This week we wanted to show off one more comic panel, and one of our newest fighters….El Taco De La Noche…we don’t know what that means, but somehow it seems a fitting name for a brain thursty bad-ass luchador zombie fighting machine…enjoy!

This week’s presentation was from Mike Montgomery, our Chief Creative Officer. These are the links that he shared with the team, along with a short explanation:

Seeing as the holidays are almost upon us, I wanted to take a look back at 2011, and also a look forward to 2012.

Before we get to that, I wanted to share a few comments and links with you.

First off, I can’t stress enough the importance of an app icon.

“When browsing the App Store, all you really have to guide you is the name of the app and the icon. Based on those two pieces of information you have to decide if the app seems interesting enough to read more about and possibly download. And so many developers still don’t get this.”

Quote by: Unknown…

Icon Design Best practices:

These are some great resources for any mobile game designer and are well worth the read:

http://www.pixelresort.com/blog/iphone-app-icon-design-best-practises/

http://blog.marketnet.com/index.php/2011/01/14/best-practices-for-iphone-app-icon-design/

Mobile Freemium Games: Women Thrifty, Men Binge:

I came across an interesting article this week, discussing the growing iOS and Android app economy. Did you know that freemium games are leading all app revenue models and now account for more than 65% of app revenue?

Check it out:

http://blog.flurry.com/?Tag=Freemium

iPhone Eye Candy:

It’s not often that I come across an iOS app that makes me stop everything and search for the designer who created the artwork. That was definitely the case with these 2 games.

Mad Rush: http://itunes.apple.com/app/mad-rush/id467931443?mt=8

Jelly Defence: http://itunes.apple.com/app/jelly-defense/id436134867?mt=8

New Releases:

What do I think users will be playing this holiday season? These are my top picks:

Kinectimals:

The popular Microsoft Xbox Kinect game comes to iOS. I predict this will be very popular with the kiddies this year.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kinectimals/id482365195?mt=8

Console/PC:

All I want for Christmas is Skylanders….ok, I couldn’t wait and picked it up the other day.

http://www.skylanders.com/

Rebuild:

Rebuilding a city after the zombie apocalypse and manage resources while defending against undead attacks = Awesome!

http://itunes.apple.com/app/rebuild/id478523928?mt=8

Coming Soon on iOS:

This just looks hilarious and is right up my alley.

http://www.sinorwin.com/

iPhone App Review, 2011 Rewind:

As a mobile game company it is important as we look the future, to also take a look back. This is a list of the iTunes 2011 Rewind of the top 10 apps of 2011. These developers are definitely doing something right. I would love to see what’s under their trees this year.

Top 10 Paid iPhone Apps (2011)

1. Angry Birds
2. Fruit Ninja
3. Angry Birds Seasons
4. Cut the Rope
5. Tiny Wings
6. Angry Birds Rio
7. Words With Friends
8. Camera+
9. Doodle Jump
10. Plants Vs. Zombies

Top 10 Free iPhone Apps (2011)

1. Facebook
2. Pandora Radio
3. Words With Friends Free
4. Angry Birds Free
5. Skype
6. Netflix
7. Angry Birds Rio Free
8. Groupon
9. Fruit Ninja Lite
10. Twitter

Top 10 Grossing iPhone Apps (2011)

1. Tap Zoo
2. Angry Birds
3. Zombie Farm
4. Tap Pet Hotel
5. Poker by Zynga
6. Smurfs’ Village
7. Texas Poker
8. Haypi kingdom
9. Infinity Blade
10. Motion X GPS Drive

We thought we would share a few photos so you can see where all of the creative magic happens…

This week’s presentation was from Sara Bine, our Web Developer. These are the links that she shared with the team, along with a short explanation:

Sixth Sense, created by Pranav Mistry, is a prototype for a wearable gestural interface which allows its user to interface with a mobile computer via natural hand gestures. The “screen” is projected onto surfaces such as walls, desks, and even human skin, and recognizes hand gestures based on colored markers on the tips of the wearer’s fingers. It can take pictures, check flight information, read emails, make phone calls, and provide live video feed as a supplement to newspaper stories.
http://www.pranavmistry.com/projects/sixthsense/

iCam is a conceptualized DSLR substitute in the form of an iPhone case, created by Italian designer Antonio De Rosa. It snaps on to your iPhone to provide an interchangeable lens system, extra hardware controls, and a front-facing display for self-portraits. Although it doesn’t exist yet, the design is slick and certainly feasible enough to someday become a reality.
http://www.adr-studio.it/site/?page_id=14&album=1&gallery=44

This week’s presentation was from Asma Inam, one of our UI designers. These are the links that she shared with the team, along with a short explanation:

The Playgrounds 2009 Opening Titles, is by far one of my favourite and most memorable pieces that I’ve come across.

