Top 9 tips on how to pitch your mobile game like a pro

by Peter Willington on pocketgamer

At Pocket Gamer Connects we hosted the Very Big Indie Pitch, and I got to see some truly fantastic games, many of which we’ll write about over on PocketGamer.co.uk.

However, I also saw a few glaringly obvious mistakes repeated time and time again by indie developers whilst pitching their products.

So I’ve decided to put together a list of indispensable tips and tricks to ensure that the next time you’re pitching – either at one of our Big Indie Pitch events, or in a live fire scenario – you’re fully prepared to dazzle and amaze.

1. Don’t tell your life story

Unless you’re Hideo Kojima, or Peter Molyneux, or Rami Ismail, or Mike Bithell, or another big name creative with personal cachet, I do not see how you describing who you are or what you’ve done in your career as being useful or beneficial as part of a rapid-fire pitch.

You may think that graduating from university recently is a big deal, or that the death of your cat has made making this game a very personal experience, but the person on the other end of the pitch doesn’t care and tunes that stuff out.

In a scenario in which you are being given the opportunity to talk about your game, use all of the time you have to talk about your game, and not yourself.

2. “And I guess that’s pretty much it…”

The sentence above, and variations upon it – such as “so… yeah….”, “…and that’s my pitch”, or simply trailing off at the end of a sentence – are a weak way to end a pitch.

They say nothing of value, and worse than this, they’re negative in tone. These endings plant seeds of doubt in my mind: perhaps I should have expected more from this game, or maybe I begin thinking that you don’t sound confident in your idea.

Time your pitch so that you know you have said everything you want to say, and end on a high note. I should then immediately, and excitedly, want to find out more by asking questions.

3. Losing the plot

Perhaps the story of your game is pretty nifty, but unless the entire point of your release is the narrative itself (such as in an adventure game), then don’t spend too much time explaining it.

One team that spoke with me was showing a puzzler, and so I wanted to know how its systems of play interacted with one another. Yet the team squandered two thirds of the entire presentation time speaking about the plot which, as far as I could tell, didn’t directly affect the way the game played.

This tip can also be applied to any aspect of your game that isn’t crucial to the experience.

4. Cut the faff

When you spend even a few seconds of your time faffing about with technical elements of your presentation, you are wasting an opportunity to tell the person you’re pitching to one of the bullet points of what your game offers.

Ensure that you’ve practised your pitch until it’s super slick, and don’t simply focus on practising what you’re saying. You should also get used to resetting your demo on the move and getting to the content you want to show quickly.

If you can have a specially created build ready to show then this can minimise the amount of time wasted on setting up the demo. Even just putting all of the assets you want to use as part of the presentation onto one page, or taking the password off your tablet for the day, can cut valuable seconds of wasted time from your pitch.

5. Personal hygiene

Soap. Toothpaste. Deodorant.

Products like these are your friends, so use them. The very fact I have to write this point down fills me with sadness about the industry, but there it is.

Think of it this way: you’ve spent loads of time making your game look as good as possible to impress us, you should do the same.

Please note that I’m not suggesting for a moment that you should deliberately send the most attractive member of your team to do the presentation simply because they’re pretty; instead I’m highlighting that if your body odour makes my eyes stream, then I can’t play your game properly.

Staying on this theme, you should bring throat sweets and a bottle of water (or better yet, pineapple juice) with you, to keep your vocal chords in tip-top condition.

6. Let me play your game

I know this sounds obvious, but if I can’t play your product, then I’m unlikely to be able to tell if I like the cut of its jib.

You should never go into a pitch without a working version of your game, even if it’s simply a prototype supported by video renders or concept art.

Additionally, if you know how many people you’ll be pitching to then consider bringing one device per person. Not only will everyone be able to experience the game at once, but you can also use the opportunity to show how the title runs on different devices.

7. Learn to play your game

Clearly you know how your game plays, but do you know how it plays upside down?

That might sound like an odd question, but if you’re demonstrating gameplay you’ll need to be able to do it from an angle you don’t usually play at.

Learn to complete stages or show specific game features from above and to the side of the device, because not doing so may give judges the impression that the game is harder or less responsive than it actually is.

8. Know your audience

At the Very Big Indie Pitch, each pitching table featured different combinations of journalists, publishers, monetisation specialists, marketing executives, and so on.

Knowing who is at the table can be a real boon, as if you’re talking with the people with the cash you might want to focus on how you’ll make money on their investment, but if it’s a table of critics you may want to highlight the creative risks you’re taking.

In the very least you should try to avoid the situation one pitcher wound up in: including content in the demonstration that was clearly infringing on the copyright of one of the judge’s employers. Yikes!

9. Don’t underestimate your audience

If you know there’s a flaw in your game, don’t hope for a moment that a judge won’t spot it, because they will. The people you pitch to will likely have many years of experience in the business, and can see a potential issue from a mile off.

