Group items tagged

"The indie videogame scene is playing host to a new trend - competitive multiplayer sports themed games. Titles like Hokra, BaraBariBall, Tennnes, and GIRP, among others, have been challenging traditional notions of what constitutes a sports themed videogame. The emergence and popularity of these games raises questions about how the culture of traditional sports relates to the still developing community of independent developers, journalists, scholars and enthusiasts that comprise the nascent indie scene. Looking through the lens of performance and performativity, this paper unpacks this new sports game trend, examining design, spectatorship, and group identity by way of interviews with key members of the indie game scene.

"Starting today and continuing through June 1, a group of indie game makers is cutting prices in select digital distribution markets as part of the "Because We May" campaign. Ron Carmel, co-founder of 2D Boy (makers of World of Goo), came up with the concept behind the initiative, which is intended to celebrate distributors who allow price flexibility. "We believe that developers should have the freedom to price their games how they like, without interference from the online stores that sell the games," reads a statement on the event's homepage.

A great selection of gaming articles including one on digital-only games, bringing creativity back to role-playing games, "social networking's connection with gaming," and 38 studios failure and its implications for the gaming industry.

"Kim Swift has built a name fohttp://groups.diigo.com/group/becker-video-game-designr herself as a creative indie game developer. She was the lead designer of Valve's highly original Portal game. While a student at Digipen, she co-created a project dubbed Narbacular Drop, which served as the inspiration for Portal."

Published 2013 and excerpted in Google Books. From the description: "In Honoring the Code: Conversations with Great Game Designers, 16 groundbreaking game developers share their stories and offer advice for anyone aspiring to a career in the games industry. You'll learn from their triumphs and failures and see how they dealt with sweeping changes in technology, including critical paradigm shifts from CD-ROMs and 3D graphic cards to the Internet and mobile revolution. The book presents in-depth interviews with a diverse mix of game professionals, emphasizing the makers of adventure games, role-playing games, and real-time strategies. It focuses on developers who have contributed to multiple eras or genres as well as those who have hired, taught, or mentored newcomers. Since the mobile revolution has opened up new demographics and new gameplay mechanics, the book features current developers of games for mobile devices. It also explores how indie game developers are making commercial-quality games with a small team mostly using free tools and funded with crowdsourcing applications."

"In this episode of the Ars Technicast, we talk about where we think the industry is headed and which new players might have real impact. Senior Apple Editor Jacqui Cheng, Social Editor Cesar Torres, and Senior Reviews Editor Lee Hutchinson join Kyle in a discussion about hardware, software, and indie development issues."

"Move over Kickstarter. Gambitious is launching a crowdfunding platform to allow game developers to raise money from fans to create ambitious indie games. The Amsterdam-based Gambitious team includes the founders of Gathering of Developers, the head of Mastertronic, and a Dutch equity-based crowdfunding platform."

"a pay-what-you-want [game] sale that lets consumers decide how much money to give to developers and how much to donate to charities"

Abstract: " wanted to inspect how developing a game from a purely commercial pe rspective a ffect s on the game design. The purpose of this thesis is to define the valid aspects of product marketing for games , how they are perceived in game industry and how those aspects affect to the game design. The question I am asking is how to make marketing a flue nt part of indie game development process. Through m y thesis project, Puzzleplatf orm, I s tudy how the marketing aspects affect the game concept itself and how the se aspects can be implemented in the game concept."

"Video game design isn't just coding and random number generators. It is a complex process involving art, music, writing, programming, and caffeine, that should be approached holistically. The entire process can be intimidating to the uninitiated programmer, which is why I've written an all-inclusive guide to game design. With the creation of my own original video game, Super Fish Quest, as a model, I analyze each part of the design process, discuss the technical side of programming, and research how to raise money and publish a game as an independent game developer."

Mainstream game publishers exploring Linux game development

3rd annual Indie Game Challenge

Updated: Mon Jan. 23 2012 15:43:40 The Canadian Press TORONTO — Canadian makers of "Indie Game," a documentary about independent video game designers, say they're thrilled to have sold the concept to HBO and Scott Rudin, the producer behind mega films like "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," "Moneyball," "The Social Network" and "There Will Be Blood."

"June 19, 2012 - Students in the University of Utah's Entertainment Arts and Engineering (EAE) program have pulled more firsts out of their impressive hats. This time, it is the release of "Heroes of Hat," the first game produced by students in the EAE program that can be played by up to four people in what is called "multiplayer co-op mode.""

"he Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME), and The Guildhall at Southern Methodist University are proud to announce that Closure was awarded the top prize at the third annual Indie Game Challenge. The winning team was named on the closing night of the annual D.I.C.E. ™ (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit at the Red Rock Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. " Also category winners listed.

Scheduled for MIT Stratton Student Center 84 Massachusetts Ave Cambridge, MA 02139 Saturday, September 14, 2013 from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM (EDT) Contributions accepted via Kickstarter

Teams of independent game developers given space and technology to pursue products in San Francisco

"developers analyze their finished game and everything they did during its creation. Postmortems can be very helpful because they provide insights and tips that you can use in order to not make the same mistakes… or get ideas on how to do certain things when developing a game."