I promise that I’ll write more about my visit to various companies in San Francisco soon, but I wanted to talk about a phrase I’ve heard a lot over my years in the games industry: ‘production values’.

Whenever I hear that phrase, or more specifically, when I hear the way people use that phrase, it seems that they’re only looking at the visuals (and possibly listening to the audio, but not always). But that’s clearly not all that games are about. They’re a critical part of the whole, certainly, but not all. It’s always bugged me.

So what to call the whole? One thing I picked up from my recent trip is that there’s a huge amount of overlap with design companies such as Adaptive Path and IDEO (if you don’t know who these companies are, you owe it to yourself to find out), and design led companies such as Apple. Not just in terms of what we do, but in terms of how it’s done. And what they’re aiming at isn’t just the product, but the entire experience.

What’s the packaging like? How does it feel to unbox this? What’s the first contact? How does that compare to the hundredth contact, the thousandth contact? What’s going to make me tell my friends about this? What happens if I do this? Can I do that? What if I try this and that at the same time? Where can I go to find out more about this? How did they make this? I want to do this too.

So, I’m proposing a new term for you to consider on your current, next and previous projects: Experience Values. Maybe it’s just a cute psychological trick, but I’m already considering and approaching projects differently. And if it works for me, it might just work for you.

-David (@dwlt)

You know we’ve mentioned this idea that smaller, indier developers are just going to take the future into their own hands and create the sort of games they dream of?

Well, it looks like a lot more companies plan to do just that.

A fund designed to support independent developers by offering them an alternative way to bankroll their projects has been set up by a group which includes Braid creator Jonathan Blow, and Flower creator Kellee Santiago.

The new Indie Fund is a new funding source for independent developers created in order to encourage the next generation of game developers, which has already backed several unnamed projects to be announced shortly.

Other backers of the fund include Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler of 2D Boy, the studio behind World of Goo, Critter Crunch maker Nathan Vella, Flashbang Studio’s Matthew Wegner and AppAbove Games’ Aaron Isaksen.

Which kinda, sorta follows on from the question we posed last year, asking why there are no dedicated indie publishing labels.

Looks like they plan to take the ‘indie’ ethos through to publishing as well.

It’s more good news for those who enjoy watching gaming bloom and evolve in unexpected and fascinating new ways.  Watch this space for more exciting, innovative and (hopefully) fun new games in the near future…

- Brian (@flackboy)

Regardless of how big the games market is and how many millions of copies game may sell, it’s a grim fact that for many people in the UK, games are ‘for kids’.  There’s something vaguely worrying about someone who’d choose to do it as a career.  A real job is driving a van, building a house, carrying heavy things, doing open-heart surgery, or making a marvellous soup.

However, this state of affairs has now changed.  Videogame creation is no longer some awkward occupation, shying away from the bright light of day.  We’re a proper grown-up industry now.  The prime minister says so.  From Edge Online:

“We’re leading the way in creative industries,” said Brown. “[We’re] by far the biggest producer of computer games in Europe.

“And we’re leading the way in digital communications: In a country with only one per cent of the world’s population, more than a third of all internet traffic is routed through UK servers.

See, Dad?  I told you it was a real job.

Obviously, the next time the Prime Minister pops up to Scotland, we’d be delighted to welcome him to Denki HQ for a coffee and a quick game of Quarrel.

- Brian (@flackboy)

The other day an article on Gamasutra said that the key to avoiding, or at least minimising, crunch on a project was to find the fun before you launch into full production. This, of course, is exactly the approach we take here, and frankly I can’t think why you’d do it any other way.

But one common question we tend to get asked is ‘how do you judge what fun actually is’?

‘Fun’ is a very nebulous concept (most often described as “I know it when I see it”), and what I find fun and what you find fun could well be wildly different. That doesn’t mean the games I like are somehow intrinsically better than the games you like. They’re just different.

So, you have to define what fun means for you. How do you measure it? I’m not saying you can necessarily quantify it with numbers, but it is possible.

Take 5 or 6 of your favourite games, and play them. As you play them, ask yourself questions. Why do I like that? Why did I find that bit cool? Why does that thing bug me so much? Why am I glad I spent my time and/or money on this?

Once you’ve done that, look for the patterns. You’ll likely spot common themes and aspects that you liked and disliked. Keep doing that, and you’ll end up with a set of pretty strong guidelines and considerations to use when you’re making your own game.

They may or may not match our own list, but that’s OK. Different people like different things, and it’s impossible to second-guess what anyone other than yourself actually wants.

Our belief is that we’re not beautiful and unique snowflakes; chances are, there are others (hopefully many, many others) out there who have similar tastes to us who will also find our games fun.

-David (@dwlt)

January 28^th, 2010…. I was there!  Along with many other fans of technology and videogames – suckers for a good hype frenzy – staring at a timer ticking down towards zero.

