How I Became A Games Designer, Part Two - bit-tech.net Forums

Tim S · 5th Jan 2008, 06:24

http://www.bit-tech.net/columns/2008...ner_part_two/1

When we left the story, James had just entered in a competition to have his indie game published on Xbox Live. Now, read the second part to find out how he bagged the prize without winning and completed the transition from dishwasher to game designer.

dmak · 5th Jan 2008, 09:47

Congrates on the contract, after I read your first part of this article a while back I looked into your game, and in all honesty it is your game along with Ikaruga coming that have sold the Xbox360 for me. Personally its the arcade titles in my opinion that have made the system a big hit.

CardJoe · 5th Jan 2008, 10:56

It really is great when indie developers start breaking out into the big time. It's even better when there are zombies involved.

I've really started to appreciate the Live Arcade etc on the 360 too. It's great that I can pay a couple of quid for a fantastic game like Golden Axe, The Dishwasher or Sensible Soccer and have hours of fun instead of being forced into paying 35 to 45 quid for a game which often doesn't have the same appeal. My girlfriend loves picking up those types of games too, so it makes the experience all the more rewarding.

acron^ · 5th Jan 2008, 11:15

Congrats. You make it sound so easy.

C-Sniper · 5th Jan 2008, 11:27

Nice column. Congratz on winning and for your contract.

<A88> · 5th Jan 2008, 14:59

We had some guys from Microsoft come to our uni the other week to give a talk about the company, and one of the things they talked about was this competition. They demoed this game there and it was pretty damn impressive, if not a bit gory. People seemed to love it though

.

CardJoe · 5th Jan 2008, 18:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by <A88>

We had some guys from Microsoft come to our uni the other week to give a talk about the company, and one of the things they talked about was this competition. They demoed this game there and it was pretty damn impressive, if not a bit gory. People seemed to love it though

.

Lucky bugger. I wish I'd studied game design etc. Damn Linguistics.

acron^ · 5th Jan 2008, 19:33

Games Design courses aren't as specific as you'd think. They tend to vary significantly from institution to institution and cover a lot of common sense material. James did an MSc in Computer Science which just goes to show...

If you wanna get into games, learn to program. The rest is just fluff.

Wolfe · 5th Jan 2008, 20:09

Is there any way to run this game on a PC platform?

fathom17 · 8th Jan 2008, 09:34

Game design courses are crap. Dont teach you anything actually useful in the industry.

5th Jan 2008, 06:24	#1
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	How I Became A Games Designer, Part Two http://www.bit-tech.net/columns/2008...ner_part_two/1 When we left the story, James had just entered in a competition to have his indie game published on Xbox Live. Now, read the second part to find out how he bagged the prize without winning and completed the transition from dishwasher to game designer. __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

5th Jan 2008, 10:56	#3
CardJoe Player Character bit-tech Staff Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 7,982	It really is great when indie developers start breaking out into the big time. It's even better when there are zombies involved. I've really started to appreciate the Live Arcade etc on the 360 too. It's great that I can pay a couple of quid for a fantastic game like Golden Axe, The Dishwasher or Sensible Soccer and have hours of fun instead of being forced into paying 35 to 45 quid for a game which often doesn't have the same appeal. My girlfriend loves picking up those types of games too, so it makes the experience all the more rewarding. __________________ this is joe's non-bit-tech blog

5th Jan 2008, 11:15	#4
acron^ ePeen++; Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Leamington Spa, UK Posts: 2,921	Congrats. You make it sound so easy. __________________ rage \| portfolio \| email XBL GamerTag: acron0 www.BlitzGamesStudios.co.uk

5th Jan 2008, 14:59	#6
<A88> Trust the Computer Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Bournemouth Posts: 4,797	We had some guys from Microsoft come to our uni the other week to give a talk about the company, and one of the things they talked about was this competition. They demoed this game there and it was pretty damn impressive, if not a bit gory. People seemed to love it though . __________________ TheCounterfit.co.uk Twitter Facebook Last.fm Flickr! FriendFeed

5th Jan 2008, 19:33	#8
acron^ ePeen++; Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Leamington Spa, UK Posts: 2,921	Games Design courses aren't as specific as you'd think. They tend to vary significantly from institution to institution and cover a lot of common sense material. James did an MSc in Computer Science which just goes to show... If you wanna get into games, learn to program. The rest is just fluff. __________________ rage \| portfolio \| email XBL GamerTag: acron0 www.BlitzGamesStudios.co.uk

5th Jan 2008, 09:47	#2
dmak Minimodder Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: canada Posts: 32	Congrates on the contract, after I read your first part of this article a while back I looked into your game, and in all honesty it is your game along with Ikaruga coming that have sold the Xbox360 for me. Personally its the arcade titles in my opinion that have made the system a big hit.

5th Jan 2008, 20:09	#9
Wolfe Hypermodder Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: /root Posts: 768	Is there any way to run this game on a PC platform? __________________ User subject to random acts of normality.

8th Jan 2008, 09:34	#10
fathom17 Multimodder Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: England Posts: 222	Game design courses are crap. Dont teach you anything actually useful in the industry.