Melbourne is now regarded as a leading centre for computer game development, synonymous with the development of innovative and popular titles. Despite its success in the use next generation technology and the latest platforms, Melbourne is by no means a new kid on the block.
1980 saw the establishment of Australia’s first game company – Beam Software (now called Krome Studios) in Melbourne, a video game development studio which has gone on to create over 150 titles. Beam’s success began with 1982’s The Hobbit for the Spectrum, Commodore 64 and PC and by 1983 it had reached the number one selling position throughout Europe with sales exceeding 500,000 units. The success of this was repeated by Beam in 1985 with the launch of The Way of the Exploding Fist which also got to number one in Europe on the back of over half a million sales.
By the second half of the decade Melbourne House (Beam) had a 10% share of the UK video games market and just two years later became the first game company to go public on the ASX. Beam was joined in 1994 by two more Melbourne-based studios: Torus and Tantalus, followed by Blue Tongue the year after and IR Gurus Interactive in 1996 further establishing the state’s dominance of the sector.
1996 also saw the start of a strong relationship between the Victorian Government and the gaming sector by providing funding to IR Guru’s AFL Live. In 2000 this relationship was cemented with the launch of the successful Game Plan policy, committing Victoria to supporting this exciting sector – a first among state governments.
Spurred on by industry innovation and government support, the past decade has seen the sector reach new highs from Infogrames’ award winning Le Mans Dreamcast and Grand Prix Challenge, THQ’s Annie nominated SpongeBob Game and Firemint’s Flight Control which is now the most downloaded iPhone game ever. This global reputation for excellence was demonstrated only this month, with the announcement that Firemint would be joining Electronic Arts’ stable of studios – bringing their total to four in Victoria.
In just thirty years, Melbourne has gone from one lone studio, to a thriving cluster that makes up over half of Australia’s independent games studios and employing the bulk of the 1000 Victorian students who graduate each year in games related courses. Through dedicated export programmes, investment in development kits and funding from Film Victoria’s Digital Media Fund in excess of A$10 million the Victorian Government is working hard to ensure that this success continues in the next thirty years and beyond.
EA successfully lands Firemint
A huge boost to Melbourne’s games sector was announced this week with news that Melbourne-based game developer Firemint will be joining US entertainment giant Electronic Arts’s stable of Victorian games studios.
Firemint is probably best known for its hugely popular iPhone, iPad and iPod touch game Flight Control and its follow-up success with Real Racing. These apps have set new targets for mobile phone games by selling some seven million copies between them. Firemint has also been in the news recently when it took over fellow Victorian-based company, Infinite Interactive – creator of the Puzzle Quest series.
This investment brings EA’s tally of Melbourne’s studios up to three, joining IronMonkey and Visceral Games, and shows a significant vote of confidence in Melbourne’s games industry by such a global force in games publishing. EA’s growing presence in Melbourne is key to its overarching strategy, which has seen it spend over 30 years building a games development and distribution empire, which currently generates more than A$4 billion in annual revenue.
In fact this new partnership is not just good for EA, but for Firemint who have been working with EA mobile since 1999. Firemint’s CEO, Rob Murray, blogged to say that he is looking forward to not just working with some of the best developers in the industry, but also in using the new structure to free up more focus on the creative part of the business.
Firemint is a big player in Melbourne, one of the leaders of a thriving cluster that makes up over 50 per cent of Australia’s independent games studios and employs the bulk of the 1000 Victorian students who graduate each year in games related courses. Melbourne’s world-class expertise is continuing to attract investment such as this and underscores the city’s un-rivalled reputation for technology and interactive games development.
Jonathan Green helps Tin Man Games fantasy come true
Jonathan Green
The Wizard is coming to Oz. Or at least, Jonathan Green – popular author of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks – has signed on to write for Melbourne-based video games studio, Tin Man Games (TMG).
And much like Dorothy, Toto and the Yellow Brick Road, the path ahead for this exciting partnership promises to be quite an adventure.
