Cthulhu Thursday: This #Cthulhu #Lovecraft Bundle is so Amazing, it Will End the World. #CthulhuBundle
And I say that as the unbiased curator and participant in it! Get the bundle here!
H.P. Lovecraft Trans-Media Bundle On VODO – A Time-Limited Special Offer
Grab this awesome Pay-What-You-Want collection of trans-media treats inspired by the writings and mythos of cult American horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, including film, indie games, ezines, ebooks, audio books and more, only on VODO!
For the as yet uninitiated, here is a good explanation of Lovecraft’s style from Wikipedia: ‘Lovecraftian horror is a sub-genre of horror fiction which emphasizes the psychological horror of the unknown (in some cases, unknowable) over gore or other elements of shock, though these may still be present… The hallmark of Lovecraft’s work was the sense that ordinary life was a thin shell over a reality which was so alien and abstract in comparison that merely contemplating it would damage the sanity of the ordinary person.’
The bundle includes the following goodies:
Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land (Android & PC Game), courtesy of Red Wasp Design
Cthulhu Saves the World (PC Game), courtesy of Zeboyd Games
Die Farbe / The Colour Out Of Space (Film), courtesy of BrinkVision
Innsmouth Magazine, Collected Issues 1-4 / 5-7 (eBooks), courtesy of Innsmouth Free Press
Lovecraft Audio Books Packs 1 & 2 (mp3 audio), courtesy of The Atlanta Radio Theatre Company
Lovecraft eZine, 2 x Annual Megapacks, 2011/2012 (eBooks), courtesy of The Lovecraft eZine
Sherlock Holmes: The Awakening (PC Game), courtesy of Frogwares
Curated by Tomas Rawlings of Red Wasp Design and Auroch Digital, this special offer is available from vodo.net on a time-limited basis from August 1 to August 18 and can be tweeted about via the hashtag #CthulhuBundle.
Tomas remarked:
“This is a really exciting bundle that reflects the fact that fans like myself aren’t only interested in one medium; we like games, films, books and audio and are happy to have Cthulhu on all of these and more! Each of the things selected here is something that personally I’m a huge fan of so am really pleased to see them all in one collection.”
70% of contributions are divided equally between the 7 content providers, 25% goes to VODO and 5% goes to our chosen charity for this offer, Fight For The Future. Fight for the Future is dedicated to protecting and expanding the Internet’s transformative power in our lives by creating civic campaigns that are engaging for millions of people.
Thanks for your support!
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(Cthulhu Thursday is a dose of Mythos to brighten darken your week. More on the idea can be found here and a list of posts thus far, here. Also for more Cthulhu news, sign up to the cthulhuHQ twitter feed. Enjoy!)
Some #NineWorlds Gaming Sessions – Amazing Line ups!
We’ve been working with the great people at NineWorlds and The Wellcome Trust to program in some interesting strands for the upcoming NineWorlds Geekfest…
Image from Shadowrun Online.
10th August – 5pm – Cyberpunk – The Dystopian Prism/Prison. Panel Discussion.
Technology is advancing at a huge rate and with it are the moral and social questions it brings. Is Cyberpunk culture’s immune response to this advancement, engulfing the issues within stories, films and games to flag these issues in advance or has it become a self-fulfilling prophecy with the inevitable end where we’ll be reading a DRM-locked copy Neuromancer in Google Glass as the irony passes us by. Join us and some of the top creators in this field to talk, cyber, punk, tech, specs and crashes together.Panel:
- Cory Doctorow – Co-editor of Boing Boing and author of novels such as Pirate Cinema and Makers.
- Charles Stross – Author of Halting State series and many more.
- Kieron Gillen – Comic author on titles such as Uncanny X-Men and more.
- Jan Wagner – Cliffhanger Productions, developers of Jagged Alliance and Shadowrun Online
- Rafal Praszczalek (Writer) and Antoni Strzalkowski (Producer) on CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077
- Dr. Demis Hassabis, former games developer (Syndicate, Republic: The Revolution) and now neuroscientist (and Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow)
Moderated by Helen Keen
Panel supported by The Wellcome Trust.
