XB3002 GAMES FUTURES #8: Research Post 3- AAA/ Indie Comapny Potential Candidates

Here is a list of developer studios I considered as my choices for the CV/ Cover letters/ Portfolios required for my XB3002 hand-in. As I'm hoping to obtain a job as a Game artist, my choices centered around companies that had a heavy focus on visuals and aesthetics

AAA Studio Candidates

Ninja Theory
Creators of Heavenly Sword, Enslaved, and recently DMC: Devil May Cry

Bioware
Creators of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age

Arenanet
Creators of the Guild Wars series

AAA Studio Choice

Valve
Creators of Half-Life, Portal, Left 4 Dead and Counter Strike. Also owners of Steam
Chosen for the wide range of art styles, flat organisation and value for talent

Indie Studio Candidates

Thatgamecompany
Creators of Flow, Flower and the critcally acclaimed Journey

Frozenbyte
Creators of the Trine series

Supergiant Games
Creators of Bastion. Currently making new game called The Transistor

Indie Studio Choice

Double Fine Studios
Creators of Psychonauts, Brutal Legend, Stacking and other games. Founded by industry veteran Tim Schafer. Chosen for friendly demeanour, wide range of visual styles and prestigious talent

XB3002 GAMES FUTURES #7: Research Post 2- Ninja Theory and Hello Games Case Studies

Ok, I'll admit it; I've neglected my blog quite a lot this year. Needless to say, I've got some catching up to do, so let's get on with that...

2 of our lectures with Joe were dedicated to studying two distinctly different game developers to serve as examples for our chosen AAA and Indie studios. These developers were Ninja Theory and Hello Games.

Ninja Theory

• Independant AAA games studio
• Originally founded in 2000 as Just Add Monsters, until comapny was purchased by former Argonauts Games CEO Jez San in 2004
• Based in Cambridge, UK
• Have produced 4 games thus far: Kung Fu Chaos (2003), Heavenly Sword (2007), Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (2010) and DMC: Devil May Cry (2013)
• Company tagline is 'Beautiful Gaming'
• Heavy focus on visual design of their games, particularly for the characters and environments
• Usually heavily influence by martial arts films and Asian mythology
• Currently no vacancies
• Very formal and professional in their approach
• Creative process tends to focus on story and Level design

Hello Games

• Indie games studio
• Founded July 2009 by former employees of Criterion, EA and Kuju Entertainment
• Based in Guildford, Surrey, UK
• Currently micro-team of 4 people: Sean Murray (Managing Director), Grant Duncan (Artist), Ryan Doyle (Programmer) & David Ream (Creative Director). Currently hiring (Programmer + Producer jobs on offer)
• Team members tend to take on multiple roles in development, rather than sticking to one task
• Worked exclusively on the Joe Danger series - critically acclaimed
• Worked on variety of platforms (PSN, XBLA, iOS)
• Listed on the Guardian's Tech Media Invest List - list of most innovative and creative people of past 12 months
• Very casual and jovial, but also enthusiastic. Not very formal, obsessed with tea and cake (Glados? Is that you...?)
• Creative process emphasises fun and creativity
• For more info, see their company website here: http://www.hellogames.org/

XB3002 GAMES FUTURES #4: Research Post 1- Gaming Influences for GDD

First Research Post for this module!

...and not a single hoot was given.

Anyway, this post will cover some of the main influences I looked at for my Game Idea while writing up the 30 page Design Document. Just In case you've forgotten or haven't read the previous posts for this module, my chosen Game Idea is a turn-based strategy game tentatively called Army of Clones.

Now, obviously, most of the game is influenced by my DD3000 project on the ethics of cloning technologies, but I also looked at a few gaming sources as well, since I'm not overly familiar with turn-based strategy games. They include:-

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

A recently released turn-based strategy game released to positive critical acclaim. I looked at this to get a good idea of how turn-based strategy games work, as well as the troop management system

Fireaxis Games (2012). XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Novato, California, US: 2K Games

Advance Wars

Another strategy game, released some time ago on the Game Boy Advance. Again, as with XCOM, I looked at this to get a good idea of how these types of games usually work

Intelligent Systems (2001/2002). Advance Wars. Kyoto, Japan: Nintendo

Valkyria Chronicles

A Japanese strategy game set in an alternate universe version of World War 1. I really like the battlefield gameplay, where players will take full control of their units rather than simply directing them, so I've decided to incorporate something similar into Army of Clones

Sega Wow (2008). Valkyria Chronicles. Tokyo, Japan: Sega

Team Fortress 2

A competitive team deathmatch game developed by Valve. It has proved an excellent influence for developing character units because of its numerous, varied classes 

Valve Corporation (2007). Team Fortress 2. Washington, US: Valve Corporation

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

A stealth action game with management elements developed by Hideo Kojima exclusively for the PlayStation Portable. I really liked the Mother Base, where you could manage troops, so I used it as the primary inspiration for troop management in Army of Clones

Kojima, H. (2010). Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Tokyo, Japan: Konami