Highly regarded for his 17-year association with the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, Green is currently writing the seventh TMG Gamebook Adventures title, Temple of the Spider God, which is due for release in July.
Green is well known to devotees of the gaming genre having created the Pax Britannia series and writing gamesbooks set in universes such as Doctor Who and Star Wars.
The creative partnership was announced at the recent Penny Arcade Expo East in Boston, and for Tin Man Games’ creative director, Neil Rennison, it is a dream come true.
Rennison, who started Tin Man Games just 18 months ago, grew up reading Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. But even he could not have imagined that one day he would be collaborating with one of the most popular Fighting Fantasy authors.
The venture is also an exciting opportunity for Green, who recently commended Tin Man Games on the huge impact it has had on the worlds of interactive fiction and iPhone apps in such a short space of time.
Sounds like dreams that you dare to dream really do come true, after all.
Victorian Government is awesome! We were totally stoked when we found out that the State Government of Victoria provides funding assistance for businesses to attend international trade events through its ICT export grants program.
Being a fast moving Internet and interactive games business, at MMGN.com we are constantly thinking about how to make ourselves better, how to get our brands out there, what kind of places we should be and which events we should attend. We want to mingle with the best around the globe. One of the most exciting music, film, and interactive conference events is the SXSW Interactive held in Austin, Texas, USA. Late last year, we submitted an application for an Export ‘Networker’ grant, and were told recently that it has been approved!
The grant is part of the ICT export initiative of the State Government of Victoria. It encourages Victorian technology businesses to explore export opportunities in international markets, take their products and promote their services beyond the border, gain new ideas and learn from top industry leaders. This perfectly aligns with our marketing strategy.
As an event Networker, you are eligible for $2,500 grant. If you decide to set up an exhibition stand, the grant is even higher, up to $10,000. There is more! A Victorian business can submit up to three applications per year. This means we could also be eligible for funding to attending E3 and Tokyo Game Show (TGS) later this year also!
Applying for the grant is quite simple. Everything is available online and there is a lot of funding support available for various categories including sole or group exhibitor in an exhibition stand.
It is great to see that the Government is supporting technology businesses! Only if we had discovered this sooner….
For more information about ICT Trade Events and Exports Assistance Program grants, go to Multimedia Victoria.
The Games Investment Program assists Victorian games developers to create a diverse range of games for any distribution platform with an emphasis on technical, creative or design innovation.
Employment prospects in the games development industry
“The computer games designers in this room have a less than ZERO chance of getting the job they really want directly after completing this degree.”
How’s that for ruining your ambition and desire to succeed in the computer games industry?
That is my first memory of the address given to the 2007 intake of computer games’ first year students at University. At the time I remember thinking it was a bit harsh to instantaneously shatter the dreams and ambitions of hundreds of bright young things embarking on their future careers… or so they hoped. Ouch…is this what the real world is like?
Fast forward three years, its 2010 and I’m now a fully trained, apparently competent graduate of RMIT’s Bachelor of Arts (Games Graphic Design) course. So what now?
It has become apparent during discussions with others that applying for jobs at the big companies may not be the quickest method of gaining employment. It also appears as though the studio scene in Australia is undergoing a ‘shift’ as the distribution models for games change. Add this to the ongoing fallout of the GFC, and Australia finds itself with many more experienced developers than me, all seeking employment. Am I going to be left high and dry with a beautiful qualification and ugly employment prospects?
OK, so how about I become an Independent Developer? I’m ostensibly young, bright and positively bursting with ideas. I could form a small company with some trusted friends and go forth and conquer the booming independent industry? These new distribution models could now play to my favour. Eureka. Ah but as yet, I’m not very business savvy, so my chances of survival and fulfilling the commercial element of this fantasy are probably, at best limited. I’m a creative type who is perfectly capable of mild but genuine excitement around ABNs, NBNs and Payroll Tax. Unfortunately however my corporate tie is still very much attached by elastic. Damn it. Who can help?