And there is more!!
10th August – 3.15pm: The Infected – Diseases of the Cultural Body. Panel Discussion.
Disease scars us. Retro-viral infections write their existence into our DNA just as The Black Death has written its history into our nursery rhymes. The concept of our species being dragged to the precipice of existence – or indeed pulled over it – by disease is a common meme found in games, films and novels. But why this fascination in our own extinction at the hands of organisms we can see with the naked eye? Join some of the best creators playing with our demise to talk about why we’re all infected with the idea of infections.
Panel:
- James Vaughan – Creator of the mega-hit Plague Inc game on iOS and Android.
- Will Porter- Writer on indie hit PC game, Project Zomboid.
- Dr Julia Gog – Lecturer at the University of Cambridge and researcher into the mathematics of infectious disease.
- Dr Stéphane Hué – UCL expert in how viruses spreads and so evolve.
Moderated by Paul-Michael Agapow. Panel supported by The Wellcome Trust.
And then there is this..
10th August – 1.30pm Crowfunding the Future – Get the crowd to fund your vision.
Do you have an amazing idea for a game, novel, film or comic? Crowd funding has become a huge phenomena in recent years as creators by-pass the traditional gamekeepers of funding such as publishers, and ask the audience directly to support their vision. From hardware projects like Oyua and Occulus Rift to cultural explorations such as Video Game Tropes vs Women; this new way on access support is no guaranteed nor easy route to funding. Join a select few who have make this platform work for them to find out more about what works – and what does not.
Panel:
- Jan Wagner – Cliffhanger Productions who raised $500,000 for Shadowrun Online
- Alex Harvey – Currently running a Kickstater for Tangiers, the surrealist stealth game.
Moderated by Tomas Rawlings. Panel Supported by The Wellcome Trust
Now watch this and get excited by Cyberpunk 2077
Because some of the devs are going to be there too!
Cyberpunk 2077 – Night City Lives, Live! 11th August – 11.30am-12.30pm
The trailer from CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 has created huge anticipation for this new titled based on the classic RPG by the developers who’ve also spawned the much admired The Witcher series. In this session game designer Tomas Rawlings will be quizzing Rafal Praszczalek (Writer) and Antoni Strzalkowski (Producer) from Cyberpunk 2077 on how the game is going, their artistic vision for the title and what gamers can look forward too from their unique take on a dystopian vision of the future.
Panel:
- Antoni Strzalkowski – Producer, Cyberpunk 2077
- Rafal Praszczalek – Writer, Cyberpunk 2077
Moderated by Tomas Rawlings
Panel supported by The Wellcome Trust.
Fan Run Sci-fi Event Boosts Gaming Strand #nineworlds
We’ve been working with the great people at NineWorlds and The Wellcome Trust to program in some interesting strands for the upcoming NineWorlds Geekfest…
Image from Shadowrun Online, one of the developers of which will be speaking at the event.
Fan Run Sci-fi Event Boosts Gaming Strand
Following the hugely successful Kickstarter campaign, London based Sci-fi convention Nine Worlds Geekfest, has steadily been adding a roster of amazing guests and speakers to its inaugural lineup. It scored a coup getting Chris Barrie, star of Red Dwarf (and reoccurring character in the Lara Croft Tomb Raider films) and Game of Thrones sword instructor Syrio Forel (played by actor Miltos Yerolemou) who teaches Arya to fight in King’s Landing is attending, bolstering the event’s TV and film credentials. It is now about to do the same for it’s video game offerings by announcing three new strands on Cyberpunk, Plagues and Crowdfunding.
