Blast from My Past: Great Escape Review, Empire Magazine
I’ve been tidying up piles of old magazines and the like at home and came across a pile of magazines I’d purchased when the game version of Great Escape came out in September 2003 (I was the lead designer on it). Here’s the summary from Wikipedia:
The Great Escape is an action-adventure stealth video game based on the 1963 movie of the same name. It was developed by UK-based developer Pivotal Games. The game was released on Xbox, Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 2.
I plan to scan them all in and so recycle the physical copies. Here’s a sample of what I found from the film magazine Empire Sept 03:
This was the first game I was the lead designer on and others did not but I learned a lot from the project. The game sold well on release; making no.2 in the UK chart (kept off the top spot by Eye Toy). I got to watch and read a lot of WW2 books/films in doing the research for the game, which was great. I remember sitting there in Pivotal’s AV room watching the classic Stalag 17 and thinking ‘I’m getting paid to do this!!!’. Indeed.
The trailers for the game are also online here:
Gaming, the Environment and Social Impact
This is a good article on gaming, the environment and social impact:
The idea that games can help to engage and even solve important issues is not new. Last year Foldit gamers successfully worked out the structure of a protein that helps viruses like HIV multiply. And there are plenty of organisations dedicated to supporting development of “games with purpose”, “social impact games” or “serious” games, such as not for profit Games for Change. And plenty of studios too, including the feistyMolleindustria which makes simple flash games about a range of issues, including Phone Story, about the dark side of phone production (very quickly banned on the app store) and a game about Macdonald’s where you are in charge of the whole supply chain, from farming and abattoirs to managing the restaurant. Enlightening and uncomfortable.
Hat-tip to Dan for the link.
Mass Effect’s Multi-Game Legacy
One of the things about Mass Effect that intrigues me is that the saved game from the 1st and 2nd games carries decisions with you into the 3rd game:
The story of the trilogy defies simplification, not least because it unfolds differently depending on player choice. Governments fall, friends and enemies are made, whole races live or die by your decisions, so that by the third game, loading a save from the first two radically changes the world you wake up to in ME3.
At times, the whole thing is so ludicrously filmic it nearly ceases to be a game at all. Sure, there is shooting to be done, and skulls to crack, and characters to level up and equip, but it all feels almost like a list of chores. The gameplay’s not bad – in fact, it’s excellent, overflowing with achingly cool combat tricks and nifty level design – but when it stands between the player and a story this compelling it’s very tempting to set the difficulty as low as it goes, race through each mission and sit back with that popcorn to watch the movie.
Making Money from Mobile Games is Hard Work
Starting a new development studio is hard. Making it sustainable is even harder. As I’ve blogged about before, most mobile games don’t make much money at all. Certainly not enough to live off. There is a great article about how it is a hard slog to make the money come in and pay back development costs:
“Money does not grow on trees when it comes to smartphone game development,” said Ben Moore from Mighty Rabbit Studios. “Too often, people hear the success stories and imagine that any somewhat visible game on market is generating great amounts of cash flow. This simply is not the case. Roughly one out of eight games make it into any kind of a feature spot long enough to generate the coverage needed to sell enough copies to make money. That’s why publishers have been stepping into the arena to formalize a process to getting into that coveted feature spot. If you have a publisher, they typically take between 20-50 percent of revenue after Apple takes 30 percent. So even with a big, successful title, a lot of developers only see 35-50 percent of what the game actually earns.”
More important are the steps the designer must take to remain financially stable.
“Bankroll is the biggest problem a young and inexperienced studio will encounter,” said The Game Bakers’ Emeric Thoa. “For most games, there is a long time between launch and profitability, during which you still have to pay the team. If you have $50k budget for a game, you break even at around 70k sales. If you manage to reach this milestone in three months, you need three months of bankroll ahead of you, plus a bonus month because Apple pays every two months. If you bet on being profitable during your launch month, that’s risky.”
To that end, Thoa advises developers to beware of assumptions.
