Well, its time for the Monday morning spam trawl of the web-site. Akismet has been doing a good job of catching blog comment spam, but I still have to deal with the dozens of weekly bogus forum registrations by spambots. Oddly, they don’t post anything, just register; but I don’t want the forum memberlist to consist almost entirely by fake accounts. I suspect quite a few of them are actually searching for phpBB forums on outdated/vulnerable board versions. We keep pretty up to date on our versions, but I don’t think the bots discriminate.

Still, it’s something to do while on hold to Pipex to see about getting some resolution on this regular connection drop-out we’ve been getting. There are few things more frustrating than getting 90% of the way through uploading a 1.5GB submission image and having the connection drop.

Only news really worth commenting on is Sony’s PS3 delay in Europe – that’s really going to hurt them this generation. The PS3 is already massively over-priced, any more reasons not to buy it will wipe further swathes off the number of units they finally sell. As it stands, PS3 is difficult to programme, more difficult to get concept approval on, more expensive to buy, and not likely to gain any significant purchase on the market until late next year. So not many compelling reasons to work on a title for them now then. My money’s still on Nintendo for the most effective return on your game development pound.

Been a while since the last post, due to a frantically busy week followed by a holiday in Glencoe. A rough timeline would go something like: Find out Brave failed submission, attended EIEF (round-up post to follow, albeit rather too late now), off to Dundee to attempt fixes for Brave bugs, day of meetings relating to new contract, burning another set of submission discs for Brave, off to Glencoe (beer, hill, ache, beer, smaller hill, ache, wine, wine, Loch Ness, beer).

We’re still waiting to go forward with the next contract, so groundwork continues apace. Not much else from the world outside, other than the news this morning that Infotari is to fight their Nasdaq de-listing. I’ve got to say, I think the games industry is really too unpredictable for companies to do well on the stock exchange. While its easier for industry people to predict and understand the nature of deadline slips, missed sales targets, etc., the Wall Street investors react violently to things they don’t understand, and can wipe huge chunks off a public company’s value over an entirely foreseeable minor failure. Of course, I’d say that Atari’s loss in stock value is probably due more to long term problems than single slips, but I’m just an uninformed observer. Its likely that they’re just one more big publisher feeling the long term pinch of the things I’ve ranted about before – rising costs and constant returns.

This piece can basically be summed up as: “we need to find more ways to make money out of games, otherwise we’re screwed”. A sentiment I can heartily agree with, although its possibly just my biased spin on the article.

Also, this news on Visual Science is uplifting, if a little late. Hopefully the staff stand a better chance of getting some of their unpaid wages/redundancy on the back of this.

A quieter week this last week, thankfully; mostly dedicated to laying the groundwork for future development. You know the sort of thing, getting all the tools upgraded to the latest versions, sorting out a development structure, and so on. Okay, well if you’re a programmer you know the sort of thing. Suffice to say it’s an interesting challenge to make old code sit nicely in a structure which promotes re-use. So new code doesn’t disappear into a bottomless pit and become wasted work.

Some experimentation was done also to see if a C#/Lua mix would work well in new tools. Short story – it would, but it won’t integrate very well with C++. So tools which need to co-exist with the current engine will have to stay as Lua/C++ instead. There may be scope for a C# tool in the future, but not just yet.

I also spent an hour or so answering questions for an old compatriot (Phil Vaughan, now a lecturer at Duncan of Jordanstone in Dundee) on the old art/code divide, and what it means as team sizes grow larger and larger. I’ll probably polish up and condense what was said and post it up here as a rant, although the gist of it is “agile yay, monolithic management in big teams nay”. I’m a firm believer that game development teams just don’t scale well beyond 20 people, and any project that needs more resources than that should be worked in such a way that it can be done with several smaller teams.