If you’re picked up on this, be ready to explain (very briefly) how you’re planning on fixing it, or why you made this design decision.

On top of this, don’t wait for us if we’re making notes, as we can listen to what you’re saying and write at the same time. On several occasions I noticed pitchers waiting for me to finish writing a sentence before continuing with their point. Don’t rush the pitch by any means, but don’t throw away time because you think we can’t do two things at once either.

Why Mobile Games Need a Strong “Heartbeat”

by Joseph Kim on quarterview

Introduction

Humans require a heartbeat to live. The heart pumps blood including essential nutrients throughout the body to sustain life in a regular cycle and rhythm.

heartbeat-run

Similarly, mobile games in particular require a similar concept of a “heartbeat” in order to sustain an audience and user interest in a regular cycle and rhythm.

This is especially true for mobile games where retention curves often go straight down. In this post, I claim that having a strong heartbeat can determine the success or failure of a mobile game and illustrate specific points to create games with stronger heartbeats.

So What Defines a Strong Heartbeat?

Having a strong heartbeat should be something a game designer or producer instinctively feels and just understands. Playing through a game, you should be able to have a natural feel for the lack of “something” that otherwise would lead to higher retention and user engagement.

The heartbeat itself doesn’t address the core mechanics in a game, but will help to strengthen the game’s grasp on a user’s attention and latent anticipation for the next gameplay session.

What is this “something” that gives a strong heartbeat? Although more art than science, I break down a strong heartbeat as follows:

Clear objectives

Strong incentives

Appropriate and regular pacing

Let’s go over each in turn…

1. Clear Objectives:

Users at every point in the game should know exactly what their next objective is. Am I trying to clear a level? Is there a new sword I’m trying to buy? Am I trying to defeat a specific boss monster? Am I trying to complete a collection? Am I trying to exact revenge? etc.

Although game objectives can differ between different games, in all well designed mobile games the next specific objective or objectives should be very apparent to the user at all times.

Messaging and surfacing objectives to the user can be accomplished in a number of ways. For example: clearly depicted progression maps showing how far a user has advanced in the game, a prominent level/experience bar, your character becoming more powerful and looking more bad-ass, a GvG battle timer, a prominent PVP beat down message, etc.

As a game designer you need to specifically design and message these objectives to users. Again, you should design what the user is trying to grasp for at all points within the game and make sure the user knows it too.

Example: Candy Crush Saga

Objective = Map progression and beating friends

candy crush objectives

Here both a PVE objective to clear more levels and thereby unlock new puzzles as well as a light PVP objective to beat your friend’s progression is clearly conveyed to the user.

Further, not only should the objectives be clear but how to achieve those objectives; there should be a clear path. In other words, the user flow to do “objective X” should be easy to understand and the UI should make it easy for the user to achieve.

Example: Clash of Clans

COC understand what to do

The core loop in Clash of Clans has been designed to be very easy to understand, the UI highlights and makes the next action obvious, and the loop is very tight: Attack -> Make Money -> Buy X -> Attack.

Counter-Example: Rage of Bahamut

rageofbahamut

In this case… not so clear what to do next.

2. Strong Incentives:

By doing “action X”, the user needs to feel that the reward will be worth it. There needs to be a strong incentive for achieving the objectives: more power, new content, over the top visual animation, etc.

In card battle games, one of the key draws to retaining and engaging users are the frequent loot drops and the ability to convert those drops into increasing the power of the user’s existing cards.

In city building games, the anticipation of buying or upgrading a building to unlock new units is a powerful incentive to keep grinding.

In PVP games, the incremental advancement in power to beat someone who just defeated you can be very powerful depending on how strong the rewards and losses are

Besides the reward itself, the user needs to feel that the actions they are doing will lead to something valuable. So the reward in general should be:

Perceived by the user  as valuable and worth their time

Understood by the user (if the user doesn’t realize they are getting the reward it misses the point)

Incrementally frequent

Example: Marvel: War of Heroes

marvel WOH incentives

In the example above, the incentive to upgrade is clearly depicted and messaged to the user. We know that once we get Hawkeye to Fusion S Rare he’s going to have 4 full yellow dots (whatever that actually means) and he’s gonnna have badass lightning in the background obviously depicting much greater card power. Similarly, She Hulk (above Hawkeye) is gonna be able to bust through walls and shit once she’s SS Rare. You get the point.

Finally, the rewards need to come frequently enough to properly incentivize the core game loops and let the user feel progress towards their clearly messaged objectives. It just needs to “feel right” where users feel “good” about continuing to invest time into the game. However, the rewards should not be too much where it feels too cheap after the initial set of rewards or users progress too quickly in the game.

3. Appropriate and Regular Pacing:

Just as rewards should be appropriately paced, there needs to be an overall pacing and rhythm of game events to make the user feel that they are progressing and investing into the game. Further, the regularity of the “heartbeat” makes the user feel as if there is a life to the game and updating/newness occurring.

