[This Brandon Sheffield-conducted interview, also just posted on big sister site Gamasutra, is a fun trawl through the current opus of the Stubbs creators, who are some of the most interesting low-footprint independent console developers out there, actually.]

Wideload Games founder and former Bungie founder/president Alex Seropian created his Chicago-based developer in 2003, firstly working on cult Xbox title Stubbs The Zombie - of which a Seropian-penned postmortem can be read on Gamasutra.

More recently, he's been working on unconventional politically-themed Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 party game Hail To The Chimp for publisher Gamecock, and browser-playable title Cyclomite for the IAC-backed GarageGames project InstantAction.com, as part of the firm's Wideload Shorts digital download division.

In this wide-ranging chat, Gamasutra sat down with Seropian to talk about the state of the market for indies, as well as the company's current output - ranging from browser games to Unreal Engine 3-backed PS3 titles, somewhat uniquely.

How is Wideload Shorts going?

Alex Seropian: It’s going great. We actually spent the last six months building that team out, so we’ve got five people in that team now, and that’s what we consider to be the full team for the downloadable games. They’ve just put out the first one, Cyclomite, which is available on InstantAction.com.

Are they working on one project at a time or multiple projects simultaneously?

AS: We actually have a bunch of potential projects that get designed on paper. We have, I think, a pretty cool creative process with the company. It isn’t necessarily aligned along team boundaries. For instance, Cyclomite was designed by somebody on the console team, and anyone on the Shorts team could contribute ideas to whatever the next console game might be.

We do this creative process as a regular part of our business. We have four games that we want to make on the Shorts side, and we have the capacity to do one at a time right now – but we like that business so much that we’re now building a second team, with Scott Corley. He runs the Shorts side of the business. He had his own company called Red Mercury for a while, doing mobile games.

Continue reading "Interview: Seropian On The State Of The Union For Indies" »

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

[Jump Button is a bi-weekly column by Drew Taylor, written specially for GameSetWatch, that focuses on the art and substance of video game culture. This week – the second in a series of interviews that explores Australia's emerging 8-bit music scene.]

Part of me wants to protest.

After all these years, this isn't how I imagined it. Not like this. It's too much, too fast, and I can't take it all in properly...

And then somehow, this: I'm standing outside, in the cold, after midnight, down some skinny, Melbourne city back street. Half-drunk whisky sour in a cocktail glass. A freaking cocktail glass!

Holding this drink, with these people around me, I feel like a dick. It doesn't help that I want to be back inside the bar, listening, experiencing, ordering a drink that comes in a real glass. But my instincts tell me: stay, this is more important, these two in front of me are the white rabbits that will lead me to the promised 8-bit underground.

I'm so close now; so close I can feel the lo-tek fanboy in me rising. Stealing my games journo cool.

For the past three years I've been looking for a chance--any chance--to experience a live chip tune gig in Australia. And, now, in a single night, I've not only heard Tyson Hopprich rip it up Sid DJ-style at the local premiere of Marcin Romocki's 8 Bit documentary, but I've just spent the last two hours watching a line-up of the best blip artists in Australia detonate the 8-bomb like they'd been set on fire.

Thirty minutes later and I'm standing here, out in the cold, MP3 voice recorder pointed at Game Boy musicians Alex Yabsley aka Dot.AY, and Thomas Gilmore aka Ten Thousand Freemen & Their Families. Double proof of Australia's emerging 8-bit music scene.

A scene that, in some part at least, is intent on looking at the genre through Corey Worthington sunglasses.

'I like to think that we try and be different [to the rest of the world],' says 22-year-old Alex, philosophical expression on his face.

Continue reading "COLUMN: 'Jump Button': Best Joke Ever — Game Boy Musicians Alex Yabsley aka Dot.AY and Thomas Gilmore aka Ten Thousand Freemen & Their Families" »

Posted by Drew Taylor at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

GameSetWatch sister site Dr Dobb's Journal has announced that The Dobbs Challenge, a $10,000 prize competition for the best games produced by modding a Dr. Dobbs Challenge game, is to close in less than one month's time on June 13th. Categories still open for entry include Best Windows Game, with a $4,000 prize, and Best Windows Mobile Game, with a $2,000 prize.

