techno video games

1. TECHNO VIDEO GAMES
PARENTS AS GAMING ADVOCATES
Hundreds of game developers, publishers and analysts recently
descended on Brighton for the annual Develop conference. There
were controversial keynotes, there were talks about how to make money
in a rapidly fragmenting marketplace, but there were also some
interesting forward-looking sessions, concerned with where the games
industry as a whole is heading – not so much in terms of game design
(that’s the domain of events like the Game Developers Conference and
SXSW), more in the way the sector will operate as a business. Some of it
is pretty weird.

2. IT’S LIKELY THAT CREATING TOYS THAT TIE-IN OR INTERACT WITH
GAMES WON’T BE CONFINED TO MAJOR PUBLISHERS LIKE ACTIVISION
AND DISNEY; 3D PRINTING IS GETTING CHEAPER, ALLOWING THE
MANUFACTURING OF ACTION FIGURES. WE’RE ALREADY SEEING THE
GROWTH OF COMPANIES LIKE SANDBOXS, WHICH MAKE IT EASIER FOR
GAME MAKERS TO CREATE AND DISTRIBUTE MODELS BASED ON THEIR
TITLES, WHILE AMAZON HAS LAUNCHED A 3D PRINTING STORE FOR
CUSTOMERS.
Indies get physical

3. WE’VE ALREADY SEEN PLENTY OF VIRTUAL WORLDS – LIKE MOSHI MONSTERS
AND CLUB PENGUIN – THAT OPERATE BOTH AS GAMES AND SOCIAL SPACES.
BUT A NEW GENERATION OF GAMES IS EXPLOITING IMPROVEMENTS IN
BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY AND NETWORKING FEATURES TO MAKE MORE
DYNAMIC SOCIAL EXPERIENCES. MINECRAFT HAS BECOME A POPULAR
VENUE FOR FRIENDS TO MEET AND TALK WHILE WORKING COLLABORATIVELY,
AND TITLES LIKE DESTINY AND THE CREW HAVE EMPHASISED THE SENSE OF
SOCIALISING, SHARING AND CONNECTIVITY. FORTHCOMING CO-OP TITLES
ARE LIKELY TO BUILD ON THE IDEA OF MULTIPLAYER TITLES AS SOCIAL
RATHER THAN JUST GAMING EXPERIENCES.
Blurred lines between games and social media

4. THE ERA OF TRANSPARENT GAME
DESIGN
 Developers have spent the last three years using crowd-funding sites
like Kickstarter to both finance new projects and gain a dedicated
community. On top of that, initiatives like Steam Early Access and the
new Xbox Preview programme allow fans to buy games before they’re
finished and have a say in how the development process pans out.
This is likely to become ever more common as small studios break out
of the traditional publishing model and seek financial assurances
before committing to major new projects.

5. GAMERS WON’T JUST BE WATCHING DEVELOPMENT TAKING PLACE
IN THE FUTURE, THEY’LL BE CONTRIBUTING TOO. A RISING NUMBER
OF KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGNS ARE OFFERING BACKERS CREATIVE
ROLES IN THE PROJECT, WHETHER THAT’S APPEARING AS VOICE
ACTORS OR HELPING TO COMPOSE THE MUSIC. WE’RE ALSO
SEEING THE RETURN OF USER-FRIENDLY MAP EDITORS WITH TITLES
LIKE MARIO MAKER, HOTLINE MIAMI 2 AND DOOM SET TO OFFER
POWERFUL CREATIVE TOOLS, ALLOWING PLAYERS TO CONSTRUCT
THEIR OWN LEVELS AND THEN SHARE THEM ONLINE.
Players as creators

6. WE’VE SEEN HOW DIGITAL
DISTRIBUTION AND CHEAP TOOLS LIKE UNITY HAVE EMPOWERED
A NEW GENERATION OF INDEPENDENT DEVELOPERS. HOWEVER, THAT SECTOR
IS EVOLVING, SO THAT, INSTEAD OF PRODUCING NICHE TITLES FOR SMALL
AUDIENCES, INDIE TEAMS ARE NOW WORKING WITH CONSOLE PLATFORM
HOLDERS AND STEAM COMMUNITIES TO CREATE GENUINE CROSSOVER
SMASHES. DEVELOPERS LIKE MIKE BITHELL, HELLO GAMES, THATGAMECOMPANY
AND FULLBRIGHT MAY BE SMALL, BUT THEY’RE OPERATING MORE LIKE THE MID-
SIZED DOUBLE A STUDIOS OF THE 90S, AIMING AT MASS AUDIENCES WITH
HIGHLY POLISHED TITLES
Minor indies
becoming
major players