When the clock struck, we were promised an announcement which would leave all our lives forever changed, and the way we think unalterably realigned. It would be… magical!

I’m talking, of course, about the announcement made on Good Old Games – a website central to the ’software preservation’ movement – that Activision has joined the numerous publishers and developers that are re-issuing their back catalogues through digital distribution websites.

This is far more important than you probably realise.

Think about this… Have you seen a movie called A Trip to the Moon? It’s one of the first movies ever made, yet over a hundred years later, you can still walk into a shop and buy the DVD, or even watch the whole film online.

Conversely in videogames, you’d be hard pressed to play something which was released just five years ago, even if you bought and paid for it – without using some kind of illegal software emulation. The average game has a shelf life of only a year or two, before it disappears, apparently forever!

As well as being an absolute travesty, the financial benefits enjoyed by the film and music industries through keeping older works alive and available, are lost to games. Record labels make a mint from music which was recorded decades ago. As well as satisfying fans, this allows investors to make more long-sighted decisions and minimise risk.

Kurt’s still making money for the capitalist machine…

Recently, with innovations in digital distribution on the PS3, Wii and Xbox, things have been improving. Even hi-definition re-issues like the God of War ‘Special Edition’ on PS3 are almost comparable to a remastering of a classic movie.

However, games are still ’saved’ on a case by case basis – and not one of the current generation of consoles seems committed to backwards compatibility.  Microsoft’s recent decision to cut original Xbox consoles off from Xbox Live means that more and more gamers are going to have to abandon older titles and hardware.

For this reason, the announcement on the 28^th, that one of the world’s largest videogames publishers has signed up to the software preservation movement, is infinitely more important to the videogames industry than any technology, service, or platform. It just hasn’t realised it yet.

Now, how long till we can get X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter?

One day my friends…  One day…

- Stew (@chicknstu)

If you’re reading this, then the chances are that you’re an intelligent, creative sort of person, with at least a passing interest in games.  Actually, according to the last Denki poll we carried out, there’s an above average chance that you’re also terribly good looking, quietly satisifed with life and have a pony called Tuppence.

As a good-looking, creative sort of person, then it’s a fairly safe bet that you’ve had a good idea for a videogame at some point.  When we allow ourselves out of the office, one of the most common questions we get asked is about new ideas.  Yet, it’s one of those topics that the games industry generally doesn’t say much about.

So, let’s say you have a great idea – no, an awesome idea for a game.  You’ve played lots of games.  You span the genres, you know that your idea could set the world on fire.

However, you’re busy, you don’t have the time to learn C#, or the contacts to let you put the game out in front of an admiring global audience.

It makes sense to ask your friendly neighbourhood games developer, if they can take your idea and turn it into the global megahit you know it deserves to be.

Strangely though, they seem reluctant to listen to your idea, or dismissive even.  Which is strange because your idea would make them millions.  Ungrateful swine!

The problem is that games companies have to be very careful about ideas and concepts.  Something vague or not clearly defined can come back years, or even decades later and cause some serious problems.

Imagine for a moment if you will, that your idea is ‘Mario meets Tomb Raider, but with physics’ or ‘Grand Theft Auto, but online’, or ‘a realistic World War II action adventure game’.  The minute a developer releases any sort of platform game, online sandbox title, something with cars in it or, god forbid, anything set between the years 1939 and 1945, then you could claim that it was your idea!

OK, we know you wouldn’t.  You’re not deluded.  It’s just, you know, other people.  People with lawyers and time on their hands.  People who could conceivably drag us into court to prove that their idea had cars in and the new Formula One game we’ve just released is a complete rip-off (for example).

For a lot of games companies, this isn’t some vague notion. Any developer which has had a decent hit on the market, has probably received at least one letter from an individual (or less frequently, but far more terrifyingly, another company), saying this is their intellectual property, buddy, now back off and leave the money on the ground…

This is a deal breaker for many studios. Yes, you can fight these claims off.  Yes, you can more than likely prove that the general core of the game is so generic and popular that there’s no merit to the complaint but, who has the time – or the money – to do this?  Of course, there’s always the remote, slim possibility that in some bizarre and unexpected fluke, the claim is upheld and all of a sudden you do owe this random person/corporation your proceeds for the game (plus damages, expenses and that nice office chair the boss sits in…)

So, pretty much every developer, publisher and person involved in making games, normally gives a “Thank you kindly, but no” sort of reply to any external new idea.

Games companies will risk missing the world’s most awesome game idea, because it’s far less likely to cause them problems in the future.  When it comes right down to it, they have lots of clever and creative people actually inside the company.  Better yet, those people have contracts in place which mean that their ideas can be used without the potential headaches of lawsuits and damages.

All of which can make some people angry upon occasion.  They  have after all had the most awesome idea.  However, the sad fact is that on its own, an idea is pretty much worthless.  Sit us down after work, buy us a few beers and you’ll get a lot of ideas.  Dozens (if not hundreds).  You’d probably be very welcome to most of them too.  It’s the execution that matters, not the vague concept.  Sorry.

