What do you get when you take three of the most promising indie RPG developers in mobile gaming and mix them up with two sharp metropolitan games journalists? You get four superb stories that are the stuff of So You Want to Work in Video Games Part II.
As we’ve grown in popularity over the past year, we’ve done more and more business with developers. What’s more, having run this website for a little over a year, I’ve come to know a huge pile of writers (For the uninitiated, a group of writers is known as a pile). The point is we could have asked any number of journalists and devs to join us for this iteration of the So You Want to Work in Video Games series but felt that along with the pros we dealt with in Part I of this series, these five individuals were among the most promising and intriguing game industry professionals we know. Lastly, we chose them because we knew that each of them has something to show you.
These are not rags to riches stories. All of these professionals are in the middle of their careers, but out all the developer emails coming in, out of all of the writers whose names and work cross my desk, out of all of the noobs and journeyman professionals I encounter, these four are among the cream of the cream. If you missed Part I (it along with a host of exclusive new and archived content part and parcel of the premium Magazine section of our site). What we do with So You Want to Work in Video Games is ask games journalists and game developers to tell the story of how they made it in the highly competitive video game industry, and then conclude by imparting advice to Game Industry hopefuls as to how they might best go about getting their foot in the door, gain entrance and stick around for a while.
9th Dawn and Beyond with Valorware’s Charles Cross
First up, we have Indie RPG developer par excellence, Charles Cross. In his early twenties Charles and his UK-based partner, Tom Ruki, are the founders of Valorware, and the developers of the excellent indie RPG, 9th Dawn. It also should be noted that they are right now on the cusp of releasing two very promising RPGs.
Read about Charles successes as well his advice to noobs by clicking here or on his photo >>>
The Indie Road: Getting Into Gaming As a Pair
Then we have the hugely up-and-coming Trese Brothers. Indie RPG developers as well, the pair are responsible for the excellent Star Traders, Templar Assault Elite, Cyber Knights as well as the upcoming Heroes of Steel, the result of a very successful Kickstarter campaign. Andrew Trese recalls how the brothers became successful indie developers and lays out a few precepts for the game industry hopefuls among you.
Read Andrew Trese’s Indie Road here >>>
How to Write Game Reviews or Sounding Smart in a Stupid Medium
For our games journalists this time around, Joe Matar’s written a how to article entitled: How to Write Game reviews: Sounding Smart in a stupid Medium. The article like Joe’s work in general is simultaneously lucid, intelligent and funny. As reviewers go we haven’t yet seen Joe’s equal when it comes to consistently being all three of the above at once.
Last and in no way least, Meg Stivison returns to our series with a unique article on the value of game blogging as a means to entering game journalism. More so than any other HD contributor, Meg writes with the subtle dexterity of an artist. She is also the only writer whose prose often causes me to toss my edits before I send them. Often enough after cutting some passage or sentence, Meg’s intention will creep up on me as I’m getting ready to send it and I’ll end up leaving her work relatively untouched.
You can read Meg’s excellent article here >>>
That bit with Meg doesn’t happen with anyone else, and there have been similar unique moments for each of these professionals as this is a group of rare and promising talent. They are developers and journalists to watch, especially if you are at all interested in joining the video game industry. If on the other hand you’ve shown up for the sole propose of an engaging yarn, you won’t be disappointed as each piece stands on its own as an engaging story as well. Enjoy.
Al Jackson
Editor-in-Chief
Hardcore Droid
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