Ind13 issue zero

Issue Zero

launch issue

The layers of a Games Artist

September 2013

TripleClaim Game Collective

The Retro Corner talks Manic Miner

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EDITORIAL Introduction

we are

Hello and welcome to the first issue of IND13 (Indie), the magazine for people interested in independent games development.

in, getting the right sound effects for indie games, and retro gaming.

Whether you’re a developer looking for good reading, interested in games development, or a fan of indie games, this is the magazine for you.

Made up of six core members, our aim is to create a magazine that we would want to read. We are an independent publication and can cover any area of development that we please.

The content of the magazine is created by the core team along with contributors from the industry. So if you ever want to write an article in IND13, then get in touch via the details at the back of the magazine.

As a group we strive to be creative and always enjoy what we are doing. We hope this comes across in our magazine.

Enjoy,

We want to cover anything and everything, including; veteran developers, Kickstarter / Indiegogo campaigns we believe

ind13

IND13 IND13 is a video games magazine dedicated to independent games development.

The IND13 team is made up of voluntary contributors from different areas of independent games development. We’ve created a magazine which discusses topics we think are important to, and cater to the fans of, independent games development.

Our aim is to create interesting news, reviews and articles, all focusing on independent games development. The nucleus of our team is based in the UK but we hope to have a team stretching the globe. We aim

to have independent gaming news from the UK, US, Europe and Asia, but also from all other gaming territories.

The team behind IND13 are all volunteers, and we are giving up our time because we are passionate about independent games development. The content of the magazine will be made up of articles created by the IND13 team but also by voluntary contributors from the games industry.

Advertising is available in the magazine, at this time all proceeds will go into the development and stability of IND13’s production. Paying for advertising will also mean we can cover paying clients’

titles with editorial as well as with traditional advertising placements in the magazine.

We also give pro bono ad placements to the companies the team work for, in exchange for our time spent contributing to the magazine and to keep our employers happy.

We hope you enjoyed the magazine and please do get in touch with questions and comments.

The Team: Richard Hoffmann, Editor-in-Chief

Rokas Butkus, Design and Features Alan Vader, Retro Corner, Features Sophie Rossetti, Copy Editor Website: www.ind13.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ind13 Twitter: @official_Ind13 Contact details to contribute articles and Editorial enquires: editorial@ind13.com

Harry Cole, Publisher Lee Smith, Creative Director

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Advertising enquires: advertising@ind13.com

EDITORIAL Contents

What’s in

this issue...

WE ARE IND13 Pages 3 - 7 An introduction to IND13, who we are and why we have created this magazine.

LUCKY 13 Page 5 The Lucky 13 of all that is hot (and not), in the games industry.

RICHARD HOFFMANN Pages 8 - 9 An interview with Richard Hoffmann, the editor-in-chief of IND13 and managing director of Global Empire Soft.

THE LAYERS OF A GAMES ARTIST Pages 10 -11 Rokas Butkus , games artist and designer at IND13, talks about starting off as an artist, from school days to becoming a working professional.

BIG PROBLEMS Pages 12 -13 James Coote, an independent games developer with his own studio and owner of Crystalline Green, gives advice about starting up as an independent.

LAUNCHING THE BANANAZ Pages 14 -15 A profile on TripleClaim Game Collective, as their game Bananaz in Space.

NEXT GEN GAMER Page 16 We speak to one of the next generation of gamers about her love for all things Minecraft.

THIRDLAW Pages 18 - 19 Damien Laws, Lead Game Designer and Writer for Third Law talks about the first person shooter genre.

MULTIPLE MOBILE PLATFORMS Pages 20 - 21 Aris Tsevrenis, Team Leader at Sony, discusses the Android, iOS and Windows mobile platforms.

RETRO CORNER Pages 22 - 26 Alan Vader, our resident retro gamer expert takes us back in time to the orginal bedroom coders.

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13 1

LUCKY

LUCKY 13 The good the bad and the uncertain

Lucky 13 Where we take a look at the stories that piqued our interest this month.

6

LUCKY

11

LUCKY

PewDiePie, famous for his comical reviews

Junior Coders - Know any youngsters

Plants vs Zombies 2 - Yummy Mummies - It is

of obscure indie horror games, has the most

interested in learning how to make videogames

‘really’ about time ;) RH

subscribers of anyone on YouTube, ever. SR

and animations? Check out: http://scratch.mit. edu/ HC

2

LUCKY

7

UNLUCKY

12

UNLUCKY

Blender - Tears of Steel, the movie is great for a

Region locking - No thanks! Be a massive

Disney Infinity - Parental Wallet Theft

free crowd funded movie. RH

corporation, reduce costs by using globalisation

Disneys Little Big Planet x Skylanders x Minecraft

and have your stuff made cheaply. Then deny

mashup, while looking entertaining. Has an

your own customers the same advantages with

incredible outlay expected from little consumers.

a little bit of code, how delightful! AV

With simple figures/virtual avatars starting at a princely £11+, you’d better hope your child doesn’t succumb to this plastic crack! AV

3

MYSTERIOUS

8

UNLUCKY

ID@Xbox, Microsofts new take on Indie -

Candy Crush Saga - The

With all the update allowance problems and

candies look like first SGI

licensing issues they had the first time around

Indigo CGI Images from the

with their online store can Microsoft keep

90’s. RH

everyone happy this time? AV

4

MYSTERIOUS

9

MYSTERIOUS

13

UNLUCKY

DICE+ - The Dice of the Future!

“Development Hell” titles - Worth the Wait?

