So you want to be a game developer?

[Wampus]

So you want to be a game developer? Click here...

I know just how this guy feels. 

How about you?

[erico]

I have a degree in cinema (in brasil), so I think I´m in a worse position then that guy

Nice joke, I would skip the angry birds success though, as that seems to me as the biggest scum ever.
Money for advertisement was probably higher then what they got at the end by ripping other people´s game of.

If it was soo successful, how come nobody is doing it again?
What is the name of the company that produced it? the coder? the artists?

As for minecraft, it is a lot easier to fill those questions.

But yeah, I just wish I could live coding games.
I guess quantity is more important for beginners.

Hard to find successful indie game developers that took that first game out of the hat and voila!
Better but some 10 year work on it to see some results.

[Ian Price]

Nice joke, I would skip the angry birds success though, as that seems to me as the biggest scum ever.
Money for advertisement was probably higher then what they got at the end by ripping other people´s game of.

Actually the game came before the advertising. And the game was pretty original from the outset. It's only been downloaded 500 million times (according to Wiki), so maybe they haven't quite reached their intended audience?

If it was soo successful, how come nobody is doing it again?

Someone's not paying attention to the App stores... There are countless re-imaginings

What is the name of the company that produced it? the coder? the artists?

Rovio

As for minecraft, it is a lot easier to fill those questions.

For most people it's not. Minecraft does not appeal to the mass-market/general public in the same way that Angry Birds does.

[BdR]

Nice joke, I would skip the angry birds success though, as that seems to me as the biggest scum ever.
Money for advertisement was probably higher then what they got at the end by ripping other people´s game of.

If it was soo successful, how come nobody is doing it again?
What is the name of the company that produced it? the coder? the artists?

Funny and recognisable (except for the college drop out part)

Actually the creators of "Crush the Castle", the game "Angry Birds" ripped off sort of, has in turn ripped off the cutesy graphics style in their new game "Siege Hero".

[erico]

Actually the game came before the advertising. And the game was pretty original from the outset. It's only been downloaded 500 million times (according to Wiki), so maybe they haven't quite reached their intended audience?

Someone's not paying attention to the App stores... There are countless re-imaginings

Before the ´normal´ advertisement yes. But to pay journalists and channels to advertise it disguised as news is quite more expensive and is a common practice and I think it is the way they did.

About the store I don´t mean the countless re-imagines, I mean rovio itself, or other companies with the same kind of advertisement money. If that formula is a successful one how come not even rovio is producing another game?
I think with the reach they already have with a crap game, whatever they produce now, would reach a lot of people.
They could easily become a channel itself, similar to Notch, as if he says ´frog´ a million people jump.
But, similar to atari on the old days, we don´t quite know who coded, who did art, etc.
I don´t see those people getting interview on game channels and sites.

But seriously, do you really think a company comes out of nothing with an average game and suddenly it sells millions?
By the way I see the industry from back in the days to today, no one did it. You actually do a few games before you get to something that strives, and usually, that something is quite unique, never an average thing.
Not to count that, banks won´t just let millions pour into your company account just like that.

I would not be surprised if rovio is a subsidiary of a subsidiary from apple. taking this whole angry bird propaganda helped launch the myth of becoming millionaire from day to nite working for the appstore.
Their site looks like a general-company-template, even with the blondie girl portrait Mc chick of the week.

Their story smells bad for me, things don´t quite fit.

[Ian Price]

Why should Rovio concentrate on a new game (and who says they aren't?

If I was selling countless millions of a product that showed no signs of stopping, I wouldn't jump onto a new project - I'd continue to milk it until it was dead. Rovio ARE likely to be working on new projects - they just haven't announced them.

You may not like Angry Birds (that's just a hunch based on your posts), but millions do. Are they all wrong for continuing to want more? I'm not a big fan myself, but I still purchased a couple of their games. At least they continue to support their older versions, giving updates and new levels regularly. There are worse devs out there.

Any game that sells 500million copies is not an average game. It's not great in any respect - gfx, sfx or even gameplay, but it's not just an "average game", but it has something to keep people playing and buying further installments.

As for the Rovio using "Review farm" advertising - you speak as though this is fact. Has this been confirmed or is this just you speculating?

As for Rovio being a subsidiary of Apple, it's possible but do you believe that everyone who bought the game did so purely because of your supposed "Review Farm" reviews and not recommendations from friends or demo versions? People don't generally buy into hype for long periods of time. The truth soon dawns and people come to their senses. This game came out three years ago - the "hype" bubble still hasn't burst. i think that speaks volumes.

I'm not trying to defend Rovio, as I really don't give a shit about them, but your posts appear to be nothing but speculation and negative output. They got very,very lucky, with a non-crap game. Whether they invested money in un-ethical practices or not is irrelevant. Nobody cares as long as they're enjoying the game. And let's face it, 59p (or whatever) is feck all to pay for a game.

[erico]

Yep my post is pure speculation and negative.

I don´t really believe in things that sprout from nothing to millions just like that.
I didn´t mean review-farm, I meant payed content for journalists so it hypes things up, there are never proves for that, just once in a while it spills out, but rarely and only when a channel is dying.
Like the CU-amiga review on street fighter II ages ago, and so many others wee see nowadays.

By seen indies and other companies reaching such achievement is usually by lots of work, and I mean a few titles at least, never a single hit.

It is just that rovio´s ways sound too suspicious for me to be true.

Sure angry birds success is popularly noted and for the joke in the first post, it will reach a wider audience, but I believe there are other better examples of success on the game field, examples made over hard work, not luck / lottery.

[Ian Price]

Sure angry birds success is popularly noted and for the joke in the first post, it will reach a wider audience, but I believe there are other better examples of success on the game field, examples made over hard work, not luck / lottery.

Unfortunately, creating a best selling app IS generally down to luck (or having a massive wad to blow on advertising). Just having a good game nowadays isn't enough. You've got to get it out there and make sure it's seen by the masses. This takes luck and/or money.

I don't think the gaming press can be swayed in quite the same way that the old mags could. There are too many and word soon gets around whether a game is good or bad. The internet has opened things right up now. I don't doubt for a second that major review sites are sent promos and junkets, but (I would hope) the majority aren't severely influenced by them the way they used to be. With sites like MetaCritic around it's pretty easy to view reviews from the major sites and see any disparity.

[erico]

yep, the internet made jaba on magazines/site quite hard to pull.

I think the ratings are not possible to be too far apart anymore without the place loosing credibility.
it´like some may say: game is total crap, others may say: game is crap but there are goods into it.
While long ago you would get: game is total crap, othere saying: game is revolutionary!

Not too long ago people and sites flammed the return of duke nuken quite hard.
I remember even the company treated some sites to not send their future products for pre-review anymore and not advertise in them
but I didn´t read through the outcome of this all.

I still don´t believe creating a successful game is down to luck, I prefer to think it is down to perseverance and lots of work.
Money of course cuts time.