Tom Knights

More terrible news today with Payload Studios announcing that they had to make reductions in staff due to the economic climate. You can find the full detail, as well as references for those affected, here: https://lnkd.in/eyKhTqEZ Those of you who are affected by this, please make use of my resources below: 🥇First, reach out to us at People Can Fly Studio, we have many roles open right now in Canada, the UK, Ireland and Europe, please check them out here: https://lnkd.in/eWpV5PbA 🥈Next, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past months I have created 9 (at time of writing) Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines, and I would urge you to check them out, if anything just to see what would be available to you: https://lnkd.in/e2qSeKk6 You can find over 5,600 jobs there. 🥉 Third, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ I urge you to check out the areas in particular about CV support and mentoring, as these will help you no matter what industry you are hailing from or are looking into going next. 🎖 Finally, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #payloadstudios #layoffs

27

Oh wow, you do not hear that often.... The entire staff of Annapurna Interactive, the video-game publishing division of Annapurna studio, resigned this month following a dispute with its owner. Annapurna Interactive President Nathan Gary and his team had been negotiating with Megan Ellison to spin off the video-game division as an independent entity. When Ellison pulled out of the negotiations, Gary and other executives resigned and were followed by around two dozen other staffers. “All 25 members of the Annapurna Interactive team collectively resigned,’’ Gary and the group said in a joint statement. “This was one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make and we did not take this action lightly.” (source: https://lnkd.in/ehvi33Wg) To those who have resigned, if you are looking for new opportunities, please check them out here: 🥇First, reach out to us at People Can Fly Studio, we have many roles open right now in Canada, the UK, Ireland and Europe, please check them out here: https://lnkd.in/eWpV5PbA 🥈Next, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past months I have created 9 (at time of writing) Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines, and I would urge you to check them out, if anything just to see what would be available to you: https://lnkd.in/ePywd2kq You can find over 6,000 jobs there. 🥉 Third, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ I urge you to check out the areas in particular about CV support and mentoring, as these will help you no matter what industry you are hailing from or are looking into going next. 🎖 Finally, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #annapurnainteractive #resignations

167

6 Comments

Not a great weekend: Ballistic Moon (who are currently working on the rebuilt and enhanced Until Dawn) and Toadman Interactive (who have been working on titles such as EvilvEvil, Immortal Unchained, Everquest, Planetside 2, Vermintide 1 & 2) have both announced layoffs in the past few days. I am truly sorry to hear about this, as both studios are amazing. Those of you who are affected by this, please make use of my resources below: 🥇First, reach out to us at People Can Fly Studio, we have many roles open right now in Canada, the UK, Ireland and Europe, please check them out here: https://lnkd.in/eWpV5PbA 🥈Next, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past months I have created 9 (at time of writing) Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines, and I would urge you to check them out, if anything just to see what would be available to you: https://lnkd.in/e2qSeKk6 You can find over 5,600 jobs there. 🥉 Third, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ I urge you to check out the areas in particular about CV support and mentoring, as these will help you no matter what industry you are hailing from or are looking into going next. 🎖 Finally, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #ballisticmoon #toadmaninteractive #layoffs

75

1 Comment

I recently created a section on my site, called One Pagers – https://lnkd.in/eR9EbsKB The idea is to capture big and important areas of my life into one page. I’ve kicked things off with a one pager on How to Invest – https://lnkd.in/eKjpCa-v This has been a ten + year journey for me, with many twists and turns. I’ve finally settled on something straight forward, which will help me achieve my long term financial goals. And importantly, is right for me. I’m not saying this is the only way to invest, or that it will work for you. But, I do think it’s a pretty solid medium risk strategy for how most people might want to think about investing for the future. And in any case, it’s not a bad place to start thinking from. P.S. A gigantic thanks to my friend Paraskevas Avraam. He has been a HUGE help in evolving my own thinking on investing, and helped me become more self aware of my tolerance for risk over the last ten years or so. P.P.S The next one pager I will write will be bringing together my stance for how to train and exercise. Watch this space.