Someone must have a program to help me realise my ambitions and support me in plugging the skills gaps that I know I have and identifying the ones I haven’t even heard of. The GDAA would be the obvious place to start. The Department of Business and Innovation (formerly DIIRD) is generally considered a first point of call for all things business, but then there is also Business Victoria and of course Film Victoria who have helped companies in the past. Who does what? Is there a Wiki page that explains it? Will Julian leak the dark art of accessing government support before I resort to accepting a role with ANZ bank and vanishing into the doldrums of the ultimate 9-5 nightmare?
Unconvinced of my current abilities to run and manage my own studio I recoiled to the drawing board and during a bout of job hunting I was spotted by the new Victorian company Desura. My role at Desura is Business Development. Desura is a digital distribution platform for PC based around the game and modding communities. Launched just this week with a small selection of titles, Desura’s aim is to provide access to the best games available on the market. Desura is 100 per cent indie-friendly and the only digital distribution service out there with the ambitious aim of supporting user-made content (mods) for games.
Developers and publishers on Desura are in charge, and control the content shown in their games profile from news updates to videos and images. Not wanting to be just another ‘static’ shopfront, Desura hopes that by giving developers a voice and the ability to interact with the community discussing and reviewing their games, they can create better titles and a more engaging experience for customers.
Desura was created by the team behind the ModDB and IndieDB with 4.3 million monthly users and game developers soon to be encouraged to give our service a try.
So I’ve evaded the curse of the negative percentage and I’m proud to, in my own small way, redress the statistic. I’m very fortunate. My 2007 first day memory had a profound effect on my focus within the degree. I can only hope that my peers have had similar employment success or they own more experienced ties.
Check out Desura—my lucky new employer—and get in touch to find out more or about becoming a member of the positive percentage club.
How to start a game studio from scratch and make an original IP game?
I was asked an interesting question the other day. I thought it would make a good article. This chap (name omitted) is basically an individual with very little current income and wants to start a game studio from the ground up, build a team then start an original IP game with seven people. He’s smart and knows what’s involved having worked in the industry as a designer and producer. He doesn’t have the business experience yet, but that stuff is the easy part, in my opinion.
The question went a little like this (from memory):
So Chris, I want to start a new game studio, start a team of seven and make an original IP game using the Unreal engine. You’ve had a lot of experience starting game studios (Bluetongue, Redtribe), how do you think I might go about that?
The abridged version of my answer –
The term I like to use to describe this approach is “bootstrapping.” Bootstrapping a business basically means pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. It means you’re not getting much help from VCs or Angel investors. It means you don’t have any big contracts to start you off. Basically you just have yourself, your startup team (possibly) and very limited resources (if any at all), and it’s all up to you to get it started. Both Redtribe and Bluetongue were bootstrapped businesses starting life with nothing more than an idea and a great deal of energy.
At a rough guess, you’re going to need around AU$2 million to build this game, not including distribution and marketing costs. Traditional verses online distribution are also considerations here. At some stage, you’re going to then have to convince a publisher or distributor to take it on, although that’s a entirely different topic again!
My suggestions:
- People
Find people who have talents that might not yet be appreciated by the established games industry. There are many people who want to get into game development, but don’t necessarily have all the experience required to get a full-time job yet. This is where you can provide a stepping-stone for them, and in return build up your team. This doesn’t mean they cannot perform the job; it just means the more established companies are not willing to take a risk on them. There are different arrangements that you can have with your startup team, including:
- You can hire them on a casual basis. This would mean you utilize more of their services when you need them –as jobs come in. You have to be careful with the contracts to ensure everything is legal. If there’s no work, then you pay nothing. They might be willing to negotiate favorable terms with you for the opportunity to gain more experience and to release games that they can then add to their resumes depending on their own specific circumstances, which will be different for everyone of course. This is probably the easiest and safest way to start.