This item from Charles Cecil (Revolution) I thought was interesting. Of course, Revolution have been saying this for a while – they’ve gone radically to the other end of production, and adopted a similar model to the one William Latham was presenting in his talk at Develop. I.e. Creative input coming from a tiny core team of IP holders, with the main body of development work being outsourced to work for hire companies. But the fact that the probability of making money from high end development is extremely slim is undeniable. Even the companies that don’t expect royalties and are making all of their profits from up-front publisher advances will die under that model, because even if they survive for a while (by allowing the publisher to accept the risk/loss), the death of the publishers will leave them without anyone to front for their next big project.

Anyway, enough ranting. I’m feeling ill enough this morning without dwelling on depressing subjects. I blame the hot sweaty venues I was in over the weekend watching the Festival preview shows. Some good, some bad – I’d definitely recommend Jason Byrne though.

On a more games related note, I’ll be attending the EIEF this coming 21st/22nd of August, on the grounds that any opportunities to get us noticed and more business is good! Some more interesting talks there, and the fact that its about 10 minutes from my front door is just an added bonus for my lazy self.

Yesterday was Pete and my first visit to the IC CAVE office in Dundee – they are involved in our new project, so we’ll probably be spending a bit of time there over the next six months. Very nice office, although the building itself gave me flashbacks to University. No exams to pass any more though, just games to make.No news from Brave NTSC as yet, although I’m told it’ll be at Sony America in California today. Oh, and as a final note, we are no. 1 in Google, with a page ranking of 3/10! Take that Lionhead.

Right! Just finished making submission discs for Evolved so they can submit Brave for SCEA approval. What a nightmarish process its turned out to be. I could blame Sony for insisting that title submissions are done on certain hardware (that’s invariably out of production by the time it’s added to the approved list, and thus very hard to find), but I understand their submissions department’s reasons; they don’t want to be wasting time trying to test and approve builds burned on shoddy media, or worse, putting titles through to the duplication process only to find they have a minor flaw which results in thousands of useless discs.

No, the people I have to blame are the online retailers and couriers that have repeatedly messed up, and been thoroughly useless. So in no particular order:

• Virtual Direct
  Ordered: 30x Verbatim 8x DVD-Rs (#43273), promised next day delivery
  Arrived: Next afternoon, 30x Verbatim 16x DVD-Rs (#43521).
  Customer service: Took 5 minutes to grasp the fact that they’d delivered unacceptable goods, promised next day delivery of correct discs, only to send an email 2 hours later saying they had none in stock and they’d canceled the order
  Time wasted: 2 days
  Overall score: 0/5
• Rambox
  Ordered: 1x Pioneer DVR-110D (the only approved burner still for sale outside of eBay), promised next-day delivery
  Arrived: Next afternoon, 1x Pioneer DVR-111D (not approved)
  Customer service: Took 10 minutes to grasp the fact that only particular burners were okay, and that a substitute wasn’t acceptable. Was unable to tell me when more stock would arrive, but promised to check and try and ship one before the end of the day, which to their credit, they did manage.
  Time wasted: 1 day
  Overall score: 1/5 (points off for making me pay to send back the unneeded 110D, as well as using a rubbish courier – see Interlink Express)
• Snip-PC
  Ordered: 30x Verbatim 8x DVD-Rs (#43273), promised next day delivery, including 10 minutes on the phone, clearly and carefully explaining to the sales girl not to ship me any other kinds of DVD. She insisted they had those particular DVDs in stock, and that I would recieve them on Friday.
  Arrived: Wednesday, after being ordered on Thursday, 30x Verbatim 16x DVD-Rs (#43521), and failing to deliver once (see Parceline). The package wasn’t even dispatched until Monday.
  Time wasted: 4 days
  Overall score: 1/5 (given a point to reflect the fact that they apologised and refunded the money without requiring the items back)
• Parceline
  Failed deliveries: 1 (noted as failed to deliver because the recipient refused the package. When I queried the Dundee office, no-one had been asked to sign for a package. Apparently trying to deliver to entirely the wrong address counts as ‘refused’. Calling the helpline not more than 5 minutes after the website showed the failed delivery finds the driver didn’t know where he was going. Despite giving clear directions, the driver refused to turn round and return to Dundee and deliver that day, insisting on waiting until the next day)
  Overall score:1/5 (at least it got to where it was supposed to eventually, and was at least attempted delivery next day after dispatch)
• Interlink Express
  Failed deliveries:2
  1) Didn’t even find the street given the address on the package first time. Customer services was called, and after speaking to the driver, explained where he was supposed to deliver it. Although apparently not…
  2) Armed with explicit directions, driver delivered the package to a completely different address – the janitor at the student halls a few streets along from 4J signed for it (don’t ask me why). The driver didn’t query the fact that the building bore no resemblence to the directions he’d been given, nor the fact that there was no 4J Studios sign, or that the person there had no knowledge of the addressee at all. Apparently those things aren’t important these days…
  Overall score: 0/5 (not even an apology when it was determined they’d delivered to totally the wrong place and I was personally going to have to go down the road to locate the package that they’d lost for me)
• Federal Express
  Failed deliveries: 0
  Apparently Dundee is considered the arse end of the world for international shipments, incurring an entire extra day’s delay in any package delivered, despite the fact its only 2 hours max from the depot in Edinburgh. In the end, it was easier for me personally to go their depot near Edinburgh airport and pick up the package containing (finally) valid media for Sony submissions.
  However, they get the best score of the lot, because unlike the others, they were friendly, helpful, and actually did what they said they were going to do.
  Overall score: 3/5