5

2 Comments

The Sumo Group closures really have broken me a bit, and I need to rant about the state of things. I'm sorry if it seems I'm glossing over all the closures before this one, but so many ex-students went there, so many ex-colleagues passed through there, and so my timeline is just filled with people looking for work. We keep talking and talking about the economic factors involved, Brexit and Covid and this and that ... the thing I can't stop thinking of is that in my life I've watched the world slowly pitch into a place of despondent capitalism. Art has become more about making stars and fame than helping people escape and reflect. A drive for "truth" and objectivity has resulted, paradoxically, in people putting more stock in spreadsheets and numbers than people. I can't help but feel that if you're bleating about finance and trade deals and business decisions, you're ignoring the fact that general support for artistic and creative endeavours has declined sharply and is still declining, even in the so-called "art world". Games are ultimately always going to be the first to fall in a culture war against creativity, because games are ultimately and profoundly pointless things. That's the whole majesty of the medium: they make us feel profound feelings, they help us explore our existence by being separate from reality, but to do so they MUST bring us nothing tangible in return. The truth is that our industry will probably bounce back to some degree, but it's not any financial structures or cost systems that will save game development as a medium and an art form - it's a cultural shift to recognise the importance of expressive and explorative subjective art in the world today, and the need to support creative endeavours without the pressure of financial recompense.

91

8 Comments

A small letter to Ubisoft. Ubi has said "𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘦, 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴, 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳-𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴." Come on UBI, we all want you to win, stop being such a silly goose. These two things are at odds with each other and this is why they are struggling, whilst you can marry up a "player-centric approach" whilst providing value to your shareholders, it's the fact these things even exist on an even playing field that they are struggling. Everytime, at least I can think of, that the shareholders pockets are considered as important as the game itself, the game does not do well, or at the very least it does poorly and has to be saved later by ripping all of that stuff that was put in to "make shareholders happy" out of it. Games make significantly more money when people actually want to play them, it's not complicated. So Ubi, as the creator of some of my favorite games, as the place I dreamed to work at as a kid, as a megalith of our industry, please go back to basics. go back and look at what truly made far cry 2 amazing, what made half the planet fall in love with roof jumping assassins and what ultimately led to your gargantuan success, because it's not pleasing shareholders, it's simply making games we all want to play. I know it's nowhere near this simple but for the love of god, we could all be playing the best pirate game ever made if you had focused more on the fun and less on the 1. All the best, your once biggest fan. P.S bin off live service outside of siege, you're clearly not cut out for it.

78

10 Comments

🚨 Can Nostalgia create a path back to games industry growth? 🚨 💡 ⤵ I went to watch Inside Out 2 with my daughter on Saturday (well worth a watch!) and one of the new emotions was Nostalgia. Whilst only playing a minor role for 13 year old Riley in the film, it is an emotion increasingly being felt by publishers and gamers. Whether it be big scale returns of old PC classics or emulator apps cropping up on mobile, it is clear that many players are looking for a Nostalgia hit! But Why? Well for me retro gaming scratches a number of intrinsic needs; 1. Familiarity - An old pair of slippers, moulded to you, is just more comfortable than a shiny pair of Air 1s. 2. Mastery - No one likes being a noob. If players can skip learning and get straight to the fun, they will. 3. Community - Who doesn't love getting the old gang back together... Reminiscing. Laughing. Smiling. From a publisher perspective it makes a lot of sense too. Large amounts of the initial development costs have been sunk already, you have a clear target audience to go after and you have the opportunity to turn back the clock and learn from last time. Nostalgia doesn't have to stunt innovation. In Old School RuneScape we have worked with our community to create entirely new quests, game modes and map expansions whilst staying true to the retro vibe players are looking for. And there are more games coming.... I saw today a 2005 server save of Habbo Hotel is being dusted off and relaunched tomorrow with a community-led voting approach.... sounds familiar 🤔 Good luck Sulake. Hope the launch goes well. So we have Old School RuneScape and now Old School Habbo... Come on Lance Priebe lets get the band back together with some Old School Club Penguin! 🐧 🐧 🐧 What other retro games do we need next? #nostalgia #gaming #mmo #gamesindustry #insight