7. SO FAR, GAME PUBLISHERS HAVE ALLOWED
THEIR CONTENT TO BE STREAMED FOR
FREE ON PLATFORMS LIKE TWITCH AND
YOUTUBE, BUT THAT IS UNLIKELY TO CONTINUE. “THE
YOUTUBERS ARE MASSIVE CELEBRITIES, AND THEY’RE EFFECTIVELY
PARASITICALLY LIVING OFF THE GAMES INDUSTRY, MAKING A LOT OF MONEY
OUT OF IT,” SAID BAVERSTOCK. “WE’VE GOT TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE
THAT WORK FOR US AS WELL AS IT DOES FOR THEM”. OF COURSE, NINTENDO
HAS ATTEMPTED TO INTRODUCE REVENUE SHARING PROGRAMMES WITH
YOUTUBE GAMERS, AND THERE’S BEEN AN ANGRY BACKLASH – BUT IF THE
LIKES OF ACTIVISION, ELECTRONIC ARTS AND UBISOFT FOLLOW SUIT, THERE’S
NOT MUCH THAT VIEWERS WILL BE ABLE TO DO.
eSports
becomes
Sky Sports

8. THROUGH LARGE-SCALE PROJECTS LIKE ELITE: DANGEROUS
AND SHENMUE III, WE HAVE SEEN CROWDFUNDING SITES
LIKE KICKSTARTER BEING USED AS A WAY TO GAUGE
INTEREST IN A PRODUCT BEFORE FULL DEVELOPMENT (OR
WIDER INVESTMENT) BEGINS.
The evolution
of crowd
funding: first
deviation then
regulation

9. TALKING ABOUT THE ARRIVAL OF VIRTUAL
REALITY AS A MASS CONSUMER
PHENOMENON, SONY’S DAVE RANYARD
SAID DURING HIS DEVELOP PANEL
DISCUSSION, “IT’S NOT IF, IT’S WHEN”. MOST
OF THE EVOLVE DAY AT DEVELOP WAS DEDICATED TO
SESSIONS CONCERNING THE DEVELOPMENT OF VR GAMES. THE KEY HEADSETS ARE
ALMOST HERE: THE HTV VIVE IS OUT IN NOVEMBER, THE OCULUS IS POSSIBLY FEBRUARY
2016, THE MORPHEUS WILL FOLLOW IN THE SECOND-QUARTER. MICROSOFT IS
PREPARING ITS HOLOLENS AUGMENTED-REALITY HEADSET; GOOGLE IS BACKING
THE MAGIC LEAP. ON TOP OF THIS, THERE IS ALREADY A VAST DEVELOPMENT
COMMUNITY, EXPERIMENTING WITH THE TECH, IRONING OUT SOME OF THE TECHNICAL
PROBLEMS AND FORMING THE DESIGN CONVENTIONS THAT WILL CREATE BRAND NEW
(AND NON-NAUSEOUS) EXPERIENCES. BIG PUBLISHERS LIKE UBISOFT ARE ALSO STEPPING
UP THEIR RESEARCH INTO THE AREA.
 Virtual and augmented
reality become commercial
realities

10. WANDERING THE DENSELY PACKED SHOWFLOOR AT E3 THIS MONTH, IT
WAS TEMPTING TO THINK THAT NOTHING ABOUT VIDEO GAMES HAS
CHANGED MUCH OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS. THIS GIGANTIC VIDEO
GAME SHOW, WHICH ATTRACTS 40,000 PUBLISHERS, DEVELOPERS,
PLAYERS AND JOURNALISTS EVERY YEAR, IS AN UNASHAMEDLY
MAINSTREAM EVENT – A RAUCOUS CELEBRATION OF MULTIMILLION
DOLLAR MEGA BRANDS ALL ATTEMPTING TO OUT-HYPE EACH OTHER.
The most disruptive ideas in video game design