Ouya’s “Free the Games Fund” promises to double

Maybe you like an old fashioned

Duke Nukem Forever, L.A. Noire and now The

a crowdfunded game’s money if it releases

dice, or maybe you have always dreamt of a

Bureau. Development hell titles never seem to

exclusively for the Android console. The potential

futuristic dice with bluetooth connectivity and

deliver, too many cooks and last years broth.

for abuse should be apparent to anyone and two

accelerometers. Well for you my friend, the

Team ICO’s The Last Guardian sure is taking it’s

games are accused of backing themselves with

future is now! Only 30 sovs! AV

time isn’t it? Well, fingers crossed! They haven’t

fake funding to claim the prize. LS

let us down so far… AV

5

MYSTERIOUS

10

LUCKY

Microsoft buys Nokia’s mobile phone unit

Duck Tales Remastered - WooHoo! Capcom

I hope this will mean greater integration

finally hits the nail on the head with this piece

between Windows 8 development tools and

of work. Good Disney rears it’s head, with all

Nokia mobile phones. HC

the animation and voice acting done by Disney animators and the original cast. With nary a DLC nor strange HD filter in sight. Keep it up Capcom, I may start loving you again! AV

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EDITORIAL Introducing the ind13 team

introducting the ind13 team

Name: Richard

Name: Sophie

“the Hoff”

Rossetti

Hoffmannn

Favourite game

Favourite game

of all time: The

of all time? Wing

Name: Alan Vader Favourite game of all time: Xevious, Namco

Legend of Zelda:

were the masters

Commander

Ocarina of Time

of game making in the 80s/90s.

What are you currently playing?

Currently playing: Lone Survivor!

And kingmakers in the console

The game of life and Plants vs.

Responsibilities at the magazine:

world, where they went, gamers

Zombies 2

Copy Editor and Editorial Team

followed. Xevious has a massive

Responsibilities at the

Why is creating a magazine for

amount of firsts, including one of

magazine: Editor in chief,

independent development a good

the first commercial videogame

Production Coordinator, Business

idea? The community is already

soundtracks, and more secrets

Development, Networking and

there, and growing stronger by the

than you can shake a stick at. When

German stand-up.

day. It’s about time independents

I discovered it and it’s ZX Spectrum

Why is creating a magazine for

are represented in journalism in a

conversion, it rocked my world.

independent development a good

way that reflects the level of indie

Currently playing: FTL, I enjoy a

idea? I looked at the UK, US and

passion out there.

roguelike once in a while, and can

German magazine space and found

What direction do you see the

get quite obsessed, finished it on

that something essential was

magazine taking in the future?

easy this weekend finally! Word

missing.

Hopefully making the most

to the wise, the teleporter is your

What direction do you see the

of the digital medium; adding

friend! Any and all Shoot em ups,

magazine taking in the future?

interactivity and game mechanics

I love weaving through clouds

It will expand to a platform for

to enhance the reading experience.

of bullets and watching a score

independents and all kinds of

What areas would you like to

rack up.

interests.

see covered in this magazine?

Responsibilities at the magazine:

What areas would you like to see

Anything that reduces the barriers

Features, Retro Corner

covered in this magazine?

to entry for newcomers. Inside

Why is creating a magazine for

The new wave of Virtual Reality

information on do’s and don’ts for

independent development a good

and Indie games.

starting your own indie company,

idea? It’s something gaming fans

Favourite sandwich? German Hot

advice on budget dev tools and

need. I detest football, but I hear

Dog with Bratwurst

tech, advice on which events to

that all earthling footy fans feel

Anything else you would like

attend and who to talk to at those

they could manage or play better

to add? Living for over 6 years

events, etc.

than their heroes. As gamers, we

in London and being German

Favourite sandwich? Salami and

have an amazing opportunity!

by nature,I kind of missed the

gherkin!

What direction do you see the

direct articles in the UK and US

Anything else you would like

magazine taking in the future?

magazines. Also there are just a

to add? As an Aussie, my advice

I hope this magazine will give

lot of things missing and I’ve had

to everyone is to just RELAX!

people the information they need

enough of it. It is about time to

Take a deep breath, smile, forget

to get involved or inspire them to

create a platform for indie game

everyone else, and just have fun!

try. We all have our dream games

developers. We like to talk about

in our minds and I believe it’s our

people like us, the small guys who

duty to share them, we can’t all

are proud of being indie...

invent the next minecraft, but in an infinite universe, who knows...

It could be you.

What areas would you like to see covered in this magazine? A really large retro section! Please?

Favourite sandwich? Branston pickle and strong Canadian cheddar!

Anything else you would like to add? Invading you in advance! This is your Uncle Alan signing off!

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EDITORIAL Introducing the ind13 team

Name: Harry Cole

Name: Rokas

Name: Lee Smith

Name: Yuko Honda

Favourite game

Butkus (Rocky)

Favourite game

Favourite game of all time:

of all time:

Favourite game

of all time?

Simulation games / VR games

Grand Theft

of all time?

Auto, from the first

Bubble Bobble:

Zelda, Ocarina of

addictive game

Currently playing: DOTA 2 and Candy Crash Saga

top down demo on PC and through

time

play, great character design, and

Responsibilities at the magazine:

the whole series.

What are you currently playing?

an amazing tune. A game so great

Contributor

Currently playing: God Of War:

Risk: Factions

even my children love it.

Favourite sandwich: BLT or

Ascension.

Responsibilities at the magazine?

What are you currently playing?

Tomato, Mozzarella & Basil

Responsibilities at the magazine:

Design Team, Features

New Star Soccer, and playing out

Publisher, PR and Marketing,

Why is creating a magazine for

my failed footballer fantasies

Executive Editor and Editorial

independent development a good

Responsibilities at the magazine:

Team.

idea? We are part of a growing

Creative Director, Production and

Why is creating a magazine for

industry that is still new and

Design Team

independent development a good

exciting, with lots of ‘out of the

Why is creating a magazine for

idea? With the explosion of mobile

box’ thinking. Indie games provide

independent development a good

there are thousands of titles

opportunities to be a part of

idea? There is a gap in the market

coming out. Who knows which are

something very unique and most

for a publication that brings all

good, which are bad? We’re here

importantly, fun. I think this is a

sectors of indie gamers together.

to help find out. I also want to give

something which is overlooked

Developers, artists, musicians and,

independent studios a platform to

in most magazines and we can fill

of course, the gamers themselves.

discuss games design. And a place

the gap.

What direction do you see the

where people can read about new

What direction do you see the

magazine taking in the future? A

products and gain information

magazine taking in the future?

hybrid of Wired, Edge, Vice, and

that will help them in independent

The Ind13 Games Bible. A source

the Waitrose magazine (it’s nicely

games production.

for everything about indie games

designed…) but with more content

What direction do you see the

and more. It will be located in the

and less adverts.

magazine taking in the future?

top shelves of schools and colleges

What areas would you like to see

I want it to be a magazine where

eventually, next to maths and

covered in this magazine? Music.

you turn the page and it’s another

science.