Other categories still open include Best One Button Game ($1,000), Best Game Starring Dr Dobbs And The Defy All Challenges Crew ($1,000), and Best Total Conversion ($1,000) -- for making something that's completely different in genre/style from the original Dr. Dobbs Challenge, but still keeps 'collect Visual Studio icons' as the mechanic and starts from the same codebase.

The contest organizers have already awarded their first prize, for The Dobbs First Month Challenge ($1,000) which closed on April 14th - from a set of challengers that are downloadable for potential entrants to check out.

The First Month Challenge prize went to entrant Punkle for his One Button/Total Conversion mod Dobbs Derby, which turned the original platform game Dr. Dobbs Challenge into a slot car racer with all new graphics -- including a particle system.

To participate, interested parties can firstly download the specially created 'Dr. Dobb's Challenge' games for either Windows and Windows Mobile. Then they can win from a remaining prize pool of $9,000 by modifying the games using a trial version of Visual Studio 2008, in association with competition sponsor Microsoft.

"The Dobbs game did so much out of the box," said First Month Challenge winner Punkle. "I was surprised how flexible it was and that it let me make a totally different game quite so quickly."

Full source code and art for the games are freely provided for programmers and artists to 'mod' the results and win prizes, and all you need to know to participate is available on the official website.

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ah yes, some midweek GameSetLink-age fun - and this time, we have a massive span, from the California Extreme arcade show announce to some more of David Hellman's wonderful (pictured) sketch-style art for XBLA title Braid.

Also in here - Joel Reed Parker compiling game box art as only he knows best, in order to make a point about the amount of Nintendo DS and Wii game clones out there right now.

Sometimes I think there's somebody using a cover art generator to produce subtly variant game boxes directly into my local Target store! (Not that this is VERY different to most other media, but hey.)

Anyhow, you want links:

Gism Butter » Blog Archive » California Extreme 2008 Scheduled
Roll on July.

ARGNet: An Emergen-C at Holomove
Microsoft-related ARG of some kind?

Functional Autonomy » Blog Archive » Compulsion, Cheating and Transliteracy
'There’s often now a medium and a means that will cater to your exact ability and interest level on a given thing without demanding more of you.'

gamebunny » Blog Archive » Street Gears: Rollerblade MMO
'Gala Networks Europe and NFlavor Corp. (makers of RAPPELZ) have announced their latest free-to-play MMO... are you ready for STREET GEARS - the extreme rollerblading MMO?'

GameOfTheBlog.com: How could the DS market possibly be in danger of an 'Atari Crash'?
Heh, Joel compiles the DS brain, crossword games, cover montage stylee.

DESIGNER NOTES » Blog Archive » Risk: Black Ops
Soren Johnson on an update of the classic version: 'Risk is a funny game. Almost everyone who is a gamer of some sort has played it, but almost no one continues to play it.'

David Hellman » Blog Archive » The Art of Braid, Part VIII: Tim’s House
'Home serves several functions, and as a result was a complex and interesting area to design.'

The Cut Scene - Video Game Blog by Variety: THQ sold $1 billion of Nickelodeon games? We've known that for three months
Fair comment - sometimes it's difficult to recall what has been announced, but that's no excuse.

Welcome to Special Round: 'Pinball Week Episode 2.5 - Williams Promo Videos'
Oo, lots of cheesy promos for classic Lawlor pins.

Technology Review: Biologists Enlist Online Gamers
'Players of a new game will design HIV vaccines and other proteins.' Via Wonderland.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

['Design Lesson 101' is a regular column by Raven game designer Manveer Heir. The challenge is to play a game from start to completion - and learn something about game design in the process. This week we take a look at Rez HD, a port for Xbox Live Arcade of the Dreamcast rail shooter.]

On the surface, Rez is nothing more than a simple on-rails shooter. You cannot control your avatar, only what you shoot. The levels are finite, the enemies predictable, and the mechanics simple.

However, the developers (headed by original designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi) have utilized a number of visual, aural, and tactile elements in the game to create a surreal experience that can often defy explanation. This is an experience that goes beyond just pure gameplay.

