In search of big ideas at the first ever Develop in Liverpool
It’s famous for being one of Britain’s main coastal cities, its football teams’ are rarely found in the low ranking divisions and the Beatles originated there. Yes, we’re talking about Liverpool. This former dockers’ paradise, filled with historical and architectural marvels as far as the eye can see has become one of Britain’s cultural hotspots.
This November it was the site for the Develop conference’s first northern debut. Developers, software makers and creatives from up and down the country headed to the Arena and Convention Centre, by Albert Dock, to take part in this premiere one-day event. After braving an awkward train journey and almost drowning in the monsoon that awaited us, we arrived to see what all the fuss was about.
The headliner at conference was Michael Denny, the man in charge of all things concerning Sony Worldwide Studios Europe, which includes everything from soon to be released PS3 games, like Heavy Rain, to online innovations and the continued development of Sony’s European-grown franchises, such as SingStar and LittleBigPlanet. In his keynote, Denny said Sony plans to keep pushing innovations server-side. Not needless changes, but meaningful additions to the experience.
Much like the conferences’ sister event, which took place in Brighton earlier this year, digital distribution was on everybody’s lips. In a panel on digital distribution, Mark Morris, managing director of Introversion Software, said, “selling directly to consumers from your own website” is the first step to making an independent development business successful.
At the same panel, Tero Vitala, CEO of RedLynx, said positive reviews benefit developers in the long term with more industry and consumer interest and new opportunities. This is something RedLynx can attest to as their latest game, Trials HD (released on Xbox Live Arcade over the summer), has gone on to receive wide critical and commercial success.
Piracy and how to combat it remain a major consideration for publishers and small start-ups hoping to earn a living in the new digital arena. In order to withhold control from those that would abuse such things, developers such as Infinity Ward and Blizzard have started consolidating their online services into proprietary software systems (such as Blizzard’s own Battle.net). Mark Morris said piracy was a key reason why “everything we do from now on will be multiplayer,” explaining that it’s easier to police online-only games.
Robert Swan, a programmer with 12 years industry experience working across a range of platforms and companies, introduced his new passion, indievision. This new group aims to help indie developers by networking with industry contacts and getting them the support they need. Advice on a number of important business considerations, including publisher relations, invertors, marketing and risk management, are promised. “I think that Xbox Live Indie Games has proved that you can’t make money out of it,” said Swan, who wishes to assist indie gamemakers.
While it wasn’t very news heavy (or games heavy for the matter), the final presentation of the day was taken by Richard Farleigh – the Australian gent from Dragon’s Den. He told the audience a convoluted tale of investor highs and lows.
Team17 were also about and shared some development details on the remake of their nineties cult hit, Alien Breed. And Liverpool-based grease monkeys, Bizarre Creations, had a presentation on lighting – a core part of their upcoming title, Blur. With their Liverpool studio only a short bus ride away, Sony were there in full force and presented talks on SingStar, audio production and their creative services.
Some of the other events that took place include: a look at some of the new techniques for getting the most out of the PlayStation platforms, an analysis of the some of the biggest download services available and which ones are best for different developers, the music industry and digital distribution, and a panel focusing specifically on northern game development.
More than 160 developers and industry partners attended the inaugural conference, from sectors of the industry both large and small. There was little to be seen of Microsoft or Nintendo, but perhaps this will change if the event continues to grow in size over the years. This conference was a great chance to experience the flavour of what’s to come from game development in the north.
To find out more about Develop in Liverpool see the conference’s website.
Aaron Lee
Tags: develop, indie, online, technology