“The biggest mistake a developer can make when starting iOS development is to expect he or she will reach a hundred thousand users just because there are millions of iPhone users. Reaching the 100k milestone is hard as hell.”
The Growth of the Mobile Web in #China
I reported about the rise in Android users in the UK. But the figures here are dwarfed when we come to the growth of the mobile web in China…
China is already the biggest mobile market in the world, and it’s only getting bigger, as the country’s three state-owned telecom companies revealed a 1.2 percent increase in subscribers in January. In total China’s mobile subscriber base grew to 987.58 million in January, though only a small percentage of those are 3G subscribers. The world’s largest provider, China Mobile, grew by 5.87 million in January to reach 655.44 million subscribers — over six times as many customers as Verizon in the US, which hit 108.7 million subscribers at the end of 2011.
And that is with a smaller percentage of the population active online compared to countries such as the UK and US…
UWE Talk Notes on Rapid Prototyping, #Transmedia and Video Games
This post is lots of links and information for the group of UWE students that I’m working with today. We’re looking at the themes of transmedia, the rapid-prototyping of concepts and how these both fit into the ecology of the games industry.
Click on the heading of each section to find out more!
The Physics of Media Have Changed
“In mid-2007, six hours of video were uploaded to YouTube every minute. Then it grew to eight hours per minute, then 10, then 13. In January of this year, it became 15 hours of video uploaded every minute, the equivalent of Hollywood releasing over 86,000 new full-length movies into theaters each week.”
30 Second Life screenshot (iOS)
- “On average across the 8 major European nations surveyed, 25.4% of adults have played video games in the last 6 months, a total of 79.2 million gamers. This percentage varies from 38% in France to 17% in Italy and Poland, but is substantial in every country” (It’s 32% in UK)
- “Using this data we estimate there are 95.2 million adult Video Gamers across all 18 countries covered by the Gamer Survey”
- “Gaming is most popular among the young, however almost 30% of 30-49 year olds play video game”
- Feedback Loops
- Feedforward Loops
- Iteration
Getting Noticed in the Crowd
Question: How many apps are released per day onto iOS? Answer: 300+
When You Hit, You Hit: Modern Warfare 3
0 to $1 billion in 16 days.
When You Miss, You Miss
The Growth of Games Industry
Innovation in Gameplay I
What is interesting in the above video is the use of 2-screen gaming concepts. Which is not a million miles from sci-fi ideas in things like the Black Mirror.
Innovation in Gameplay II
Papa Sangre (click for video)
Innovation in Income: Freemium
Top 100 Grossing Games Freemium vs Premium
Innovation in Income: Tiny Towers
– DAUs: 825,000
– Sessions per day: Over 8 million
– Conversion to purchasing IAP: 3.8%
Innovation in Income: Crowd Sourcing $20,000
– $5 Option –Get the in-game music. 61×5=total $305
– $25 option – Get above plus special promo code for extra content and free DLC. 576×25 = total $14,400
– $100 option – Get above plus t-shirt, poster and map. 49 people chose this. 49×100 = total $4900
– $1000 option – Get above plus can be an in-game character. 1 person chose this. Total $1000
The Development Process
– Idea (gameplay, gameplay, gameplay)
– Outline Design
– Development
– Alpha
– Testing starts…
– Beta (Release? Google, Minecraft)
– Release
– (Iteration)
Defining Transmedia I
“A transmedia story unfolds across multiple media platforms with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole.” Jenkins (2006)
Defnining Transmedia II (more here & here)
– Trans: Latin noun or prefix, meaning “across”, “beyond” or “on the opposite side”.
– Media: Aggregated self-referential technological and socially agreed communication pathways constructed from appropriated cultural and technological utterances.
Defnining Transmedia: A Critique
“…lexical kludges, attempting to describe products using the inherent operational characteristics of broadcast media.”
Bennun (2011)
Examples of Transmedia: The Matrix Story Arc
- The Matrix (Feature film)
- Final Flight of the Osiris (Short film)
- Enter the Matrix (Xbox, PS2 Game)
- Matrix Reloaded (Feature film)
Enter the Matrix Game
Examples of Transmedia: Mission Impossible
– Facebook Game
– Feature Film
LOL Cats – my how they’ve grown…
Thanks!
