A Focus on Irish Games Developers - bitSmith Games

Wavioli

DamoElDiablo wrote: »

Loving the look of the game guys, joined in with the kickstarter yesterday, really hope it works out! Great seeing Irish developers getting noticed, and making stuff that genuinely looks interesting and fun!

Thanks Damo, its a tough ride, we're really going to have to double down on our efforts in the next two weeks to get there, thanks for your support and spread the word!

Kilgore__Trout

Hi guys,

Thanks for dropping in to talk about your experiences of game development. FranknJohn looks like it’s shaping up nicely. Really like the head switching mechanic, reminds me a little of Kid Chameeon on the Mega Drive.

I’m hoping to release my first game (PC) in a few weeks, and was hoping you might be able to give me some advice on getting the word out. I spent around 2 weeks contacting reviewers (both traditional and youtube based), and got a reasonable amount of interest in the release version.

What I’m most curious about is whether it’s worth spending a few more days attempting to get in touch with a few people who didn’t get back to me again, and if so, what approach to take. I fully understand games journalists get a lot of contact from devs, way more than they can cover. The first email I sent announced the game, gave a link to a preview copy, essential information about the game, and offered a review copy when it is available. Any suggestions?

HellSpark

Hi everyone my name is Michael fitzpatrick, I am 31 and have been programming in various languages since I was about 21 so about ten years, I have been experimenting with different games engines since then too mainly blitz basic and later unreal engine 3 also recently unreal engine 4, I love games it's always been extremely interesting to me to see how they have evolved and also where the technology might go in the future. I really enjoy learning all paths of game development and that's how I spend a lot of my free time, which being unemployed I have plenty of. I am also fairly good at 3d modelling both characters and props/environments. I have been offered jobs but they never really panned out, you can see a sample of my work on YouTube search for "mike fitzpatrick unreal engine", I am actually looking for people to help me make a game, however I can't pay you but can offer you a fair cut of the profits( royalties) I have a rough idea of what I would like to do but am also open to suggestions as far as story and game play go, my ultimate goal is to set up a proper studio so if the game did well enough I'd be looking into doing that. If that ever happened there would be paid positions available(salary). Am mainly looking for people in Dublin area. I think it's important to meet face to face when working on a project, email and Skype just isn't good enough. I'm also willing to help teach people how to do the things necessary in order to make a game but it will require an investment of time on your side, I can teach you how to use zbrush, 3d studio max, photo shop (all totally necessary for modern games) and I can teach you how to program and use games engines such as unreal engine four. If you already have some expertise then the roles i would be looking to fill would be, programmer, modeller, concept artist, sound technician, engine specialist( unreal engine 4) maybe a story writer not sure, however if you have an interest in games and would like to be part of a project that depending on how much effort you put in has the potential of launching your career in the games industry, please send me a message and we can organise having a chat I'm not gonna take on the role of being your boss I'm looking for a friend who has as much interest as I do in making some cash doing something they enjoy, check out my YouTube videos to see the level of quality I can bring to a project everything in those videos was made and coded by me the only thing I didn't make was the music

Wavioli

Kilgore__Trout wrote: »

Hi guys,

Thanks for dropping in to talk about your experiences of game development. FranknJohn looks like it’s shaping up nicely. Really like the head switching mechanic, reminds me a little of Kid Chameeon on the Mega Drive.

I’m hoping to release my first game (PC) in a few weeks, and was hoping you might be able to give me some advice on getting the word out. I spent around 2 weeks contacting reviewers (both traditional and youtube based), and got a reasonable amount of interest in the release version.

What I’m most curious about is whether it’s worth spending a few more days attempting to get in touch with a few people who didn’t get back to me again, and if so, what approach to take. I fully understand games journalists get a lot of contact from devs, way more than they can cover. The first email I sent announced the game, gave a link to a preview copy, essential information about the game, and offered a review copy when it is available. Any suggestions?

Yeah its absolutely worth giving them another go. Just be nice :P

This is worth a read also http://gillen.cream.org/wordpress_html/assorted-essays/how-to-use-and-abuse-the-games-press-and-how-the-games-press-wants-to-use-and-abuse-you/

Dav

I just want to say a big thank you to all of the bitSmith Team who were active here and sharing their experiences and expertise.

Please, if you haven't already, consider throwing a few quid at their FrankNJohn Kickstarter, I can't wait to see what comes of the entire game (and I need to talk to you about making a head that maps to the mouse controls so you can really swing it around rather than just attacking in the direction on a thumb stick!).

Tomorrow we'll have some of the team from Gone Gaming (and yes, that's our own DeVore/Tom Murphy's company). Thank you everyone for joining in.

Lone Stone

Looks cool good luck with it !

Manutd_4life

Can someone give me the address and email for bitSmith studios in Dublin. Can't seem to find it online

Wambo

To anybody who is wondering about marketing. My best advice would be to go on social media. Youtube, twitter, facebook etc. This is how all the big internet business get more sales on their products. I'll use a few examples. Elagto (a company who sell capture cards for recording gameplay) Scuff controllers (a company who make customized controllers for pro gaming)

What these companies do is actually a pretty smart tactic. They sponsor and have big these youtubers advertise their products for them through their videos etc. Think of it, if you have say, 20 youtubers (All of them having over 100k subscribers) advertise your product for you. You can only imagine the attention that your product will get if their viewers find it convincing enough.

Anyways, good luck getting the game out there lads! Be great to see the gaming scene in ireland grow