The types of regular anticipated events often include:

Level up

Loot drop

Upgrade

New Building

Power-up

PVP actions

GVG actions/events

Social event (e.g., social raid boss, competition, etc.)

etc.

Example from Immortalis:

Immortalis Pacing

How Do I Use this Concept In Practice?

I recommend testing your game for a strong heartbeat through play testing at different points in the game.

As you play, just ask these simple questions as you play through (e.g., just after tutorial and then every few minutes playing):

What’s my objective? Is it clear?

How do I achieve my objective? Is it easy to understand and navigate?

What happens when I achieve my objective? Is it rewarding enough?

Finally, think about the pacing. Are the objectives and rewards appropriately paced?

The ideal buildup is to cause your user to desire X, work for X, cause user increasing stress while working for X, and then release the stress once X is achieved. Over and over in a regular rhythm.

Conclusion

In this post, I give the reader an alternative lens to evaluate the attractiveness of their game using the metaphor of a heartbeat. I claim that the requirement for a strong heartbeat is especially true for mobile games in particular due to typically poor user retention and engagement characteristics on mobile devices.

Breathe more life into your game  by carefully thinking through and then acting on the concepts discussed!

6 cases that will make you want to eat your iPhone

by Mike Wehner on Tuaw

I don't normally need any more reason to think about food during the day other than it exists. But these six iPhone cases look so tempting that I might be tempted to try a taste. This is in no way an endorsement of their protective qualities -- they could fall apart instantly for all I know -- but when it comes to being visually appealing, these accessories are downright scrumptious.

1. Sure, when it comes to ice cream sandwiches you may be more tempted to think of an Android device, but there's no denying that Apple's smartphone is the perfect shape for a case like this. With a high-resolution chocolate cookie image and a white plastic border, it's almost too good.

2. There's nothing like a bento box for lunch. This one might be a little small -- those rolls look even smaller than what could be considered "bite-sized" -- but if you're a fan of sushi, it's a top contender.

3. With a dozen faux M&M candies secured to the back of your phone, you'll need to constantly remind yourself that they're made of plastic rather than milk chocolate. I'm not sure how comfortable this particular case would be when in your pocket, but if you're considering a case like this, you're probably going for eye-catching looks over comfort.

4. With strawberries, chocolate candies and ice cream constructed out of plastic in extreme detail, this is the most impressive case on the list, but it's also the one most likely to be totally destroyed if you happen to drop your phone. It might not be practical, but it's definitely a conversation starter.

5. Bacon ... on your iPhone. Ok, so it's not real bacon, it's a urethane resin, but it's shaped and painted to make it look as close to real-life tasty pork strips as possible. Just don't let your dog mistake it for a chew toy.

6. Ok, you caught me; this one is a bit of a joke. Featuring some disgusting salisbury "steak," a helping of plastic peas, some gritty potatoes and apple cobbler that is one degree away from melting though the aluminum tray, this is what convenience is all about.

Self-promotion for game developers

by Raph Koster gamasutra

I’m writing this for Mattie Brice, who was just listed as one of Polygon’s 50 game newsmakers of the year. We had a brief Twitter exchange after I offered congratulations, in which she mentioned that she didn’t know she could put this on a CV, and that she “know[s] nothing of self-promotion.” I have certainly never been accused of that, so this is a rehash of stuff I have written elsewhere and elsewhen.

To be clear, this post is not about marketing your games. It is about marketing yourself, and not even that, but about finding your professional place within the industry.

Why self-promote?

The fact is that the world is a) crowded and full of distractions b) competitive and full of other people who do what you do. Getting noticed is hard. Staying noticed is also hard. You can be utterly amazing and people can simply not know. You can be utterly amazing and people can simply forget. The result, simply put, is that without self-promotion you won’t get to do all the things you want to do. Yes, sometimes the universe does drop your dreams and heartfelt desires in your lap. But usually you have to at least say please, and most of the time you have to fight for them.

Some myths

Self-promotion does not mean pushing others down. In fact, when done most effectively, it is actually done by pulling others up. It does not mean falsity; in fact, it is usually best done by being genuine. It does not mean being crass; when done well, it usually simply means being firm and matter-of-fact. If these things are your impression of what self-promotion is, please discard them. They are good warning signs to see in someone else, though — they may be trying too hard, or might need advice on how to best present themselves.

The first steps

Do good work. Without this, all else is pointless. This means, yes, paying dues, studying up, all that drudgery. Hopefully you love it, because otherwise you should do something else. If you do not take your field seriously enough to study it, and try to know everything about it, and try to add new knowledge and understanding to the field, then you probably shouldn’t be self-promoting.