I think that music in games, since

must read article. .

What areas would you like to

the early days of Manic Miner

What areas would you like to see

see covered in this magazine?

(covered in the Retro Corner)

covered in this magazine?

I would like to see the readers

and the aforementioned Bubble

Mobile and online gaming has to

involved, tutorials and little fun

Bobble, music has been integral to

be something that gets special

additions that allow the reader to

the development of gaming.

attention from us, these are the

have a hands on experience with

Favourite sandwich? Egg and

primary development platforms

developing games, whatever their

Sausage, in the office, after a

available to indies.

fancy.

couple of drinks the night before.

Favourite sandwich? Tough choice

Favourite sandwich? The ones I

but I’d have to say: chicken, bacon,

invent late at night, when there is

lettuce and mayo, baguette.

nothing in the fridge and I have to

Anything else you would like to

get creative.

add? This magazine is designed

Anything else you would like to

to be creative and it has been

add? I am Batman

produced by enthusiasts. If you would like to contribute or help us, please get in touch, we want you to be part of it.

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FEATURE Richard Hoffmann

Richard Hoffmann is an Indie Game Developer & IT Consultant with over1 5 years of experience in the IT and games industry. He worked for big corporations like IBM, Penguin, Ricoh, Continental AGas well as SME’s and Start-ups.

He is developing mobile apps and games since 2009. Last but not least he is fluent in most languages like C#, C, Java, JavaScript, Lua, PHP, Visual Basic, SQL as well.

An interview with Richard Hoffmann Hello, my name is Richard Hoffmann. I am an indie game developer and I am on the Game Designer course with the Train2Game programme. I have my own indie company and we are doing cool indie games, developing and publishing on different platforms including Apple’s iOS and the Google Play Store.

T2G: Hi Richard, please tell us a bit about yourself, what’ve you been up too lately?

RH: We have just finalised our game Man Alive which is now out on two platforms, iOS and Android. We also intend to publish it on Windows 8, so that will be out quite soon with a little bit of help from Microsoft’s tech team.

T2G: How was it, working on Man Alive?

RH: It took a long time actually because we are working full time and doing this in our spare time. We started two years ago at the Global Gamejam and we saw it’s a really cool game which emerged after those two days and we just continued working and getting it to the stage it’s at now, and we are quite proud of it.

T2G: Yeah, I’ve had a bit of a play of it myself on my tablet and it is quite a good different idea. Where did the idea come from?

RH: The idea came from the Global Gamejam that we were in two years ago where we had a theme set and we had to do something around an ancient symbol of a snake that eats its own tail. This round shaped form, I’ve forgotten the name of it.

T2G: The Ouroboros.

RH: That’s the one! My Greek or Latin is a bit limited! So with that theme in mind, we just bounced a few ideas off of each other and that’s basically what came out of it. We thought, we like playing Mario Brothers and platform games like Limbo for instance and we saw that every game has the same pattern; it’s all about survival and you have your set lives and that’s it.

We were kind of bored with this, I’ve played games for about thirty years now, and it’s always the same pattern so we thought we’d do something different.

With this theme we just twisted the whole platform game paradigm on it’s head, so it’s not about surviving but you have to die at least once in each level to get to the next level or the next stage.

It’s an encouragement to throw yourself in to a river and jump up over your corpses, which is kind of fun because it has a cute quirky graphic style which doesn’t look too serious at all. Because if I explain it to people sometimes they kind of get a bit anxious about the subject, but it is quite funny.

T2G: Yeah it is quite good. It’s along the same sort of line as Limbo where it doesn’t look so bad to die, it doesn’t shock you or anything, it’s just something that happens.

RH: Exactly except that in Limbo, the first time I played it my friends didn’t tell me you could die so I had a kind of shock moment, I thought it was forever and my friends were just laughing at me for not knowing that!

T2G: So what is the company you’re working with to create Man Alive?

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FEATURE Richard Hoffmann

RH: It’s my own company called Global Empire Soft which I created three years ago and just started creating apps and games during that time.

I’ve played games for about thirty years now, and it’s always the same pattern so we thought we’d do something different...

T2G: Is it all Train2Game people working with you now or have you got a mixture?

RH: I have a mixture actually, I have people I know from other universities plus Train2Game students. We work on different game projects whenever they have time as well.

T2G: So do you work in one place or are you a virtual team?

RH: We are a virtual team, but we come together occasionally.

Mostly we do everything over Skype and organise everything over Skype.

T2G: So whilst you are doing that in your spare time, what do you do for a living?

RH: I’m an apps and games developer so usually I work on projects, whether it be contract or a permanent position. My last contract or my last employer was Penguin Books which is quite a big publisher. We worked on some games and did occasional apps as well.

whole subject from landing, to starting from the Aircraft carrier and having all kinds of Airplanes and also using 3D instead of 2D. Our last game was quite an interesting and challenging approach.

T2G: So you’ve had quite a lot of experience already then?

T2G: Excellent, sounds like it’s going to be fun!

RH: Yeah I’ve had fifteen years working in the IT industry and working on apps and games on all different platforms. So I probably know most programming languages. In the last thirty years I’ve played a lot of games on all platforms, whatever came out at the time, from home computers to consoles and PC’s, now Mac as well.

RH: Definitely T2G: Well I think that’s all we’ve got time for today Richard so thank you very much for your time!

RH: You’re welcome, Thanks for having me.

T2G: My pleasure Richard, talk to you again

T2G: So what brought you to Train2Game?

RH: I was just curious to know more about game design because I never learnt it fromstart to finish. I did a degree in Computer Science and before that I already was a programmer. So it seems to me like I jumped in to the river and started swimming and then I am trying to understand where it starts and where it ends and what the whole spectrum of an education is. So because I am very passionate about game design and very creative and have a lot of ideas, I want to learn more about that the proper way and I thought the best way of doing that is with Train2Game.

T2G: Have you found Train2Game has helped you along in this?

RH: Definitely! It’s a really good guide and has a good curriculum, starting from the simple mechanics of game design and platforms and game design and everything so I already got a good idea ready about the game design part. I am still in the middle of it but I am still keen to do the exercises at the end and just finish the TMA’s and just get to the next one.

