Category Archives: Game Industry News

Long gone are the days when video game enthusiasts were game developers. So now parents could pay their kids to be a game developer. Parents could say: “Hey son if you want to be a game developer, you don’t have to play videogames, I can just pay some money to put you in an animation school, then you’ll be a game developer!”. Son would say: “Sure, dad! Whatever you say, it’s your money. I’m top student at my high school, I can get 4.0 GPA anywhere in anything! ”

Enrolls into University of California: Los Angeles Game and Design school
Tuition fees – $30 000 USD per year (Dad: Don’t worry, that’s cheap son! I can pay for you. Just focus on your studies)

Graduated.

Employer: “Oh, wow, this kid got 4.0 GPA, he must be really good at gaming, he must know how to develop games like Hideo Kojima!

Me: Yeah right.

There is a difference between college graduates and talents…

Back then game companies and game developers used to come out, out of nowhere.
Hideo Kojima is one of those guys that came out of nowhere back in the 90s. He made these games when he was just starting out…

Before he made this

Did you know that the videogame industry today was actually an industry that’s born out of film and television? Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid, the two biggest name the whole world of videogaming were made by individuals who got involved in a career in filmmaking. Where else do you think the extraordinary storylines that you have enjoyed with your mouth and jaw dropped to the floor came from?

The thing is, back then, there were little or almost no undergraduate or graduate schools for animations or game design that could take students directly into the industry. But people were making videogames BETTER THAN NOW!

Hironobu Sakaguchi ( Final Fantasy Series ) dropped out from university and had a long time career as a film director at first before setting his foot into the gaming industry. Back in the 1980s he was studying electrical engineering at Yokohama University before becoming a part-time employee of SquareSoft. Now you guys tell me, if any game company today would hire a non-game non-animation school college drop out for their company? Heck no, they would probably think the guy wouldn’t even go anywhere with his ideas. Yeah right, to them.

Hideo Kojima was studying economics in university, was making 8mm films with his friends and wanted to be an artist and an illustrator at first. But he ended up working for the home computer division of Konami early in his career.

There was no American Dream in Japan, but these guys sure had a dream. We can clearly see that this unique filmmaking aspect of the Japanese videogame industry is the primary driving force behind the amazing story-telling of Japanese video games. Parasite Eve and Xenogears are also an example .

Amy Hennig, creator of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver was also an example of a film graduate working in the videogame industry. She graduated from University of California Berkeley in English Literature (Take that game industry air heads!) and also enrolled herself into San Francisco State University Film School before getting hired by Atari to develop the game ElectroCop.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2

ElectroCop

I guess her English lit major did influence the middle age environment and situation that Raziel, our lead character for Legacy of Kain: Soul Revear, is in.

Here’s something interesting…

Me: So tell me if 4.0 GPA in film or economics have anything to do with videogames?

Employer: Errr…..aaaaa…..I’m only looking for 4.0 GPA college graduates that studied in Game Design School.

Me: Yeah right. Like you even know what you’re talking about.

Yeah, so nowadays there are numerous schools, almost every university has an animation and design course that can take people directly into the game industry.

But what happened here? What’s with all the extensive resources nowadays but these new graduate guys nowadays are only making videogames that were made by guys from before? L.M.A.O.

So here’s for you guys to figure out, if these film graduates back then were making videogames with cool storylines like Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid.

What kind of storylines could our straight-to-the-industry graduate boys come up with?

Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City

Heh. The storyline nowadays
You guys know what it tastes like? It tastes like this

Chrysanthemum Tea, the worst drink you could ever find in South East Asia
They sell it for cheap so that at least some kids could get a drink at a school carnival
Yuck!

Another issue that we would like to tackle is:

Recycling of Senior Game Developers

Hey, just because the guy made a few hit games or made 20 games before doesn’t mean that he can make another 5 hit games in the future? The situation’s changed by then.

That’s probably the reason why we have so many first-person shooters nowadays.