These new strands, in addition to the existing sessions, means it now has an impressive array of gaming related events which will have many a gamer switching off their console to join in the action. Going Cyberpunk will be Jan Wagner of Shadowrun Online developers Cliffhanger Productions, who will be joining a panel of acclaimed novelists including Boing Boing writer Cory Doctorow, the gaming-thriller author of Halting State Charles Stross and Uncanny X-Men comic writer Kieron Gillen. The assembled team will then be talking about the augmented and transhuman future that faces us, in fiction and reality. Science stand-up star Helen Keen will be hostingthe cyberpunk panel to keep them switched on.
In ‘The Infected’, people can hear James Vaughan, creator of the mega-hit mobile title Plague Inc being joined by Will Porter from indie hit PC game Project Zomboid amongst other guests to talk about how we see our own viral-laden doom reflected in gaming fiction.
Jan Wagner will also be joining current indie surreal stealth game, Tangier’s Alex Harvey, to talk about how best to lever the crowdfunding and Kickstarter audience to help make your indie gaming dream a reality. Jan Wagner was part of the Shadowrun Online Kickstarter team that successfully raised over $500,000 to fund the game. Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land and Chainsaw Warrior developer, Auroch Digital’s Tomas Rawlings will be chairing to keep the crowd-sourced questions flowing.
These new panels are being supported by The Wellcome Trust, helping to bring a new shot of science inspired action into the games strand. They join an existing impressive video games roster including Rhianna Pratchett (Tomb Raider writer), James Swallow (Deus Ex:Human Revolution) and Cara Ellison (writer for Rock Paper Shotgun).
Tickets are now available from nineworlds.co.uk
More on the updated gaming stands can be found here.
Image from Shadowrun Online, one of the developers of which will be speaking at the event.
Chainsaw Warrior Returns! #ChainsawWarrior
I’m really happy to say that we’ve gone public with a game we’ve been working away on in the background – Games Workshop’s classic ‘Chainsaw Warrior’:
The seminal hit board game Chainsaw Warrior, made by Games Workshop back in 1987 is set to return this year in a digital form. The original 80s game was a notable rarity in that it was a solo board game that pitted the player not against others but against the clock. The game saw New York balancing on the precipice of darkness as twisted forces from another reality attempted to rip the city from this world into theirs. Standing between them and the destruction of the city was a lone figure, the brutal and mysterious Chainsaw Warrior. As the eponymous hero, the player had to delve into a zombie infested New York tenement to locate the source of the evil spewing through the spatial rift and destroy it before he was destroyed. The game is being created by Bristol based indie developer Auroch Digital for mobile and desktop platforms.
Now I loved this game back in the day and I’ve always wanted to do some Games Workshop projects, also being a huge fan. See chainsawwarrior.net net for more. So this is very exciting for me. We’ve been getting a great response so far, for example – Rock paper Shotgun:
There are three immediate things to note about Chainsaw Warrior:
1) Despite claims that they are violent, computerised games have managed to exist for ages without Chainsaw Warrior becoming a best-selling franchise. Gears of War doesn’t count.
2) The game is a digital adaptation of a 1987 Games Workshop boardgame for one player. I have never heard of that game but I did adapt Cluedo for solo play when I was a youngster. It was rubbish. If I had a time machine, I’d risk some sort of paradoxsplosion in order to introduce my younger self to Chainsaw Warrior.
3) Killing monsters with a chainsaw is a good thing to do.
Indeed! And also Pocket Tactics:
Rawlings seems to have read my mind: today his Auroch Digital have announced that they’re the latest developers to join Games Workshop’s massive push into mobile gaming with an iOS and Android of the1987 solitaire board game Chainsaw Warrior. You play a Special Forces trooper who is sent alone into a mutant-plagued New York City with just one hour to save the world’s greatest city from the other-worldly creature that seeks to destroy it. If you’re imagining Snake Plissken as a proto-Space Marine, that sounds about right to me, too.
Thanks, Owen for that! And finally (for now) Game Debate:
Tomas is not new to this though and has worked on bringing other iconic franchises to the digital stage, including Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land. So when THQ disbanded last year, the Games Workshop licence (THQ had bought rights to the licence for the foreseeable future) became available again and Tomas was ready. This was his chance to attempt to do something he had always wanted to do, revive a classic Games Workshop game and bring it into the digital era.
