Blogs - KoenDeetman

It requires hard work to achieve our goals, set up our game studios, and create that special game. In short, we work hard to make something of ourselves. To do this we need discipline, perseverance and great ambition to become more and more successful. These ingredients do not only harvest success. Great dangers lurk into it's shadows and could leave a devastating path behind you, only if you do not watch yourself.

We Need Perseverance To Excel
If you want to make something of yourself or your company, we have to endure perseverance and bring enough discipline to reach our beloved goals and live our dreams. We will feel miserable many times, but we keep on going and we strongly believe it will be worth the wait in the end. We will see many people trying to do the same thing fall into the trap of 'giving up' and we keep telling ourselves giving up is instant failure.

Even in the darkest corners we will find motivation to move on, and only a single taste of success would generate enough energy to feel fully motivated. Most of us do not clearly see the obstacles in front of them, but we know really well how to fend them off. We as ambitious people are trained to deal with failure, we do not even dare to stay in those moments for too long, we just get up and move on quickly. Let's do it again, and again and again.

It sounds like a road no one dares to walk on, but believe me, many of us do. The situations I described are better known as 'the road to success'.

So, if we know how to defend ourselves from danger, failure and keep on going on our high levels of self-generated motivation, everything should be fine right? Well it is definitely fine. Fine for your goals, fine for your business, fine for your professional career. It does however leave a devastating path of irreversible destruction if you do not control this.

When Perseverance Turns Into A Demon
All this ambition and enthusiastic drive does not come cheap and could provoke a darker side. The strange thing is that we do not always clearly notice a darker path, especially because it exists next to our road of success. A few examples I describe below, maybe some of them sound familiar.

- Moments Of Rest Feel Like Your "Slacking"
When you are taking a moment to relax in the weekend and for example start playing a game, do you recognize the feeling that you are 'slacking' and are better off quiting the game and start do something productive? It's our extreme perseverance telling our mind we are not doing the right thing. The fact that we are sometimes 'forced' to take a holiday or a few days off confirms that. Usually when you drop the pressure, it's possible you get ill for some reason. It catches you off guard. This is even a clear sign of your body telling you to cool down.

- Celebration Is For A Short While
When you achieve something, it seems we just shortly dwell on the fact we reached one of our milestones. We shout a 'hooray' once and quickly move on. We do this, because we are perfectionists and are not completely happy with our results. We should teach ourselves to just STOP, and for once live in the moment of celebration, realizing what has happened, and what we've done. Otherwise our milestones will become part of an obsessive blur of unmeasurable heights and we will turn into miserable unsatisfied human beings.

- You Keep Raising The Bar
The fact that we feel the need to 'quickly move on' has everything to do with the imaginative bar we tend to increase in height.

The problem is when you reach something, you've reached a destination. We do not have to put anymore effort in there to get to this destination, because we have arrived.

Our high energy runs on 'challenges' and as soon as something is not a challenge anymore we come-up with a new one. This doesn't happen from one day to another, it happens over time. During the process of reaching the first challenge we've already made plans for the next one indirectly, and hereby secretly raise the bar for our own satisfaction.

- Everyone Is Crazy Except You
When you ask a crazy person if he thinks he is disturbed somehow, he would disagree and tell you there is no way he could be diagnosed with this. Therefore it's logical if we deflect immediately when someone tells the truth about us. Even the closest people around you could have a hard time convincing you about this.

You will start to rationalize your own situation because of habituation.

We became so 'used' to these high pressure levels and devotion we are unable to see what is happening on either side of us. For us, this is normal. It's even so toxic, that we are going to compare this to our relationships, our own family and friends for that matter. Are they worth losing, for this endless ambition? Of course we would answer 'NO'. But reality is different. Especially because we are 'crazy', and crazy people don't know they're crazy.

- You Will Lose Your Human Touch
Toxicating your mind with these perfectionistic goals will eventually turn you into an unsatisfied, ungrateful and miserable bastard. You can not even be happy for someone else 's success anymore, because you can't even be happy of your own achievements. I think it's one of the many reasons why (some) successful people became unworldly and are not understood. The people who somehow made their unrealistically high goals are usually extremely disoriented because they do not know how to challenge themselves anymore. They cannot feed the drug.

My Gear Is Stuck In Overdrive
At the age of nineteen I graduated from high school. I wasn't directly motivated to do a study, I felt like I would make the wrong choice if I continued doing school. I didn't like to do anything else than work and earn some money as a primary school 'cleaner' and decided to take a year to think. Three years later I still worked as a cleaner. Close friends, distant friends and people around me kept moving on and I remember them telling me I would never have the discipline to start a serious career. When I was even younger people also told me I lacked discipline and perseverance greatly. Claiming I would be a failure of society.

At some point I was DONE with this non-challenging and simple work. I love games, and I dreamed about being involved in the game industry somehow. I just picked what I thought was the fastest route into this, and that happened to be a study 'game development'.

I remember I had a great start, and was highly driven to succeed. The same people who told me I didn't had it in me anymore, told me I would lose this drive eventually.

Well, to be honest, I feel like my gear has been stuck in 'overdrive' ever since.

It has only been one year since I graduated from university and gone from nothing, to setting up three companies with 10+ employees and interns, seven projects in development.

It took me a few months to notice these successes don't come for free.

I was slowly neglecting my relationship, my friends and family, my free time and my weekends. Luckily my girlfriend is very supportive but also very persistent and kept holding the mirror in front of me to finally come through and made me realize I had to take my foot off the pedal.

Concluding
So after these 'dramatic' explanations, should we bring down our ambition? and kill our drive? No, on the contrary. Having this drive and perseverance is what's going to make us successful. I think it's important we "stop" sometimes, and just realize what we've already achieved. Listen to the people around us when they start to notice strange or extreme behavior. Do not try to 'change' yourself, just try to 'notice' when it's becoming too much.

A healthy drive is great, and of course there are situations we need the support from our surrounding people. But if we take it too far, we will break things that are unable to fix. It will not be worth it in the end. Watch yourself and create something amazing while doing it!

What do you think about extreme perseverance and discipline? Tell me your story!

/Koen

*Update on my 'performative' experiment
I am still working on a great idea to use Twitch for performative game development.At this moment it's called "Project Assemblage". If everything goes right I will be able to start in October 2014, but I expect it to be a bit later.

You can already follow me at:Twitch.tv
More info on this 'experiment' soon!

Find Me On:
Blog: www.koendeetman.com
Twitter: @KoenDeetman
Facebook: Koen.Deetman
Company: KeokeNInteractive

At some point you have to do an internship during your study to become a game developer. Starting a job like this and doing work as an intern could be the beginning of a great future. At least it helps you understand certain aspects in the game industry and build up experience. As an entrepreneur, when you start a game studio, you could consider taking interns in your company. In this article I would like to share my views why interns are of great value and what you can expect if you are an intern yourself.

The Wrong Perspective
I think the general idea about interns is that they are not fully equipped employees and not experienced enough to do a certain line of work within the company. Some assume interns are just great for their 'image' as company because, I still hear many complaints interns are not always taken seriously. For example they have to serve lunch, or have a day job doing the dishes. Of course these are the most extreme stories, but I'd like to point out these companies do not take their business seriously, at least not their future. Some companies think interns are cheap 'employees' and are being strangled with crunch-time. These companies are highly product driven and do not really care about humanity.

Making games is a very specific job type and belongs to a growing market that does not exist as long as other markets. Usually if you want to do a job like this, it has been evolved from a hobby. There are not many 'game developers' aging 60+ with decades of experience.

Because the game industry is still a risky business, companies are looking for great quality and experience for the lowest prices possible. If the company is doing great, you can eventually afford more expensive and experienced employees.

Interns versus Employees
There are some differences and similarities found when you compare an intern to a full time employee. I think in some cases the intern is even winning over an employee.

Similarities
I think interns in the game industry doing specific job types like for example an 3D artist, programmer or audio engineer, are pretty advanced compared to what you'd expect. Some of them are even so far ahead, they could fit actual job descriptions. You can easily include them in your development pipeline just like an employee. Interns make mistakes, just like employees make them, and usually work the same hours.