Sadly, valid reasons like “I don’t have enough money to afford the games/books” won’t matter… I wish they did, but it’s not how the world works right now. So find ways to study and learn by hook or crook. Or you’ll find yourself in situations where others trust you to make something happen and you won’t be able to because you’ll be hollow words. Don’t hurt others that way, and don’t hurt yourself that way. The corollary is, be aware of what you are not good at.

When you talk with someone, think about how you can be helpful to them. Self-promotion fundamentally is done by getting others to give you a leg up. You do this by being helpful to them, so that they reciprocate. Often that will mean pointing people towards someone who isn’t you, because they can help more than you can. The result will be that people (both the ones you pointed away from yourself, and the ones you pointed them to) will remember you as helpful and honest and generous.

After doing work, you use what you learned to help others

Share lessons learned. You don’t need to have a hugely advanced career or be a massive expert. In fact, a lot of lessons learned by people who have lots of skill aren’t that useful to novices, who might be lost in the nuances it provides. How to share? Write. Forums like blogs, Twitter, communities of practice and so on where you can interact with others in the industry are very important for getting your name out there.

It doesn’t need to be a big or famous forum. I got started on MUD-Dev, and before that, on Usenet. In the case of MUD-Dev, it was an obscure forum to start with, so I promoted the forum whenever I got the chance. A lot of the MMORPG industry might well have never heard of it otherwise, so I encouraged them to join it. It helped that it was a high-quality forum to start with.

Don’t think industry only, either. I have found enormous value in contacts from the science fiction world, from the legal world, from academia, and so on. Everything is relevant to your work. Everything.

Getting to know diverse groups of people and finding out what they think of what you do is immensely valuable.

Share failures. Sharing triumphs is always nice. But gosh, there’s almost no advice as good as a signpost that says “watch out, a flood washed out this road.” You will earn respect for being honest enough to admit mistakes. It will not harm your standing at all. Anyone who matters will have made plenty of mistakes of their own. You will learn more about those mistakes from writing about them, and that will make your own work better. Finally, others will be able to seize on your mistakes and do something with them that blows you away.

Provide tools. Don’t just criticize, pontificate, rant, pump your fist, or philosophize. Ask yourself whether what you are saying is something that others will find useful.

It can be challenging and useful. It can be philosophical and useful. It can be angry and useful. If it isn’t useful, it’s probably just useful to you. And that’s fine, but it’s not generous. And self-promotion is fundamentally about generosity.

Be nice. You can be critical and be nice. You can call out bad behavior and be nice. It’s a small industry. I have a list, as many veterans do, of “people I will never work with again.” It is small. But everyone has a list, and some people’s lists are very long. From a purely practical point of view, burning bridges is a bad idea. Worse, and I think everyone needs to confront this, at least some of the nasty stuff you want to say is wrong, and you just don’t know the real situation. It happens to all of us.

This doesn’t mean not taking a stand. It means being professional as you do so, and being sure that what you say is grounded in reality that is as objective as you can make it.

Then you take credit

This is the part that people fall down on.

Get proper and public credit for your work. When I was originally credited on Ultima Online, it was as “creative lead,” not as “lead designer.” UO shipped without a lead designer (long story). But creative lead is not a useful title on a resume. I made a point of asking for and getting the title of lead designer on UO Live (running the service) when they asked me to do UO: Second Age. That way I was able to legitimately refer to myself as lead designer on UO later on.

Needless to say, don’t falsify what you did in any way whatsoever. It is dishonest and it will come out and blow up.

Being a doormat is a good way to lose out. (I am a doormat by nature, btw. This is very hard for me). There was once a piece of technology that I was absolutely critical to inventing. It would not have happened without me, and I solved many of the core challenges with it. I certainly was not the only one who worked on it. As it happens, others who worked on it were the ones who filled out the patent paperwork, and my name wasn’t on it. I didn’t insist. Regardless of how you feel about software patents, that was a mistake. Stand up for yourself and your contributions.

This is especially important because odds are very good that well over half your career will be “dark matter” — stuff that will not be seen by the public. So those parts that are seen matter more than you think. I have a long list of major, significant projects that occupied years of my time… that never saw the light of day and are still confidential. They don’t live on the resume. They don’t live anywhere except in some people’s memories. You can use these in conversation sometimes (depending on legalities) but that’s about it. So getting credit for work that actually shipped is very important.

Say “we” not “I.” Because it’s almost always the truth.

In general, be humble. Fact is, if you had a big success, it’s because you were goddamn lucky.

Because you had the right help. Because the time was right. Because your parents. It is never all attributable to your genius. I say this as someone who actually is a polymathic genius, so I know what I am talking about.

Don’t bother denying that you’re self promoting. If you’ve been honorable about it, it won’t be resented. It only gets obnoxious when you overdo it.  Admit it with a grin, and point out “I gotta eat.”