Chainsaw Warrior Original Board Game
Chainsaw Warrior Main Image
A Talk on Games and Democracy
I gave a talk at TEDx Houses of Parliament if you want to have a look it’s made it’s way onto the intertubes…
OK I’m bias because we’ve been involved in producing them, but it is true, they are well worth attending!
First is a live pitch event where 4 teams of indie devs are pitching their new IP ideas to a panel of top industry experts. Its going to be interesting to see what they come up with and also learn what works and what does not in a pitch:
Live Pitch in partnership with The Wellcome Trust
10 Jul 2013
12:00 – 12:45
Room 3Four indie developer studios pitch their latest game ideas LIVE to a panel of publishers, investors and funders! Earlier this year four indies each received development funding of up to £10,000 from The Wellcome Trust for their novel game concepts. Now they’ll be pitching those developed concepts to a panel of industry experts on the hunt for the next big thing. These experienced individuals have seen hundreds of pitches and will be offering their take on each idea – and of course looking out for any they may want to invest in themselves.
And after lunch comes the second ace session looking at a truly viral game about…well viruses. Find out what made Plague Inc such a runaway success:
Plague Inc. – 10 Million Downloads and Counting: The Power of Realistic Game Design
10 Jul 2013
14:00 – 14:45
Room 5Plague Inc. from Ndemic Creations was one of the top mobile games of 2012 with millions of players working to infect and kill the world’s population with a deadly disease. Created as a hobby, it has become so successful that it even attracted the attention of America’s CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). In this interview organised by the Wellcome Trust, we’ll ask James Vaughan to explain how Plague Inc. was created and the advantages that come from basing a game on a real world topic. We will also investigate the balance of realism vs. gameplay, discuss how to make science appealing and identify his top lessons for other developers seeking to make successful, realistic games.
Plague Inc screenshot
Royal Society Game Jam Games are Go! #RSgamejam
The Royal Society Games from the recent game jam are online – free to play, to download and you can vote for your favourite!
Online gamers and visitors to the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition are today being invited to vote for their favourite science inspired game. Gamers will be able to play and then vote for one of four games developed at a 12 hour Game Jam hosted by the Royal Society in May. The Game Jam saw scientists taking part in this year’s Summer Science Exhibition team up with experienced games development studios to bring the science behind their exhibits to life.
The games can be played online on the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition website or found as free PC downloads via the IndieCity website. They will also be available to play at special games stations throughout the Summer Science Exhibition at the Royal Society.
Players will be encouraged to vote for the game that they think is the most fun, playable and explains the science best. The game with the most votes will receive funding to be developed further – perhaps by adding another level or extra characters or making it available on more devices. Voting closes on Sunday 7th July. The games competing for further funding are:
- A Pinch of Salt: an ocean set 3D game which sees players pilot an ocean glider and measuring sea salt and trying to cover as much ground as possible in a limited time, developed by Kanko and the University of East Anglia.
- Cell Invaders: a puzzle-action game exploring the complex life of sugars, developed by Robin Baumgarten, Gorm Lai, Benjamin Donoghue and the University of Manchester.
- Out Both Ends: a biomedical puzzle game about identifying the source of an outbreak of disease, developed by Opposable Games, Force of Habit and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
- Quantum Revolution: an excitement packed space shooter game based on quantum physics, developed by Bossa Studios and Toshiba Research Europe Ltd.
Professor Peter Sadler FRS, chair of the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition selecting committee, said: “We’re delighted that our first ever Summer Science Exhibition Game Jam was such a success. It was great to see the enthusiasm with which scientists and developers alike approached the gruelling 12 hour Game Jam. The games that they were able to develop in such a short time are absolutely fantastic. The Summer Science Exhibition is all about communicating the wonders of science to the public in new and exciting ways. I’ve certainly had a wonderful time trying out all of the games and I look forward to seeing which game triumphs in the public vote!”
