Mr.Smoozles goes missing

Sorry, there will not be a new strip today. Busy week. Honest.

Perception

One of the difficulties that writers have faced within the industry is making developers and publishers see the value of hiring someone who specialises in the field. Last night I found it really hard work trying to explain to a group of non-gamers just what it is that a writer does in a game.

I attended a network meeting for a group of local business people, which for the main part didn't really have any relelvance to me (though one guy provided online backup solutions, which looked good value). However, while talking to some of those gathered, I had to struggle with the ideas they had in their heads of a game writer being a programmer, or of writing the blurb on the back of the box or in the manual, or of working on story-boards.

Ah well...

Businesses playing games

There is an excellent My Turn article over at Game Daily Biz, which discusses the making of time for playing games for businesses who work in the games industry. It also discusses the advantages of hiring professionals who also have a passion for games.

"There are far too many people out there treating this as just another industry, a place to go to work at and come home from. I believe if we made a conscious effort to look for those that played games regularly we would see cost benefits that would outweigh the price of the extended search."

"They did several independent productivity studies which showed a relaxed and happy work force was much more productive than one that was stressed out."

While I think that the majority of us would agree with what David Tractenberg says in principle, it's good to be reminded that we should see the importance of getting the people with passion involved in our development.

It brought to mind an animator who I once worked with who came over from the "traditional" animation industry. When his work was criticised for not being right, he said, "But it's only a game."

In with a bad lot, Tim?

Gamespot has an item on Majesco being sued by some of its own shareholders.

Is it just me, or is there a regular stream of stories, lately, that give the impression that they are all involved in dodgy dealings of one kind or another? If they aren't guilty of dubious workforce practices or not paying their developers, it seems that they lie to their own sharholders.

It's at times like this that I've got to wonder if the games industry is really worth all the hassle.

Pants on Fire

Rockstar seem to have been caught telling porkies, according to this item on Eurogamer.

To be honest, I'm more astounded by the fact that the critics of the unlockable sex scene seem to be more concerned with this than the glorification of crime and murder that the GTA games revel in. Weird set of priorities if you ask me.

Problem fixed

It seems that it wasn't the problem I thought it was and the site is now back.

Temporary problems

The Juniper Games site is down at the moment. I'm hoping to return it to full working order very shortly.

Daft as a Doughnut

Russian Astrologer Sues Nasa

I somehow missed this weirdness earlier in the week. I'm astounded at the stupidity that abounds in the world. Perhaps Nasa and all the world's astronomers should sue astrologers for blatant lies and deception?

Competition clarification

"All the finalists will receive a signed print of a Steve Ince version of their character – worth the entry fee on its own!"

It seems that the above attempt at humour in the competition announcement has caused a little confusion in some quarters. So, just to be clear, I need to state that there is NO ENTRY FEE! You can enter as many times as you wish for free, providing you qualify under the rules.

Juniper Games competition

Has life become a tad predictable?

Do days stretch into oblivion?

Is something... missing... but you just don’t know what?

Juniper Games has just the thing to put sparkle in your eyes, create envy in your friends and better yet - alarm your family!

Yes, you can play a part in the development of a new game! Pick your jaw off the floor and pop those retinas back – yep, you read that right, it’s...

Juniper Games’ Design a Character Competition!

Juniper Games is pleased to announce a contest, where you, the player, have the chance to get a character of your own design into a game.

And not just ANY game –

We are talking about, Juniper Crescent – The Sapphire Claw!

It’s simple. Go to the Juniper games or participating gaming site and read the rules, design your character, send it in and wait anxiously. It’s easy, fun and free! That’s right, you can enter as many times as you like, for free! Providing you follow the rules.

After the closing date the panel will go through the mountains of entries and pick those we feel deserve to go onto the next round – then it is up to the public. All the finalists will be published at the Juniper Games website and participating gaming sites for public view for 2 weeks. All the finalists will receive a signed print of a Steve Ince version of their character – worth the entry fee on its own!

Everyone will then be able to vote [only once] on their favourite entry. At the end of the voting period – we’ll count them all up and see who won [it could be you!]. The winning entry will be used by us to create a brand new character in the interactive thriller...

Juniper Crescent – The Sapphire Claw!

And not only is entering and voting easy AND free! – it gets better! The winner will see their name at the end of a long list of tiny scrolling credits at the end of the amazing game...

Juniper Crescent – The Sapphire Claw!

Yes! Fame is just around the corner! Enter today and avoid the rush!

To read the rules and how to enter, click here.

London bombings

While it comes as no surprise that London has been targetted by terrorists, I'm still apalled at the way some people have such a disregard of human life just for their political ends.

Working in the games industry means that I have lots of contacts who live and/or work in the London area and I hope that their lives have not been badly traumatised by the awful events.

Worse still is the fact that my partner, June, has a daughter who's been working in London, so she was (and still is) very upset that her life was threatened in this way. Thankfully she's not been directly affected by the bombings, but is still very shook up by it all.

Something that strikes me as particularly bad is that London has just been successful in securing the Olympics for the year 2012, an occasion that we all see as bringing together a wide variety of nations in a huge global event. I can't help but feel that it's no coincidence that today's tragedy followed directly on from this positive news.

Apologies

Two of my sites have been down for the last couple of days. This was due to a serious server problem at the company that provides my hosting. I've just finished putting everything back in place, so I'm hoping that everthing works okay. Please let me know if you find any problems such as broken links or missing graphics.

As I have lots of writing work to do this week, the return of Mr. Smoozles will be delayed until next week. Sorry.

A small hiatus

There is no Mr. Smoozles today. The stresses of last week got to me a little and I decided to have a completely relaxing weekend and so didn't do the strips for this week.

The worries surrounding my father played heavily on my mind, particularly as I have an appointment at the hospital myself tomorrow for a kidney scan. I'm hoping that they can find something they can treat as I've been feeling really under the weather for a while now and so far there has been no clear indication what it might be. So, fingers crossed that they get to the bottom of what's wrong, but that it's not to serious.

It's odd how the problems and misfortunes of others can increase the magnitude of our own problems at times. Worrying about our parents' ill-health can remind us of our own mortality...