Do you have an idea for the next ‘Deus Ex: Human Revolution’, ‘Pandemic’ or ‘Splice’? Get £10K To Make it Happen!
Auroch is working with Wellcome and Develop for a new very cool scheme for UK based indie devs. The Wellcome Trust and Develop have got a new scheme about developing game ideas inspired by biomedical science into mass market games! If you are sucsessful in applying you get £10K to develop the idea, mentoring with the process and to pitch it live at Develop to a panel of experts including publishers. You’ve got until the 26th April to get your submission in, so best to get moving now!
Develop in Brighton in partnership with the Wellcome Trust brings a Live Pitch event to this year’s conference. Apply for Development Funding and Pitch Your Game at the Develop in Brighton Conference 2013.
Do you have an idea for the next ‘Deus Ex: Human Revolution’, ‘Pandemic’ or ‘Splice’?
Developers are invited to apply for the chance to receive up to £10,000 each to develop a high-impact pitch for their game to help secure a distribution platform and funding. The ideas for your game need to draw on or be inspired by contemporary or historical biological or medical science in an innovative and accessible way. The games can be developed for any mass-appeal genre, platform or business model. Those who are successful will go on to pitch their developed game ideas to a panel of publishers and funders at a live event at Develop in Brighton on Wednesday 10 July 2013. Panellists joining the Wellcome Trust include Sony XDev and crowd-funding platform Indiegogo. Participating developers will be invited to receive additional pitch training ahead of the live event.
More information and details of how to apply are here: http://bit.ly/Zqvzj1
Deus Ex: Human Revolution Upgrade Image
We were really pleased to get an email from Pocket Gamer telling us we’d been nominated for the Strategy/Simulation category of their awards – if you would like to vote for Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land, click on the link, scroll down to the Strategy/Simulation category and click on the arrow pointing left. This will open the menu for that category – put a tick next to the game you want to vote for and click submit at the bottom of the list. The deadline for voting is 18th March. Many thanks if you do 😉
Pocket Gamer Awards 2013 now in full swing – you have until March 18th to vote! Click on image to vote…
Thanks again to Pocket Gamer staff and for all who’ve supported us, past and present!
The game is available for iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad – note the new update has the extra levels In-App purchase and includes the updated historical info. For Android (Google Play) and Amazon US. The game is also out on PC via GamersGate, Intel’s AppUp center & IndieCity.
Cow Crusher Released!
We have just put out a new game as part of GameTheNews.net – here’s press release:
BRISTOL, UK MARCH 4th, 2013: The creators of Endgame:Syria have turned their development attention to the ongoing horse-meat scandal in their latest release. In ‘Cow Crusher‘ the player runs their own meat processing plant and must ensure that its output is 100% beef, in an irreverent comment on the speed and mechanisation of our food production process. Players need to hit the right button to squish the animal into the right meat product and keep the quality high; while making sure they don’t process any horses in the works. Cow Crusher is the latest game by GameTheNews.net with the development taking around 3 days to create it’s newest newsgame. GameTheNews’s design and production director Tomas Rawlings commented, “Cow Crusher is part of an ongoing experiment into how games can play a role in news and current affairs and this time we’ve opted for a more fun approach to the topic.” The game is out now to play for free online as HTML5 and for Android devices via Google Play.
GameTheNews became a global talking-point following the release of ‘Endgame:Syria’ a game covering the ongoing war. The developer says they are still “in process” with an Apple version of Endgame:Syria and also have another serious title in production themed around the War on Drugs in Mexico.
Cow Crusher by GameTheNews.net – click to play.
We’ve had one review already by n3rdabl3.co.uk:
As soon as I saw this game I had to get it, one; For the humor, and two; Because it actually looked like a great game with continuous playability and that’s just what it is!
There is a list of coverage, below the posting of the press release on Auroch Digital’s site.
Ignite Bristol Video of Endgame:Syria
I was kindly invited to Ignite Bristol to give a talk about Endgame:Syria. The format they use is you get 20 slides set to auto change every 15 seconds (similar to the PechaKucha idea) which was a new one to me, so this was my first attempt at this way of speaking. Here’s how it did…
A big thanks to the Ignite Bristol team, who made me feel very welcome – it was a great event and I’d recommend it!
GameTheNews.Net Updates
We’re going to releasing a new newsgame on Monday (assuming it all goes to plan) which will be a subtle and informed comment on the horse-meat scandal:
Cow Crusher by GameTheNews.net
Yes indeed, this game-around we’re going for a more fun angle on a news topic. It is also intended to be a playable commentary on the mechanisation of food production.
In other GTN news, Endgame:Syria can now be played on Facebook and in Turkish.
Biometric Analysis of Games
From an interesting interview with Player Research – I met Graham at a Wellcome/Develop session last year and was impressed by what they do! Worth a read…
How does biometric analysis work?
So, one of the methods we use is biometrics, or psychophysiology. This means we attach small sensors to the player which allow us to measure when they are aroused during gameplay.
This arousal can be positive – such as excitement – or negative – such as frustration – and we find out which by interviewing the player immediately after the playtest session.
Why biometrics is useful is that players are typically quite bad at remembering how they feel at any particular moment, so being able to determine that they felt something at a particular point in the game is a useful indicator for further analysis.
Biometrics has helped us to better understand how players feels about different weapons in games, attack strategies of enemies, perceived threat of an enemy, reaction to art style or change of environment, and many other areas of gameplay.