Differences
Interns need more attention. You have to help and coach them through the project. Employees also need direction and need to be controlled, but they usually have done more projects and take more initiative and know how to handle responsibility. Interns also need more skill development, they are not as experienced as employees but could definitely show a lot of potential. Interns tend to listen very well and are very studious. Most employees already established their position and simply execute their job. Interns also have to deliver products such as reports to their universities and need time to finish these assignments, time they can not spend on your product.

How To Create The Best Intern?
I am sure opinions would differ on this, but I have experienced our way of handling interns is a great method to help them develop to become a better game developer.

At our company we have a scrum like project environment, but also leave a lot of space for interns to act upon. We do not specifically tell what button to press in Photoshop, Maya or Unity. We leave them with a task and and they have to find out the best solution to the description. We regularly reflect on the work, and just give them a little push in the direction we want them to go on. We usually explain our wishes and ask them how they would solve certain problems.

By doing this we create a high feeling of 'involvement'. We like them to feel the game is 'their' project as well as much as ours. We give them responsibility for an important task and reward them with compliments when we are happy with the result. It generates motivation to do their very best on the next task. We also highly encourage them to talk and discuss with other employees and interns as well as with the producers/leads. We created an environment where employees and interns can work together greatly. They do not have to be scared to make mistakes because we all make them and discuss them with everyone. You'll end up with a real 'team' and usually this means they do not want to leave the company at the end of their internship.

Sometimes interns ask us to use office time to do a tutorial or class to improve their skills. We always ask in return if they have thought this through, and how they see this improve their work. It may happen we decide to fund the class if there are costs involved and give them the time they need to finish this. Try to be flexible, don't forget interns are there to learn and 'experience' a work environment while in the meantime they can definitely contribute to your company's game projects.

How To Be A Great Intern Candidate
Companies have to filter through many candidates for their proposed internships. If you want to make a great chance on being selected to an interview I would suggest as candidate you should consider the following:

Before the interview (The Approach)
- An updated and easy to use online portfolio.
- An updated resume and or LinkedIn profile.
- A decently written motivational letter directed at the company and their interests.
- Do not include any other attachments in your email other than, resume and motivational letter.
- Knowledge about the company's products, and what their trademarks are.

During the interview (Soliciting For A Position)
- Research the company and employees and their achievements to make a charming entrance.
- Clearly describe what you would like to do in an internship
- Clearly describe what you would expect from the company and their mentoring.
- Explain what your goals are and how your future would look like.
- Have your work 'locally' in case internet connections have trouble accessing your work.
- Always ask for a glass of water in case you have to talk a lot (trust me).
- Be honest and do not pretend you can do stuff or be someone you are not.

*Secret Advise
Give the company a reasonable ultimatum (2-3 weeks) to decide whether or not to take you as an intern. Tell them you have other possibilities and would like to 'secure' this spot because you like a place at their company the most! However be subtle with this approach ;) Do not exaggerate!

Concluding
Interns come in many shapes and sizes. Most of the intern behavior is a result of how you as a company treat, and position them in your process. Not taking them seriously will result in a bad image for your company and would actually turn the intern into a slacker. Investing and taking time for an intern would help them improve greatly, sometimes they even evolve into great full time employees, fully accustomed to your liking. As intern I think its very important to show you are willing to learn and have pro-active behavior. Take initiative!

What do you think is the best way to position and help interns in your company?

/Koen

*Update on my 'performative' experiment
I am working on a great idea to use Twitch for performative game development.At this moment it's called "Project Assemblage" and you can already follow me at: Twitch.tv

More info on this 'experiment' soon!

Find Me On:
Blog: koendeetman.com
Twitter: @KoenDeetman
Facebook: Koen.Deetman
Company: KeokeNInteractive

Today independent game developers can exist because they can do a lot of stuff around game development themselves. Indies can create their own games with relatively simple, cheap and sometimes free to use tools, to create any game they like. Indies now have or will have the possibility to publish their game anywhere they want against very small fees or even for free.

However the indie has to conquer one more thing to be called a hundred percent independent, and that is taking control of their discoverability. In this article I would like to describe a few ways that in my opinion are clear signs Indies can create their own marketing and promotion channels that could become more common in the coming years.

Discoverability Is Our Current Problem
Looking at the overly saturating digital stores like the AppStore, Google Play and soon our holy grail 'Steam', together with the amount of developers entering the market taking their chances each day, it will become as we say in Holland very "gezellig"(comforting atmosphere), but it is not going to help anyone at all, it will all come down to who gets discovered and who's not. A lot of indies will decide to stop because it didn't work out. I am well aware this is already happening and will only get worse.

Keep Dropping Them Email Bombs
So what do many indies do to get discovered? They create beautifully constructed and well thought-out striking emails to important press contacts. Websites such as Joystiq, Polygon, and Rock Paper Shotgun get hundreds if not thousands emails a day. Our Indie heroes keep shouting we should be persistent and keep sending those emails every now and then, if no sign of life is detected.

So what is going to happen in the next years? Development gets easier, more and more people will turn into game/indie developers. You can now freely publish wherever you like. Those websites and journalists are burned out and would need to digest crazy numbers of emails. Because let's be honest, there is a lot of crap between those emails, but also a lot of great games never seeing the light of day. I think these websites, journalists and press outlets are still very important, but they have to become very selective. The same thing is also going on with Youtubers. I have heard Markiplier was already offering his apologies about not being able to handle all suggested games. Everything will become one big gambling casino and everything will come down on chance. That one chance you will be featured by Markiplier.

So Why Don't Take Matters In Our Own Hands?
Would you stay home if you knew an earthquake would shatter your house later that day? Of course not! Let's take initiative and come-up with great ideas to get our games in the hands of our beloved customer and target audience.

Vlambeer is doing it. Hell they are proving it works.

Performative Development
As Rami and Jan-Willem like to call this way of making games. Streaming their game development of Nuclear Throne at Twitch with millions of views already. Also selling their early access game on Steam and recently selling on Twitch itself, definitely sounds like a million dollars.

However do not forget this way is very intensive and stressful. Especially because it is 'live' and does not guarantee a great show. That is why they mostly record 'game testing' by Rami or JW, 'pixel art' by Paul Veer, promotional art by Justin Chan, or Kozilek with his great music. Those are simply the most interesting parts of game development to showcase in a live show. At least that is what I assume.

Vlogging On Youtube
You could also decide to start a vlog on Youtube. The problem with making these videos is 'you have to create and edit them'. It takes time, a lot of time. Also you need to find way of 'performance' on camera just like doing a live show on Twitch. Edit those videos, make the right 'cuts' and find the right royalty free music to make them a little more charming. All these things take a large amount of time. That is why being a Youtuber can be a fulltime job.

One special note on becoming a youtuber is that 90% of the popular videos are because the youtuber is funny or has a high amount of humor invested in there. People are being 'entertained', or the video creator is recording his or her unusually cool life, at least something out of the ordinary (FunForLouis).

*Extra Note
For the people interested enough in vloggers, I included a great example of my girlfriend who loves to share her lifestyle on youtube as a vlogger. She is becoming quite good at being a performer. I have included one video when she started out one year ago, the other one is our trip to Disneyland very recently. I just think its a great example to show the contrast how she became a better performer, editor, and director. Something we have to consider investing in if we as developers want to do it ourselves. Oh and that crazy guy in the coaster, that is in fact me ;)

Example 1 (Rock N Roller OLD) one year ago
Example 2 (Rock N Roller NEW) one week ago

Blogging
So we simply start a blog! Sure, that is one way create a spotlight. Holyshit I am keeping a blog myself! Well, don't forget something important. I write this blog to 'air my thoughts' and to stimulate or help some of you to think about certain subjects. My blog is mainly read by developers and not directly by my customers ;). That is why a blog in this sense should be focused at the gamer/customer to be an effective channel to promote or market your game through.