- You can offer a share of profits from the sale of the game, but in my experience this doesn’t lead to good outcomes. You can never predict if a game will make any money, and many games lose money. If people are relying on profits to make up their incomes, then they won’t be happy if they don’t materialize. This is especially true when a game company starts out. You’re going to be working on smaller projects to generate your income and profits are harder on smaller titles. Not everyone is happy to take business risks. On the other hand, if you’re working with more experienced developers who do understand the risks, then a profit share arrangement might work well. I guess it’s about managing people’s expectations.
- A share of the business. This evens out the risk on any given game, but they’re still taking a risk on essentially a micro-cap company (extremely small and therefore risky company). You’re not relying on a single game to make a profit; instead, you’re hoping the overall value of the company is increasing and eventually this will be of value to your team. This has its own risks – beyond the scope of this article. I would recommend against giving away equity in your new startup.
The other important thing to consider here is that if you’re hiring people with no industry experience, how are you going to find the talent and how are you going to develop the talent. Some ideas include:
- Make people perform tests. You can come up with programming tests (where a person has to create a software demo of something within an allocated timeframe). You can come up with art tests (where a person has to create 3D graphic and texture it within a specific timeframe).
- You can look in much greater detail at the work that they’ve done in the past. You might have to get to the point of looking through code or having them walk you through the process of creating a graphic from scratch, it can be that involved and very time consuming. Larger companies simply don’t have the time to do this for each individual (sometimes they do). It’s really going to come down to you, can you evaluate talent, can you find it, can you convince it to work for you.
- Examine their motivations. Make sure the people who you hire are prepared and know how hard it’s going to be to succeed. Find out how motivated they are to succeed at making games. Without the right levels of motivation, they’re not going to survive the entertainment business. Experienced staff already know what to expect and this means they are less risky of course.
2. Money
First off, unless you have some very rich relatives or friends that are willing to give you the $2 million or more you’re going to need, then you’re going to have to get the money another way. That’s pretty obvious, right? I’ve had nearly 15 years looking into the problem of where to get money to make games, and let me tell you it’s not easy.
Getting money from publishers for an original IP game is the hardest thing you could do in our industry. Even if you have an established team, even if you’re willing to partially fund it yourself, publishers want to make their own games and if they’re funding yours they will likely want to own the IP anyway. So cross publishers off your list, unless you have some serious connections willing to take a risk on your yet-to-be established team, with its yet-to-be established track record, on an unknown IP, and who are willing to fund without wanting to own it all outright (effectively making it their IP not yours).
It’s extremely hard to raise money for games and movies; this is why governments from around the world have created numerous incentives for investors to facilitate this.
Bluetongue and, for that matter, Redtribe built up their teams doing fee-for-service work. You do whatever jobs you can get your hands on that also happen to be in line with the general direction you would like to take your team, and as you do more and more jobs your team and technology will grow, your processes will mature and hopefully one day you might have enough money to make your own title. This is what most companies do. They all want to make their own titles, but you have to start someplace, you have to pay bills, you have to pay competitive salaries to keep high quality people in your company, so you do whatever you can.
Bluetongue did web development, domain name software, 3D visualization and communications software, all to fund the development of the team and company in the early days. Redtribe worked on museum installations, government accredited training courses, government reports, and numerous low budget titles in order to bootstrap the businesses until it was able to win larger contracts.
All these little jobs are tedious, time-consuming and pay little money, but it all adds up. Just make sure you’re still moving in the right direction, you don’t take on all jobs, just jobs you think will push you in the overall direction you’re wanting to head in. If you’re structured correctly and keep your eye on the future and where you want your company to be, you can achieve it. Of course, sometimes life gets in the way –or in some cases the economy- but you keep plugging away, in my opinion. Never give up till you reach your goal!
You need to be looking for every bit of assistance you can get your hands on from government. The Australian government has quite a number of grants that can help propel your company forward, and there are even more state government grants to assist your fledgling company. As your company grows, you will have access to larger grants, so you have to just keep moving forward. Sometimes you have to move forwards before all the ducks are lined up, that’s just how it is. You have to take a big leap of faith in order to find the opportunities that are hidden, until you start. It’s an odd thought, but this has been the case very often for me.