33

4 Comments

My studio offers Production and Development services. From Consultancy to Full Game Development utilising a team of resources or single contract hires, we can support what you need for your studio. There are some differences though: 🦏 You get myself providing oversight on any single resource or work for hire team package 🦏 We are a UK registered studio allowing you to claim the new VGEC tax relief if you are eligible (VGTR if still to transition over) 🦏 Very competitive and transparent rates, with a new client discount 🦏 Flexible and professional team making you feel like we have always been part of the team 🦏 Can scale where needed delivering across different genres of titles 🦏 If using our Production services you receive a production deep dive for your studio included in the hire 🦏 If using any of our programming team we will include a code review to support the quality of delivery I can provide advice on your projects and ensure you are getting the most out of my team. Working across multiple engines and also providing XR development plus software product delivery services, get in touch to find out more! #indiestudio #gamedev #Indiegames #gamesservices #developmentservices #outsourcing #gamesoutsourcing #gamessupport #gamedevelopment #gamesdevelopment #indiedev #gaming #indiegamesstudio #gamesstudio #codev #technology #games #technologies #AIgamedevelopment #AIgameservices

71

1 Comment

No squatch sightings last weekend...but wow...what a week since. A massively productive one for The Glitch (on all fronts), and apparently some other things happened around the industry as well...huh. Alright...let's-a-go: OMY@C 🤘 ⛏ - Metallica will be in Fortnite soon. The event is called "Metallica: Fuel Fire Fury," and it will kick off on June 22nd. The San Francisco band got on the Fortnite Festival stage yesterday - so if you're curious...hop on in there. RIP Cliff. RIP Eddie. 🍎 - Apple's WWDC was this week...and their formal entry into Ai was the big takeaway. "Apple Intelligence," was the name they landed on. Essentially, it's Ai integrated through every aspect of their various OS's...adding personal context to everything. My first reaction was...do I want that though? On one hand, this feels like the first real indication of where consumer Ai is headed...on the other: privacy? A big part of Apple's presentation of their Ai is "setting a brand-new standard for privacy in Ai." So...they're well aware of the line that's being crossed. Apple's 5-minute video overview (on their site) shows you how "Ai for the rest of us" will work...and it's easy to be cynical about it. A squirrel DJ...cool. Custom emoji's...neat. Still...you should watch it. When app devs finally start building for this though...look out. PREDICTION: iPhone 16 will be the best selling iPhone yet. The 6 sold 222M units total...71.5MM units in it's first 3 months...so we'll know by year's end how this crazy statement is trending. 📺 🎮 - Mike Verdu will soon be leaving his role as VP of Netflix Games (and starting a new role with the company). Speculation is rampant about what this means for the games unit. It's possible that it means...nothing at all. I'm still massively bullish on the gaming opportunity for Netflix. My personal opinion is that transmedia is the biggest, most exciting play here...but I've also heard there are internal headwinds on that. 🤷‍♂️ 🍷 ⛵ - I'm not going to Cannes...again. Maybe some day. I'll drink rosé and look important at home...again. I'm not bitter. 📺 🎮 - Follow Friday: Two nerds with a webcam...that you absolutely should be following if you're in the games business: 1) Chris Melissinos (Principal Evangelist for Amazon Web Services (AWS) - Video interviews with games industry legends, deep retro dives, and discussions on the top news. 2) Alexander Seropian (Founder/CEO of Look North World) - Host of "The Fourth Curtain," is always a headliner event. 📺 - Palm Royale (Apple+). Kristen Wiig as a social climber in 1960's south Florida. So good. Save a grasshopper for me. 🎵 - Spotify's "Daylist" - pull the throttle back a bit with your list names though. "90's Indie Twee Friday Afternoon," might be accurate...but it's embarrassing. 🎮 - It's been 2 weeks since I picked up Hogwarts Legacy and Vampire Survivors...haven't started either yet. THAT's how busy it's been.