Wasted Land Competition! Win a Piece of Horror History…
We’re running a competition over at Red Wasp Design where you can win a 1936 copy of Astounding Stories, which features part of At The Mountains of Madness. I kind of want nobody to enter so I can keep the prize as it is amazing…
The prize is an original March 1936 issue of ‘Astounding Stories’ which features part of Lovecraft’s classic tale of Antarctic horror, At The Mountains of Madness. Not only that but it has the amazing cult illustrations of Howard V. Brown, who was commissioned to bring Lovecraft’s dark imaginings to life.
The prize! Astounding Stories, March1936
If you want to enter, the full info is here…
Microsoft Office is Coming to iPad
This is an interesting article by Wired and it shows the dilemmas that platforms holders have in lettings their content out into their competitors spaces…
If what The Daily reported Tuesday is true, it’s possible that Microsoft Office for iPad could land concurrent to — or even onstage with — Apple’s first public iPad 3 demo, which is expected to be held the first week of March. It would certainly make for an interesting presentation, as Apple doesn’t actively evangelize its Microsoft synergy. Microsoft will be demoing its Windows 8 OS consumer preview on Feb. 29 so the timing of an early March Office for iPad unveiling would seem to work: Microsoft’s big platform-wide announcement wouldn’t be upstaged by its smaller Apple announcement.
Cthulhu Thursday: Top 5 best of Mythos, Cthulhu and Lovecraft Film, TV, Games, Stories and more… (A Work in Progress)
Updated! Oh and before I begin… important announcement! Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics is now out on Steam and console!…
This post is intended to be a work in progress. As a big fan of Cthulhu related stuff, I get through a lot, so I wanted to put together a personal list of the best of the best Cthulhu, Mythos and Lovecraft related things. Feel free to comment, email or tweet me suggestions, but note it is a personal list, so I may not agree with you…
Image from Achtung! Cthulhu RPG
Right, here we go…please note!! I list the top five(ish) in each category but they are not in order within that list, it was too hard to get all hierarchical with them 😦 Also note!!! that this is work in progress, I’m not decided all the category winners as yet, so I’ll be updating it as I do…and I do change my mind too…
The Best of Lovecraft’s Own Stories
- Call of Cthulhu: If you were to only read one of his stories, this should be it. It’s his most famous work for a reason. It has all the classic elements to a great Lovecraft work; mystery, crazy dreams, journeys that end in madness, cults, Cyclopian horror. All bound within a multiply stranded narrative. A must read. H.P.Podcraft link.
- The Colour Out of Space: This was also what Lovecraft thought of as his best work and I love this story for its depiction of something truly alien. Often in fiction the aliens are just magnified human archetypes and are not really all that alien. No so here, the thing is so different from us it’s, well alien. And that is its horror. The story is also amazingly written and so a great read. H.P.Podcraft link.
- The Shadow Over Innsmouth: Another classic. It has the rambling antiquarian trying to unravel a mystery that begins to unravel him… Great stuff! H.P.Podcraft link.
- At The Mountains of Madness: This is one of Lovecraft’s longest works and best. The narrator is writing to beg a group planning a new expedition to the Arctic to not and leave the place alone. In warning these foolhardy new explorers he has to tell his tale and what a tale it is… H.P.Podcraft link.
- Dagon: A very short story with echoes of Call of Cthulhu and Shadow Over Innsmouth within but this time wrapped within a World War One setting. Amazing prose and description within the short story form. H.P.Podcraft link.
Best Lovecraft Collaboration
- Lurker at the Threshold (With August Derleth): My first Mythos encounter and one I still love to read. The story has a subtly and creeping horror that do enjoy. AND! The H.P.Podcraft people covered it here.
- Till A’ the Seas (with R. H. Barlow): A post-apocalyptic story where the horror is build around the end of days for humanity. It has relevant with the ideas of climate change and species die-off. H.P.Podcraft link.