T2G: Perfect. So finally then what are you working on next?

RH: Next we are working on a new title, something called AVA which is an archaic flight simulator. So we are quite excited about that as we are all fans of Top Gun in our team and good old flight movies! We want to create something with a similar feel of the

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Caption needed

When you know your fundamentals of design and how to use the tools to express this knowledge, there are no limits to what can be achieved.

Rokas is an artist for games, with a bachelors in game design. Recently working with GlobalEmpireSoft and freelancing.

The Layers of a Games Artist All I ever remember doing in school was doodling in books, on tables, pretty much any surface that would accept my ink.

Some students would complement my work, whereas teachers seemed confused by the fact I had more fun creating my own reality than accepting theirs. I now also wish I paid a little more attention in school. Because everything you know and understand in life, goes into your artwork. These experiences help to shape you as a person and as a designer.

Creating art for games is extremely fun and can be very demanding. Your role is of great importance, as games are

extremely visual things. You must communicate ideas well, both for the audience and for the team. This also means you have to be very versatile in subject matter. While AAA game companies might hire designers to work specifically on characters, vehicles, environments, etc. indie games consist of much smaller teams, and will require you to have the knowledge and skill to do all of the above (and more).

It may sound intimidating but this is actually a very positive thing.

Being a well-rounded designer will make you very valuable to the team and will improve your projects. Force yourself out of that

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comfort zone and you will be surprised by what can be achieved.

As an ‘ideas person’, it’s a great feeling being able to take that concept in your head and manifest it into a visual image that can be understood by others, the way your brain processed it originally.

I used to think I was a pretty good artist at school. Then I got to college, looked back at my school work and thought, “this is pretty rubbish...”

What this also means is that you should never stop learning and practicing! I know this is the cliché of all clichés to write about, but it is that way for a reason. It honestly works. When you know your fundamentals of design and how to use the tools to express this knowledge, there are no limits to what can be achieved.

I used to think I was a pretty good artist at school. Then I got to college, looked back at my school work and thought, “this is pretty rubbish”. I then got to university, looked back at my college work and thought, “was I really that bad?!” I’ve lost track of the amount of times this has happened now, but I really like those moments when you look back and realise how far you’ve come. Keep track, even if once a year you decide to have a look at some old work, remind yourself of your amazing progress.

One of the greatest things about designing for indie games is the amount of crazy ideas which come about. It’s always enjoyable to be in the meeting when ideas start to flow and out-of-the-box thinking is initiated. There is a lot of freedom to experiment and try new things which is highly encouraged. Everyone’s looking for that next big trend, so don’t limit yourself to things that have worked in the past. If the idea is nuts, you should probably run with it.

This is also where I get a real energy boost, discussing crazy new characters, events, levels, whatever it may be and then tackling the problem with my own funky visual solution.

When working on Man Alive, my approach was simply to have fun with it. I did the usual routine of research, looking into current games, seeing what was popular and then stepping far away from them. Maybe because I was new to the industry and a little arrogant, I wanted the visuals to work with the game but also reflect on me as a designer.

I probably could have made use of more reference material but the core principles in my head were strict. Design it with a style that conveys the game concept well, is simple enough to create lots of content quickly and of a high quality that is immersive and does not break the gameplay. So if you’re passionate about designing for games, remember that there is a beautiful world which has not yet been created.

There is a charming character we have not met; and you may introduce them to us, like we hope to introduce them to you! «

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Executive Star

James Coote is an independent game developer, and has his own studio, Crystalline Green Ltd. He is currently working on a board game style title called Executive Star, which will be released as an OUYA launch title on 28th March. You can find out more about James and Executive Star as www.crystallinegreen.com

Big Problems As a society, we are taught to let our imaginations run wild. The games we play are rich and diverse, full of possibilities, and certainly for me, thinking about how I could improve and expand my favourite games was what first got me wanting to make my own games.

However, as an indie, you have to be multidisciplinary, and one of the toughest disciplines is project management. Having to make tough calls about what features to axe, to focus development efforts on the core features, instead of whatever the programmer is into at that moment is especially hard when that programmer is also you! Equally, without this process, projects can drift and creative

development can end up generating more and more that needs to be done before the game is finished, rather than bringing it closer to conclusion.

Too Complex!

It can also be demotivating when so much effort seems to go wasted or results end up nowhere near the quality and ambition of their creator.

To combat this, I have a simple rule: If it takes more than a week, cut it.

Too many times, I’ve worked away on a feature for weeks, constantly telling myself it will

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Too Complex!

FEATURE James Coote

get back to your game and keep making it some more, because you enjoy it.

be done just as soon as I solve this or that problem.

There are other decisions that whilst not immediately obvious, can affect your motivation, and one of the biggest is which platform to go with. You are not alone as an indie developer, and being a part of a vibrant community will not only spur you on, but is useful for asking questions and getting help when you’re stuck.

Treat your development environment as your office: Set the alarm for 8am, be showered, dressed, breakfasted and in that office by 9am...

I have a short attention span, so being unable to see something tangible on screen for extended stretches is a real motivation killer.

It’s also got shades of Occam’s Razor.

A complex feature that takes so much development time probably isn’t worth it, versus spending the same time doing something simpler, but doing it well. The other side of the problem is managing yourself. Constantly adjusting the work won’t help if the worker is at fault.

If you aspire to produce quality in the same vein as your favourite games, you have to understand those games were made by professionals, and so you too must take a professional attitude to work.

Treat your development environment as your office: Set the alarm for 8am, be showered, dressed, breakfasted and in that office by 9am. Work at least 8 hours a day, (and be honest with yourself: “Researching” other games is not work). It is tough at first, but the difference it makes to where you would be otherwise is enormous.

However, no one goes independent to work a 9 to 5. The real trick with motivating yourself is to be the number one fan of what you’re doing. Do that, and when you finish dinner at 7pm, and you have free time after working your 8 daily hours, you want to

Especially if you are working as a solo programmer, going round in circles trying to fix a bug or solve a problem. Having someone else who works with the same technology take a step back and make a suggestion can really help you escape the cycle of frustration.

I’m personally working on a game for the new OUYA console because it is something different and innovative. I can still make a difference to its development and be part of a smaller, but more dedicated and focused community.

