MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Back in 2001, brothers Peter and Robert Curry joined the games industry working at developer Sidhe Interactive. The duo went on to work on titles such as Adidas Football Fever, Rugby League and Gripshift. After a five-year stint, along with fellow programmer Lloyd Weehuizen, they set up an indie studio …
Read More »D-Pad’s Jo-Remi Madsen discusses Owlboy’s nine years of development
In 2011, indie development studio D-Pad released a trailer for their upcoming title, Owlboy. The video promised a release date that same year for the indie pixel-art game. It would be another five years before Owlboy launched on digital storefronts. Oh, we made so many mistakes,” programmer Jo-Remi Madsen laughs. …
Read More »Kiz Studios on toys, mobile and free-to-play
Back in 2007, the team that would become Kiz Studios had a crazy idea. The developers wanted to merge the disparate sectors of physical toys and video games. Sound familiar? It should, as the studio was somewhat ahead of the curve in the toys-to-life format, which has seen players such …
Read More »Developer Drool on why Thumper is not a rhythm title
One of the most interesting rhythm games to hit the market in the recent memory is Thumper from two-man studio Drool. Rather than having consumers play along to pop and rock hits, like in Guitar Hero, Thumper has players hitting buttons sparingly to a soundtrack that can only be described …
Read More »Tarsier Studios: ‘Little Nightmares isn’t a triple-A game’
One of the most talked-about projects at this year’s Gamescom was Tarsier Studios’ Little Nightmares. The title had previously been announced under the title Hunger, but at the Cologne show it was revealed under a new name with Bandai Namco handling publishing duties. Little Nightmares is described by its developer …
Read More »Variable State on the making of Virginia
One of the most interesting games to launch in the last few months has been the surreal and narrative-driven Virginia. The title was made by Variable State, the indie studio set up by Jonathan Burroughs and Terry Kenny who met while working at DeepMind – the machine-learning AI start-up purchased …
Read More »Virginia TV show or film would make ‘complete sense’, says developer
The co-creator of hit indie game Virginia says he would love to see it become a TV show or film. The story-driven title, by developer Variable State, draws heavy inspiration from 1990s TV programmes such as Twin Peaks and The X-Files. Thus, co-creator Jonathan Burroughs says it makes ‘complete sense’ …
Read More »Reigns developer wasn’t sure he could make a good free-to-play game
Designer Franois Alliot is a relative newcomer to video games. Having studied literature at university, he was a consultant for several years, but decided to give game development a shot after he moved to the UK with his partner in 2013. Forming developer Nerial, Alliot started with mobile puzzle game …
Read More »BillyGoat Entertainment on the Galactic Empire, Kickstarter and the Brexit
It’s often strange how life imitates art. For example, Irish indie developer BillyGoat Entertainment’s latest game, adventure title Her Majesty’s SPIFFING, tells the story of a Britain increasingly isolated from the rest of the world… actually, developer Will Barr can probably do a better job of explaining the game. The …
Read More »PaperSeven on Blackwood Crossing, Gamescom 2016’s UK Game of the Show
A rabbit-headed man and a traumatic life experience: that could sum up Donnie Darko. Or even Alice in Wonderland. But now it also summarises an equally unusual game: Blackwood Crossing. The title, which features its own weird and intriguing rabbit character, won UKIE’s Game of the Show at Gamescom — …
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