Work Together With A Youtuber
Imagine if PewDiePie made a game himself! He would already have millions of "bro's" to sell his game to. Maybe an idea if we as developers could hook-up with a youtuber or famous blogger to produce a game and already have our 'channel' filled with our target audience. Wouldn't that make things easier! Seriously doing a collaboration together with someone like PewDiePie or Markiplier could make things very interesting for them as well!

Let's Do An Experiment!
With all this big talk, maybe I should just give it a try myself, and see if this is prognosis can be a reality or is just far too ambitious.

So I came up with the following idea:
I would like to record the complete process of designing, developing, promoting and selling a game on my own. Since I also need to run my company KeokeN Interactive, it would not be something I can do everyday, but 2 or 3 hours a week should be feasible.

Each time I put myself to work on the game I will live stream this on Twitch (weekly). If a community forms, I think its cool to develop the game together with the community. An other reason for me is to record my process to learn from in the end. I do not want to start a youtube vlog, since it's going to cost me even more time to create and edit those videos.

Another thing you should know. I am a producer at heart and therefore:
- not the best programmer
- not the best artist
- not the best designer
- not the best audio engineer

But I am blessed with the basics of all these skills and have an extreme drive for quality. So if you see me do something really awkward, really unnecessary, or stupid, feel free to tell me anytime! As a producer I do try to find the best solutions to my problems, so I think that will help me out at the very least.You can soon follow my adventures at -> Twitch.tv

Concluding
I think the last stage of independence should have something to do with the marketing and promotion part of our games. I think more and more people are going to do collaborations, or start their own channels. I can't say I am a hundred percent sure this is actually going to happen, that is why I want to try this out myself first before making claims like that.

What do you think about performative development? What initiative do you think is best?

/Koen

OH, BTW "I Am Attending Gamescom 2014 next week"
For the people interested to talk with me, I will be attending the Gamescom at:

Thursday 14th of August 2014.

You will find me around the "Holland Pavilion" (the dutch booth at the floor). You will recognize me by a RED pants I am wearing!

Find Me On:
Blog: www.koendeetman.com
Twitter: @KoenDeetman
Facebook: Koen.Deetman
Company: KeokeNInteractive

In the early stages of game development, it's sometimes too early to showcase some gameplay. Especially when you are working on a 3D game in a small team. However you want to start the promotion early on in the process. Let me assume you do not have the money nor the resources to pull of a high-end CGI trailer, but you still want to deliver a decent teaser trailer shortly. In this article would like to share my experiences with 'camera mapping' while creating a teaser for my studio's upcoming horror game 'Horrinth'.

What Is Camera Mapping?
At first I wasn't aware this technique existed and is frequently used in many TV-series. This is mostly used to fake 'helicopter flights' going over New York City for example. So what does camera mapping exactly do? It's actually really simple. You take a beautiful photograph or take a piece of concept art that has a certain amount of 'depth' in there. You can make this 'flat' image come alive with just a few basic 3D, texture and animation skills, resulting in a smooth camera motion 'through' the photograph and/or picture.

Pro's
- Very fast method to capture an awesome scene.
- Low rendering times.
- Fast and easy texturing.
- No lighting required.
- Low modeling and animation skills required.

Cons
- Only great for a 'fly troughs'. (Or you have to become very creative).
- Not really possible to turn the camera (projected from 1 side).
- You need great high resolution art / or artist to create something worthwhile.
- Artist needs to be aware about 'moving objects' for separate layers.

Design The Teaser
Before you start camera mapping, you should definitely design your teaser first. It sounds logical, but some parts could become very complicated if you do not have the 'complete idea' about the teaser.

My Example:
Horrinth is about demonic possession and takes place in a large Labyrinth. To stay in control of your character you have to keep 'breathing'. If you fail to do this, the top labyrinth will drop on you.

I liked to tease this concept, so I suggested we made a large labyrinth hallway, and have the camera travel (in a walking motion) to the end of the labyrinth path. While doing so, the top labyrinth would rapidly fall down, mixed with awesome sound effects and uprising soundscapes. This would hopefully set the 'tone' of the game.

Use Some Awesome Concept Art or Photographs
So I asked my concept artist 'Kerim' to create a layered set piece like this, and he provided me with a collection of layered images. I will explain why I needed layers in a moment. For the best result I would advise to use a very high resolution photo or concept art, because moving the camera straightforward is actually 'zooming in' on the picture.

How Did I Use Camera Mapping?
When the concept art was done, I was able to start camera mapping this flat (2D 3500x7000px) image and magically turn it into a 3D world.

I used blender for this task, because it's open-source and there were some tutorials explaining this technique really accurate.

First you place your image on the camera projection view, because we want to create some models simulating the image 'depth'. Modeling certain assets in the image is best done when viewing through camera perspective. In my case, I had to create models of the walls in order to move along them with the camera.

1. Camera View
If you take a look at the first example in the picture below, you can see the selected models are exactly in line with the walls in the picture. Moving the camera along these walls would already create depth. It doesn't matter if the models look weird beyond camera view, because we will only record the camera perspective.

2. Models & Depth Amount
In the second example you can see how these models are very simple and seem like a disastrous mess ;). That is totally fine, but I had to create an actual hallway. My advise would be to create a set of models (for example the amount of walls) and restructure them from Camera perspective. I repeated this process until I had the desired 'length' of the hallway.

3. Subdivide & Camera Resolution
When you 'project your image from view' and use these projections as textures you have to keep the size dimensions (resolutions) of the picture. Don't forget the camera also needs these dimensions before projecting them on the models. If you want to have the best result, I recommend subdividing these models, so the projection has more 'data' (polygons/faces) to calculate the image more accurately as seen in example three.

After these projections, you can change the camera perspective to a more cinematic resolution (1920x1080). By doing this, you will also create more camera freedom, so it's possible to move the camera up & down without immediately reaching the borders of the picture (example three).

(Camera view, Models, Subdivide & Camera resolution)

(models in line with the picture)

Layering Images Is Important
When I was trying this camera mapping technique, I discovered a problem when you do not layer these images as separate textures. As you can see in the example below, the floating walls in this drawing are showing up again when the camera moves through. This would be resolved if the background is drawn on a separate layer and used as texture on the background model.

Simple Key-Frame Animation
When you are done mapping the scene you can easily animate the camera through the scene with simple keyframes. It's up to you what you want to record and where the camera moves as long as it keeps moving forward. I decided to simulate a walking animation. It took me a while to figure out what's best, and I still think it needs some improvement, but we had to release the teaser trailer.

Eventually we used 'Final Cut Pro' to edit the video and used some subtle effects while my brother created the soundsfx & soundscapes. You can take a look at the final result in the video below.

Concluding
Most of the camera-mapping techniques are best explained by guys like "Blenderguru" especially in this tutorial. In my opinion camera mapping is a nice and easy way to create a teaser sequence rather fast. You could also consider chaining different scenes together, or have more elements moving in the scene, all what is within your creative boundaries. Maybe it's not the best way to create a cool teaser, at least its a fast and effective one!

Do you have any cool and easy to use tools or techniques for trailer creation?

/Koen

Find Me On:
Gamasutra: Gamasutra.com
Twitter: @KoenDeetman
Facebook: Koen.Deetman
Company: KeokeNInteractive

Find Horrinth On:
Twitter: @Horrinth
Facebook: Horrinth
Website: Horrinth.com

What role in game development do I want to fulfil? A fair question when you want to work in the game industry. For some this question is easily answered since they were already programming games in kindergarten. Some still have trouble finding the right path. There are two things you need to keep in mind. Do you need to be talented to work in the game industry? or do you have to master the right skill?

Everyone Has A Talent
Although some of you would think you don't have an explicit talent, I believe everyone has something that's exceptionally great compared to others. Maybe it's not developed enough, or you never noticed anything about it yet, but something in your life should go way easier than others.If you want to succeed at a job, or want to exceed in a skill, I think it's best to find out connections with your talents and heavily develop them through practice.

Skill Comes With Practice
In game development you are able to choose from a versatile set of skills you want to acquire.
- Games need design;
game designers come-up with mechanics and rules.