The platform for you might be the one with your favourite games and developers supporting it, or one with the latest technology, highest performance hardware, or which is cheap and easy for you to develop for.

That last point was the other reason I chose the OUYA. Being based on Android, I could bring in all my existing code and skills from my previous work as an Android game developer, and get striaght on with making games.

Everyone at some point is tempted to make their own engine or try to develop from scratch, but reinventing the wheel will just slow you down and make you appreciate just how much effort goes into those games that first inspired you as a game developer.

Think small, think simple and your creations will be beautiful «

Clean, simple UI

OUYA console

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FEATURE TripleClaim Game Collective

TripleClaim Game Collective is group of independent game designers and developers from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their first game Bananaz in Space for Android and iOS platforms started a great buzz on IndieCrash E3, Indiegogo and social media even before it officially released. You can find out more and track their work on www.tripleclaim.com, www.bananazinspace.com, facebook and tweeter.

Launching the Bananaz Working as a small team on a indie game project is a challenge both on a personal and professional level. TripleClaim Game Collective consists of a developer, concept artist, two modelers and animator gathered around the idea of creating the game Bananaz in Space for Android and iOS platforms in 2012.

It’s an arcade inspired colorful side scroller with an original theme.

The weapon of choice for managing our work into organised pipelines were Trello and Dropbox. They helped us maintain a constant track of the whole process and enable us to organise material into easily accessed archives that could be constantly updated, also daily comments on some specific problems and topics and generally more relaxed flow of ideas, materials and solutions. Proper naming and good organisation is certainly a big MUST, and there are no excuses in that.

Since we all live in the same city (except our 3D modeler Benjamin, who is currently working in München) some major decisions are made in our weekly meetings, where we plan our goals, both for the game and for the team. We plan our meetings after hours so that Benjamin can be present through Skype.

Meeting notes are posted on Trello and every team member can plan their own working week depending on their freelance work or day job.

Bananaz in Space itself is sort of a blueprint; how to get to the sun and what to expect from space travel from the monkey’s point of view, “top secret project” of monkey astronauts training, wrapped in a big cardboard box. The premise the of monkeys’ civilisation, their technology and society is based around belief that the whole sun is yellow because it’s made of bananas.

The only way to get there is by rocket and our monkey is following his “yellow brick road”. The test rocket is powered by fire crackers, stars and planets are hanging from the ceiling and space is a giant theater.

Players will choose a specific mission by spinning the wheel of fortune before the game. Your goal is to navigate monkey spaceship on its way to the sun. Both the visual and sound style are influenced by the fifties, atom-punk rendered with UPA & Hanna Barbera cartoons. Bananaz was planned as a sort of a

Recently we also expanded our portfolio as a team by creating animated augmented reality apps for commercial clients which enable us to focus more on our game development.

Unity provided us with a perfect development engine. It gave us full control over interactive 3D content and enabled our team to assemble graphics and assets into levels. We could also add animations and physics, simultaneously play test and edit our project and at the end export the whole game to chosen platforms.

Bananaz in Space; reluctant test pilot

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TripleClaim Game Collective FEATURE

Bananaz in Space: Game User Interface

mastermind behind the whole rocket launching operation.

prequel to our J.D. Zetz the Banana Conspiracy game, a more ambitious project in an expanded universe which is currently in development.

J. D. Zetz, the hero of our second game, is a forrest rabbit mechanic whose girlfriend is abducted by the monkey tribe. She is a rocket scientist and her knowledge is needed for building a rocket for the trip to the sun. J. D., armed with their lost ray gun weapon, is keeping a track of monkey abductors on their way to a secret launch base. The game features full 3D character models, more complex animation and environment. Multiple levels will guide us through the wacky monkey world, their laboratories and bases, straight to the secret headquarters and their “wisest“ leader,

Working on a indie game as a part of a small team means that your work is challenged every time, not by your personal preferences but by the work of your coworkers and friends. If it fits with a team of professionals who are always striving for the best, it will certainly deliver quality. Our best ideas and solutions in TripleClaim were always the product of constant communication.

In a environment in which every voice is heard, without false authorities and established hierarchy, pushing aside our personal egos, we often can surprise ourselves with the quality of results. «

CODING

BRAINSTORMING

CONCEPTUALIZATION

MODELING

TEXTURING

RIGGING

J.D.Zetz the Banana Conspiracy; Forest Monkey 3D model

ANIMATION

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Next Gen Gamer Minecraft

Ophelia Matthews-Smith A young gamer with only a few years games experience, Ophelia approaches the industry with a fresh new eye.

I came, I saw, I mined...

When I play Minecraft I start to think what it would be like if Minecraft was real life. If Minecraft was reality I would really enjoy living in a world where I can build my own house and still be happy and safe. The world would be really colourful and most people would normally find it an easier life.

I think people would probably find it an easier life because you don’t have to go through all the hassle, like paying bills or struggling with money... You never have to pay for houses and all you need to do is just collect materials like wood, and they are really easy to get. Besides, you can expand your house anytime.

In my spare time, I normally play Minecraft and discover new things that I didn’t know, like how to make things, and one time I even learned of a new animal, called an Ocelot.

You never have to pay for houses and all you need to do is just collect materials like wood...

to find them while playing Minecraft.

To get into The Nether you need to find Obsidian which is really hard to find. Obsidian appears when lava and water collide. The reason why a block appears is because water flows faster than lava and it would be a bit weird if water was on top of lava, wouldn’t it?

If water and lava collide quite close to the grass layer, cobblestone forms instead.

Sometimes when I am digging down to find Obsidian I find mineshafts, which is a bonus. In a mineshaft you normally find items in a chest, lets hope I find more chests later!

Well I’m off to play Minecraft now, do you have any ideas for what I can build next? «

I also like watching videos of people playing mini games in films, but on Minecraft. For instance, Minecraft the Hunger Games...

I enjoy making lots of colourful things and pictures on Minecraft using the materials that are there, including lava and water.

Sometimes I even make little machines. I make the machines in a really big factory that I have built.

Quite a lot of the time I make a trip to another dimension. This dimension is called The Nether.