So thumbs-up to Fedex, thumbs down to every other muppet I’ve had to deal with who has made this little job into a horrifically long and drawn out process. And thumbs-up to me as well, for writing this post without all of the expletives and fist-shaking that have come with dealing with this.

Well, after several weeks of plans and pitches and back and forth, we’ve come to an agreement to develop a pilot project for an educational title! Much relief on my part, as I can finally stop hedging on whether or not it would go ahead. We’ll be ramping up over the next month or so, depending on how long it takes to become a ‘Sony Approved’ developer, as well as taking on another couple of developers part-time (and no, we’ve already found the people, so there aren’t any jobs up for grabs I’m afraid). Still no office to begin with, at least until things settle down. Which is probably a good thing, as working remotely means we can do the work wherever is sensible, instead of being crammed into a little office where no doubt the air conditioning would have trouble keeping up! Not a good thing in this awful heat.

Once we get going, I’ll be prodding the guys to start blogging here to, so it won’t be just my incessant rambling you’ll have to listen to any more.

On unrelated news, we’re still trying hard to get a proper build of Brave made for the US market; the struggle now is to find a Sony Approved DVD burner and media. The fact that DVD manufacturers change models at least once a year seems to mean that the only models approved for making game submissions are the ones already out of production. Ebay is our friend now it seems! Anyway, a big thanks to 4J Studios for their help with trying to get Brave out (again).

Thought I’d escaped most of the picture snapping at Develop – there’s a brief glimpse of me here about halfway down the IGDA blog from Jason Della Rocca, blatently staring, mesmerised by the free beer supplied by Codemasters, instead of taking the chance to chat to Ken Perlin. I’ve found a lot of his stuff really interesting over the years, but must admit I didn’t actually know what he looked like. Ken’s talk was the one I skipped to go to the ‘Strategies for Success’ talk. Think I took the wrong option there! Still, it was re-scheduled from the previous afternoon, where it didn’t conflict, just the way these things work out.

Also found the pictures from the Develop Industry Excellence awards which we tried to blag our way into. Here’s myself and István with one of the reception cuties. No, I’m not that drunk. Well, okay maybe just a little. It was free beer damnit!

Have had my head buried in spreadsheets and plans for a couple of days, although that should be done with now. I’ve got some web-development work to do, I have to call our accountant and get the 2005-6 year end returns filed properly, and then its on to working on some pre-cursor work for our big deal, in advance of actually getting it signed.

