Game talk

This is the catch-all category for stuff about games and game design. It easily makes up the vast majority of the site’s content. If you are looking for something specific, I highly recommend looking into the tags used on the site instead. They can narrow down the hunt immensely.

  • O’Reilly picks up, reprints A Theory of Fun

    Hours Categories Game talk, Writing
    Comments 15 Comments

    I now have official word that A Theory of Fun for Game Design will be published by O’Reilly. They are going back to press on it pretty much immediately to meet the giant pile of backorders (like, well over a thousand), so hopefully everyone waiting for a copy will be able to get one for less than $200 in the next few months.

    I am thrilled about this — it’s new life for the book, and the possibility of even some fresh momentum. I get asked about getting a hold of copies every single week, sometimes multiple times.

    The question has also come up regarding updates. I’d have to re-read it closely, but although there have been lots of studies that have come out since publication that seem to reinforce the points the book makes, I haven’t seen anything to substantially alter the thrust of the argument. You?

    Also, if there were any sort of update, the commonest thing I have heard requests for is to actually have endnote numbers, since it is used a lot in academia. Anything else? (No, not color cartoons…)

  • How well can indie games do?

    Hours Categories Game talk
    Comments 15 Comments

    No, not top sellers like Braid. Ordinary indies that don’t manage to hit the top of the charts or land an XBLA deal — the stuff that comes and goes on the web portals, made by a guy or gal in the evenings working on it, often churning out hidden object games or another match-3 game because they have to.

    Well, Grey Alien Games, an indie developer themselves, has culled some answers from a rather noisy thread on Indiegamer.

    Cliffski, of Positech Games, made $189,423 in 2008 from direct sales…

    Princec of Puppygames posted his direct sales figures and they told a very different story. He has made $11993 from 1073 units sold in 2008.

    Siread of New Star Games posted his Direct Sales stats of $43246 and 2545 units.

    SteveZ of Blue Tea Games shared his direct sales figures for 2008 of $1299 and 72 units sold… This then prompted a surprise turnaround from SteveZ who posted his Big Fish Games royalty report from November 2008. It showed $20837 in royalties in just a single month!!

    Separately, but prompted by that post, we see the CEO of Anawiki Games posting

    My sales stats for 2008: $21,650.09 and 1152 units. I have released 6 games so far on PC, Mac and Linux (not all of them have Linux versions). Two of them have been released in 2008.

    One takeaway here — it’s hard work, and for most, you can’t quit your day job. But there’s plenty of opportunity if you are determined and skillful.

  • Congressman proposes cigarette-style warning label on games

    Hours Categories Game talk
    Comments 24 Comments

    Last week, Democrat Rep. Joe Baca introduced “The Video Game Health Labeling Act of 2009.” If passed, the bill would create a new rule in the Consumer Product Safety Commission forcing developers to affix a warning on any game rated Teen or higher. The label would read, “WARNING: Excessive exposure to violent video games and other violent media has been linked to aggressive behavior.”

    via Don’t pretend video games are as bad as cigarettes | The Digital Home – CNET News.

    Link to his press release, which incorrectly asserts that the link between violent video games and increased aggression in young people is solidly established. (To be more precise, there’s plenty of evidence for emotional arousal, not for a more sensible definition of aggression).

    Link to his proposed bill. Looks like it would only apply to games rated T or higher. Not that that makes this any more sensible. Section 1c seems aimed at handling digital distribution cases, whilst ignoring that most digitally distributed games are not, in fact, rated by the ESRB. Oops.

    Baca (D-Rialto) represents California’s 43rd District. So now you know who to write to and call.

  • Saving mud history

    Hours Categories Game talk
    Comments 11 Comments

    After the whole Threshold deal with Wikipedia and losing mud history, a new Wiki was created on Wikia in order to preserve mud history.

    I’ve put up a detailed LegendMUD entry with a bunch of citations. Yeah, it’s a conflict of interest, and I am sure I am misremembering stuff or letting my bias show. But it’s also the only way some of this history will be preserved.(And wow, I had forgotten a lot of this stuff!)

    Go there, and jump in, and help. And hey, if people do the hard work of finding sources and the like here, then some articles can maybe migrate back to Wikipedia.

  • The taxman cometh, part umpteen

    Hours Categories Game talk
    Comments 4 Comments

    By one estimate, about $1 billion in real dollars changed hands in computer-based environments called ‘virtual worlds’ in 2005. … IRS employees have been unable to respond to taxpayer inquiries about how to report transactions associated with them. Economic activities in virtual worlds may present an emerging area of tax noncompliance, in part because the IRS has not provided guidance about whether and how taxpayers should report such activities. To improve voluntary tax compliance, the National Taxpayer Advocate recommends that the IRS issue guidance addressing how taxpayers should report economic activities in virtual worlds.

    — from the report summary (PDF) of this year’s recommendations from the national taxpayer advocate.

    Via Kotaku, Slashdot, WaPo…

    The whole thing is large, if you want to read about everything else beyond virtual worlds.