MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Between them, Alex Zoro and Andy Wafer have an impressive CV. Zoro began his career at Rare, before co-founding DJ Hero studio Freestyle Games in 2002. Wafer, meanwhile, started off at Codemasters before moving over to Freestyle, where he did digital and online work for Activision in the UK. The …
Read More »How Prison Architect freed Introversion Software
Though most will know the studio for its work on the hugely successful Prison Architect, the history of Introversion Software makes for some very hard reading. The studio was started by a group of friends at Imperial College London: Mark Morris, Chris Delay and Thomas Arundel. Delay had been working …
Read More »Reus developer Abbey Games on escaping the basement
Like many development studios, Holland-based Abbey Games was set up by a group of friends who shared a passion for video games. The four founders, Adriaan Jansen, Bas Zalmstra, Maarten Wiedenhof and Manuel Kerssemakers met as prospective game programmers at University of Utrecht and decided to set up a studio …
Read More »The indie developer taking on the galactic threat of triple-A
I have always wanted to make a sci-fi universe.” Die-hard sci-fi fan and Australian developer Paul Turbett’s dream found itself a reality in complex spaceship-battling PC title Star Hammer: The Vanguard Prophecy. Released by studio Black Lab Games earlier this year to positive reviews, the game allows players to deploy …
Read More »Robot wars: Free-to-play PC hit Robocraft, two years after launch
From The Terminator to Titanfall, it’s impossible to escape the impending robot apocalypse. Droids have long held a special place in the public conscience – just look at the recent excitement surrounding the reveal of a toy based on upcoming Star Wars gizmo BB-8. So it’s perhaps little surprise to …
Read More »Having a blast in VR
Cut the blue wire. No, wait – cut the red wire.” It’s a cinematic shortcut for tension, a clichd moment of indecision that inspires collective intake of breath no matter how many times you hear the words uttered. From James Bond halting the timer at 0:07 seconds in Goldfinger to …
Read More »Funktronic Labs on getting the Funk out of triple-A
Funktronic Labs started life in 2013. It was founded by Eddie Lee and Kalin, veterans of Japanese studio Q-Games, who had worked on Q’s PixelJunk series for PlayStation platforms and PC. Initially based in Japan, Funktronic soon moved to LA. Now the duo are preparing to release their first title, …
Read More »‘The name ‘game’ seems to be really limiting for this amazing media’
Games have grown up. It’s hard to imagine someone deconstructing the psychological processes behind Mario’s Goomba-squishing habits (probably an Oedipus complex) 30 years ago, but in 2015 there are countless articles, YouTube videos and even books about the deeper meaning behind titles, their characters and environments. This has led to …
Read More »His Story: Sam Barlow on creating one of this year’s most talked-about indie hits, Her Story
You fire up the dusty old computer. A search engine fizzes through the scan lines. In the text box, a single word: MURDER. Below, five videos, each with the same woman. You play one. The women begins to tell her story. This is how the latest game from former Silent …
Read More »One indie’s journey to resurrect local multiplayer
In 2012, Geraldo Nascimento left his native Portugal to move to the UK in order to develop games. A life-long gamer, Nascimento started doing software consultancy work during his Master’s degree in computer science at the University of Lisbon, and realised he wanted to make games. But he says going …
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