Sorry for the delay on this, but the slides for my Death of an Indie Studio talk are now up on Slideshare.
They may not make a ton of sense if you weren’t there, since I used the slides as visuals to highlight or counterpoint what I was saying. I plan to do the talk again at Boston Post Mortem at some point, and when I do, I’ll either get it recorded or update my notes to high enough quality that I can post them.
It’s time again for PAX East! I’ll be on three panels (one of which is actually a one-Macguffin show). Hope to see folks there!
Death of an Indie Studio
Wyvern Theatre
Friday, 3:00pm – 4:00pm
This year, Boston area indie studio Macguffin Games closed its doors. In three years, Scott Macmillan took the studio from a one-man shop to a 4-person startup with paid employees, launched two games (one of them for Facebook), and then finally shut the whole thing down with no regrets. At this talk, he’ll discuss the big lessons he learned, what worked and what didn’t, and take lots of questions from the audience.
Just Because You Have an Idea, You Are Not a Game Designer
Wyvern Theatre
Saturday, 10:30am – 11:30am
Many of us have worked with some amazing designers over the years, and they are much more than walking idea factories. Passion for concepts is great, but don’t confuse passion for skill. In this panel we’ll talk about the characteristics that make a good game designer, and specific skills we look for when hiring on new talent. We’ll also spend some time to point out the differences between good ideas for projects, theoretically good ideas, and bad ideas that you think are good.
Panelists include: Ichiro Lambe [President, Dejobaan Games], Chris Oltyan [Producer, Dire Wolf Digital], Eitan Glinert [President, Fire Hose Games], Scott Macmillan [President, Macguffin Games]
Start Your Own Damned Company
Cat Theatre
Sunday, 4:30pm – 5:30pm
Sometimes, people have great ideas for games. We’re happy for you, we are. But you know what? Our studio isn’t gonna help you realize your vision, and chances are no other company will. It’s shocking, but the reason we dove headfirst into the start-up ocean full of shattered dreams and razor blades was because WE ACTUALLY HAVE A GREAT IDEA FOR A GAME TOO! If you really feel passionately about your idea and want nothing more than to see it live then go make it your own damn self, we’re busy. But we’ll throw you a bone with this helpful panel full of tidbits on how to get started. Let us regale you with tales of wonder and woe, led by our fearless moderator Ichiro Lambe. Only the brave will survive, no refunds.
Panelists include: Chris Oltyan [Producer, Dire Wolf Digital], Eitan Glinert [President, Fire Hose Games], Scott Macmillan [President, Macguffin Games], Ichiro Lambe [President, Dejobaan Games], Damian Isla [Director of Technology, Moonshot Games]
… but not quite living in the same way.
In essence, Macguffin as it was previously – a four-person full time team of developers – is no more. But after looking at ways to wind things down, and taking some time to evaluate what I want to do with my spare time once I have a job, I’ve decided to keep Macguffin around for my future gaming projects.
One of the big things I’ve learned in doing the past three or so years of game development is that I really do love creating games, doing the coding and game design. Since shutting things down and starting to look for a job, I’ve begun coding and designing again on my own – and I’ve been having a blast. Regardless of where I land I fully plan to keep working on games and blogging about it. Who knows, perhaps I’ll even have something for the market someday.
Right now I do not have plans to return directly to All Heroes Die. I say this for Therlun’s benefit (I know you’re out there!). The two big problems with AHD are the limitations of BlitzMax, and the sheer scope of the endeavor. Neither of those gets solved by me working on it nights. The most likely path forward is that at some point I do a game inspired by chunks of AHD, or redo the game with a slimmed down design in another language.
In the meantime, I’ve been working in Unity using C#, and may have some upcoming posts about how that’s been. It’s also near time for the IGDA to begin its elections, and if I can get some help, I plan to cover the candidates again. More on that shortly.