Because every game company are trying to use the same formula developed by someone else for their own success. Have these guys ever thought that the one formula might have worked exclusively for that person or that game only? It’s like trying to put a formula one racing car tyre on a family car. Just because it’s proven for racing doesn’t mean that it can fit into a family car. A formula one tyre doesn’t fit into a family car, HELLO!!!

What we need in the game industry is fresh people with fresh ideas! Screw game design school, screw resumes! Game companies should take in the best people!

It’s not that these game design school guys don’t have the talent, but most of these guys don’t have talent for game developing, they just have a lot of money to go to a game school!

So games, until we can see some talents, we are never ever ever ever, getting back together.

PS: same goes to the movie industry as well, they just want the completed scripts from mainly film school graduates even though its sucky. 10 pages of a blockbuster hit movie, or 100 pages of a crappy movie guys??

Game Industry News, Game News, General

First Person Shooters: Where is the Game Industry Heading?

January 3, 2013 Johan

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

Remember those days when third-person shooters ruled the world? What happened to those days? Did the industry forget them? Did the industry left it behind because of money? This article is written for you to get an understanding of this new phenomenon.

Everywhere you see now are first-person shooters, we have Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Halo 4, Far Cry 3, Heck, we also have games that are not supposed to be a first-person shooter crunching and squeezing into the first-person shooter genre, like Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles.

Back then every game you play has its own feel. The unique traits that makes every game, a game of its own. The reason why we all love videogaming.

Back then we had great platformers like Crash Bandicoot…

and

great action games like Zone of the Enders,

and great RPG and Beat’em up games like Xeno Saga,

The 128 bit consoles offered an array of excellent games from many different genres, despite it’s lack in graphic quality.

That’s right, DESPITE it’s lack of graphic quality. The in-game jaggies actually brought you guys more fun than the 20x anti-aliasing they have nowadays

So, what happened to those games?

Ubisoft’s managing director for Ubisoft Toronto, Jade Raymond said recently at the Game Developer’s Conference 2012, that the game industry is going towards an unhealthy commercialization of first-person shooters. The producer of the Assassin’s Creed series lunge over the industry’s favoritism over the first-person shooter genre and criticizes the abundance of the narrowed genre in the game market.

“I don’t know when we decided as an industry that in order to sell five million copies of a game you have to make a Michael Bay film. There are other options.”

She further explains,

“More and more people come to me at Ubisoft and say, ‘I love games. I came into this industry with so many ideas. But I can’t continue to make shooters over and over again. I’m not even in line with the messages.’ I have that meeting a lot these days. Yeah, it’s time to give our teenage medium a kick in the balls.” – Jade Raymond

We need to get her voice heard!

To inform you guys on how this all happened,

It all started with Resident Evil: Survivor

That’s right, that damn game that started all this crap.

Resident Evil: Survivor (1999) was one of Capcom’s conversion from a popular third-person game title to first-person one, it’s their beta-test. Capcom saw the potential of the first-person shooters market due to the global hit of first-person shooters back in the late 90s with games like Half-Life and Counter-Strike hitting homes like crazy. And because Resident Evil at that time lacks in mobility and flexibility towards the controls of the characters in the Resident Evil environment, they realized that some gamers might tend to avoid the Resident Evil series because they don’t know how to control it. So they started the test-run on the Resident Evil games to see how the response would be like if Resident Evil was made into a first person shooter. Is it more scarier? Is it more daunting? Ooo, those were the questions of the guys back in 2000. The new millennia.

Capcom Guy 1: Hey, it’s the new millennia guys! We’ve gotta start something new!

Capcom Guy 2: Like what?

Capcom Guy 1: Like Resident Evil in first person view!

Capcom Staffs: WHOAaaaaaaaa

Another game that was not so crappy, but lead the scene for the innovation of many crappy craps is Splinter Cell…

Splinter Cell’s over-the-shoulder camera, which is a mix of third person plus first-person view, was a revolutionary invention in the game industry at that time. And it was Splinter Cell’s unique trait of being a game of its own, marking a new revolution in game-making in 2002. However, many game producers later started mass-producing and mass marketing their games using the same formula for almost every game that they released later in the industry!