- Through the Gates of the Silver Key (with E Hoffman Price) : A more mystical/sci-fi story with the return of a recurring character; Randolph Carter. H.P.Podcraft link.
- The Loved Dead (with C.M.Eddy). Creepy subject matter and a creepy story. H.P.Podcraft link.
- Currently redacted.
From Cthulhu Wars game
Best Lovecraft Adaptation Feature Film
- Call of Cthulhu (2005): What an amazing idea – make the film as if it has been made in Lovecraft’s time – as a silent classic. I love this film and the people who made it (the HPLHS) have done an amazing job of adapting his work, far better that filmmakers with more experience and money have done. It just goes to show how far creativity and passion can go.
- Cthulhu (2007): Based roughly on Shadow over Innsmouth, it is a good mix of classic Lovecraftian ideas and modern horror stuff. A good stab at Lovecraft on film, imho.
- Re-Animator (1985): A great film that is based on the Lovecraft tale of ‘Herbert West: Re-animator‘ and updates it to a contemporaty setting. Deservedly one of the best adaptations of Lovecraft’s work.
- From Beyond (1986): From the same team of Re-Animator, another great adaptation that also updates the action to a contemporary setting.
- The Whisper in the Darkness (2012): A second feature by the HPLHS people and another hit. A great adaptation oozing atmosphere and while the effects are not all that great, given the budget they had it is amazing. Loved it!
Best Lovecraftian Feature Films
- Annihilation – Directed by Alex Garland and based on novel by Jeff VanderMeer, it is loosely following the formula of Color Out of Space, but is also it’s own thing. It’s a brilliant capturing of ‘weird’ fiction as a film.
- Event Horizon – A science mission to explore a black hole finds the space between stars and those who visit it, are changed!
- Color Out Of Space – Richard Stanley’s adaptation of Lovecraft’s The Color Out of Space story. It’s really good, go see it!
- Currently redacted.
- Currently redacted.
Best Lovecraft Short Films
- Experiment 17: It’s Nazis meet Mythos and well worth a watch.
- Late Bloomer: Lovecraftian sex-education class! Very clever and funny.
- From Beyond the Beyond: Fun with the beyond from some funny guys who know their stuff! (+ see other shorts by them!)
- Currently redacted.
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Best Contemporary Lovecraftian Fiction
- The short stories; A Colder War by Charles Stross: The best contemporary Lovecraft story in my opinion. A must read and also read Twilight Turns From Amethyst by Nicola Belte: A chilling short story telling of the time when the Deep Ones have returned and we are at war with them. It’s The Handmaid’s Tale meets Shadow over Innsmouth.
- The Imago Sequence & Other Stories by Laird Barron: I recently discovered Laird and he’s AMAZING. I’ve ready all I’ve been able to get my fish-claws on. Occultation and the Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All are also brilliant anthologies and the novel The Croning blew me away (stick with it as the first chapter is odd, but it makes sense later on…)
- The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson: This is Johnson’s take on The Dreamlands. I heard an interview with her and got the book after that and it’s stuck with me ever since. Totally recommended.
- The Ballad of Black Tom – by Victor LaValle, revisiting H.P. Lovecraft’s story “The Horror at Red Hook” from the viewpoint of a black man. Excellent read.
- The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer. A sequence of three books that set out to describe the indescribable, so make into words many of the things that other mythos writers just jump over. A remarkable work of fiction.
Best Contemporary Multi-Author Lovecraftian Anthology
- Shadows over Baker Street: Lovecraft meets Holmes, it’s the mashup we all wanted to see and this great anthology made happen.
- The Starry Wisdom: An anthology of stories and comics that are a tribute to H.P. Lovecraft. Some great writers recruited to the project and some amazing work within.
- Lovecaft eZine: An ongoing project that has produced many, many stories – some real gems in the mix there and a project totally worth supporting! Get Autumn Cthulhu from them – so much good fiction!
