Talk:Video game developer

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[edit] List of Developers → seperate article?

I don't really like the huge list of notable game development companies. Shouldn't that be an article unto itself? Or is there a way to format it better? -Frecklefoot

[edit] Why is the list non-standard?

I was wondering—why is the list of game developers non-standard. Why don't we have it formatted like a standard list. This is what it would look like (sample):

[edit] A

[edit] B

Is that so bad? Or, conversely, we could format it like this:

A

B

If you look at the wikicode, you'll see that the headings are labelled like this:
'''A''' in the second list instead of like this:
= = =A= = = in the first list. If we did it that way, we could bring back the table of contents, which I think is very useful (done away with because the huge list of A, B, C for developers looked ugly). —Frecklefoot 14:41, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)

For the record, I've just switched the list of developers to using the standard wiki list markup instead of the HTML kludge it was using. --Paul A 01:06, 15 Mar 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Llamasoft/Minter controversy

In response to a recent removal of Llamasoft and Jeff Minter from the list (which I reverted): to those that might hold the view that Minter and his company are totally unimportant, please consider the large number of game programmers, not to mention computer programmers in general, who have been, and continue to be, inspired by his work. By that account, Minter is not "notable in his own mind only", and should absolutely be on the list if it is to have any semblance of completeness. "Notable" is not measured only by commercial size or impact. --Wernher 06:04, 30 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I agree that impact is not measured by commercial success. Look at Danielle Bunten Berry, who only garned meager success for her seminal, groundbreaking games. However, I still feel Minter's work was neither groundbreaking nor influencial. Personally, I've never heard of Llamasoft or any its games. But, a lot of people seem to feel otherwise (see this discussion—I guess he's only big in the UK), so I'm okay with leaving Llamasoft in the list. However, Jeff Minter, influential or not is a person and not a video game development company, so I took his name off the list. We have a list of important game designers, so someone can add his name there if they want to. I guess he is a programmer too? I guess his name could go on that list instead. But it doesn't belong in the list of game development companies. If we did include it, we'd have to include many other luminaries such as Sid Meier, Danielle Bunten Berry and many other people who aren't companies. Peace. :-) —Frecklefoot 14:56, Mar 30, 2004 (UTC)
OK, this seems reasonable. Thanks for reminding me of the more suitable related articles. FYI, Minter was and still is quite a celeb in Western European C64 demo scene / game programming circles outside the UK as well -- mostly in Germany and Scandinavia I guess, where Commodore dominated the home computer market. Many of the guys who 'grew up' with the VIC and 64 in the early-to-mid 80s will still instinctively buy whatever product the Yak makes on any platform, and we usually do not get disappointed. :-] --Wernher 19:05, 30 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Okay, I guess his is popular in all of Europe then, not just the UK :-). Wow, are people really still developing for the C64? Great system, but isn't it a tad out of date (it's not even made anymore)? I loved my C64, but my wife made me give it away when we moved in 1996. —Frecklefoot 19:18, Mar 30, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] List of developers again

Does anyone else think the List of developers should be broken off into a seperate article? If no one objects, I'll do it in the next few days. — Frecklefoot | Talk 16:21, Sep 10, 2004 (UTC)

Yes, please do. --Mrwojo 19:59, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Okay, done. Boy, the article sure looks puny without that list, doesn't it? :-S — Frecklefoot | Talk 19:28, Sep 13, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] video game producer

And what's a video game producer? For example, upcoming Xbox 360 game Prey is developed by Human Heads Studios, produced by 3D Realms and published by 2k games. Thanks, --Abdull 13:43, 28 May 2005 (UTC)

You can see game producer for that information (it's linked in the article). However, I'm not sure of the use of the term as you describe above. Perhaps Human Heads is doing the actual development and 3D Realms is working as creative directors, much like a movie producer does. HTH — Frecklefoot | Talk 02:18, May 30, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] external link: gcdb?

I created and run a website called "Game Company Database" (http://www.gcdb.org). Is it appropriate to put this under "External Links"? What are the guidelines on this? (Sorry, wikipedia newb here.)

Anyone?