Design Lesson: It is possible to layer and intertwine simple aesthetics with each other in order to create a more engaging player experience.

Before I start talking about the game, I feel it's important, more than most games, to have some understanding of what this game is like. If you have not played it, check out this video on YouTube or any of the other videos of the game available. It doesn't replace actually playing the game, but at least you'll understand the game on a basic level.

The aural component is possibly the most significant of the three senses stimulated by the game. Each level of Rez is based around a trance music track. At the start of a level, a very basic beat is established. As you work further into each level, the music itself becomes more and more complex. The basic beat always exists, but now there are additional phrases of music that are more up-tempo and fast paced, ultimately creating the final musical track of the level.

Continue reading "Design Lesson 101 - Rez HD" »

Posted by Manveer Heir at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

['Welcome to the GameSetWatch Comic' is, once again, a weekly comic by Jonathan "Persona" Kim about the continuing adventures of our society, cultural postdialectic theory, and video games.]

Following his triumphant comeback comic, Persona again graces us with his 'unique' worldview. This time, it's the classic Mega Man franchise, but seen through a distinctly Kojima-esque lens. Snaaaake!

[Also, bonus marks for anyone who uses the comments to explain the comic to the less lore-intensive among beloved GSW readers.]

[Jonathan "Persona" Kim is a 3rd year character animation student at the California Institute of the Arts. When not working on cute low poly models, he posts stuff on the Mecha Fetus Visublog.]

Posted by persona at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

Hurray, time to spool out more GameSetLinks, headed by an interesting report on the state of the game biz in New York - at least partly affected by those horrid Manhattan rents, heehee.

Elsewhere - some awesome demoparty videos, the Thatgamecompany folks making a neat Variety list, a completely unnecessary but still awesome Milk & Cheese cartoon strip (as a blatant attempt to get someone to do a M&C game), the inevitable Forumwarz mention, and much mooore.

Cheese smaaaaash:

Center for an Urban Future: New York
...has a new report (see linked PDF) on New York and the video game biz, which is pretty interesting and well-researched.

Funware’s threat to the traditional video game industry » VentureBeat
'Call it Funware. That’s the name for applications with game-like mechanics and game-like behavior that really aren’t traditional video games.'

Satori: Joining GreenScreen Interactive
Former GDMag EIC Mark DeLoura signs up with the new publisher, neat.

MySpace.com - Dark Horse Presents - new Evan Dorkin Milk & Cheese mini-comic
I simply mention this (furry ridicule aside) because someone needs to commission a Telltale Sam & Max-style episodic Milk & Cheese game, like, yesterday. If not the day before.

defective yeti: Computer Games I Have Known And Loved
A random and smart non-game blogger picks interesting stuff - Skyrates and ForumWarz, for example.

The Shifted Librarian » Present at GLLS2008!
'We’ve opened the Call for Presenters for the 2008 ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium which will take place on November 2-4, 2008, in the Chicago area.'

ASCII by Jason Scott: Blockparty: The Competitions and Awards
The U.S. demoparty gets an amazing video compilation.

Kellee Santiago and Jenova Chen - 10 Innovators to Watch - Variety
Awesome, the ThatGameCompany folks make Variety's 'people to watch in entertainment' list.

The Pros of Cons (GAMBIT)
'Bottom line: no one is happy when someone tries to give a lecture on a roller coaster.' Great piece - the GDC folks are well aware and reacting to this.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

[The inestimable Kyle Orland was kind enough to attend the Games For Health conference in Baltimore late last week for Gamasutra & friends, and took a lot of fascinating lecture notes we're writing up - here's our buddy Neils Clark discussing game addiction, for starters.]

Following his latest Gamasutra feature on the subject, writer and researcher Neils Clark spoke at the ongoing Games for Health conference in Baltimore on game addiction.

In his talk at the conference, he covered the perceived problems, a run-down on why people might get addicted, and some proactive measures that developers can use to combat addictive behavior in the future.

"You could say that game addiction is all a joke... or at least based on one," said Clark. In 1995, he explained, internet addiction disorder (IAD) became "official," and that eight item criteria written 13 years ago is now the standard for online game addiction understanding.