- World War Cthulhu – I backed this on Kickstarter and really enjoyed the fiction within plus has some great art works in it too!
- Delta Green Fiction: Delta Green: Denied to the Enemy by Dennis Detwiller. This novel is written in fragments involving a slew of characters over the course of World War 2, the fragmented quality of it really amplifies the horror a mystery. Once More, from the Top by A. Scott Glancy: The story of the Innsmouth raid by the government referred to in Lovecraft’s original. A short story in Delta Green: Dark Theatres.
Best Lovecraftian Non-Fiction Things
- The Annotated Lovecraft: By the great Lovecraftian scholar S.T.Joshi, it’s a great way to read his works and get an insight to how he wrote them.
- H.P.Podcraft: Funny and informative companion podcast that works though Lovecraft’s works (and those that inspired him) and is a real joy to listen too. I can’t recommend highly enough. I recommend subscribing to the premium feed (I have!)
- Voluminous: The Letters of H.P.Lovecraft. If you’d like an insight into the man, this is a great listen. Each episode is a letter (or two) followed by analysis of a man who wrote A LOT of letters.
- Journal of Lovecraftian Science – As Lovecraft was very into science and rationality, this is a great project. Backed on Kickstarter, so awaiting Vol. 3.
- Auroch Digital Podcast – So yeah, another own-plug. However Season 4 Episode 5 is a potted history of Cthulhu games which is full of great info. Season 0 Episode 4 is an introduction to the Mythos.
Cthulhu by David Kirkby (kirkd.co.uk/cthulhu)
Best RPG Game
- Call of Cthulhu: Chaosium’s original RPG based on Lovecraft’s works. This is how I discovered the mythos. It’s a gateway drug! Stand out adventures include Masks of Nyarlathotep and Beyond the Mountains of Madness: A great revisit of a classic Lovecraft setting.
- Delta Green: A great mixing of contemporary UFOs and conspiracy theory with the Cthulhu mythos. Looking forward to current offerings!
- Achtung! Cthulhu: It’s the shadow war of WW2 – how the Nazis try to turn the mythos into a means to win the war and how the Allies tried to stop them. Brilliant RPG setting from Modiphius.
- Currently redacted but I have high hopes for The Yellow King.
Honourable mention: Dark Mirror (cos I wrote it!)
Best Cthulhu Video Games
- Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth: A first person shooter set in the realm of the Mythos. Like it!
- Cthulhu Saves the World: A fun interpretation of the role Cthulhu plays in our lives. This time he’s the hero.
- The Last Door: Brilliant Lovecraftian point-and-click adventure.
- Darkest Dungeon – A super-Lovecraftian strategy/dungeon crawler game. So much great stuff in the game, well worth it!
- Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land: Ok so I designed this game, but people (e.g. below) suggested it be included, so I reluctantly agreed 😉 The game is no longer available for sale, but it’s a project I’m very proud of! Same for Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics– again, I worked on this, but I’m super proud of the game and what we did with the source material and sort-of follows on from Wasted Land,so I’m putting it here. Deal with it.
Best Cthulhu Physical Games
- Cthulhu Wars – Great area control tactical boardgame set when the Great Old Ones have claimed the earth. Amazing design too!
- Arkham Noir – Nice card art and quite a fun solo card game. I’ve only played Case #2 and Case #1 is on my ‘want’ list.
- Hyperspace – A 4x style strategy boardgame from the creator of Cthulhu Wars that features the mythos races and the spacecraft they use! So hyped for this!!
- Currently redacted.
- Currently redacted.
Best Cthulhu Artists
- John Coulthart: Did an amazing version of Call of Cthulhu in The Starry Wisdom and that got me into him. Brings the visceral horror to Lovecraft’s visions.
- Howard V. Brown: Did the great Astounding Stories art for At the Mountains Madness. (See below)
- Michael Bukowski: A reworking on the Mythos giving a fresh take on it’s denizens.
- John Kenn Mortensen: His children’s book-like images have a horror all of their own.