And now it’s like every game company is telling their developers and designers, which are most probably filled with university graduates by now that are famous for their ‘do as told’ traits , to “Do over-the-shoulder camera for our games! Like Splinter Cell! A.S.A.P.!.” And these robotic non-genuine product of university just nod their heads “Yes, Sir!” and started munching their way through the development of these games like how they revise for their exams that’s filled with recycled information.

Talk about “Made in University”!

Back in the 90s and early 2000s, every game has its own feel. Even the first-person shooters.

Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield

Counter-Strike

Now try to match that with the first-person these nowadays

Crysis

Far Cry

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

Can somebody tell me if these three are actually the same game just with a different storyline?

Mostly first-person shooters?? This is Crazy!! They make first-person shooters more than what people even demand for. It just shows that the industry is only looking to make money out of something. And what’s with the easy one-straight road gameplay for the first-person shooters nowadays? Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was a disappointment, they made the game terribly easy so that they could get more audience in the game (mainly super young audiences and older adults) to play the game. It’s just like how a radio station would give out TERRIBLY easy questions like, “How much is 1 + 1 ? ” Just to get a lot of listeners to call in, so that they will SOUND more hype. And sometimes when you listen to these radio stations, How the heck did everyone win a prize? That’s like cheating their way.

Here’s a good word from our guy from youtube:

“I feel like we’re in the era of video games where everyone’s continuously producing remakes of the same game. I’m hoping that we can get more companies out there that are willing to break that mold and bring something revolutionary because all we’re getting nowadays is just another Mario, or Zelda, or Call of duty, Halo or Uncharted 🙁 ” – Crystalshine777

Let the users be heard!!!

So what happened here?

What happened is that….every game company is using the same algorithm to develop new games. Come on, be original !

The videogame industry’s creativity have somehow came onto a halt because of this move by the game industry.

What we need is passionate game industry experts, not people with degrees, not moneyheads, but people with the creativity and the extraordinary talent to create and innovate great videogames for the future.

Footnotes

http://www.shacknews.com/article/72808/ubisofts-jade-raymond-on-making-blockbusters-with-more-meaning

http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=177179

If you have any critiques please email the author at

johan@gametrader.sg

Game Industry News, Game News, Singapore Gaming Scene

The Singaporean behind Street Fighter X Mega Man

December 31, 2012 Jax Xie

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If you haven’t heard of this game by now, you should definitely try out this awesome game. It’s a free-to-download, high quality game for all fans of Mega Man and Street Fighter! This game brings the world of Mega Man and Street Fighter together. If you are a fan of any one of the game, this is a geek’s-dream-come-true game. In Street Figther X Mega Man, you play as Mega Man who fights Street Fighter Bosses like Ryu and Chun Li. Like all Mega Man games, you will get the power-up of the bosses once defeated. Mega Man can now throw a Hadouken or a Thousand Burst Kick to get him out of sticky situations.

So before you start thanking Capcom for releasing such wonderful game, you might be surprise to know that the creator of this game is none other than Singaporean Seow Zong Hui who built this game out of his passion. A final year Nayang Technological University Student, Zong Hui developed the game from a precursor Mega Man engine that he developed previously. We manage to get an interview with the man himself who is uber friendly and willing to share his experience with our readers.

GT Editor: Where did you get the idea to develop SF x MM? Both are classic Capcom games but who would have thought of putting them together in a game? This idea is brilliant!

ZH: It is decided on random because I was creating a Mega Man engine for programming practice and coming up with you own bosses is very normal and many fan games have already done it. Since I had some experience drawing small resolution sprites, I tried putting Street Fighter characters in and it seems fine.

GT Editor: For the geeks and aspiring game developer out there, what are the programs you used to develop the game?

ZH: Gamemaker but its is not recommended as it might be difficult to port to other system. I would recommend Unity but it has a steeper learning curve.