Besides, if you really believe your idea is that great, you’ll get your hands dirty to prove us all wrong.

- Brian (@flackboy)

You may remember that I caused something of a furore last July, when I called for a ban on the word ‘casual’. While it’s true that I don’t think the word does anyone any favours, occasionally I have heard it used in a sensible way: to describe the audience.

I actually said as much in my talk, but I’ll reiterate my point:

‘Casual’ can describe a style of play; but it can’t describe a demographic.

What do I mean? I mean that sometimes I’m not very committed to a game and maybe I just want a quick bit of fun, without any pressure or strings attached. Sometimes I’ll commit and dedicate myself to pursuing one game and all that comes with it. However, I’m still the same 26-34 year old male (just).

My demographic is the same, no matter the game or how I play it.

-David (@dwlt)

Having been an Audio Development Manager in a previous life, I still find myself taking a keen interest in audio matters whenever I can. Usually that’s not nearly as often as I’d like, but this story on Develop from Audio Kinetic’s VP made me remember something I learned a while ago that I wanted to share.

To cut a long story short, the article essentially says that the majority of games are only touching the surface of what it’s possible to do with the interactive audio technology available to teams in today’s consoles. He’s absolutely right. There are disappointingly few titles I come across today that are doing anything significantly more ambitious than we tried in the likes of GTA or Crackdown umpty-dumpty years ago.

However, I just want to make something clear – it’s not the technology that’s the limiting factor in this scenario. The original Xbox (and forever to Microsoft’s credit in my book) was the first console that totally blew aside any notion of the hardware being the creative limitation to ambitious audio developers. For the first time it wasn’t technology holding audio back, it was the team sizes. Most teams simply weren’t set up to supply the amount of audio resource the Xbox and its subsequent brethren could manipulate.

But now it’s not even the team sizes, because (at least the bigger) developers have audio pipelines capable of delivering the large quantity of assets required for modern blockbuster games.

Nope, it’s none of that – it all comes back to something I realised back in the late 90’s after starting work on Grand Theft Auto 3. The biggest barrier to great audio in computer games isn’t hardware, or teams, or even tools. These can all play a part, but by far the biggest hurdle is development process – or more specifically poor development process. The vast majority of developers still don’t work within a development process that properly recognises the unique requirements of audio development and prioritise it accordingly.

It will change, and is already beginning to; but not nearly as fast as I would have hoped. It’s been a decade since I left full time audio development and I see depressingly little real difference in the situation today to where it was back then. Fortunately, the average quality of audio in games has moved up significantly – mostly through better hardware, better tools, cheaper recording technology and supremely talented audio teams; but the pinnacle hasn’t moved nearly as far forward as it should have, and as someone with a real passion for interactive audio I find that rather disappointing.

Fortunately Denki’s development process does place audio in its rightful place – equally as important as every other aspect of a game’s design.

-Colin (@denkicolin)

The finalists have been announced for this year’s Independent Games Festival awards.  There were more entries than ever this year.  Over 300 titles were submitted for the main competition.  Even more intriguing is the new Nuovo award, which “hono[u]r[s] abstract, shortform, and unconventional game development which advances the medium and the way we think about games.”

Which is all kinds of cool.  Finally recognition that a ‘game’ doesn’t have to involve rocket launchers and high tech killings to be appreciated…

However, the award categories and finalists (which you really should check out, there are links to all of ‘em) are for the most part the usual areas you expect – technical excellence, design, audio, etc. Which made me wonder – where’s the fun?

Not one videogame award currently exists which rewards the sheer, unadulterated enjoyment and pleasure – you know the FUN you get from a game.  Critic’s Choice, Game Of The Year and various grand prizes are there, but it seems odd that not one competition rewards the cracking entertainment and pleasure you get from a game.

Are we taking things too seriously, or have we uncovered a gaping hole in the interactive entertainment world’s self-congratulatory back slapping?

- Brian (@flackboy)

Last month, Brian wrote about the lack of indie labels for game developers, and the opportunities that could be afforded by those labels.

I think there’s another aspect of the music industry that could be applied to indie games, and that is a service such as Topspin or Bandcamp. These services provide one-stop-shops for artists to handle marketing, distribution and sales of their music. They also provide analytics, allowing the artists to gain some insight into where their fans are coming from, what they’re listening to, and so on. Basically, they just sit behind the band’s website and deal with all the boring but important things such as credit card processing and providing downloads. I think it would be a huge boon if such a service existed for indie games.

Now, yes, it is possible to put all the relevant components of such a service together, particularly in a games company which is full of tech people: but if you want to make games, why would you want to devote too much time to that aspect? Wouldn’t you be better off actually using the time it would take to do that and making your game even more awesome?

-David (@dwlt)