The Nether is filled with lava and enemies that can kill you really easily so you have to be careful! There are little plants you find hidden in the Nether Castles/Towers, the plants are called Nether Warts. You can’t do much with them but they do look really nice if you put them in your house, so keep that in mind if you ever seem

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Civic Army

Damien Hanns Lead Game Designer and Writer for Third Law 23 Years of Game Experience Contact: damienhanns.info@gmail.com

ThirdLaw Speak to anyone in the Third Law team and one of the first things they will tell you is that, whilst at times being intensely frustrating, it is nothing short of truly gratifying to work with perfectionists in order to shape and bring life to a vision.

We are comprised exclusively of people with a heavy interest and background in gaming. Acknowledging that there is always the potential to create the perfect game, the team motto is the almost obsessive principle of ‘It’s not good enough!’.

We go through the creation process countless times until we come as close as possible to perfection. It is this drive to create the very best gaming experience that has, at the cost of sleep, given birth to some extraordinary concepts and given rise to the production of amazing work.

At Third Law we are continuously asking ourselves the following questions: what game really needs to be made, how should we execute it, and most of all how can we make it awesome? We are gamers, not just game developers, and we will only put out work into the public domain that we would be excited about and intrigued by ourselves.

It is this principle that seems to be lacking in much of mainstream game development and has left us puzzled as to why.

Either industry leaders have chosen not to ask these questions themselves or have ignored the answers in order to maximise profits. This has led to an ‘egg-shell white’ approach to game creation, with every production getting a good coat of generic in order to appeal to the largest concentration of people whilst

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FEATURE Third Law

simultaneously sacrificing any sort of real innovation or advance in the game series or genre. An almost hysterical example of this at current is the promotional campaign of a well-known and upcoming FPS with the statement: “We have added leaning, so you can peek around corners!”. It is hard to be impressed with the reselling of a minor game feature that was first seen well over ten years ago.

Every game Third Law creates is heavily story-based, steeped in history, with a powerful and often emotional narrative.

This seemingly inane celebration of what is at best a rehash is only bested by another key contender in the FPS market, cheering on the addition of the capacity to go prone and play ‘capture the flag’ mode in their latest release.

However it is not just the FPS genre which is suffering from stunted growth. There appears to be a malaise affecting the entire gaming sphere and which has in part led to the creation of Third Law. Following Newton’s observations on forces, the Third Law approach to game creation is to achieve a natural balance and obtain the most complete and perfect product possible.

Third Law in itself reacts to the gaming forces at large and produces games that are equal and yet opposite. Games that are extraordinary, genre-changers, which will influence how games will be produced in the future. Games to fill the empty void of quality, originality, and difference that has been left by the mainstream industry as a whole.

Every game Third Law creates is heavily story-based, steeped in history, with a powerful and often emotional narrative. Third Law’s visual style always stays as close as possible to the original conceptual art and game innovation ideas, achieving a distinctive and beautiful display.

Claymore: Loch Awe is Third Law’s first offering to the gaming world, captivating the gamer through the development of its story and unique visual styling, neither of which having been seen before in a game of its genre.

It is the distant future in the Scottish Highlands and Clan Calman attempts to settle after decades of nomadic life. Having wandered war-ravaged lands whilst attempting to avoid detection from the only established power left on earth – the Old Foe – they etch out a life for themselves in a barren landscape with the assumption that they were beyond their enemy’s reach. This peace is however short-lived. Now detected, the Old Foe comes to rage against them.

Seeing the enemy at the border Victor, father and veteran, leaps behind the main cannon and is the only line of defence protecting the supplies and entrance to Clan Calman.. Victor must keep these secure whilst the clan escapes. Knowing that this duty will likely cost him his life, Victor reflects on his past – the successes, the struggles and his hopes – whilst defending Clan Calman from an unnumbered foe.

For more information on Third Law and its scheduled releases, go to www.third-law.co or follow them on www.facebook. com/thirdlawltd. «

Civic

Repair Bot

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FEATURE Aris Tsevrenis

Aris Tsevrenis Team Leader at Sony Music Entertainment

Android vs iOS vs Windows Can you introduce yourself to us and tell us a bit more of your Android experience

Aris: Hello, my name is Aris Tsevrenis and I have been a mobile developer for 4 years and have mostly been working in the games industry sector of mobile apps. I have worked with Android for some childrens games with the Penguin Editing House, and in the gambling games sector with Product Madness.

users and on what aspects?

Aris: Obviously they do and in a lot of sectors, whether those are games and entertainment, lifestyle and news or even information on medical issues and health.

What do you think of Android’s developments through time? Is Android responding to developers needs/feedback?

Aris: The Samsung devices have been helping out a lot with Android platform development as they are pretty much following Apple’s standards and are standardizing everything.

What are the three primary reasons you use the Android platform?

Aris: Android devices are usually cheaper so sales have skyrocketed in the last few years. To develop an Android application you can use any Microsoft Windows platform and that speeds up the development process. The Android platform is relatively new so there is a lot of space for improvement and innovation.

The problem is that there are so many developers apart from Samsung using Android that will not adhere to those standards even today.

What aspects would a potential platform switching affect?

What are the differences one could find on working on another platform and on what aspects?

Aris: Everything more or less. The developer will need to

Aris: The Apple platform is the big rival of Android devices and it has its pros and cons. There is a multitude of differentiations in the Android devices on their sizes, processing power and other specifications and that makes the app development more complex.

Whereas with Apple everything is pretty much standardized, helping the developers concentrate on creating the app without using up their time with resizing the textures and other similar wasteful activities.

What could be some potential improvements of the Android platform? Can you find them in any of its competitors?

Aris: Again, screen resolution and other technical aspects of the devices in a standardized format, maybe doubling each time the previous numbers. Apple does that a lot.

Do you believe that smartphone operating systems affect end

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FEATURE Aris Tsevrenis

work on different stores to publish their app, code in different programming languages as one is Java for Android, Objective-C for iOS and C# for Windows devices.

The Android store is filled up with apps that have minimal or no functionality at all, making it difficult for the rest of the good apps to shine...

Do you think that the cost of switching platforms would be large? Why?

Aris: Depends on how you start the original project. There are packages that allow you to develop on all device platforms at the same time rather than using each individual one’s original coding language and features. If one decides to use traditional means then the costs would simply just more or less double as it will be as if one would be creating a new application from scratch.