- Designs need to work;
programmers tell 'code' specifically what to do.

- Prototypes need to look good;
artists can create beautiful and lovable worlds.

- Beautiful games need beautiful sounds;
audio engineers make the art feel alive.

- Games need to be finished;
game producers guard progress and deliver on deadlines.

I think the positions mentioned above are just the basic principles of a development team. Some people combine them, or are a derivative of combinations; for example a 'technical artist' knows its way around code and has a great feel for artistic direction, this results in someone who works with shaders & particle effects.

In my opinion all these skills are up for grabs. All of them can be mastered if you put in enough time, determination and discipline.

A more important question is; do they suit well with your talents? To achieve success and feel happy about your job, I strongly believe you need to choose something you love and combine your talent to a certain skill within that spectrum. For some their talent has a lot to do with their chosen skill and profession. For some it's harder to see this connection.

For example: If you have a crazy talent for mathematics you would probably do well in coding, because math and coding are all about logic. What if you have a great talent to 'work with people'? A game producer could be a great fit, because you are a great listener. Although in this case you'd also need to be a great planner, a connection perhaps more difficultly made.

Self-Reflection
Let me take myself as an example.

I wasn't born with an unusually great talent for mathematics or a strong will to find out how systems worked. I have a small talent in drawing, although not enough to become a diverse and useful artist. I love games, so I have some awesome ideas for games (who doesn't?). However, I am not outstandingly 'great' in designing them, so a famous game designer role wouldn't be my cup of tea either. Still I was determined to enter the game-industry somehow. When I was 22 (late bloomer), I decided to study game development and try to find my way into the game industry.

I was very very ambitious and highly motivated, so in the first two years of study I couldn't yet distinguish what worked out best for me because everything went great. However when I finished my third year of study neatly in time, I started to analyze myself.

I quickly noticed something odd. All my team projects (counting up to 8 that time already) went exceptionally well. Was this because I was such a great programmer? No, that was something I had most difficulty with. Maybe this was because I became such a great designer? No, I usually discussed everything with a lot of other team members. Or did it had anything to do with my leadership within all these teams? At first I didn't believe all my projects went great because of me (that sounds so selfish). Maybe I was just lucky with my teams 8 times in a row. So I decided to do a project again, this time in a foreign country (Ireland) with people I didn't know so well. Again, the project went prosperous. After my 9th successful project I concluded it had a lot to do with my talent for leading and motivating teams.

Interesting fact: When I was the age of 13 I was part of the Soldier of Fortune 2 online community at the former clan ranking website Clanbase.com. I was destined to reach the number one spot in the most popular ranking ladder 'capture the flag 5 on 5'. Years followed where I picked up great players forming an outstanding team and eventually four years later we became the new number 1 in the international ladder (around 600 clans competing).

So we can conclude the actual fundamentals of leading teams were already made 10 years before I discovered I had a talent for this. My dad, however, had always told me I would end-up as a team lead when I was younger.

Currently I am happily leading projects within my own independent game studio KeokeN Interactive.

So Connect Talent To A Skill And You're Good To Go?
Well, not entirely... Having talent for something means you don't have to put as much effort in something specific compared to others. Acquiring a new skill while using your talent is only obtained by many hours of hard work, practice and failing. Some people are very fast at discovering their talents, for some it takes a while (me), for some it could take a lifetime, and some will never discover it, mainly because they don't believe in it.

All you have to do is find out what you love to do most, act on it by acquiring skills, discover your talent and how it helps you with your skill. Eventually you will notice the result in being successful in what you love to do most.

What do you think about talents and skills? Is there a difference? Does talent actually exist?

/Koen
Find Me On:
Blog: Koendeetman.com
Twitter: @KoenDeetman
Facebook: Koen.Deetman
Company: KeokeNInteractive

Game Development is something very specific. It's not reserved for everyone. Loving games doesn't directly mean you'll be good at making them. With today's tools it's much easier to make games. More and more hobbyists are taking this opportunity for a spin. For those of you who feel destined to turn your hobby into a real job; I would like to point out some challenges you might come across on your journey.

Persistent Developers 'Glasses'
When you consider becoming a developer, you are going to develop a certain type of hypothetical 'developers glasses'. This means you'll be able to recognize the structure of games and how they are constructed. This sounds great at first, but it will soon transform you in an extremely critical judge, and these glasses will make it harder to swap back to your 'consumer glasses'. I won't say you will not enjoy games anymore, but pleasing yourself with what once was your hobby gets harder.

Maybe this is best compared to a 'magic trick'. When you see the magician perform the illusion on stage, you are astonished about the outcome and confused by how this magic is possible. If a magician would reveal his secrets to you and show you how it's done, the 'magic' will be gone.

The Dark Side Of Your Hobby
Not only will you ruin your enjoyment when you play games, you will also discover a whole other side of your hobby; the side I like to refer to as The Dark Side. When something becomes your job, it will consist of parts you don't like. Most likely you do not know these parts yet, the dark side is different for every developer. This is the part that will make you hate games at certain moments.

For me, the dark side means that I don't always enjoy certain parts of development, annoying bug parts or doing redesigns, because the level didn't work out for the 10th time. After the 10th time it will become annoying.

You Are A Cowboy Of The Game Industry Wasteland
When hunting for a job in the game developing field - it's still pretty much a guess if you will be able to get a job. At this moment I think a lot of developers are flooding the market and job offers are hard to find. Even if you would find a job opening, it will most likely not be what you are looking for. But; you can always create a job opportunity that suits your tastes by starting a company yourself.

It all comes down on the uncertainty that comes with making a living out of this hobby. Finding your way in game development doesn't pair directly with an established income. It's not yet stable, uncertain and you do not know exactly what the future holds in store for you.

Let's Go Indie!
Doing everything yourself isn't as great as it sounds. It feels great to have matters in your own hands, but it also brings a lot of stress. Besides game development you will need to transform yourself into a business minded guy! It doesn't automatically come with the 'job'; It comes with becoming independent.

When a bird leaves the nest, it has to take all responsibilities for himself. Food isn't brought to him by the mother any longer, he has to find food himself now.

Total Playtime Drastically Drops
It's very important to keep playing games. Especially the games you compete with. The problem is that game development will consume a lot of your precious time, and you will notice you won't play as much than before. Simply because development does not always allow you to do so. Because making games is your great passion, a lot of 'excitement' is harvested from development. Whereas playing games as a hobby was generating this excitement from engaging gameplay. I found this was one of the main reasons that my playtime dropped.

Not to forget that sometimes you do 'play' games, but in a sense of research rather than relaxation. You can clearly notice a difference. If you cannot distinguish these two ways of play anymore, you'll eventually end up confused when gaming, or everything will become part of job related research.

Concluding
You will not lose playing video games as a hobby. The more you know about games, the more critical your opinion and experience with games will be. Doing something you 'like' for a living can make life so much more fun. No one wants to feel miserable working 5 days a week doing a shitty job. You have to think twice about creating a job from something you really love to do. The problem is that you 'know' what you love, you just don't know what you hate about it yet. Discovering this could feel very strange.

I don't have any regrets, however I only need to find a new hobby now ;)

/Koen

Find Me On:
Blog: Koendeetman.com
Twitter: @KoenDeetman
Facebook: Koen.Deetman
Company: KeokeNInteractive

As indie developers, we love to create games, we love to keep making them, and we want to earn enough to make a living. When you start out we have a lot of thoughts running through our minds. In this article I would like to highlight a few of these thoughts I think we all share and try to explain what I think this means in reality

We All Have "The Best" Idea For A Game

The Illusion
When you start out with an idea for a game, we might all think it's the best game everyone needs to play. You can clearly see the game work out amazingly well in your head. People screaming they want more of your game, and everything works out flawlessly. Beautiful explosions, amazing characters, stunning visuals, a mind blowing story and immensely engaging game play.

The Reality
An idea could be great. You can only prove this game can be a 'participant' to be called 'great' if you can actually 'play' the game.