43

8 Comments

In the Aftermath of #SeptemberSurge 🎰 I am one of the final candidates for 2 roles now, with 3 of 9 active interviews sending regrets and the the other 4 quietly sitting out in the past few weeks. I also have started talking with 4 new studios, as I cannot afford to stop until there is an offer and my green #opentowork banner comes down. The final payment of government employment insurance benefits to support me and my family during unemployment was deposited in the past week, too. My total application count reached 17 in September, which also resulted in half of my active interviews during this month. Subtracting those 4 applications plus 3 additional immediate rejections, leaves me with applications for 10 studios that I have not heard from, yet, or have already booked me for initial screening appointments in October. 📞 Almost 60% of my September applications alone resulted in scheduling a first phone call. ✔ I completed 13 calls and panel interviews. I finished one design test quickly, and the other I had to <painfully> abandon; after 2.5 weeks of all my extra hours outside childcare and interviews went into it. ...but this is all a lot of work. I know you are working through similar struggles, too. ⚡ Once again I'm in awe of your powers if you've achieved 30+ recent applications or side-door convos with studios in the last 4-8 weeks! That's regardless of your success rate or other numbers. Always take breaks as needed, but I know you can get through this. So keep making the best decisions for you, even if that means you ignore the state of the #gamedev industry. One last reason to celebrate with me today. 👾 Earlier this week at UnrealFest, the playable arcade cabinet version of my game Broken Wing was on display for the public. I am grateful to Ed Bennett, Robert Percival, and Dan Johnson for troubleshooting many of the fellows' games so they would work on the machines... instead of spending that time enjoying the conference! And also for capturing some evidence of Broken Wing being played for my amusement.

44

3 Comments

Another games jobs cut situation today at CI Games as reported by Game Developer's Christopher Kerr and confirmed by the company, saying "This restructure affects approximately 30 roles across production" https://lnkd.in/eHmMFztw Here's where this puts us. I will start exposing these statistics regularly as a reminder of the human cost of these decisions: 100+ games layoffs in 2024 One games layoff situation on average every 1.3 days in 2024 (apologies for getting this inverted in the picture) Over 10,000 games layoffs in 2024 YTD Within 500 cuts of hitting 2023's games layoff number...in May If you were in fact affected by these cuts, I have no words to express my feelings. However, our community has three resource "homes" built to help you: HOME 1 - 🔗 AMIRSATVAT.COM: Our hub offering 15 resources to help you find work, including a fully updated design. - 🔗 Games Org Support Posts: Find a template at AMIRSATVAT.COM (Category 4, Resource 10). If you can provide information from your team (with their consent), I’ll help edit and disseminate the final product, reaching 100,000+ people. These posts are highly effective in increasing visibility and we have done 96 of them. HOME 2 - 🔗 Please visit discord.gg/amirsatvat to join our Discord, a live extension of our community resources. With over 2,700 members, we are in an open-join phase. HOME 3 - 🔗 LinkedIn: Our community here includes over 86,000 members, with 1-3 daily posts offering support and career assistance in the games industry. To our broader community, your involvement makes a difference. Here’s how you can help: - Spread the word: Reshares and comments on this post amplify the visibility of these resources. - Offer support: Utilize the 13 ways listed on AMIRSATVAT.COM under "How You Can Help" to assist, or simply lend an ear or advice on our Discord server. - Join our movement: Volunteer with us at AMIRSATVAT.COM to support our colleagues in the games industry. Our network has facilitated over 1,800 jobs and 33,000 coaching conversations to date and has been visited by over 3,000,000 gamers lifetime. We're committed to providing daily encouragement and support during these challenging times. We will never stop fighting for you!