Some very specific things you should be doing

Have your own website, and have a portfolio of some sort on it. Ideally, the website’s domain is your name. Yes, it’s wonderful and all to write on Medium or Google+. Medium is going to get shut down someday. Slideshare and its widgets will be the detritus of history in fifteen years. Post/host copies of everything you can on your own site. Make it your clipping book. Don’t sign speaking contracts that say you can’t post up a copy or a reworked version somewhere.

Don’t write intermittently. You have to do it regularly. It is a chore like watering a plant. Reputations dry up and wither away.

Make it easy to find out about you. Post up a CV and a more digestible summary on your site. Too many people think the About Me section is filler. It’s not! Develop a bio you can give people, and update it periodically. The back of my business card actually has a short resume on it. After all, if I am meeting someone who doesn’t know me, what better way is there to let them know quickly, in a way they can take away with them? (I debated on this one, because it’s definitely somewhat obnoxious, but ended up deciding to stand on my record).

Learn to give good pull quotes. This is a skill, and it’s one you can and should build. Let me give you a tour of some quotes associated with me:

Single-player is a historical aberration.

The client is in the hands of the enemy.

Fun is just another word for learning.

With games, learning is the drug.

Games are made out of games.

Narrative is not a mechanic. It’s a form of feedback.

It may be that games are all about math. And I think that sucks.

Why is there no game about the taste of a freshly picked peach?

Now, you may agree with these or not. Some of them, I wasn’t the first one to say! What they have in common, though, is that they are direct statements that take a stand, are brief, and practically demand follow-on exposition. Sometimes I have gone too far with these — no question! — but I can tell you that the value I have gotten from being able to supply pithy quotes is immense. Pithy quotes are what make it into the write-up of your talks. Pithy quotes are what gets you on TV or radio. Pithy quotes are what get cited in academic papers. Pithy quotes are what gets someone to debate you — and the more you are debated, the more awareness others have of you and your work. Nobody bothers to debate a nobody. Being a bit controversial is a good thing. Being highly quotable is an asset.

By the way, jargon is the enemy here.

In fact, have a stock phrase library. When I first started meeting relatively famous people socially, I was shocked to discover that after a few interactions with them, I noticed that they had a set of stock phrases and witticisms, a go-to set of anecdotes, and so on. Sometimes they slipped up and used the same phrase twice on the same person in different meetings. Oops. The thing is, if you hit on a way of saying something that works, don’t stop using it. Use it again, Polish it. Retell your stories. This may seem theatrical, but there is a very real sense in which self-promotion is putting on a performance of the person you want to be.

Think about your appearance. It doesn’t have to be good. Oh sure, some folks make a point of always having a suit in a public appearance, Steve Jobs liked his black turtlenecks. In my case, my look is “rumpled.” Yes, I have had multiple other people describe me to myself that way. It’s a consistent rumpled, is my point. Warren Spector’s is “professorial,” I mean, have you seen his sweaters? Have photos that show who you are, too.

This may seem like the shallowest thing ever. But there’s two big reasons to do it: one, it’s a signal to yourself that you are taking this seriously. Culturally, we as humans dress up for ritual and ceremonial moments. Your work is a ritual, your work gathering is a ceremony. Grant it that importance. Honestly, if you do it right, it’ll be the clothes you like to wear. Two, it makes you memorable. No one who has met George “The Fat Man” Sanger, in rhinestone jacket and cowboy hat, forgets it.

In a weird sense, you want to be a bit of a cartoon. Why? Because cartoons, icons, are what we reduce things to in our heads. (You remember those parts of Theory of Fun, right?) A memorable cartoon is more valuable than a complex forgotten person, in this case. This doesn’t mean being cartoon-y. It means having some signature stuff that you get associated with. Having poetry in my talks or my blog is one of those signatures, in my case.

If you can, get media training and/or public speaking training. It’s a shortcut to learning a whole lot of stuff you will otherwise learn the painful hard way when you get misquoted, say something you shouldn’t have in public, and so on. The quick and easy way? Find a local Toastmasters club or something. You will need this for when you do an interview. You will need this when you demo. I could write a whole very long post just on public speaking techniques, but this is already long.

A corollary applicable especially to those on large teams: Learn marketing. One thing that CliffyB and Warren Spector and Will Wright and many others have in common is that they give good press. Besides, this is just a valuable thing to have on your team anyway. Every team needs a good song and dance person. Get comfortable with public speaking. Develop a sense of humor if you haven’t got one. Be very good at demoing. Be articulate in interviews. Get comfy on camera. Your marketing dept will start asking for you because devs with these skills are rare and valuable. As part of this, get to know folks in the press. They are also valuable contacts. Being the lowest-ranked booth monkey at E3 is remarkably good training for this.

Do conference talks. I owe Rich Vogel and Gordon Walton an enormous debt for starting me on this path. It leads to a lot of recognition. It gets your name out there. It’s worth pointing out that I am pretty sure that EA did not value me significantly if at all after UO came out. They didn’t fight to keep me, and at one point I was on a firing list (I hear). But the rest of the industry saw me as valuable. Leaving EA helped my career quite a lot in that sense, because there was press about my departure, and there was a press release when I joined SOE, and there was a press release when I was made CCO. The foundation of the reputation I have is not the work, it’s awareness of the work. Conference talks directly target your peers.