Do you think there is any connection between Android features and end-consumers (smartphone users)? If yes, could you give an example?

Aris: The end users are always the ones who will mostly affect the Android features and not as much the other way around since gathering the information that users return to developers, one is able to improve the user interface to provide a higher quality of interaction for the user.

The user is what moves the market and his needs are the #1 factor that needs to be fulfilled.

What do you think is the future of Android? Can it be ruled out or overcome? If so, by what?

Aris: The statistics show that the Android market has been blooming and increasing to lengths higher than that of Apple’s

iOS, but because of the minimal testing those apps get before they get released, the Android store is filled up with apps that have minimal or no functionality at all, making it difficult for the rest of the good apps to shine.

Apple is the biggest competitor and Microsoft is getting there with their new Windows 8 platform which looks very powerful.

How do you see the future of the Smartphone industry in terms of its operating system adoption?

Aris: Microsoft’s Windows have recently swapped their traditional look to a more smartphone-like look-and-feel and that shows how the smartphone industry has affected the operating systems and how the data the developers have gathered the last few years from the mobile market has shown how minimal look gives more to the end user.

I think the smartphone industry will continue to grow to lengths that could even be a threat (they already are) to the console and PC gaming industry. «

The basic rules of coding...

I believe that code has to be written in a particular way regardless of the language. I have taken rules from different languages and put them together for a cleaner result.

friends, the more you use the merrier.

I know when new coders start to get the hang of programming they tend to try to write less code so they lose the brackets. DON’T.

The rules that I follow can be seen in the following example: Constant variables: I_AM_A_CONSTANT

My examples will look familiar to C# and Java and less C++ just because C++ sometimes frightens new people and it would ruin the purpose of this post although I will include it in the future as C++ is the language of “real” men! =D

I am a fan of not writing comments, maybe because I’m lazy, but the important factor is to write code that has VERY understandable namings on the variables so that you won’t have to explain code through comments.

Comments should only be added if something is not very straightforward.

Private variables: m_ IamAPrivateVariable The m stands for member of the class, they are more accessible than local variables but they should not be confused with the global ones that can be found in C++ and similar languages.

Basic rules to always follow to write clean code: Variables should always be following the same rules throughout the project, this is important for larger teams where coders are used to different styles. Brackets and spaces are your

Local Variables: iAmALocalVariable

Public variables: IamPublic Quick code is good, but quick, well written and bugless code is better.

Easier said than done but if you make the basics your second nature the rest will follow.

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Enums: Just like Public as it’s cleaner that way, enums are integers disguised anyway.

Alan Vader Invader, Vader, avid gamer...

The Rise, Fall and Return of the Bedroom Coder Greetings Earthlings!

I’m taking time out of my busy invasion today to discuss the interesting parralels between today’s indie gaming community and the bedroom coders of yesteryear. Way back in the primordial soup that was the gaming industry of the very early 80s, a subculture of bedroom coders sprang up. Spurred on by the introduction of cheap new computers that no longer took up vast amounts of space and electricity, these self-taught maestros created some of the finest software available.

Now, I may have said ‘subculture’ and to an extent, that was true, some coders produced games and sold them themselves, by advertising in computer publications and then getting C15 tapes in bulk and churning them out en masse, with black and white photocopied instructions. But the great ones, they were often snapped up by games companies to work for them, and it was a system that relied entirely on the skills of the coder, no bluster or bluffing here, great skills were met with great rewards...sometimes.

More of that later, but anyway, back to my point, in this modern world of the internet (Have you tried it yet? It’s quite good!), Steam Greenlighting and console manafacturers courting indie programmers it’s never been so easy to be a new generation bedroom coder. And the results are showing, with celebrity indie producers becoming highly visible within the games industry, and the positive words coming from Sony and Microsoft about the frameworks they are building to attract such software to their new black boxes. But well, you can trust them as far as you can throw their extremely large and plush corporate headquarters right guys?

Eh eh? I’m watching you Microsoft, always online DRM... how did you ever think that would pan out? Still, time will tell.

Once again, I digressed!

Anyway, it seems the bedroom coder is back, and that coder is you dear fleshling! The freedom and the ability for a single person to produce, market and profit from their creation has returned, and the world is better for it.

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Manic Miner: Doode-doodle-doodle-dit-doodle-dit-doodle-ditdoddle-doodle-doodle-doodle-doodle-do-de-doo!

The corporations will never produce the 2D beat-em-ups and shoot-em-ups and not-first-person-shooters-again-em-ups that my alien body hungers for! (Apart from the good people at Cave and Vanillaware, love you guys!) But indie gamers give me the variety that a growing carapace needs! I feel it’s a lot like the film industry, and it’s to the gaming industry’s credit that it’s finally reached the level of maturity that has allowed it to diversify in this way.

Films have the big budget action movies that we can watch mindlessly (Call Of Duty et al!), the small indie movies that become big successes such as The Blair Witch Project (Minecraft anyone), or quirky romantic comedies (Ummm...Catherine?).

OK, I overstreched the point, I admit it!

Such range would have been unthinkable when the current console generation began and Steam was in it’s buggy infancy. But organically, it’s grown, and been accepted by the mainstream too, since a little extra cash in the coffers is not a bad thing, companies cannot live on AAA titles alone!

So celebrate! It’s never been a better time to be a hungry artist with a big idea knocking around in that noggin of yours, and through the internet (It’s good! I mean it!) ideas can be shared and communes of coders, artists and musicians can be formed. Even if you don’t have the ability to make your dream a reality, there are others who are happy to work with you if the idea is good enough!

Get out there! And let me see what you’re capable of! I look forward to it!

But now...a warning from history, learn from the (Glorious!)

mistakes of the past so you may have a better future!

MATTHEW SMITH Probably you’ve already seem the artwork accompanying this piece, and you know where this is going, but I can imagine, just from having conversations with children who have never even seen a tape cassette before, that there may be an unfortunate few who have never enjoyed the adventures of Willy, the Coliier and multimillionaire.

Since this is a retro piece, we’ll look at the software and the life and times of Mr Matthew Smith. Born in Penge and later moving to the Wirral, Matthew had always shown and interest in computers, and his first one was a TRS-80 given to him in his early teens.