158

12 Comments

Happy Tuesday everyone! Hope you all had a relaxing and restorative weekend, and safe travels to all those heading to Gamescom 2024! I will unfortunately not be attending so have a safe and fun time for me - in the meantime, here's some news reading for you while you embark on your travels. 1. Unfortunately, kicking things off with another layoff. Ubisoft cut 45 roles between its San Francisco team and Red Storm Entertainment. https://lnkd.in/dRKKSRU4 2. Moving on with some numbers, the PS5 has officially cracked 61 million units sold world wide. https://lnkd.in/d2TkyFXD 3. Bioware has finally put a release date down for "Dragon Age: The Veilguard" with it set to arrive this coming Halloween. https://lnkd.in/dSrFD64K 4. An interesting point from "The Veilguard's" creative director on how Bioware dealt with the failure of "Anthem", in that it taught the studio to "know what you're good at." Personally, I think "Anthem" was salvageable, but I can't pretend I'm not happier to have Dragon Age and Mass Effect be the next games coming from Bioware. https://lnkd.in/dtVR3MRg 5. It feels crazy to note, but Sony Santa Monica, the studio that's been purely a "God Of War" factory most of its existence, is finally working on a new IP. https://lnkd.in/d8TKVz4u 6. Reportedly, the sense within Bungie as to how "Marathon" is going is, well, "not great." Could this be the case and the game really isn't shaping up? Perhaps. Could the developers remaining at Bungie just not be feeling all that great about anything now that they all have more work to do with less people? Also perhaps. I'm just hoping the game is good. https://lnkd.in/dbCgdhPB 7. "Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League" killed more than just a bunch of people in tights, it also killed WB Games revenue for its last quarter. https://lnkd.in/dnS9t3bD 8. Remedy has yet to recoup its development costs from "Alan Wake 2," but I believe this last year was a turning point for the studio. We're on the brink of a new era for Remedy, and I'm excited for it. https://lnkd.in/d6M3aTVT 9. It looks like the dark, story-driven adventure Firesprite is working on is a game based on an established horror franchise. https://lnkd.in/dddm3Hux That's the character count - till next time, have a good Gamescom!

4

Lots of interesting info in this survey for people in the industry at every level. How does your pay compare? Which areas are struggling/thriving? Do take a look, there's some useful insights in there :)

1

Back from seeing a lot of great people at Develop Brighton, which was busy enough to distract me from doing the usual daily recaps. Let's continue, shall we? Today on GamesIndustry.biz... (Thursday, July 11th 2024) 1. Your must read is Chris' opinion piece on yesterday's Xbox Game Pass price hike announcement, exploring how the move reflects the need for profitability, the strength of Xbox's first-party line-up, and how determined Microsoft is to make Game Pass work https://lnkd.in/e5-rqs5R 2. In the news, Shift Up - the South Korean developer behind Stellar Blade - raised $320m with its IPO, which was the largest for a games company from that nation since 2021 https://lnkd.in/eUQzGTNf 3. Splash Damage is the latest studio to face layoffs, with the studio telling us a "small number of roles" will potentially be made redundant following a review of the business. These are said to be mostly operational roles, with development largely unaffected https://lnkd.in/ejA-f6Ri 4. GAME has reportedly dropped yet another part of its offering. After ditching pre-owned, its loyalty scheme, and Xbox All Access, the retailer will now apparently stop taking in-store pre-orders from August 1. The reason? According to staff, it's because the tills have to cope with too much so parent company Frasers Group is making it so GAME stores (or rather concessions) can only sell and refund products https://lnkd.in/ehMY4sg3 5. Tencent is shutting down free-to-play shooter Synced after just one year of it being available to play https://lnkd.in/e4r3C-kP 6. And Embracer has secured a new €600m ($652m) revolving credit facility with a two-year tenor, replacing the existing €420m ($456m) one, due in May 2025 https://lnkd.in/eGNwZC3g There's more news over at www.gamesindustry.biz and make sure you're signed up to the GI Daily to get it all delivered to your inbox: https://lnkd.in/eAkx_zen