Only very appropriate sites do we allow for addition. While this is somewhat un-wiki, in the past, this article has been blasted by spam links (links to commercial sites). While your site looks interesting, I don't think it warrants addition to the extern links section, but you can wait for others to respond. — Frecklefoot | Talk 05:00, 17 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Actual game developers

Are any game developers working on this article? - JNighthawk 02:35, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Yep - I work for Midway Studios in Austin, TX, (home of BlackSite: Area 51 and others). I keep the article on my watchlist to try to ensure it doesn't totally derail - but one has to be wary of WP:NOR and WP:COI when editing things that are that close to you personally so I'm not likely to take a lead role. If anyone has any specific questions about the business, feel free to direct them to my talk page and I'll do what I can to answer. SteveBaker 14:28, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
I started this article (well, restarted it from where it was—it was a mess and made no sense). I was a video game developer, then I left the industry, having worked in for seven years. Now I'm back to being a video game developer, and not much has changed. Everything in this article is still true.
By the way, SteveBaker, one of your colleagues just left your studio to join us here. Sorry! — Frecklefσσt | Talk 19:19, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Typo

There is a typo in the second paragraph. It says an unusual few "does" other kind... Should be "do" or something. Can't really edit but someone do it. = mecasaehsucasa 02:22, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

Got it, thanks. I don't know why you so you couldn't edit, though. — Frecklefoot | Talk 16:47, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Independant studios

I'm not sure if independant studios are 'small'. In the article Third-party_developer, it states valve software as an independant developer, but it is hardly small. -mickiscoole Talk 00:21, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Quality of Life citation.

Here's a link, [1]
As you can see, there's a survey on the bottom of the page, which says "Percent receiving additional compensation: 71%". That would corroborate the phrase "Many developers have some sort of profit-sharing plan to reward their employees". Each page in the article is about a class of game development, including testers. Only the testers are below 50% in additional compensation, making the average rate 64%. (Xkuei 20:53, 24 September 2007 (UTC))

Thanks for the cite! I added it to the article. — Frecklefσσt | Talk 22:42, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] UserBox

I created a UserBox for people who are game developers:

Code Result Users
{{User:SteveBaker/Userboxes/GameDeveloper}}
Image:SmallPong.png This user is a Video game developer.
Transclusions

Enjoy! SteveBaker 01:44, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

This is similar to:
game
dev		 This user is interested in computer and video game development.


but more specific. Thanks! — Frecklefσσt | Talk 15:00, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Everyday Shooter

In order to prevent an edit war, I'm going to bring up the issue here. Under the "Independent developers" section of the article, we have the paragraph:

With the advent of digital distribution of inexpensive games on current game consoles, it is now becoming possible for independent developers to make direct deals with console manufacturers to get wide distribution for their games.

At the end, Kvn8907 tacked on this phrase:

(such as Everyday Shooter, a downloadable PS3 game entirely created by a single person).

I removed it, because it just looks like blatant spam for someone's pet game. Plus, the phrase "entirely created by a single person" has nothing to do with the topic of the paragraph and makes it sound like it was added by the author of the game himself, boasting about how "k00l" he is. So, can we come to an agreement here? I think the paragraph is clear without the phrase. Does anyone else think the phrase belongs, or can we get rid of it completely? — Frecklefσσt | Talk 13:48, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Hey Einstein. I didn't add that phrase. But I guess you didn't care to look in the History section, because you know, that'd be so much work. Nope, don't bother to look down the revision list and find it was A. Swearengen who "tacked [it] on". I just reverted your edit.
Regardless, it's still a good example. I'm sure A. Swearengen didn't create the game, and after it was featured in the October issue of Game Informer, it became nationally recognized by readers of the magazine. Also, it's not self-advertisement, it's a good example of the growing trend of independent developers, in this case a game that became popular, even if it was only created by one person. If anything, I think the parentheses aren't necessary, and that maybe the GI article should be added as a reference for the line.
Your laziness in not looking at the article's history log, as well as your laziness in not looking up the game, which if you did you'd realize it's not just self-advertisement and actually is important and a good example, is disturbing. You should really be more informed and look into things more before accusing something as just being "spam". Go tan your foot, Frecklefoot. Kevin 14:44, 8 November 2007 (UTC)
Okay, it looks like I caught you on a bad day. First off, I apologize for stating that you added the line, when you just reverted my removal of it. My bad.
As for everything else I said, I stand by it. Singling out one game—even one like Everyday Shooter—just looks like blatant spam, especially while mentioning it was created by one person. And I did look at the Everyday Shooter article. I even edited it. I'm waiting to hear from other editors. — Frecklefσσt | Talk 16:35, 8 November 2007 (UTC)
Alright. Thanks for apologizing for saying I added it. That really annoyed me.
I still say the context of the line don't lend itself to spam. It's a good example of the topic, and the fact that was made by only one person is relivent too, and a good foil for the article because a large number of games tend to be made by companies with dozens of employees.
It would be nice to get another editor's opinion on it, though it'd just be a 3rd opinion, and not necessarily any more correct than what either of us have said. It all depends on the strength of that person's argument. In the mean time, I'll take off the parenthesis for the entry, and try to find a reference for it to at least perhaps give it a little more credit, though I concede that references alone don't necessarily make information relivent to a topic.
Kevin 13:57, 9 November 2007 (UTC)