Is it hard to get started doing this? Yes. You’ll get rejected a lot. I still get rejected now. Don’t worry about it, don’t take it personally. Just get up and submit again.

Finding yourself

Get to know the right people. Much of self-promotion is merely moving in the right circles. A large part of this is actually credibly belonging in those circles. If you don’t, you’ll quickly find out. But try to get to those circles if you think you belong there. Sometimes they are not obvious — few folks outside the industry would pick, say, Eric Zimmerman, as a key figure. But he has a very very good Rolodex (or modern equivalent). He is connected to a lot of movers and shakers. He is a thought leader himself.

Don’t break into circles because you want the contacts. Break in because you think you belong there, because you want to be there, because you like the people there. It is about finding your “tribe.” (Odds are good, by the way, that your tribe isn’t actually the biggest names out there today. But you know what? They are actually very approachable, by and large. So don’t rule it out!)

If no such circle exists, create it. GDC started because Chris Crawford wanted his tribe around him to talk games. For years, us online folks ran a parallel conference next to GDC because we wanted our tribe. The so-called formalists — all half dozen of us! — get together for dinner now whenever we are in the same city.

Don’t view your life through the lens of self-promotion, that way lies fakery. There are a lot of “secret game developer mailing lists” and the like. When I was first invited into one, my first thought was “oh, this sounds COOL.” The “valuable contacts” thoughts came about fifth or sixth on the list. I say this because it might be that all this probably sounds too cynical. But I can honestly say that I tend to think of the self-promotion angle after the fact. Going in there with that intent will just make you seem fake, I think. Be honest in your life, I guess is all I am saying.

Bottom line: Give back. Don’t be a dick. Seriously. Share what you can, be generous with your time, build relationships honestly. Don’t claim credit for things you didn’t do. Anything else is unethical and a longterm disaster anyway. Share with the industry, contribute to the field. And make sure that people know you did. It earns respect, and that’s the core of self-promotion.

A crass monetary note

I see a lot of folks who think that unless money is rolling in, they are failing. This especially seems to be a feeling among people who write about games.

I know exactly one person in the entire industry who makes a living freelance just writing about games. They are not rich.

It is a mistake to associate the kind of reputation I am talking about in this article with financial reward. It does not necessarily correlate. What this stuff does is open doors, not cause money to rain down on you. The people with the most money in the industry are often not widely respected, not leaving a legacy behind… All this self-promotion is for the purpose of giving you opportunities, and making it easier for you to take those opportunities. Many of those opportunities will be about exciting work and meaningful personal relationships. Some will be about money too — proper self-promotion helps the career. It goes like this: the self-promotion helps the career, but the career is supposed to help the happiness.

The big trends that defined 2013 in games

By James Batchelor on develop-online

From the PS4 and Xbox One, Supercell to mobile, 21 industry professionals tell us their highlights of the year

2013 has been a landmark year for games.

Mobile has continued its astronomic rise in the games space, creating billion dollar companies such as Clash of Clans developer Supercell and Puzzle & Dragons outfit GungHo.

We’ve also seen new consoles from Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony in the shape of the Wii U, Xbox One and PS4, ushering in a new era of console gaming and inspiring renewed optimism in the market.

We asked 21 game industry professionals on what they thought of 2013 in games, and what they felt defined the year for the sector.

The Year of next-gen

“I loved the rapturous reception that the launch of two new consoles received, at a time when many industry pundits were predicting the death of consoles.”

Phil Gaskell, director, Ripstone

“We knew PS4 was going to be clever and make the right noises, had no idea it was going to have such a convincing lead over XBone as it seems to, so far. I’m also impressed by the impact Shahid Ahmad has had.”
Stewart Gilray, CEO, Just Add Water

“Sony and Microsoft reinvigorated interest in the console market.”
Nick Gibson, founder, Games Investor Consulting

“The arrival of the new consoles! Having lived and worked in games through many console cycles this is the battle I’m looking forward to most.”
Ian Goodall, managing director, Aardvark Swift

The Year of Supercell

“Supercell’s valuation was my highlight!”
Gareth Edmondson, CEO, Thumstar

“The Supercell $1.5 billion transaction showing the real potential of that market.”
Darren Jobling, CEO, Eutechnyx

The Year of Mobile

“2013 is the year of the mobile gaming giants emerged. Supercell’s acquisition by Gung Ho, and King’s ascent. I think Candy Crush is the biggest story in gaming by a longshot. More people play Candy Crush in a day than will ever own a PS4 or XBOne combined.”
John Earner, CEO, Space Ape Games