Ideas usually include a lot of context that might not work out as well, or do not end up exactly as you expected. Let alone it's not entirely understood or received by an audience the way you intended it to. Actually making your ideas a reality will definitely help you understand potential flaws. Our mind has a way to 'gloss' our ideas by filling in how we feel and create detailed context. Otherwise this idea wouldn't feel like the best game and we wouldn't dare to think it's a great idea.That is why we can easily 'review' someone else's game. If their elaboration doesn't meet our definition of 'greatness' we will immediately place this game in our imaginary corner of 'garbage'.

One of the reasons I don't like mobile games, is because my mind is telling me this is not the way games are meant to be played or be designed, better yet, it's not the way I prefer to play my games. Then again; it's just another iteration and type of game that might work out for another 'type' of gamer. It's why taste is so subjective.

It's funny how we try to put our versatile game genres and types in certain boxes. "Pay To Play is a niche market!" and "Mobile Free To Play is for the mass!". Wait, What? These mobile gamers do not have taste? I think everything is a niche market, mobile and free to play games happen to be a very very large niche market. In my opinion it is just an audience sharing a certain taste in something.

Everyone Wants "Remarkable" And "Innovative" Games

The Illusion
Nobody wants to play the same thing over and over again! Therefore my idea needs to be the most innovative and new thing ever. I do not want to re-use elements from other games, I want to be completely original.

The Reality
If we take look at the Call of Duty series, a large audience appears to crave the same gaming experience over and over again. Being innovative doesn't directly mean it's therefore a great game. It means you have found something interesting that nobody has thought of before. Now you should test this and clearly explain why this new thing is 'cool'.

I am experiencing this first hand - what it takes to make a 'remarkable' horror game. It's very hard to create something new, meaningful and remarkable. Coming up with 'new' and 'innovative' elements isn't the biggest challenge. The biggest challenge is making them great and explain why they are great, making them consistent in the genre and system.

Creating Games Will Make Me Rich

The Illusion
If I create this game and millions of people will spend $10 dollars on it, I will become financially independent and all my financial troubles will be over. I could then finally do whatever I want to do and create a REALLY good game.

The Reality
If your goal is to become a millionaire and if this is the reason you decided you wanted to become a game developer; that would be a misconception in the first place. Your first goal should be to transfer your idea into a very great game. Creating games does not mean you will become an instant millionaire. It's just very unlikely this happens. Only a very small percentage of developers get to experience this outcome.If your goal is to make a lot of money, you should take a look at "The Wolf of Wall street" and see if you can identify yourself with someone with his ambitions.

Have you ever considered the real consequences of having so much money? Again I can quote 'Alexander Bruce' about money destroying his 'drive' to survive and make games. Fighting for creating that game you always wanted brings a lot of situations where you have to survive many difficult situations in order to go on. This 'primal feeling' to fight for something you like doing is what can make it a success. It's also what drives you to make the right decisions. It's what makes you take initiatives.

We all dream about having money to buy all these exotic things in high price ranges. Maybe some of them would be cool to have for a while, but what is left after you bought everything you 'thought' you wanted to have? Just thinking about it makes me feel lonely and empty. The only solution to this feeling would be to share my financial success. It sounds like a noble gesture at first, but give it some serious thought.

Try to compare this to having experienced something really cool, for example you have 'skydived' from a plane. Aren't you dying to tell this to someone? Why do people always feel the need to immediately share these experiences that are out of the ordinary. Right, because it's in our 'core' that we like to 'share'. Social Media is the digital proof that we actually like to share nearly everything we do. I think it could be the same with money. I do not think everyone should share their wealth, and I am not saying everyone with wealth is sharing, but I think the people who share are the ones feeling most happy about their lives, I have yet to meet someone to prove me wrong on this.

So, Let's Take 5 Months!

The Illusion
"I know how to make games, I am sure I am faster than other developers. If I would do this and that, it will just take 5 months, easily!"

The Reality
Even the smallest games take longer than expected. I once got some great advice on time management. "It's very likely that if you take two weeks to finish a project, it's going to take the full two weeks to accomplish this". If you took a week, it would have taken you the whole week. It's just a human way how we deal with deadlines. We take the time given for it and usually exceed this limit. When we develop games, it needs a realistic scope, and we have to fight against feature creep. Extra features are usually being developed when you feel a certain amount of dullness creeping into your project and workflow. New features let your project feel alive again, because they give you a refreshing boost. Very dangerous for the project scope.

I think therefore a second project could help you leave the old one for a short while and return with a much 'fresher' look. The hardest thing is to focus on the most important stuff your game needs during development. Usually the harder, or less fun stuff is demotivating you and logically you try to find 'happier' qualities about your game to motivate yourself.

Making games takes a while. You can definitely see the difference between certain developers in indie 'groups' advertising their new 'android' game release. It's painful to see how many of these indie developers release their unfinished 'prototypes'. Patience is key! Making something beautiful takes time.

Polishing A Game Is Just The Final 20%

The Illusion
"My game is nearly done, I think I'm about 80% into it, so it will be done very soon! I just need to fix a few elements, do a little bug fixing and it'll be ready."

The Reality
What was that good old saying again? 80% of development is done in 20% of the development time, 20% of finishing your game is done in 80% of the total development time. The finishing time of a game will distinguish your game's quality. A lot of games are rushed, and you can clearly notice this in the result. What would we think if our recently bought cars where rushed through development? "Well sir, here is your new car, I know the picture told you something else, but it's 'roughly' the car we promised you would get". Polishing your end result takes a long time and will bring a lot of frustrations and hard choices. It could even make you mentally crazy! If you become that crazy and do not know what's good or bad anymore, you are on the right track on delivering an awesome product.

Just Put It On Steam And You'll be Fine

The Illusion
"If I pass Greenlight or get Greenlit all my problems are over and 75 Million people are going to buy my game. If I just release my game on iOS or Android I am sure a small portion of the billions of people owning a smartphone will download my game."

The Reality
A few years ago this was more likely than today or the future. iOS and Android are already heavily saturated and you are competing against many other developers. Also, these low price ranges and extreme competition are usually not profitable. So you would think; let's release this on another platform! Well Steam is also heading for a very saturated market. Even today you are already competing against at least 10 other games at the same time. Features on front pages are not really helping as much anymore than before. You could wait for these platforms to find a solution to this problem, but I think the solutions to 'your' problems start by strategically finding them yourself.

Everyone Will Talk About My Game!

The Illusion
"If I release my game, everyone will talk and write about my game! It's a great game so people in the YouTube community will feature it on their channels, large gaming websites will write about it and I will become super famous and successful."

The Reality
Yep, that will definitely happen! Only if YOU took the initiative and reached out to all of them long, long before you released your game. Many other developers will harass these press possibilities. The key is to quickly develop unique stories about yourself. Carefully plan these moments months in advance. Start interacting with some of them! Avoid saying things like "This is the best platformer game you've ever seen!" this is very unattractive.Have your press kits ready, so they can grab anything necessary right from the kit. A very useful and easy way is "()presskit" by Rami Ismail. Many press related parties like the way this press kit framework is set up. Try to maintain a development blog, or even start a personal blog.

Strategies Stay Solid

The Illusion
"If I keep all these strategies lined-up this way, it will exactly turn out as I expected and I shouldn't have to worry about anything at all."

The Reality
Nonsense! A year from now the game industry could look a whole lot different than today. I won't say all strategies need 'redirection'. I think you have to 'update' your strategies over and over again and check if they are still useful and going in the right direction. Development pipeline strategies could differ greatly since development tools become smarter and easier to use. If we take a look at the 'saturation' on several platforms, it could mean we have to push our 'marketing and promotion' way harder than it needed a year ago. All examples proving we have to keep 'shifting' within our strategies through the game industry wasteland.

Concluding
It's important that your goals are set-out to create a great game and develop strategies to make a living out of it. Everything needs initiative and as an indie developer you have to take matters into your own hands. Keep in mind you do not just make the game, but are also the promoter, marketer, business guy, the producer, the publisher and even the receptionist at your office. If you forget about all these illusions and start living in reality, you'll be fine - just don't give up!
What other illusions could starting indie developers have according to you?