Okay, here are some assorted thoughts about the various sessions attended over the two days. I’ve split the final, debrief panel session into another blog post as it degenerated a little into a rant about the state of the industry.

Keynote [Mark Rein (Epic)]

An interesting talk, although a bit opinionated; I missed the first half so maybe he said other things. Basically he slated episodic development as a broken business model, and Intel’s trend of putting shoddy graphics chips into low-end PC systems.

The episodic thing was a fair point, although only in a very limited sense – he was saying that traditional huge AAA titles couldn’t simply be broken into chunks in an effort to raise money earlier in the development cycle. However he conveniently skipped over all the episodic titles where it does make sense (e.g. Sam & Max by Telltale), labelling them ‘casual’ throwaway titles. He was mostly shouted down by Jason Della Rocca and various others as being a dinosaur of the industry, and representing titles built on the Unreal Engine as also being old-fashioned titles, which I thought was a little harsh.

The PC thing is a valid point though I think (although not just Intel to blame) – we used to have Intel driving technology forward because business PCs were capable of running games, but only the games taxed the technology. So ordinary users would upgrade their tech to be able to play games as well. Now machines are getting faster and faster CPUs with more memory, but a business machine comes with rubbish Intel graphics as standard, and usually can’t be upgraded. So we [the games industry] lose large chunks of the market, as non-technical people will simply buy what they are given. Of course, I think its not just Intel, but Dell and the other system manufacturers that are at fault. For the sake of a 5 dollar component (the difference between an integrated chip that won’t run games, and a low end nVidia/ATI chip that will run them, albeight slowly), they diminish a market which has traditionally pushed tech. forward and helped them force the upgrade curve higher. Bad for us now, bad for them in a few years. Short-sighted decisions by these companies.

Xbox Live: Now and in the Future [Jeff Sullivan]

A nice ‘introduction to Xbox’ talk, well presented. Microsoft really seem to have their integrated online strategy sorted out here. A lot of good stuff about integration of online components, rewards, and shared content that really appeals to gamers. Couple that with their maturing Live support, and the future integration between Vista and Xbox 360 (already 2 titles in development where as a PC user you will be able to play against a 360 player across Live); I think they’re onto a winner with this (as long as 360 takes off as a platform). Certainly they put the Sony PS3 strategy (or lack of) to shame, especially in this important area of development.

Levelling the Playing Field [William Latham]

A good talk about the broken business model (which I’ve lamented here before) of the industry at the moment, and a proposed change to the system. Basically to coalesce the industry into 3 tiers: 1) the far-east outsource market, responsible for content generation but with no creative input, 2) a smaller, prototype developer level, responsible for developing the game idea and mechanics, working under the direction of 3) a core team of IP/brand generators, responsible for the design. The first two levels are essentially work for hire people (much like the film industry), and the third is the creative level. Money for the system comes through external guarantors, who green-light a project based on its merits (and the confidence in the creative team). Not sure if I agree that there’s enough money in the industry to merit such an approach, especially given the uncertain nature of success. However, the system as it is is broken, and I can see merits in this more structured approach to development, as opposed to the ad-hoc and shambolic approach currently in use, which can be blamed for a lot of the business failures currently going on.

Money for Non-Suits [Jonathan Smith, Nicholas Lovell]

Another business talk – aimed at illuminating why companies do what they do. Lots of talk about creating value, and the difference between profits, and growth. Basically to say that you can grow to add value, and you can make money to add value, but either way you need to have value, and that requires thinking long-term. Much discussion about stock market dealings, and basically a consensus that games companies really shouldn’t be publicly traded. Too much is conjecture and hearsay, and the difficult to predict nature of the industry can have horrifically bad consequences for a company’s value, without really being justified. Private investors tend to be calmer and more aware of the company they have invested in, leading to more sensible value/investment decisions.