The entire opening titles shows an intense brawl, that’s in slow motion, between two guys. What’s awesome about this piece, is how the creators executed it. Instead of using a High-speed camera to get the slow-motion effect, they use a camera mapping technique in 3D to execute the look and feel. The end result of this piece is brilliant, playful and definitely one not many will not forget – I sure didn’t forget it.

http://vimeo.com/7160598

The short film titled “Move” is a great example of how important concept is in anything that you do. The creators of this short film took a simple concept of movement and applied it to tell a beautiful story. All the footage was taken on a trip with 3 buddies, in 44 days, in 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, with 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage.

All in all a beautiful and compelling final piece.

http://vimeo.com/27246366

This week’s presentation was from Andrew Miller, one of our UI designers. These are the links that he shared with the team, along with a short explanation:

The Guide to the App Galaxy by Google is a site designed to help developers through the process of launching an app and building a mobile business. The site lists many key points in starting a mobile business as well as sustaining it. Some of the topics discussed are promoting, earning, and evaluating your app. Some of our staff have found this site to be a great learning tool and have used it to gain a better understanding of the process used to create apps.

http://www.guidetotheappgalaxy.com/

Art of the Title displays movie and tv title design via video links, interviews, creator notes and user comments. You can find all of your favorite movie and tv title sequences from Dexter to The Shining, this site has a great collection of some really inspirational work.

http://www.artofthetitle.com/

To start this off one of our team members created a poster for a local Movember party, and we couldn’t help but share this with the world.

For more information about Movember and how you can register or make a donation please visit the links below:

US: http://us.movember.com/

CAN: http://ca.movember.com/

Our goal is to continue creating highly entertaining mobile experiences for your iOS devices, and we’ll be expanding into Android and other devices as well. You’ll get the same quality and execution that you’ve come to expect from us, but behind the scenes it’ll be even easier for us to work together. Once the merger is complete we’ll have 11 people in the US and Canada all working to make the most enjoyable things we can for you.

Over the coming year we’re going to be focusing a lot more on our titles like My Pet Zombie, and we can’t wait to start telling you all about them (but we will wait to tell you ).

Thanks for helping us get to this point, and please join us as we continue to create fun ways to entertain yourself on all your mobile devices.

Actually, our new look is something we’ve been working on for quite a while now. It was created to help emphasize our focus on light hearted fun for everyone. We’re here when you need a quick smile or just want an enjoyable game to get your mind off things for a while. Our new site better features our games, and that’s what we want to bring to you first.

Both the logo and the new website were designed by Monty (our Chief Creative Officer) and his team over at Projkt Nine.

We hope you like the new look, but please let us know as we’d love to hear from you.

Thanks!

-Brian, Seth and Monty

In my role on the IGDA Board of Directors I have been helping to craft our response to this unfortunate situation and that response has just been posted on our website and e-mailed out to our membership. I’m very glad the IGDA has been able to take a stand on this issue, though I realize issuing a statement is just one step in the process.I also realize there are some people who feel we should have responded sooner, but this statement has the full support of the entire board of directors, a cross-section of industry representatives from studio heads to independent developers. The process to gain that support takes time and I am extremely happy that we were able to do this so quickly.

The IGDA’s 2nd Quality of Life white paper is currently being written based on the data gleaned from our survey run last November. The final paper is slated to be released in Q2 2010. The IGDA released our first Quality of Life white paper in 2004 a few months after “EA_Spouse” posted a similar letter condemning the practices of EA and what those practices were doing to her then boyfriend. (As an aside EA_Spouse has since been outed as Erin Hoffman and she serves with me on the Board of Directors). That original paper showed a significant number of people in the industry were forced to endure crunch time of 65+ hours/week in their jobs. While our latest research shows that most developers today rarely crunch and feel that their studios work to avoid it, the scenario described by Rockstar Wives is still far too common in our industry.

It is my firm belief that the management at studios which engage in these activities are operating in a reprehensible and unethical manner.

I believe this regardless of whether the practices are disclosed during the interviewing and hiring process (as is purportedly the case at Epic), or whether it happens as a result of poor management and planning (as may be the case with Rockstar San Diego).

I myself have worked in a studio that enforced 80+ hour weeks with no end in sight, and while I was able to quit and move on to a better company more respectful of their employees, not everyone has that option. It is very easy for people outside of the situation to simply say “if you don’t like it then quit” but the reality is that for many people, particularly those with a family to support, are not in a position where that is possible, especially in today’s economic climate.

I have also been on the other side as a manager with people working 70+ hour weeks for me, and I know just how easy it is to slip into these scenarios. Fortunately in my situation we were able to keep this time down to just a couple months, and I believe I maintained the respect and appreciation of the people working for me. Ultimately people decide to make games for a living because they want to be here, and most are willing to put in a reasonable amount of extra time and effort to do what they love, and to make their games great. Issues like these come to a head when management loses respect for their employees and fails to appreciate the contributions and sacrifices their employees are making on their behalf.

My heart goes out to all those currently working under these types of conditions. Know that these studios are not the norm and it is absolutely possible to work in the game industry for a company that respects you enough as a person to allow you live a proper life. If there’s anything I can do to help either as an individual or as a member of the IGDA Board of Directors please let me know!

Sincerely,

Brian Robbins
Founder, Riptide Games
Member IGDA Board of Directors