The truth is that you’re going to have to do all these things simultaneously in the beginning to get things off the ground, and just like launching a rocket into space; it’s the early stages of the company’s growth that can be the hardest. Your margins are going to be the tightest at the start, you’re going to have to be working on more titles than you can handle, and you’re going to have to be doing more jobs than one person should be doing realistically; but that’s how it’s done.
3. Resources
When they think about starting a company, many people will first start looking for money. There are other things that are of equal importance, however. Everything you can get for free or negotiate on reasonable or very low terms, is effectively putting money into your business. Some of the things you can do include:
- Negotiate with suppliers. There are accountants, lawyers and other business professionals who are willing to give startups a chance for a reduced fee or no fee if they believe in you and like you. Family and friends can also help out.
- Office space – this is a really costly one. Most offices that are suitable for game development are going to be large, need lots of resources, and so on. If you can find an old, large, unused space and get it for the right lease terms, you’re halfway there. The other option would be serviced offices that specialize in this type of business. An example would be The Cluster Serviced Offices in Melbourne. Another option might be to share office space with other like-minded companies and divide the cost.
- Barter for services and goods. Sometimes you can barter for things including office space, equipment and the technology you need. For example, Redtribe formed strategic partnerships with technology providers to “port” technology to new platforms in return for use of the technology in its games for free. Bartering your own time or expertise in return for something you want or need is a great way to get ahead and actually forms some very useful longer-term relationships that can help your business in the future as it continues to grow.
4. Business Development
Every startup business needs to have a talented and tenacious business development person who goes out and actively brings in the work. Without this key role filled, you basically don’t have a business. The work has to flow in order for your team to start, grow and prosper. The business development person has to work closely with the team, understand the technology and help to drive the company’s strategy over time.
You can’t just go out and hire a sales guy; it won’t work. They have to understand the industry, have lots of industry expertise and be able to talk with publishers, other developers and any experienced industry people that the company needs to impress and get work from. Some people are naturally talented at business development and find it easy and fun, if that’s not you, you need to find someone who is and whom you can trust.
You can contact me at The Cluster or Redtribe (housed at The Cluster, Level 10, 50 Market St). Happy to answer any questions you might have about how both Bluetongue and Redtribe were bootstrapped.
Hundreds of kids hit Monash for video game boot camp
When we were first asked to speak at the Monash Computer Games Boot Camp we had no idea how big an event it would be. We expected maybe 50 kids sitting in a classroom for a few hours a day, maybe for a few days. So, when we arrived and had to fight our way through a throng of hundreds of eager young adults, we knew we were in for something special!
It turns out that the boot camp, which runs annually for year 10, 11 and 12 students, this year goes for seven full days and had over 600 attendees! The days were packed full of speakers from vendors such as Microsoft and Adobe, from games publishers and studios and sound designers. There were FPS competitions, game design workshops, Guitar Hero championships and prizes galore.
We had agreed to speak months before and, as these things go we’d only realized the night before that we needed to speak early the next day. Late into the night at our studio, with the help of our good friend Andre Spierings (the Bunni Bunni guy), we decided upon giving the students some tools to use to analyze games. What are the component parts you can strip a game down to? How can we work out what makes them fun? And after much disagreement we came up with this list: Core Mechanic, Risk / Reward, Learning Patterns and Theme.
Getting the students involved in analyzing some of their favorite online games had them jumping out of their seats to grab a mic, and we managed to keep them entertained for almost an hour — quite an accomplishment being their last of the seven days.
Our talk and most others were filmed by the crew from Level 3 and streamed live to the world. They were archived using the UStream video service. And if you’re interested in being involved in inspiring the next generation of game creators, get in contact with the Computer Boot Camp organizers.
Al Gibb
Paul Callaghan
Marcus Tierney
brawsomegames
Neil Rennison
Chris Mosely
Michael Woods
touchmypixel
bengoodvachdraffin
Roy Hui
Kirsten Koci
kimvincs