/Koen

Find Me On:
Blog: Koendeetman.com
Gamasutra: Gamasutra.com
Twitter: @KoenDeetman
Facebook: Koen.Deetman
Company: KeokeNInteractive

A lot of youngsters want to become game developers these days. It's very possible since there are so many studies around the world helping you to get there. That's awesome, because seven years ago I had the same feeling. However, not many of the students will understand what it takes to actually participate in this business. In this article I would like to prepare students who are as 'insane' to take on this challenge as I am.

Why Would You Want This?
The first thing you should definitely ask yourself is; are you sure you really, really want this? Is this your life calling? Will nothing beat 'making games' even by a small bit? Do you definitely not want to be a surf instructor in Hawaii? Are you that devoted to deal with so much uncertainty? Are you ready to give up nearly everything you like? Great! Because when you start this adventure, there is no turning back, you have to go all the way.
It sounds like you've just signed a pact with the devil himself. Well, hold your horses, because the first contract you will have to sign is with yourself. Prove yourself that you will not give up when you decide that you are really going to do this. Even when you are so fed up and tired, you will have to promise yourself that you won't give up. Only then will you acquire chances to success.

Making games is about failing constantly to improve. Lose the idea of creating a great game on the first try. You will not, it will definitely suck. (Don't ask your mother, she likes everything you've passionately worked on).

If you are ready to embrace failure, you are ready to become a developer.

Determine Your Cup of Tea
There are a few ways to become a developer.
You can start figuring out development tools yourself, although it always seems to take longer, since you have no exact direction.
You could also decide to get taught the basics by someone else, or even try to ‘intern' your way into the business.

You could also choose the quicker route and which is through a University. The counter side would be that you are forced to take classes you do not want to follow. On the other hand it could also help you because you could not have been aware that these classes were essential to the development of your skill.
Like an RPG there are many 'professions' you can choose from: Game Programmer, Game Designer, Game Artist, Game Producer, Game Audio Engineer, etc. Find and combine the one closest to your talent and liking.

Master a First and Develop a Second Skill
I think it's very important to have a second skill on the side. Especially since 'Indie' is very popular these days. It could be possible you will end up making games yourself, or in a very small team. There are more 'developers' flooding the market than there are company positions to work at. Mostly because making games has a personal touch and you will want to work passionately on a project. Some companies do not exactly make that what suits your wishes.
I would say a programmer who is also a pretty good artist would be one of the most valuable combinations. You could work completely alone if you want to!

Take Initiative
One of the most important things in this industry is taking initiative in my opinion. If opportunities arise; grab them with both hands.
"If you do not follow up on an opportunity you can be sure a 100% nothing will happen. If you give an opportunity a chance something might happen" - Alexander Bruce, Antichamber.
From the moment you decide to become a developer, you have to become aware of this. Even as a student while doing school projects it's of great importance for you to take initiatives.

Game Conventions, Festivals and Jams
When talking about game conventions I do not only mean "Game Developers Conference" in San Francisco. Try going to different local Game Conventions, listen to motivational speakers, or participate in game jams. Volunteer at large gaming conventions.
These places are the perfect breeding ground to meet new people and make connections. It's most of the local or worldwide industry all together at one place! Especially as a student it's important for you to attend these events.

Internships
Doing an internship means proving that your 'skills' are worth something in the industry. I remember a lot of people at school who were talking about 'skipping an internship' because they had an 'exemption'. They had already done an internship in a different study before, so it wasn't obligatory for them to do it a second time.

Nonsense. What a waste of opportunity.

Internships are opportunities to become a better developer. You are doing hands-on work that is used in the game industry and have professionals around you helping out, why wouldn't you want to do that? Why did you once consider becoming a game developer and are now compromising this opportunity?

Internships build-up long relationships between industry professionals and students. You are actually creating different portals and recommendations around you. It could also mean a future job position if you really want to work at a specific game company.

Affinity With Game Company & Genre
Another thing I find important is that you carefully research the company you want to work for. As a developer you have certain genres or certain game types you prefer to work with. Some game companies may not offer these opportunities. This could lead to inefficient work and makes your job as game developer feel like a chore. Sometimes it means you do not 'match' with a company you apply for. Figuring out their wishes and compare them to your own is crucial to establish high levels of motivation and a nice environment to work.

My Road To A Professional Game Developer
In 2013 I gave a talk at the University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam explaining my road as a student to game developer.
In this 50 minute talk I explained why I made certain choices and how my career developed. This talk has been recorded and I have added English subtitles to the video since the talk is in Dutch.
Featuring in this talk:- Motives to become a game developer
- The struggle to find internships
- Games I have worked on- Working/Studying outside your own country
- How I became aware of my 'core skill'- The birth of my own Indie Game Studio
- Tips for starting a game studio
- Answering great questions from the student audience

Do you have any valuable tips for future game developers?

/Koen

Find Me On:
Blog: Koendeetman.com
Gamasutra: Gamasutra.com
Twitter: @KoenDeetman
Facebook: Koen.Deetman
Company: KeokeNInteractive

As developers of digital products we have to deal with piracy at some point. Especially if we sell our games through traditional models. Have gamers become so greedy they do not want to spend money on games anymore? Do games not harvest any value anymore? Or is something else at play here? In this article I will try to awaken some ideas to counter this phenomenon and prepare ourselves for a brighter future.

If we take a look at the market today, a large share of our clients and customers are playing pirated versions of our passionately created games. My question is 'why do these players find the pirated version more attractive?' I think we can't completely blame our players, and perhaps take a closer look at ourselves.

source: Marsecreview.com

Why Do Players Pirate?
I am sure a lot of you would think players pirate games because its 'free'. I agree, for some this reason is indeed a motivation, but we can then immediately question why they would decide the game isn't worth their scarce money. If we compare getting a game for 'free' with spending around $50 for certain Console or PC games, I would understand some of them choose pirating. Especially games that focus on generating income rather than on delivering a great experience. These developers/publishers do not take their customers seriously, they only seem to care about filling their pockets with your hard-earned cash. This 'trick' has worked for a while, but players are starting to catch-up on this method.

Not all players would consider 'free' to be their main motivation to illegally download games instead of buying them. They just want the immediate satisfaction of playing the game 'now' and 'fast' without any trouble with required logins or subscriptions, DRM checks, installing mallware applications, and having to contribute their complete birth certificate to start playing. They know buying this game would take them at least 40 minutes to enter your beautiful game world. Pirated versions offer you a smoother and faster road to the doors of the game world.

Some players are not directly convinced to pay big bucks for your game, they have to take it for an ' illegal test drive' to decide. I have heard this reason a lot. "Oh, Yes I pirated it, but I will buy it eventually, because it's awesome!". Apparently, sometimes these games need a player's approval before being valued as a game thats worth investing money in.

source: Static.guim.co.uk

A Good Thing About Piracy?
Are there any good things about Piracy? Hell yes! Players massively downloading your game would be a dream to all of us developers! Also the wide spread of availability is greatly appreciated. When people are enjoying your game, this could be a great opportunity to establish a fan-base which might even generate future buyers! Some of them buy the game eventually after they have pirated it and the pirated version thus served as a 'sneak peek'.

Besides bringing the game to the consumer, it can also be used to measure your games' 'value' among players. If a game is largely pirated, players could think its not worth the money. This could be a real and harsh eyeopener for you as a developer. It helps you raise the bar and strive for more quality to establish that 'value'.

source: Blogs.ubc.ca

How To Outsmart Piracy?
Trying to completely eliminate the possibilities of acquiring pirated versions of games would not help us one bit. If we eliminate one source, the next one will pop-up elsewhere and we can start all over again. The piracy system is greatly established and is still beating us in a lot of ways.
I think it's important to stop fighting this illegal system with solutions that are definitely harming our digital freedom online. Instead, we should be focusing on finding ways to beat piracy all at once - possibly by delivering better on each single aspect piracy has to offer.
For instance, I personally think our games are easier played through a pirated version of the original. Hell, I have even read an article about some developer recommending their players (the ones that actually bought the game) to download a pirated version, because their failed DRM security options held them back from playing the game properly. A serious confirmation that fighting this system, even with heavy security solutions, is not a wise thing to do!