- Goomi: Who does the more comic Unspeakable Vault of Doom (which is great) and more serious Cthulhu stuff.
Best Lovecraftian Comics
- Alan Moore’s Providence (& The Courtyard, Neonomicon): Quite simply a masterwork. Amazing. I’m going to write more on this soon.
- Alan Moore’ Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths: Very disturbing at times, but then this is the Mythos…
- Fall of Cthulhu: A journey into the Dreamlands well worth taking.
- John Coulthart’s Haunter of the Dark: Collects his Lovecraftian comic work and illustration.
- Necronauts – The ultimate supernatural team-up; Charles Fort, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. P. Lovecraft and Harry Houdini get together to face off against the dark. (Hat-tip to David for reminding me!)
Best Cthulhu/Lovecraftian Music
- Cthulu Dildonomicon: Breakcore does Cthulhu! Free! Nuff said. (Plus the brilliant Jason Forest is involved!)
- The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets: Cthulhu themed rock!
- H.P.Lovecraft: Also the name of a brilliant psychedelic rock band. Well worth checking out!
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Best Cthulhu Mashups
- Ogrethulhu: A cybernetic tanks mashed with Cthulhu? Of course!
- Tintin vs Cthulhu: The adventures he wished didn’t happen (run Tintin, run!!)
- Dr Seuss does Cthulhu: What kids should not be reading (but will love)
- Cthulhu Charlie Brown: Snoopy discovers the stars are right…
- Currently redacted.
Best Cthulhu/Lovecraftian Websites
- Lovecraft eZine: As well as producing ongoing fiction in the genre, it has news and links and much more. A great project.
- H.P.Lovecraft Archive: An astounding collection of Lovecraft’s works (all for free) and loads of commentary and more. An amazing collection!
- HPPodcraft.com: A literary tour around Lovecraft’s works. I love this show and am working my way though the back catalogue as well as listening to new shows. The presenters are smart, funny and know their Mythos.
- Chaosium: Full of goodies and they’ve been keeping the flame of Cthulhu going for over 30 years.
- Yog-sothoth.com: A Forum for RPG fans and also general Lovecraftian chat. Loads of great stuff and it is clear a huge amount of work going into the endeavour.
(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 some upcoming Cthulhu news, sign up to the Auroch Digital’s newsletter. Enjoy!)
PS. Important announcement! Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics is now out on Steam and console!… plus if you wanted our ‘Vote Cthulhu’ card game, it’s available now 🙂
#Android Becomes UK’s “most used smartphone OS”
Android is doing very well for Google. Currently it is mainly installed on smart phones, but recently it has been expanded to include pad-like units akin to the iPad, TVs and cameras. In contrast to Apple, Google have embraced a more open model for Android making the system open source and allowing many variants of it to flower. This approach has led to a wide adoption of the system by handset manufacturers (such as HTC, Sony Ericsson & Samsung) and so rapid penetration into the marketplace. Indeed this was accelerated by Google buying Motorola.
Back in the first half of 2010, 23% of new smart phones purchased in the US were iPhone, whereas 27% were Android units. In the UK the changes in market share over 2009/2010 was about the same but Android was growing at a faster rate than iPhone sales.
So now we reach the predicted point where Android overtakes the iPhone. It is another important point in the ongoing battle for smartphone supremacy (from Guardian):
Android has taken over from Apple and now has the largest share of the installed base of smartphones among consumers in the UK, according to new figures provided to the Guardian by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.
Google’s mobile OS has a 36.9% share of the smartphones in use among consumers in the UK, the company says in its latest survey, which covers the four weeks to 23 January 2012. Apple’s iPhone models have the next biggest share, with 28.5% of all handsets in use. The company does not split out brands, but it is likely that Apple is the most-used brand, with Android sales split among brands including Samsung, HTC, LG and Motorola.
And here is how that looks:
UK smartphone installed base, by OS, January 2012. Source: Kantar Worldpanel ComTech
Note however that the iOS space is still worth more money as its users tend to spend more money per head than Android users.
A Great Becoming... 