“We really saw a leap in mobile phone power and performance over the last 12 months, bringing them almost to a par with the outgoing PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles. The rapid development of mobile hardware, and the arrival of new consoles gives devs large and small a great excuse to create some truly innovative games. I also think the twists and turns in the mobile and tablet markets have been fascinating to watch with a change in fortunes for established players and new entrants coming into the market.”
Harvey Elliott, CEO, Marmalade

The Year of Digital

“2013 was the year when digital distribution crossed the Rubicon and became the major way we sell our games. Also being able to self-publish on Consoles at long last.”
Jason Kingsley, co-founder and CEO, Rebellion

The Year of the Indie

“I am very impressed by the success of indie games this year. Not only did we have indie games like The Room and The Unfinished Swan win at March’s BAFTA awards, but we saw some new amazing titles too, like Ridiculous Fishing, Gone Home and Papers, Please.”
Sophia George, co-founder of Swallowtail Games and games designer in residence at V&A Museum

“This year, the number of games I played made by indie and small studios overtook the number of major triple-A games I played. But I realized the number of triple-A games I play hasn’t decreased, it’s just easier to fit in these shorter but highly impactful experiences.”
Wesley Adams, marketing specialist, Autodesk

“It felt to me like the year that Indies took over, certainly in the amount of my personal game time. Played some truly inspired games across many platforms, and love seeing people that haven’t realised they can’t do what they are doing. My game of the year? Papers Please!”
Nick Button-Brown, studio head, Improbable

“The hardware manufacturer top-trumps game of who had better indie-friendly points was a distraction for what was really happening: a genuine grass roots upswell of indie teams feeling that anything was possible. That brought with it a maturing of approach as those same developers realised that success still requires hard work, business acumen and a commitment to learning a wealth of new skills outside their dev comfort zone, but many indies have embraced those challenges and are positioning themselves really well for a successful 2014.”
Natalie Griffith, owner, Press Space PR

“There was a fundamental sea change in the way that the platform holders are communicating with indie developers, and the community as a whole. I would never have dreamt that I would be able to start a relationship with Sony, or Nintendo or Microsoft simply through the power of Twitter. It’s remarkable to see how open these companies are becoming. It’s not all smooth sailing, but it’s significantly better than say five years ago where I would never have imagined a small team of developers could release a game on a major platform.”
Andy Esser, lead programmer, Zero Dependency

The Year of Naughty Dog

“The best moment in gaming for 2013 was the release of The Last Of Us. Naughty Dog silenced critics predicting the end of console gaming with an honest, innovative, and totally fresh IP. The Last Of Us was a great reminder that console gaming can still swing big and take players to places they’ve never been before. Bravo.”
Ryan Payton, founder, Camouflaj

“2013 for me was all about story telling, the best games have all told a story, whether it’s one that is scripted out for you like in “The Last of Us” , one that you have an influence over “The Walking Dead” or one that you create “Journey.” I feel like the developers that have got this right have learned how to make games a real emotional experience and I look forward to seeing how that can be enhanced even more in the future.”
Mark Baldwin, community manager, New Star Games

The Year of Transition

“There was a sense of transition and nothing really culminating. Next gen was muted, VR devices are building momentum, big titles were delayed. Still, I have high hopes for next year!”
David Osborne, RuneScape senior narrative designer, Jagex

“We saw the vast adoption by the general public of F2P – particularly Candy Crush. At the other end of the spectrum you have GTA V selling 28 million copies! And the game is staggering in its scope and technical accomplishments.”
Philip Oliver, founder, Radiant Worlds

The Year of Surprises

“2013 was a year which just kept bringing surprises. Uncharacteristically funny additions to big brands like Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. Refreshing takes on game storytelling by new IPs like Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Games created by a single auteur like Papers, Please touching me on a very personal level (I grew up on the other side of the “Iron Curtain”). And of course our amazing players still make me laugh with the Surgeon Simulator 2013 videos they make.”
Imre Jele, founder, Bossa Studios

“I loved the revealing of No Man’s Sky. It’s a bold step forward for the sci-fi genre, having a massive procedural universe that can be explored to its very depths.”
Daniel Da Rocha, managing director, Mudvark

“2013 was absolutely crazy from seeing Minecraft hit 23 million+ sales, Phil Fish getting, in my opinion, undeserved shit and quitting twitter, Supercell becoming billion dollar beast and then the amount of little studios popping up doing great things, I guess the way I would round it up is that 2013 in video games has highlighted how unpredictable this industry is.”

The Edge awards 2013: best game

by Edge Staff on edge-online

For all the hype surrounding a new generation of consoles, 2013 demonstrated that mastery over the form is more significant than the number of particles pushed onto screens. The vast world of Los Santos layered glistening beauty upon gruelling grit, while The Last Of Us cut through an overcrowded genre with a refined script and unflinching creative vision. Both are standouts of a year in which big-budget games pushed at the limits of size and polish, but were otherwise content to refine genres rather than reinvent them. Again, the indie scene picked up the slack, daring to tell stories of emotional hardship and the nature of choice. But even it seemed focused on the promise of consoles to come, with a number of games slipping to 2014.