When looking at the type of piracy that takes place in the movie industry, one can conclude that this industry is using interesting methods to win the popularity race from piracy.Movies and TV shows have been suffering from piracy for a long time . I think movies have a few 'key' reasons to be an interesting target for piracy;

Availability
Not all movies or TV shows are available or accessible globally.

Release dates
Whenever movies or TV shows are published globally, their release dates differ greatly.

Download speed
Some systems are unbelievably slow when downloading your freshly bought movie.

Pricing
Digital versions or even rental copies are often priced unreasonably high and compared to cinema experiences are not considered worth it. Hard copy products can be watched endlessly and are able to showcase in your actual 'collection', a fair reason why they are priced higher.

Piracy delivers on all these aspects. Its free, directly available from all over the world at any time at very high speeds.

I think if people had to pay $1 each month to freely pirate anything they want legally, they would have a very large user base of subscribers because certain websites constantly deliver new content at high speeds. Because piracy has such an 'illegal' vibe to it (or is actually really illegal), many of us would not commit to this, scared to violate something like this being a one way ticket to jail. Since we have learned that we are being monitored on the internet by our government, the fear of possibly doing something wrong or illegal has only gotten worse. Not a very subtle solution if you ask me. However, most of us have likely pirated something off the internet. Even if you didn't do it yourself, you were probably watching a pirated movie at a friend's house. Therefore, it's almost impossible to avoid contributing to piracy.
In the case of movies and TV shows, we now have a great system that is gaining a lot of popularity. This, of course, is "Netflix". I think Netflix is a great example of how we can beat piracy. They are however not fully armed yet. So in which aspects is Netflix already beating piracy to the punch?

Availability
Movies and TV shows on Netflix are directly available, however they still lack to deliver the newest movies quickly enough to satisfy every consumer. Piracy is still winning and delivering on this part.

Release Dates
Directly available through all Netflix accounts, however their catalog still differs from country to country. Piracy is losing here, but they haven't lost yet.

Download speed
No downloading and unzipping needed, directly streamed in 1080P HD. A huge win for Netflix. The only downside would be, without internet you can't access Netflix while having downloaded a set of pirated movies these are available to watch even if you don't have access to the internet.

Pricing
A low monthly price to access almost every TV show or movie you can think of, and eventually forgetting that you are actually paying them $7,99 per month for this. Big win for Netflix here. You have actually subscribed to the feeling of 'legally watching movies'.

We can conclude Netflix is competing to outsmart pirated content.

source: Axiomfiles.com

Active Solutions In The Game Industry
There are already innovative approaches occurring to beat Piracy within the game industry. Some of them only partially help to beat them, others evade piracy by creating a different path to play the game.

Free To Play
The most important weapon of 'free to play' against piracy would be that it is free, equivalent for pirated content. Some 'free to play' games do not need to be downloaded and are therefore directly winning from piracy. If 'free to play' games require a download, and pirated distributers offer you these downloads as well, piracy hereby would be helping us get more users, and actually functions as a publishing platform, a win win situation.

Most F2P games generate money by offering extra or helpful content within their game structure. A structure that seems to work for the casual games market. I doubt it works for a hardcore audience accustomed to pay $50 to have it all. This is of course debatable but it doesn't fix the problem. Besides, not every game is 'fitted' to have a 'free to play' structure. Some games want to offer you a complete experience from start to end without harassing their players with locked content. It would even destroy their goal and would fail to communicate the game experience to their players.

Only Online
Most MMORPGS are played by being online all the time. To play the game will require an account. This would allow developers to check for 'genuine' versions among their players. A direct counter part is you have to be 'online' and you need an account to play. In the case of MMORPGS being online is one of the 'core' elements of the genre, not particularly designed to counter piracy. Some single player games do require an online component or account to be played. Two barriers players have to deal with if they want to play your game. A connection to the internet and an account would hereby be a major blockade. I remember the discussion about Microsoft claiming their Xbox One would 'always' need a connection to the internet. Something Netflix also requires to be used, however Netflix uses a cloud to pull movies and TV Shows from. A logical reason why you need to be online.

Pay What You Want
It should have occurred to you platforms like "Humble Bundle" and Indie Game Bundles surprised us by making profit. Sometimes these average revenues go even higher compared to fixed prices. There is however a threshold 'triggering' us to at least pay above a certain amount to get the complete bundle. The fact players decide to pay above that amount proves they think it's valuable and meaningful enough to pay the minimum. It does also leave 'space' for players its worth more money than the minimum, a positive thing. It proves players really DO want to pay money for our creative work. Not to forget the players that DON'T think its worth the minimum. They are still able to pay an amount suitable to their 'standards of value' for these games. These players could be proven wrong when they have finished the game and are turned into a large ambassadors investing more money in your second game the next time.

A very interesting part of Humble Bundles is that the 'customers' have the ability to see and decide where the money is going. I remember I bought the "Botanicula Humble Bundle" for $15 (the average threshold at $8) and used the 'sliders' to give the largest share of money to the developer. (Knowing how much effort they have put into it, because I am a developer myself). I don't think I would have 'over payed' if I did not have this option. Assuming this opinion is shared, I think knowing where the money is going is definitely a factor why people 'over pay' these bundles.

Early Access
Offering access to alpha and beta versions of your game could be something interesting since the pirated networks mainly offer finished game experiences. It makes their release system unstable, since you are not promised a time of delivery by a pirater. It would mean they have to upload new versions each time a developer does. The advantage of already having bought early access, gives you priority to this version 'earlier' and than anyone waiting for the pirated version.
If Netflix would offer us the newest films in their catalog when film companies would release, they would beat Piracy by far. Of course this could be considered a problem for Cinemas. If Cinemas do not invest in meaningful and special cinema experiences, Netflix customers able to see the newest films will stay at home. I am not talking about investments such as doing a 3D version of the movie, those improvements are 'too thin' in my opinion.

Kickstarter
I decided to mention Kickstarter, because its the best way to earn actual money without ever losing your game to the pirated network. It does however need great conviction to get players invest up front. This doesn't actually mean you 'earn' money for your game. It supplies funds to 'create' the game. When you are 'over funded' you could say you start to earn money for the game. Because of that possibility I consider it a great way to earn honest money without it ever going through pirated networks and you evaded them for now.

source: I00.i.aliimg.com

Ideas For The Future
So what do I think our future will look like?

Free To Buy
I think more meaningful content focused on enriching the players experience with your game product rather than focusing on profit and money will become more common. Giving players a 'choice' to meet their standard for 'value' will be even more popular. Communicating the use of money to your players will be an important piece of information to convince them with trust in your developer.

Subscribe To Be Free
Taking Netflix as an example, we can assume these models will also appear for games. We have seen "On-Live" and "Gaikai" already taking the first steps in the right direction. Extra complexity has everything to do that games have the 'input' and 'direct feedback' while sending data packages online. Systems as such for games are a little more complex if compared to Netflix. Nonetheless I think we will see more platforms like this.

More Free To Play
Games to play for free will become more and more available. I think a lot of variations on free to play models will be designed and the ways to earn money will become fairer.

Pay What You Want Catalogs
Instead of 'one' bundle being sold this way, it could be complete catalogs of bundles, or standalone games are going to be sold this way. Maybe each one of them will include certain thresholds, but hopefully they do not focus too much on these average prices. This would mean its actually a flexible fixed price, only differing with the possibility to pay more or less.

Transparent Development
To establish trust I think transparent development (getting to know developers, their goals and believes) will help adding 'value' to our games. Only 'Rockstar' is able to keep things secret for years and still outsell anyone. Taking a look at indie-game successes, you can notice nearly all of these developers are personally known as well. That is because these games are made out of their personal passion. This could also mean developers would easily generate a budget on platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo to at least 'create' the game. Customers can put a 'face' on a company, something we could only 'guess' about some developers years ago. I think we rather give money for a game made by someone we know than a corporate company.

source: 1-media-cdn.foolz.us

Concluding
In my opinion the most important message would be "Outsmart piracy in every way possible to make their system unstable and meaningless" beat them on everything that makes it easier for customers to acquire and play our games. If we create easier and affordable doors faster than piracy can work up to, we will most definitely win.