GT Editor: Did you come out with all the sprites, music and sound by yourself? If so, that must have taken years of training! Where did you accumulate such experience?

ZH: I did sprites and programming for the game, A-rival Luke was in charge of music and I had a friend Geo to help out with background tiles sprite. I did sprite work for fan games since may be 2006 just for leisure.

GT Editor: Some people were complaining online that Capcom is simply ripping off a fan’s work and published the game under their name. To be fair, what assistance did Capcom provide to you that you can share?

ZH: First of all both franchises are owned by Capcom, I am happy enough they did not sue me and release the game. They provided feedbacks and we have weekly updates. They also provided lots of exposure for the game. They have also setup booth to showcase the game in SF 25 anniversary tournament finals, made trailer with 1.4+million viewers. The game would not have done as well if not for their help.

GT Editor: By now, lots of people around the world would have downloaded and played your game. How do you feel about being a Singaporean who put Singapore in the world map for game development?

ZH: I am happy of course, But I hope that someday I could make something original as successful or better. I still feel a little surreal about the project and I was very lucky

GT Editor: Most of us just play games. What gives you the inspiration to develop your own game?

ZH: I had lots of idea when playing games, I really enjoy putting my thoughts into a game and watching things happen in reality.

GT Editor: What other games have you built? Can we download and play them as well?

ZH: I helped out with street of rage remake, but it was shut down by sega due to copyright issues. Most of my previous personal projects are just for practices and have many copyright issues. SFXMM is probably my first serious project.

GT Editor: Any future projects that you are working on such as SF x MM 2?

ZH: I am focusing on school work for the next semester. No news on a sequel now, but I could not talk about it even if there is news.

GT Editor: Since you will be graduating soon, would you be getting a game developer job in Singapore? Or have you think about working overseas?

ZH: High chances overseas as a game developer. As of now, its difficult to get a job with good incentives and high creative control at the same time especially when I am a fresh grad. I do pretty normal in school and singapore focuses a lot on academic.

GT Editor: Most games that we played today are from developers in Japan, US and Europe. Do you think Singapore can one day be a country that produce games loved by people around the world?.

ZH: Yes, the game developing scene is evolving in Singapore and we have a little recognition here and there already. Example, Imaginary Friend Studio artwork.

GT Editor: What do you think of the prospect of a game developer in Singapore.

ZH: I think there is much more opportunity to go into game development industry as compared to the past.

In terms of growth in the field I find that it might be difficult for us if we were to join a big company in Singapore.

I get the impression that Singapore is just being outsource for less mainstream titles or work that requires minimal creative content. On the other hand I think some of us are really well trained in the skills that are required to work in the game industry and deserves better. Many strong programmers that I know of just go indie instead. Another issue that a game developer may have in Singapore is the way how academic focused Singaporeans are.

I have seen first class students who cannot even code a polytechnic level algorithm and I have also seen people struggling with their academics but able to produce industrial standard projects. I find that companies should be aware of this matter and creativity is one of the most important aspect in this field which cannot be measured. I am not sure if this is the result of the educational system or the way companies hire new workers.

It depends on what the developers here wants. To me, I find that it is hard to have both Creative control and prospect in this field in Singapore.

I must add that I am still very new and might be wrong about these issues.

One would probably have better prospect in US or Japan if he is able to get a job there as of now.

No doubt the gaming industry in Singapore is still at it’s infancy stage. Compared to countries like US and Japan, people hardly know of any home-grown games. We hope that Street Fighter X Mega Man can be remembered not only a high quality fan-game but a game developed fully in Singapore by our local talents. We certainly look forward to seeing more games by Singaporeans! Do drop us an email at blog[at]gametrader[dot]sg if you heard of any worthy news on game development in Singapore!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Download the Street Fighter X Mega Man here!

GameTrader.SG – BLOG

Category Archives: Game Industry News

Who’s working in the game industry now – College Graduates or Talents?

First Person Shooters: Where is the Game Industry Heading?

The Singaporean behind Street Fighter X Mega Man

Game, Tech and Consoles