PlayStation 3: A Parallel Universe [István Fábián (SCEE)]

A tech talk this time – dwelling on various ways of architecting software systems to make the most of the PS3 parallelism. Some very interesting stuff, and confirmed my view that the PS3 was more powerful, and yet harder to develop for than the 360. I can see wonderful algorithms and systems to make the most of the hardware, but it requires real knowledge of the underlying systems to get the most out of it (much like the PS2). I caught up with István afterwards at:

Beers with Codemasters

Where the Codemasters guys opened the next door bar for free beer for all developers. Thumbs up from me for that one! Good way to recruit as well. Chatting with István about some of the tech stuff dealt with at the earlier talk – I think we agreed that the tools are vital in making use of the PS3 tech, but that there won’t (and never will be) a silver-bullet solution. Developers need to think architecturally differently to make things work on next-gen technology, and from what I’ve seen so far, most developers aren’t up to the task. I think everyone probably needs to be made to develop a distributed system of some kind to really appreciate the problems involved in true (not just multi-threaded) multi-node processing. I also mentioned my surprise at Sony’s lack of effort to work with Codeplay, a company known for making compilers for custom hardware to aid parallelism.

Also bumped into Ralph Fulton, an ex-VIS designer now working for Codies, who confirmed other reports I’d had that DC Studios were horrifically bad to work for. After all the bad things we said about working at VIS, to hear someone say that DC was an order of magnitude worse opens up my eyes a little as to just how bad things can get!

Second day:

Leveraging the Ageia PhysX SDK for advanced multi-core simulation [Jonas Gustavsson]

A disappointing one this one – basically touting the wonders of PhysX, although feature wise it seems competent, the presentation left me feeling their software was a little immature. All of the demos shown had ‘frame-rate issues’ which were badly explained away, some so bad that they wouldn’t show them. All of the demos that were shown were unconvincing, showing contrived gameplay to utilise physics systems. I stand by my opinion that a physics system is best used to augment gameplay, not to replace it. Just because you can do bendable objects and breakable systems, doesn’t mean you should.

Strategies for success [Jamie McDonald (SCEE), Chris Deering (Codies)]

More an insight into what Sony London look for than anything really. Some interesting points about what a mature and successful studio look for in external studios. Chris Deering had some points about mobile and markets, but to be honest it was a little hard to follow and didn’t seem hugely relevant.

Design by democracy: How to keep your vision – while taking on board everyone else’s [Peter Molyneux]

An excuse to go see Peter Molyneux really, there was an independent developers group gathering but I was over-heated from the sun and didn’t feel like networking at the time. A good talk, dwelling on the difficulties in ramping up to a huge design team, and on the difficulties of following a game concept through to full production.

Going well so far – already crossed 2 big things off the huge todo list that has collected while I’ve been in Brighton. Have quite a few more to deal with, including a summary blog post covering the talks I attended and my take on the whole thing. Will probably have to go in industry rants, but more on that later.

Summer’s definitely here though – sitting outside with a laptop and hoping the wi-fi extends that far is definitely the order of the day.

Writing this entry from a pub in Brighton, a few hundred yards from the Develop venue. Turns out I lucked out with my choice of hotels, as it is just round the corner from the conference. Should make for much less scope for embarrassment after the post conference drinking. I’ll be doing my bit putting the company around, but there are far more interesting talks than I realised, so I’ll have to do all the networking and business stuff in the breaks.

All things looking positive in the deal I’ve been trying to sign – we won’t know more until the end of July, but we have (I think) an achievable plan, and a budget acceptable to both sides. There are still a bunch of obstacles to overcome to make it work, but I’ll be doing some work in advance of signing the deal to smooth the way, on the grounds that I’d rather make things easy now than hedge on failing to sign the deal.

Time to finish up now – looks like my table is being usurped by a funky looking band. One guy has a banjo, I think I’m going to run away now…