Unity Technologies, a games development software company, has supported the Royal Society in designing and running the Game Jam, through Unity, the flexible and high-performance development platform used to make creative and intelligent interactive 3D and 2D experiences. The Royal Society is partnering with indie game distribution portal, IndieCity, to share the games produced at the jam. The vote’s Twitter hashtag is #RSgamejam
Auroch Digital produced the event and also developed a game for one of the exhibitions, Zombeetle & The Fossil Colour Quest.
Zombeetle and the Fossil Colour Quest
Cthulhu Thursday: Call of Cthulhu The Wasted Land Android Flash Sale #thewastedland #cthulhu
Over at Red Wasp Design we’ve decided to have a flash sale, so you can get the mobile version of Call of Cthulhu:The Wasted Land at 50% of a limited time…
Yes indeed my fellow cultists, we’ve decided to have a flash sale on Android for a limited time the – get it now to save your sanity…
Google Play Store Link for Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land
(Cthulhu Thursday is a dose of Mythos to
brightendarken your week. More on the idea can be found here and a list of posts thus far, here. Also for more Cthulhu news, sign up to the cthulhuHQ twitter feed. Enjoy!)
Games for Change in New York Summary #G4C13
So I’m back in dear old Bristol from Games for Change in New York. Firstly I have to say it was a great event and kudos to the organizers for all their hard work. Secondly I have to say what a great line-up of speakers. The keynotes were all amazing and full of fascinating stuff – there was a reason why these people were tagged as ‘though leaders’ in gaming! Here’s quotes from an article summarising Eric Zimmerman and Brenda Romeros’ talks:
Zimmerman argued that we don’t look for the same kind of world-changing effects from documentary films or books, and we don’t discuss “bookification” or the merit of books as educational tools. He argued that video games do not deserve this kind of scrutiny, and holding them to these higher standards is “like saying a medical simulation for training doctors should also cure cancer.”
and
“It’s not games that need to change,” [Brenda Romero] continued, “we need to change the way we look at things. There’s a zillion different ways we can look at stuff, and we need to look at things from a perspective that is not our own. We need to see the world as others might see it, and make games out of things we normally wouldn’t make games out of.”
Here’s a bit from an article I wrote on the first day’s talks:
In this respect games become the stepping stone to more complex ideas. The simplicity that games bring becomes a routemap to understanding not because they tell you what to think but because they help to ask questions.
One of the main bits of news that got a lot of people tweeting (including me) was this:
And finally hats-off to the winners in the Games for Change awards including Quandry!
And here’s a picture I took of the Empire State building!
The Empire State Building in NYC
PS. The session I was in was the subject of this interesting article on Polygon.
Funding Games via Crowdfunding, Kickstarter, IndieGoGo Etc: Advice from Those in the Know
Updated! I’ve added info from Quo Vadis 2014 and other bits I’ve learned! Thanks. Also worth checking out ICO Partner’s blog on the subject…
All this info is not from me btw – this is all advice gather from attending sessions at Quo Vadis and also from conversations with people who’ve been there, done that and got the t-shirt (or at least are having the t-shirt printed as tier gifts…)
Preparation
- Originality is key. Don’t do what others are doing, seek your own clear blue waters.
- Also look to the right platform: Kickstarter is the biggest one currently and if you fail you get nothing. IndieGoGo is the second biggest but has the option to create a reduced project with whatever is raised. CrowdCubed crowdfunds investors in your buisness, so you can get much more money but they are buying a share of what you do. There are also games-specific crowdfunding platforms such as GameLaunched.
- Look at people who’ve done well in this area, not to copy them but to see how they make it work for their ideas. Amanda Palmer is a great example of this. In general, musicians have been doing this longer to see what works for them.
