
A detailed look at motion capture, and new trends and
technology in the sector
Regional Focus: France
Movers and shakers in this diverse games development region
FEBRUARY 2012
Recruitment Special
Our annual analysis of the jobs market includes: Advice for
CVs, portfolios and interviews; per-discipline guidance on
getting a promotion; the education sector; our salary survey;
and much, much more
Salary Survey
Dissecting the data to see how industry salaries are changing
Regional Focus: Cambridge
An overview of current developments and new stories from
the historic University town
MARCH 2012
Game Engines
A look at the evolution of the game engine, with analysis of
the key trends and technologies from the sector
Regional Focus: Germany
A focus on making games in Europes largest economy
Events:
GDC March 5th to March 9th
APRIL 2012
QA and Localisation
We take an in-depth look at this essential element of the
games development process
Regional Focus: Nordic countries
An examination of this powerful sector, and the influence it is
having on the industry
MAY 2012
With Develop 100 insertion
Audio Special
A detailed summary of music and audio for the games sector,
from in-house teams through to outsourcers
Events:
Develop Quiz Date TBC
EDITORIAL enquiries should go through to
Michael.French@intentmedia.co.uk, or call him on 01992 535646
To discuss ADVERTISINGcontact Alex.Boucher@intentmedia.co.uk,
or call him on 01992 535647
F O R WA R D P L A N N E R
4. TOTAL WAR TEAM
8. MEDIA MOLECULE
12. JAGEX 2
17. BIG HEAD GAMES
3. MARMALADE
7. THE CHESTBURSTERS
11. SPLASH DAMAGE
16. ROCKSTEADY
(THE CREATIVE ASSEMBLY)
(THE CREATIVE ASSEMBLY TEAM #2)
(THE CREATIVE ASSEMBLY TEAM #1)
64,65 Dev121 Coda_v4 23/09/2011 17:55 Page 2
66 | OCTOBER 2011
Deadly Premonition
creator Swery, who joined
the games industry as a
tester at arcade outfit SNK
Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Swery, and what I do is I make
video games that other people can't.
What are you working on right now?
There is a game that will be announced
soon in Japan that I'm currnetly working on,
and I am also working on a new video game
project concept.
That will be a completely new, very
different game.
And then I am also working on a few
different Deadly Premonition-related projects.
I think people do see Deadly Premonition as a
cult game.
When I was making the game I was trying
to make something really fun and really cool,
but at the same time I wasn't sure that it
would be for everybody.
In that way, maybe I was right and it wasn't
for everybody.
What was the first video game or product
that you ever worked on in the industry?
My first job was at SNK where I was working
as a tester on a game called Ryuuko no Ken
Japan, which is known in other parts of the
world as Art of Fighting.
What was the first video game that you
ever played?
For me it was a long time ago, and it was
Space Invaders.
What was the most recent video game that
you played, and did you enjoy it?
The last game I played was From Dust, and it
was awesome.
What is your favourite game ever, and for
what reason?
It was the Super Famicom Zelda. Looking
back at that now, it is kind of like a textbook
for making a really good video game.
How many hours a week do you get to
spend playing games?
It's two hours every night before I sleep.
What area of the industry needs more
investment?
Cult games, of course.
What disappoints you about the video
games industry today?
I'm not sure of the worldwide market, but
speaking solely with regard to the Japanese
market, the video games that become hits
seem to be limited to just a handful of genres.
Of all the games you have worked on,
which has been your favourite?
It is Deadly Premonition, because I have
poured the most heart into the characters.
What do you enjoy most about working in
the games industry?
For me it is the user feedback from the
people that play my games.
What hobbies, collections or interests do
you have that are completely unrelated to
video games?
I like to dine, and I like to eat a lot. I really
enjoy movies and watching TV dramas, and I
like listening to music. I also like going fishing
and drinking liquor. Of course, I like girls, and
I like driving and traveling.
What is your favourite book, movie, TV
show and album of all time?
The movie one is going to take a long time to
answer. I'm not sure of the English title, but
for the book I'd say a Japanese book by
Hugashino Kago called Ygisha X no Kenshin.
For the movies I have to choose several. I
would say Brazil, Pulp Fiction and Inception.
The TV drama would be Full House, V, Twin
Peaks, and Ghost.
And the album? I think I would choose
Mother's Milk by Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
What game that you were not involved with
would you most liked to have worked on?
The first Silent Hill.
What other video games developer do you
most admire?
It would be foreign developers like Valve and
Epic games. Those are the developers I really
do respect.
I'm not sure of the
worldwide market,
but speaking with regard to
the Japanese market, the
video games that become
hits seem to be
limited to just a
handful of genres.
THE FAQ PAGE: HIDETAKA SWERY SUEHIRO
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international market
We Know Your World amiqus.com
Contributors
David Braben, John Broomhall, Rob Davis, Nick Gibson, Tim Heaton, Jack Hoxley, Will Luton, Louis Natanson, Matt Pettineo, Mark Rein, Jason Zink
Swerys cult creation Deadly Premonition
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