Apparently he wanted to take it apart and find out how it worked, but since it worked well, he never went through with it.

Initially coding in BASIC, the built-in language that came with all computers back then, allowing us small people to tempt our parents into purchasing one with the promise of ‘learning to program them and do the family accounting’ or somesuch, but for Matthews parents, such a promise was not so hollow.

Finding BASIC to be far too slow to produce the speedy gameplay he saw in the arcades of the 80s, he resorted to learning machine code, no mean feat at that time, since there were no ‘Idiots gudie to...’ books available, only a notoriuosly large and confusing tome, which he devoured hungrily!

With no internet available to him, advice and knowledge sharing occured at the local branch of Tandy, youngsters were encouraged to visit on weekends to demonstrate their prowess, and maybe

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RETRO CORNER Manic Miner

tempt a parent or two to make a purchase, after all, if these urchins could produce such results, then imagine what their own little Tarquin could do!

It was at this purveyor of electronic pleasure that he met Chris Cannon and Eugene Evans. Evans worked for Bug Byte, a local software house, and Matthew had the opportunity to show them his work on the TRS-80.

They were impressed and offered him a deal to write 3 games for them, their first gift to him was a ZX Spectrum, which was the current leader in the home computing wars.

His first game was STYX, a modest title, one part Jetpac to one part Game and Watch. In it you fight your way over the Styx on a mission to kill the grim reaper, just another day in the life right?

It showed promise though, smooth speedy arcade gameplay, and flashy effects, like the rainbow laserbeam as seen in Ultimates Jetpac a few months earlier. Matthew had problems producing the game, since Bug Byte had given him the 16k model of Spectrum, this gave him far less space to work with, in later interviews he admitted that there were ‘empty gaps’ in the game.

Still, this was a mere footnote in the ballad of Mr Smith, so let’s move on to the meat of the article.

MANIC MINER Inspired by the game Miner 2049er, and a request from the head of Bug Byte to produce something like Donkey Kong, this was the game that projected Matthew into the public eye, Straight away you could see this was a quality title, as the intro screen appeared, the game would serenade you with a rendition of the Blue Danube, a normal occurence for spectrum games at this time, classical music was used in nearly all games, since no royalties had to be paid to long dead maestros.

But while doing this, it would show a piano keyboard and light the corresponding keys as it played, this was a first, and probably the only occurence of this. Learning piano from an 8-bit machine?

It’s not as unlikely as it sounds!

So before the game had even started, the prowess of the programmer had been shown. But then you depressed the enter key and began the game. The first amazing thing that happened was the aural assault the game gave you.

Manic Miner plays ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’ for the entire duration, which was an amazing feat at the time, see, the ZX Spectrum had 1 channel sound, a single beep. You could change the pitch and duration, but that was all, having music and sound effects is technically impossible. But Matthew had cleverly alternated the beep between playing the music and playing the sound effects, it results in a staccato rendition of the tune, but it does have it’s own charm, to my mind, it’s the distinctive Spectrum sound.

Certainly someone else could have come up with this solution, but Matthew was the first to get it out there, the impossible made possible. Which was something that ran all the way through Manic Miner.

The second ‘miracle’ was the number of screens available, Donkey Kong itself had 4 screens, but how many could be squeezed into a humble 48k Spectrum? (Yes, 48k! Matthew had an upgrade!)

The end total was 20! A herculean effort, since this was before compression of data was a thing, The gameplay itself is simple enough by todays standards, left, right, jump, old school platforming, collect the many flashing items while avoiding enemies and pitfalls.

All while watching the oxygen timer tick down and then finding

The cage may be closed, but the beast is awake

STYX: The fearsome reaper in all his glory!

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RETRO CORNER Manic Miner

the exit. The screens themselves were impressively varied and showed Matthew’s sense of humour, with more than a few tricks and traps along the way. Especially ‘Eugene’s lair’, a nod to his old compatriate.

The corporations will never produce the 2D beat-em-ups and shoot-em-ups and notfirst-person-shooters-againem-ups that my alien body hungers for...

If you weren’t entirely distracted by the talking toilets and large drop in the middle of the screen where Eugene himself resided, then you may have been prepared for the stage’s final trick. Upon picking up the last item to leave the room, Eugene will rush to block the exit; mistime your arrival, and there will be no escape!

Eugene’s ‘lair’ indeed!

There were some flashy programming tricks too, displayed in the ‘Solar Power Generator’ screen, a blocky yellow beam of light shines from the top of the screen. When disturbed by the various enemies it is reflected about the screen, redirecting itself again upon striking another, thankful it isn’t harmful to Willy, and that’s probably for the best considering its erratic nature.

At the time, it was quite a trick, Matthew was quoted as saying, “It upset the people trying to do a conversion to another machine.

People working on the Solar Power Generator become sick.”

Long story short, from nowhere a young nobody created a game that knocked it out of the park, and everyone wanted to know his name. If this sounds familiar to you, it should, and if you can’t think of who it relates to, then maybe you should put on your thinking hat.

A FEZ maybe?

But the story doesn’t end in the same way, not that Mr Fish’s adventure is over yet, at least, I doubt it.

a sting in the tail. In the 80s, things weren’t as ‘legally tight’ as they are today, Matthews contract with Bug Byte was only a few paragraphs, and amounted to little more than a verbal agreemtent.

As time went on the royalties owed to him mounted, and Bug Byte didn’t seem keen to pay. Once the sum reached £25,000 (A princely sum at that time!) the turning point was reached. Pooling his resources with like-minded friends, Matthew founded his own company, Software Projects.

Although he had sold STYX to Bug Byte, he had no such deal with Manic Miner, so when he left, Willy left with him. As a result there are 2 different copies of Manic Miner available, each with different artwork. Three if you include the earliest version which was obviously produced just from the name of the game, and contains none of the humourous characters Matthew created.

So now Matthew was what we would classify now as ‘Indie’, and the best was yet to come...

So Matthew became the darling of the Spectrum magazine industry, with 5 star reviews and people wanting to know the man behind the game, but as it always seems with Mr Smith, there was

Another taste of Willy for you next time meatbags! Until next time, this is Uncle Alan signing off! «

Manic Miners many variations

Manic Miner intro screen, music not icluded.

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