The Problem

Clark pointed out that there's no differentiation in many studies between adults and children, though pathologies differ between children and adults, saying that studies in the future need to realize this.

Games aren't without problems, he admitted, adding that most in the audience probably knows someone who has 'problems' with World of Warcraft now and again, but says the way we understand those problems currently is really 'interim.'

That's a good word for the situation, said Clark, one that can be used with medical people to explain that the debate on the subject between what happens in a game and whether the IAD criteria really measure it hasn't been settled, and keeps the conversation dynamic.

Continue reading "Games For Health: Neils Clark On Moving Beyond 'Game Addiction'" »

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

['Chewing Pixels' is a new GameSetWatch column written by British games journalist and producer, Simon Parkin in which he explains what you should think about video games - or in this case, game journalism - and why.]

Charlie was a gamer who decided he would write
(not fair: Charlie was a writer who chose games for his insight)
Calloused thumbs
Filled with twitch
Muscle memory
Now to earn a living from his (2nd) favourite teenage hobby.
A critic,
A reviewer
This is how he'd spend his days;
Ten hours, then a judgment, then the promo to ebay.
First came his blog,
Then their website,
Then his words in national print.
Then reactions, reader comments
Critic critics?! Narcissist.

Charlie was quite brilliant
His prose tight and rare
His words perspicacious
His final judgments fair.

But Charlie was a drop in a tidal wave of choices
His commentary discarded
For more forgiving voices.
Still, he reasoned in his head, with marked maturity:
“I'll reduce game writing’s volume but raise its fidelity”

Continue reading "Chewing Pixels: 'A Cautionary Tale for the Young Games Writer'" »

Posted by Simon Parkin at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Time to start the week with some more GameSetLink-age, and one of the higlighted neatnesses is Tim Rogers' signature verbose review of Rock Band, which, of course, he has some pretty strong opinions on.

I did like his point, though - with Rogers a self-avowed messy guitar player, that playing real instruments can allow you to be caught in the act of "Not Doing It Right, and feeling good anyway" - something that the 'fail' mechanics of Rock Band don't let you do.

I have a feeling that the next iteration of Rock Band will do something about that, though - both from the creation and freeform angles - and I'm looking forward to it. And in the mean time, I'm actually very happy to be the rat in the drooling Pavlovian button press cage, to mix a few too many metaphors.

Anyhow, lots more in here - dig in, won't you?

Game-Ism: 'The Ludonarrative Process'
'Ludonarrative is what makes games unique. They have both a gameplay element and a story element, to one degree or another.'

press the ACTION BUTTON!!: Rock Band review
Tim Rogers let loose on virtual rock music, with phrase-shredding solo-ing - also see GTA IV review fun.

The Escapist : Jason Rohrer's Game Design Sketchbook: 'Police Brutality'
Downloadable indie game sketch fun: 'Police Brutality is a game about fear, collective motivation, ad hoc organizing, self-sacrifice, and non-violence. First and foremost, though, it's a game about shouting.'

Crispy Gamer: 'Thought/Process: Building Better Wor(l)ds'
'So far, playing Grand Theft Auto IV reminds me of a lucid dream' - Crispy Gamer gets all meta.

YouTube - Melon Dezign - Human Target (1992)
Going back over the best DemoDVD Amiga demos for an upcoming mini-demo party - seriously, how far ahead were Melon to do this awesome design/code combo, in real-time, in 1992?

Looney Tunes: Cartoon Concerto: Eidos Kikizo Interview, April 2008
'Some will make comparisons with Elite Beat and Osu, based on the visuals alone, but once you play the game you'll see how the mechanics of input are quite different from those games.' Via Packratshow.

Surfer Girl Reviewed Star Wars: Dernier
The mysterious Surfer Girl signs off for the last time, apparently.

the-inbetween.com [ Crystal Castles vs Creative Commons ]
Hip Toronto chiptune band doing lots of sample/image borrowing without permission, sigh.

YouTube - ROCK BAND... hates me
Probably an audio/video sync issue, as a commenter says, but also some kind of larger message, obviously! Via Waxy.

Play This Thing! | Game Studies Is Good For You
More Escapist 'game academics suck' fallout, this time from Costik.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)