14

Definitely agree with Richard here--it echoes a sentiment by a mentor, who taught me that to be a good game developer, you need to learn how to have fun. Let's expand upon it. These are things that can weigh down a lot of folks in our industry, and plenty of other creators on this platform reiterate statistics I need not echo. To navigate the "depressing stuff," know that it is okay to take a breather. Practice self-care, please--job hunting is intense but blocking out twenty minutes for a walk or to watch a show can really change things for the better. A scenario many colleagues often find themselves in is following (the well-meaning) advise of networking and applying. It's something I found myself guilty of as well--and it wasn't until I noticed that my calendar had little to no time left for... well, fun. It was a period of time I also participated in game jams, and looking back on the projects I could tell that had I consumed more media (be it games, shows, movies) my work would have improved by a lot. Find the hope and positivity in creative endeavors--I may be biased, but every day I look forward to creating stories and experiences. It isn't always about work. Looking forward to the next meal, the next walk, the next hike, next networking event, next portfolio update--these are "little big" things that when compounded on have helped me navigate this industry. Hopefully, this little positivity train that Richard started can also help others. I'll end this by showcasing an example of what I meant by how consuming media can nurture the "narrative design" brain: this weekend, I finished watching Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch of Mercury by Studio Sunrise through Crunchyroll. It was a lot of fun, and I highly recommend watching it--as the series progressed, it definitely inspired some ideas on combat systems, cinematic scripts and interactions that I would love to explore someday. Watch a show, have fun even if for thirty-minutes, and celebrate the achievement that is finishing a series--book, television, anime, whatever that may be! What's a show or movie that you all have seen recently? I'd love to hear how other game developers are inspired by other mediums! #gamedev #positivity #hope #narrativedesign #gundam #mecha

17

1 Comment

This week's Video Games Industry Memo took a depressingly timely look at new research exploring the intersection between the far right and video games. In a week where Donald Trump appeared on a Kick stream with an influencer who has previously hosted a leading white supremacist and the UK was rocked by far right rioting, I summarised research which showed: 🚨 Alarmingly lax moderation by Steam, which allows demonstrably far right groups to use its community functions to spread its message and recruit. 📺 Extremist challenges on a range of streaming platforms, with particular concern focusing on Kick's willingness to allow far right activists and consipiracy theorists a platform. 🤝 Constructive research exploring how the industry and the public sector can address challenges via practical partnerships built on trust - rather than reaching for regulation. This week's newsletter also explores the news that Warner Bros is exploring the sale of its game division, highlights some great jobs going (including one at Major League Soccer) and picks out unofficial Love Island simulator The Crush House as the release to watch. Subscribers received Video Games Industry Memo earlier this morning straight to their inbox. Get it sent to yours too by signing up via the link in my bio or by searching on it on Substack or a search engine of your choice.