We often combine biometrics with eye tracking and other forms of analysis for an even deeper understanding.
The PS4 and What it Means for Gaming
So the next-next gen wars have begun and Sony have opened the main event with their announcement of PS4. Consoles may not be as dominant in gaming as they once were, but make no mistake, they are still a major force. Their sheer power alone means they can create experiences not found elsewhere. The size of AAA development teams mean they can create environments unmatched elsewhere in gaming. They still matter. A lot. Now let’s get into more of the key points of the PS4 announcements….
1. It’s called the PS4. Not Orbis. PS4. Hopefully this makes predictions on future brand exercises a little easier.
2. It has a brand new controller. The leaks, it seems, had it right and the new PS4 control pad has a touchpad interface where the ‘Start’ and ‘Select’ buttons usually appeared. We can probably take it as read that the functionality of those two buttons remains.
3. The PS3 controller has a Share button which not only allows players to upload and share clips from their gaming experiences online, it also allow players to browse their online mate’s games and take note of their trophies and leaderboards achievements. As if you didn’t feel inadequate enough already…
This is a great idea – thinking in a more network centric manner is going to be key to making the PS4 a new gaming machine rather than a PS3 with more power.
4. You will be able to interact with the PS4 with a smartphone or tablet. Take that, Microsoft!
5. The PS Vita – and its touch-surface interface – will be able to be used for remote play on the PS4. Take that, Nintendo!
Again, good thinking. Linking the PS4 to devices is a must and I’m glad to see that it seems more device agnostic, which is also key. Too many people don’t use Sony phones for this not to be done. (More on Sony and mobile here)
6. Cloud gaming will be available. Gaikai – or PS Cloud – and not only will it offer players a way to sample games, it’ll solve backwards compatibility issues too.
Ah, the cloud. Again, to be network-centric this needed to happen. If you use Steam (which is ace) then you are already more familiar with how that connectivity improves the overall experience and building the community.
7. There are a ton of first party games in the pipeline, including the rambunctious brawler Knack, a couple of new titles from the InFamous and KillZone franchises and Jonathan Blow’s new game, The Witness, which debuts on the PS4.
8. Third party publishers are also getting in on the action. Capcom has announced a new sword and sorcery title called Deep Down, Ubisoft has shoved a cyber thriller called Watch Dogs into the pipeline, and Bungie’s shared world shooter, Destiny, is confirmed with exclusive DLC for the PS4.
Good on them for getting The Witness, Jonathan Blow’s Braid was amazing (read him weighing in on the Endgame:Syria debate here). I hope that means a stronger approach to opening up the PS4 for indie devs.
9. The PS4 is coming out this year. The date is pretty vague – “holiday 2013” – but at least we know that there may be a next gen console released in time to go under the Christmas tree.
10. The Last Guardian may be vaporware. Seriously, Sony, when better to let us know that a platform-exclusive isn’t dead than at the reveal event of your new gaming platform?
So far so good, I’ve got a PS3 and it looks like I’ll be getting a PS4…
Second Screen Stats
Somewhere between 75% and 85% of TV viewers use other devices while watching, although a lot of these people are doing unrelated tasks – it’s startling how many surveys come up with around 60% for the percentage of people who are emailing, which is a telling (and somewhat dispiriting) comment on modern working habits.
Of these multi-screeners, how many are actually using their second device to look for something relating to the show they’re watching? Somewhere between 37% and 52%, while between 27% and 44% are browsing for products spotted in a show or ad, depending which survey you believe.
It’s looking like more than a fifth of TV viewers are chatting on Facebook or Twitter about the shows they’re watching, although again, lots of people are on these sites for unrelated reasons (between 42% and 48% overall, by the looks of it, which includes related and unrelated use).
And the link has lots more other links to studies...
News-Games and Endgame:Syria
I’ve got a guest post up on the GamesForChange blog:
A news-game needs to be responsive to events and feedback. The first point here stands to reason; if you can’t produce a game fast enough for it to be topical, then it is no longer a news-game. The second point is also important; what we create is not the last word on that topic. As a story evolves, so should we be able to evolve the game too. Again this is a method we’re applying with Endgame:Syria, amending the content in response to feedback to improve its accuracy (some of this is from Syrians in the midst of the conflict) and also adding new events such as Scud attacks and fears of WMDs. This also underlines the fact that a news-game is not the ‘whole story’. Nobody expects only a single news story for a major event. We are in the same position with news-games.
(There are more responses to the game here, here, here and finally here.)
Article: “Violence is a necessary function of the video game”
A really interesting article on games and violence:
Most game murder (and its moments-older twin, game violence) leaves no imprint on the memory because it lacks meaning outside of the game context. Unlike depictions of death in cinema, which can trigger keen memories of the viewer’s own past pains and sorrows, game violence is principally systemic in nature; its purpose is to move the player either towards a state of victory or of defeat, rarely to tears or reflection. Likewise, there is no remorse for the game murder not only because the crime is fictional but also because, unless you’re playing for money or a hand in marriage, there is no consequence beyond the border of the game’s own fleeting reality.
While not all games have to have violence, as with drama I agree with its premise that, “Violence is a necessary function of the video game.”
As the US ponders tighter regulations for games (but perhaps not guns?) this is key in the debate on games and violence – around what constitutes a ‘violent’ game and what impact, if any, it may have. Also worth reading on the subject is this article too.
A violent game? Not really.
A Great Becoming... 