Whew! That’s a lot of people. The Shanghai Vykarian/Spicy team has grown to over 120 people since the start of the year.
If you’re looking for a great photographer in Shanghai, be sure to check out Primo’s website or email him at primoyuan [at] 163.com – He took some great pictures of our office and staff and comes highly recommended.
No one loves a good ‘ol American McGee interview more than American McGee. Or so I thought until I did an interview with the guys over at ShackNews. Chris Faylor and his readers really enjoy their American McGee. Case in point:
Every morning, American McGee’s American McGee arises from the American McGee’s bed and slips on his American McGee slippers. After performing ablutions in a traditional twisted manner, he enjoys American McGee Coffee in his American McGee cup. Then after sorting his American McGee mail, he American McGee’s to the American McGee for some solid American McGee with American McGee. American McGee, American McGee, American McGee.
Whew! That’s almost too much of me. Or so I thought until I read a new interview with American McGee … er, me … this morning.
Shack: Thanks for taking the time out of your hectic schedule for us, American.
American McGee: Thanks Chris Faylor! American McGee is happy to participate in American McGee’s interview. Interviews give American McGee a chance to talk about American McGee’s projects, American McGee’s ideas, and American McGee’s American McGee. American McGee
Ok, Ok… even I’m starting to get tired of myself now. But, if you think you can handle more then head over and check out the article. During the interview Chris and I discuss cool things like “Grimm”, bad things like “Bad Day LA”, and what would happen if I made a game with Sid Meier.
And regarding all this nonsense about my name, as I’ve said many times before – none of “me” would exist were it not for the talented people I’m surrounded by. Pictured below are a few of those people – the core team of Spicy Horse in Shanghai. From left to right are: Yeng Jin Hui (Technical Director), Zhang Lie (Programmer), Zhao Xhu (Level Designer), Ludo Piraud (Level Designer), Wim Coveliers (Producer), me, Nancy Tang (Office Manager), Yuan Shao Feng (Concept Artist), Ken Wong (Art Director), Ben Kerstlake (Concept Artist), Tang Ye Ping (Animation Director), and Jiang Sheng (Technical Artist). The Spicy Horse team in Shanghai. From left to right are: Yeng Jin Hui (Technical Director), Zhang Lie (Programmer), Zhao Xhu (Level Designer), Ludo Piraud (Level Designer), Wim Coveliers (Producer), American McGee (Creative Director), Nancy Tang (Office Manager), Yuan Shao Feng (Concept Artist), Ken Wong (Art Director), Ben Kerstlake (Concept Artist), Tang Ye Ping (Animation Director), and Jiang Sheng (Technical Artist). Not pictured: Adam Lang (CTO), Marwin So (Game Designer), and Tomasz Dzierza (Level Designer), RJ Berg (US Executive Producer), Dawn Ellis-Lopez (US Community Manager).
Just yesterday I posted a note regarding the reemergence of downloadable content – and the relationship of this to casual games. Today I read the following news on Gamasutra:
Telltale Gets $6 Million In Investments
Sam & Max developers Telltale Games have announced the closing of a six million dollar round of investments from Granite and IDG Ventures which it says will be used for new titles, new platforms, and ramped up staffing.
In a statement, Telltale said the funding would be used to “drive growth in existing and new episodic series, allowing the company to continue defining and refining new models for interactive entertainment and digital distribution.”
Awesome! Congratulations to Telltale on this news. So far they’ve come closer than anyone to proving the episodic model. It’ll be interesting to watch what they do next. (My advice: smaller games!) (Not that they asked for it.)
AP News is featuring an article discussing the (re-)emergence of mainstream downloadable game content. Mention is made of GameTap and the Grimm project.
GRIMM FUTURE: If you want a really enormous library of classic games, however, you need to turn on your PC and head over to GameTap. The online service owned by Turner Broadcasting System has more than 850 titles, 30 of which are free to play even if you don’t pay the subscription fee.
However, GameTap’s biggest success over the past year has come from its commitment to episodic games — namely, the six-episode run of Telltale Games'”Sam & Max.” GameTap’s next episodic project is even more ambitious: “American McGee’s Grimm” is a 24-chapter game scheduled to launch in the first half of 2008. It’s an action-adventure game based on the Grimm brothers’ fairy tales, from Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin to Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood.
I find this whole “downloadable games is the wave of the future” topic slightly amusing given the fact that so much of the games industry was built on the success of digital distribution in its 1st era – 15 years ago.
During my time at id Software I witnessed firsthand the power of online distribution. At one point a guy from the University of Wisconsin contacted us to tell us exactly how our games were impacting the school. When a new id game demo was released this guy could see bandwidth usage go up dramatically. And he’d charted an opposite graph – student test scores, which dropped significantly in the weeks after a demo or game release.
Something I often wonder: Why did publishers move away from online distribution of all their PC products? Why the 10+ year hiatus, which for most publishers continues? Was it internet bandwidth vs. product size? Addiction to “box product”? Love of revenue generation (never mind profit)? Consolidation of market (the monopolistic sort)? Well, whatever the reasons – I for one am happy to see the trend reversing.
My business partner and friend Xin Chung was recently interviewed for an feature article over at China Economic Review. He talks about his company Vykarian and its place in the China outsource scene. Spicy Horse is using Vykarian to build all art assets for the Grimm project. It’s an interesting setup since we’re all in the same building – a sort of in-house outsourcing.
If weapons manufacturing is illegal in China, don’t tell Xin Chung. The American opened his first “munitions factory” in Shanghai last October and plans to open many more.
His company, Vykarian, is an outsourcing studio that builds labor-intensive artwork for game publishers in the US, supplying the ammunition for a global war in the video games industry.
“We provide the bullets” for the wars over market share for video game consoles, online-games and in-game advertising, he said.
Vykarian is one of many studios cropping up across China as rising costs push the industry to outsource.
You can read the full article here.
At some future date I hope to write more about the unique relationship that exists between Spicy and Vyk – and why we think this new model suits episodic game production.
Until this week I was hesitant to talk about any of the cool things going on over at GameTap. I figured some astute readers might sense a deal in the making before the announcement. But now that we’re “official” I’m free to espouse my enthusiasm for their service and their model.
First up – 1UP.com is reporting some cool new offerings from GameTap – including Mac support (yay!) and ad-supported “free to play games”.
GameTap VP Talks New Service Offerings
New changes include Mac compatibility and free-to-play Internet multiplayer for specific titlesFor a while now, gamers have considered GameTap to be a service something along the lines of “the NetFlix of Video Games”…which is to say, an online subscription-based service where a user pays a monthly fee for the privilege of grazing off a wide menu of classic and modern-era titles.
Come May 31st however, GameTap will be adding a few new guns to its arsenal in the form of “free-to-play” advertising-supported games… and not just Bejewelled or Space Invaders either. GameTap’s new “Challenge Play” feature will offer up ‘for the hardcore’ titles like Metal Slug and Tomb Raider: Legend free to play with no subscription fee beyond the banner ads. The company has plans to release 30 games initially at launch, with more released periodically as the service ramps up.