21

1 Comment

Friends, as interest in our community grows, so have questions about how to use all the game support pieces we provide across our three homes. Let me make things simple for you: * amirsatvat.com is your central hub for everything if in doubt—this includes our 19 game resources and a link back to our community on LinkedIn. It also now includes an open public invite link to join our Discord community. * Think of our three homes this way: HOME #1 - amirsatvat.com - The most impactful game resource site on Earth. Come here for all our permanent resources and references. If you are a job seeker, just take 5 minutes and go through a full cycle of our 6 categories of resources. Make sure you are signed up for everything of interest. HOME #2 - Discord - 5,216 members as of August 12th, 2024. Join here: discord.gg/amirsatvat Discord is our real-time support service, complementing our other two homes. Come here for edifying and fun games chats, industry chat across functions, and the live versions of things like mentorships, CV and portfolio reviews, and more that you can also sign up for, alongside broader networks and more resources, at HOME #1. HOME #3 - LinkedIn - The largest Top Voice Games community on the platform - 94,301 members as of August 12th, 2024 Follow here and become a member: linkedin.com/in/amirsatvat LinkedIn is where you will find my regular daily content, key updates, and more. I will also link my LinkedIn posts in the New LinkedIn post channel on Discord. Together, these three homes interact to provide you with a blanket of comprehensive game support, objectively unmatched anywhere in terms of provable statistical impact on: * Jobs enabled (2,400+) * Game community coaching provided (45,000 sessions and counting) * Number of free game community coaches (2,264) * Consolidated public listing of game job seekers (8.143) * Game jobs listed (14,747 across 3,716 game companies) * New games roles workbook (Now live!) * Game org support posts provided (105 layoff situations aided) * Comprehensive game career resources (general planning and early career packs) * Free LinkedIn Premium 2-month trials provided (485) * Free game event tickets given (455 across 7 events) * Eva Tucker's Support Your Indies, Hailey Rojas's #opentonetwork, Alexander Rehm's MVP resources, and Jordan Mazer's Games Jobs Did I mention everything across all three homes is free forever and delivered without any motive other than wanting to see gamers happy? Why should you have to pay for any of this stuff, especially if you are unemployed? You shouldn't. Gamers, welcome home!

78

13 Comments

Why is it important to understand games? Because they explain how a party turns 35% of the vote in an election into over 400 seats in Parliament. Labour’s win in the UK general election is many things. A sign that voters could not do anything other than boot out a tired and incompetent Conservative Party; a relatively unenthusiastic trade off of steady competence over wider vision; a least worst option that has opened the doors to smaller parties. It’s also a victory for ruthless campaigning. It’s an operational masterclass in which financial and personal resource was directed with strategic precision to get as many Labour MPs over the top as possible. And it is derived from a fundamental truth: elections are games with clear rules. Labour’s strategy - and, to be fair, The Liberal Democrat’s approach - rejected the idealism of “the best vision wins out” to say “how do we win this game within the set rules” to avoid another 2019 style disappointment. It’s an approach that is central to great campaigning. It is also, as Kelly Clancy posits indirectly in her great book Playing With Reality, a perfect example of minmaxing a game: controlling and risking as little as possible from your side while maximising opportunities within the rules (and errors from your opponents). Clancy argues that our failure to understand play and to take it seriously within society means we can’t understand fully the social, cultural and biological drivers that lead us to create the rules based systems that we play within. Elections are therefore one of those rare times where the dynamic of play is surfaced in a way that we can truly see, that we can understand explicitly and that we can talk about easily - demonstrating its immense value in a way little else can. P.S. If you like reading about the surprising ways games reshape society, think about subscribing to my newsletter Video Games Industry Memo. There will be plenty more where this has come from in the year ahead.

72

5 Comments

Today on Project Street: A website and studio makes it official I've been hearing a lot of feedback about the LinkedIn algorithm swallowing up posts, and more than one connection has commented they haven't seen Project Street updates. So now we have a centralized home base for updates and information about the project to live. The site is live now, so please check it out and let me know what you think of the site and the project! https://lnkd.in/gb45xak8 The website took me a while to design because I needed to ideate a game studio with values that reflect my own. I needed to do this because Project Street is only the first installment in what will hopefully be an expanded universe of interconnected games. So I'm also happy to unveil a Game Development Studio I've been working on since I was studying to earn my M.S. in Entertainment Business: Clockwork Heart. Clockwork Heart's mission is to create fun experiences with meaningful impact by vetting original ideas with an engaging community. CWH is just me for now, but I'm hoping to scale the team responsibly while exploring ways for people who work on the project to have ownership of the value they create for the project and studio as a whole. I'll have more foundational work done on the branding, aesthetic, and logo when I have the revenue to support, but here are our values: 1. Value Effort over Results 2. Put People before Profit 3. Embrace Failure with Curiosity

1