What do you think about piracy? Do you have any suggestions to beat piracy?

/Koen

Find Me On:
Blog: Koendeetman.com
Twitter: @KoenDeetman
Facebook: Koen.Deetman
Company: KeokeNInteractive

PS: For the people suggesting I pirated my games,The picture below is a part of my hardcopy game collection (all originals).Not even showing my digital games collection on Steam.
I think I have contributed royally to the games industry ;-)

Winning the Global Game Jam is cool, but how do you conquer the commercial market with your game? It's not as easy as it sounds. As the former producer of one of GGJ2012 winners, I had the opportunity to experience the process first hand. I would like to share my insights in this blog post.

How Did I Become The Producer?
As the crowning glory on my career as a student Game Development, I did my final internship at a young game company formed by veterans called Gamious. Originally I applied for the Game Design position, however Gamious was confident a 'Producer' role would suit me a lot better.

Gamious is a unique blend of a game developer and game publisher. For every game project they carefully select the most suitable artists, developers and designers. They call themselves the Collaborative Game Company. The Global Game Jam is a great place to find innovative and fresh game concepts. This is where Gamious made contact with the team that made the GGJ12 winning concept 'Size Matters'.

As of February 2013 this game was still in production. I was appointed as producer on 'Size Matters', and could start the engines to accelerate development. There was something special about running the 'Size Matters' team. Normally, teams come together on a physical location. This team, however, operated on distance through Skype calls and such. You could call this a ‘virtual team', which is an extra challenging element for a producer.

Who The Hell Is This Guy?
Let's be clear about one thing. Introducing new people to a project is fine, but in a process that already takes so long to complete, it's more like ‘who is this new guy, and what is he going to ruin in order to delay the game's release?' That's the feeling you get when you gain control over an established team working on Size Matters. Don't get me wrong, I am not a 'shy' guy; on the contrary. But to butt into a team without first taking their unique synergy in consideration simply doesn't help. My approach was to prove to this team that I was to be trusted with their ‘child'... especially because I have the final responsibility as a Producer.

Oh Boy, They're All Programmers?!
I wouldn't say the Size Matters team was balanced, let alone a perfect formation. I think its best explained as the fact that they were a special combination of people, and a great challenge since they were all programmers. I am sure some of you would agree programmers can be very persistent ;). I had to face 'four' of them! I thought it would be wise to get to know them a little bit better. What moves them? How do they work? What do they like? This, because I am a motivator at heart and want to stimulate each one the best way I can. After all, these four programmers managed to create a very special game in 48 hours.

If you want to convince a programmer you're worth it, you better start working your ass off. Surprise them with knowledge you have about development. In my case I had some hands-on experience developing and releasing games in Unity, therefore I could assist in many ways. I was capable to execute and fix elements myself. You can summarize me as a 'jack of all trades'. It helps understand different disciplines like artists, designers, composers and programmers. Not all the team members had an equal amount of time at hand. That's why the development took a considerable amount of time. It was essential to divide the to-do list in small portions.

"Happily" Married
After being accepted as a worthy team member, I was finally able to exert some pressure and get stuff off the ground.

Size Matters is a game heavily leaning on great "levels", especially because the mechanics are very simple. It's a platformer where you can't jump. You control a ball and are able to size it up and down, a concept that's really quite intuitive if you'd ask me. But when I looked at the levels designed by the team and others, it occurred to me we didn't exploit the mechanic enough. It was necessary to create some meaningful level packs, and to implement a curve of difficulty.

Luckily I had an intern companion who in my opinion greatly exploits mechanics like this. I even made some levels myself to showcase different possibilities. Some existing levels were lovely; there were just not enough of them. I remember us eventually discarding 50% of the designed levels, leaving us with 150 great ones.

Opinions Versus Skill
It's not possible to please everyone in the project. Opinions and feedback are great on a certain level, but when you leave too much 'space' it's dangerous for progression. As producer I was always bouncing between different visions. All of them with their best interest for the game. Sometimes it was simply a matter of wanting too much detail. Other times it was a matter of conviction. There were also times it was a matter of skill. As an artist you do not directly argue about code, programmers do not directly have to argue about design... it's best to stick to your profession at times.

What better way to test all these elements at a large conference? It's great to leave some unresolved discussions in the middle, and test them with the target audience. The opinion of the target audience is tantamount to the final decisions concerning a game. In my case, one of the discussions was about how we 'control' the ball in the game. You have a "rolling ability" and a "sizing ability". Some said it was best done under one stick of the gamepad. Others said it was best if you used two sticks. The target audience was very clear on this, two sticks are required to achieve better chances reaching "flow". Results also showed our target audience was definitely a 'hardcore audience' - this judging by the curve of difficulty and their familiarity with gamepads. Any last deliberations concerning the game were hereby resolved.

Polishing Versus Perfection
It's great if you have a healthy perfectionistic drive, it raises the bar of quality. When you are in a polishing phase, extreme perfectionistic behavior could be very annoying and slows down the production process. It's not something you have to get mad about as it's, once again in the best interest of the game.

As a producer you have to deliver a finished product. Endlessly tuning elements does not help finishing it, it delays possible release builds. As a developer it's easy to lose yourself in your own project, because you've been looking at this game for a long time and stuff gets old. Leaving the project for a short while could help you straighten your focus when you return to it. Tiny details could be a serious issue in the team, but in reality they do not matter that much. Some would say not much has changed compared to the original. All these critical changes are hidden within details, performance and design.

Where And How Do We Release This Baby?
When the bugs were fixed, new mechanics were introduced and levels were designed, it was time to think about possible release platforms. Some were convinced this game would work on mobile devices and they were right, provided that controls were tested excessively to reach the amount of control you feel when using an Xbox360 gamepad. This game, of course, was initially intended to play on a console or pc using a gamepad.

The game has a dark, tronlike style. This style is focused at a 'mid-hardcore' audience. You can find these audiences mainly at Steam, XboxLive and Playstation Network. As mobile devices are played on by a large casual audience, and mostly women in the 35+ age range, I was curious if there would be a market for this game on mobile devices. According to some, there exists a 'midcore gamers' audience and the team found it worthwhile to try and reach this mobile market. However, a mobile release for this game should be a 'secondary' platform. In spite of the fact that it's easier to release on mobile platforms, I encouraged them to speak with Microsoft, Sony and Steam to get this game on one of their platforms... especially because it's the 'home' of our target audience, the hardcore gamer.

Aside from these already established consoles, a new android driven mini console market opened its doors. Platforms such as OUYA & Gamestick both armed with gamepads were a great opportunity to release "Size Matters" on. We started talking to OUYA associates and were able to cut a deal, where we could do some cross-promotion. If we want this game to work on larger consoles, OUYA could be a great 'test case' to see if the game works out.We decided the game will debut on OUYA. Logically Steam, iOS and Android releases will follow. The wish to release on XboxLive, Playstation Network, and PSVita, is still part of our roadmap.

Does Size Really Matter?
It does in terms of mechanics and amounts of available level packs. As a name it can be interpreted differently (if you know what I mean). At some point we agreed on the name "Expandaball" an iteration on 'Expanding The Ball'. Still we were not completely satisfied and decided to create a contest addressing this name problem.

We launched a contest this week and offer 5 free levels to play. We also opened up the possibility to come up with your own name for our game. By doing this you will be enclosed within the game's credits, how cool is that?!If you are interested in the outcome of this story, you can find the contest and a playable demo at the following link:

Name The Game (Contest page, trailer & playable demo)
(As of last week the contest is over, the game is now called iO)

/Koen

Find Me On:
Blog: Koendeetman.com
Twitter: @KoenDeetman
Facebook: Koen.Deetman
Company: KeokeNInteractive