- But also look at what does not work. Around 20% of games Kickstarter’s succeed, so the majority of them fail. It is key also to understand what does not work. Try talking to those for whom it didn’t work out and see what they learned too (e.g post-mortem here)
- The amount of money you’re asking for is also a key decision. A rule of thumb is that if you are an unknown without an IP then getting more than $50K is hard. If you have a moderately known IP or some of a following then you might make $100K but if you are looking for more than that then you need either/both a large following/name and/or a killer IP.
- The video is absolutely, totally key. For games there is now a push for demos too, but it is still the video that makes it happen. Great examples of this include Project Clang and Broken Sword. Don’t make it more than 2 minutes, be creative, let the emotions show – convey to people why this project matters. Music is also key, so get it right!
- Prep Time – The more you’re asking, the more time it takes to prepare. In general expect to put at least 2 months into prep for your pitch. This needs to include getting all the materials and press ready and lots more. While some assets may need to be released in response to questions and comments, prepare as much as you can (art, demos, videos) before as you can. The better the assets, the better the response.
- Some genres of game work well and others not so. Casual games have not done well whereas RPG, strategy and adventure have done well. So far the original, hardcore gamer and ‘anti-app store’ vibe has been what’s been working. However just because it did (or didn’t) work before does not mean it might not work now…
- Do share the biographies of key people; funders want to know who they are giving money too.
- Do create interesting tiers of gifts. They help to define the creativity of the project as a whole. Physical goods are popular but so are quirky things. The high-end tiers really need to be a talking-point; something really cool. These can also help to create coverage.
- While being original helps – having a name also helps. If you can get support from somebody with a rep and/or get an IP that people know and love, that can make a huuuuge difference to how the campaign will be received and promoted.
- Don’t do the campaign during Mid January, Mid July, End August or when major games events are on GDC, E3, Gamescom etc. You need the press to cover it and they won’t if they are away.
‘Cthulhu Wars’ Kickstarter Art
The Process
- Don’t go for 60 day campaigns. Most of the money is raised during the first few and last few days. The middle matters much less and all the longer campaigns do is sap your energy.
- The first few days are crucial. Very few campaigns do poorly here and recover. Make them count!
- Don’t do Steam Greenlight before; do it after when you can lever your fan community to help.
- Note the average pledge per video game project is currently around $70 (it’s $90 for board games!)
- Expect to be full-time for the duration of the campaign. You need to have people answering comments, responding to questions and all that, 24 hours a day. Just because you’ve gone to bed, does not mean the community has – if you can’t organise enough people to be online for the duration then hire community managers who can.
- You can keep selling after the event; some projects are making 15%-30% of the total income after the deadline selling tier-related goods.
- Ideal currency is the dollar; currently all the major projects that have succeeded have done it via a US facing approach.
Promotion
- It goes without saying that you need to be all over Facebook and Twitter – with the latter piggybacking of popular hashtags can help as well as creating your own. Repost on popular Facebook communities, hassle famous people to RT you and all that.
- Keep your page active for the duration – be on it with updates, stretch goal, new art and videos. It needs to look like a buzzing thing that people want to be part of. Aim for one press release per week and also weekly asset drops on the site linked to these. Do relaunches around 10 days in and also last 2 days, as it helps keep the momentum.
- Use your quirky high-end tiers to promote the project; they are great news-hooks.
- When you are ready to announce, go to the community first and the press second. Get the buzz going first.
- Don’t make the press about ‘We’re doing a Kickstarter’ as everyone is – make it about an amazing new concept or project.
- If there are opportunities to talk in person; do it. If you can get on the road and tour some key places to speak and promote it; do so!
Interesting Articles/Links
- Basics of Crowdfunding
- A very expereinced creator gives detailed ‘dos’ and ‘do nots’
- A discussion of crowdfunding
- Occulus Rift and crowdfunding
- Crowdfunding and Investment
- Top 10 Countries by Crowd-funding Pledges
- Kickstarter’s Guide to Crowdfunding
- ICO Partner’s Blog on Crowdfunding
- Links from my Bristol Games Hub Talk on Crowdfunding (2018)
- Links from my Develop Talk on Crowdfunding (2016)
A Great Becoming... 