Oddly, it’s a maturing wave of hardware – 3DS, Vita and Wii U – that delivered the biggest surprises of 2013. The two portables have seen a turnaround in their fortunes, thanks to developers who understand their audiences and are taking risks with new ways to play. These span from the iterative, such as Fire Emblem Awakening, to the wildly inventive, such as Tearaway. Wii U, meanwhile, continues to sell dismally, but has produced a standout gem that might save it in Super Mario 3D World. And that’s the key: as the E3 fallout made abundantly clear, the videogame industry is only as good as its games.

10. Papers, Please

Format: PC Publisher/developer: Lucas Pope

Papers, Please takes the vocabulary of the adventure game – checking and comparing information, retaining details, and critical analysis – and applies it to a study of the tyranny of bureaucracy. Understated but powerful, it demonstrates the power games have as persuasive tools and it does so by teaching, not lecturing, you.

9. Dota 2

Format: PC Publisher: Valve Developer: In-house

The year’s standout success in eSports, Dota 2 has a tremendous ability to draw out the personality of its players. Valve has steadily improved the game’s accessibility while pioneering new ways for fans to contribute to it, express themselves, and even earn money from their contributions. It’s the biggest game on Steam right now for a very good reason.

8. The Stanley Parable

Format: PC Publisher/developer: Galactic Cafe

This intelligent firstperson exploration game guides you through variously funny, sad, exciting and unnerving meditations on the nature of games. It strikes a masterful balance of tone and achieves a tremendous sense of personality by treating the player as a player and not as a problem to be solved. It features some of the year’s smartest writing, too.

7. Rayman Legends

Formats: 360, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One Publisher: Ubisoft Developer: In-house (Montpellier)

Legends has an unstoppable rhythm, a bevy of ideas and a world of content. It’s forever urging you on and always showing you something new, serving up multiplayer combative football, rhythm-action platforming, and daily challenges. Legends takes its handful of verbs – jump, run and punch – and gets as much mileage from them as Nintendo on its best days.

6. Fire Emblem Awakening

Format: 3DS Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Intelligent Systems

Permadeath is callous. Awakening humanises it, its network of player-forged relational bonds meaning defeat snatches away not generic soldiers but beloved allies. Keeping everyone alive is a challenge, yet a Casual mode means this is also the most approachable Fire Emblem yet. It’s a rare strategy game that warms not just your grey matter but also your heart.

5. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

Formats: 360, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox One Publisher: Ubisoft Developer: In-house (Montreal)

This pirate sim barely needs the Assassin’s Creed name, but heading to open ocean liberates a series once tangled in its historical trappings. Black Flag revels in the freedom, its vagabond wanderings across turquoise waters spiced with bountiful distractions and ship-to-ship combat beyond compare.

4. Super Mario 3D World

Format: Wii U Publisher: Nintendo Developer: In-house

Back in the shade you go, Luigi. Just as with 3DS, and so many Nintendo systems of yore, it’s Mario that’s made Wii U an irresistible proposition. 3D World is the archetypal Mario game – a relentless succession of ideas formed, finessed and thrown away to make room for the next one – and if there’s any justice also a shot in the arm for Nintendo’s confused platform.

3. Tearaway

Format: Vita Publisher: SCE Developer: Media Molecule

Tearaway’s heartrending conclusion will live long in the memory, but so will the adventure that precedes it. We upholstered an elk, pinned a moustache on a pig, and drew malformed flames and wonky snowflakes. We mugged endlessly for the camera. Media Molecule’s latest gem flings one thing after another at you, each more playful and more joyful than the last.

2. The Last Of Us

Format: PS3 Publisher: SCE Developer: Naughty Dog

There was never any doubt that Naughty Dog would spin a ripping yarn, but the sheer scale of its achievement caught us on the hop. The game’s sombre riff on Uncharted’s magic makes for a journey that is at once more human and more affecting than past videogame adventures, one that leaves you wishing all others could match this remarkable standard.

1. Grand Theft Auto V

Format: PS3, 360 Publisher: Rockstar Developer: In-house (Rockstar North)

Once upon a time, while playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, we would lean back and wonder what such a game might look and feel like in the future, its rough edges smoothed out, its ambition explored in more detail. In September this year we found out – and the reality exceeded our daydreams. Given that it’s made up of so many moving parts, Grand Theft Auto V should collapse in on itself the moment you begin messing with it, but instead its countless pieces work in concert like a mesmirising symphony. For its self-belief, its scale, its art, its soundtrack, its three-way character twist, its lightning-cracked skies, its churning waves, its mountain-top parachute leaps and its desperate, bodywork-mangling storm-drain escapes, it is our game of the year.