October 27, 2007

Me being snarky at the Austin Game Developer's Conference

I was just minding my own business not drinking the free beer when these three zombies accosted me.

GameZombie.tv Presents Heatwave Interactive

Posted Oct 21, 2007

GameZombie.tv Presents a conversation with Anthony Castoro, Founder of Heatwave Interactive, "an entertainment software company whose mission is to create original, character-based games that unite the power of online gaming with the excitement of traditional video games." Filmed at the 2007 Austin Game Developer's Conference. VJ'd by Jessica Frasher, Music by Chris Bates, Produced by Spencer Striker, Edited by Tyler Mager

Posted by SunSword at 03:01 AM | Comments (0)

February 22, 2007

Holy EMAIL OVERFLOW, Batman!

Well, the press release got some attention. Here's a shortlist...

Game Daily
Gamasutra
MMORPG.com
Fierce Game Biz
Kotaku
Games Industry.biz

Lots of legitimate questions have been raised, particularly regarding the concept of bringing the excitement of single player games to online games. I'll post more about that in a bit, but first I have a ton of work for my current client to finish, then I've got all the interviews, job inquiries, business dev, GDC meetings and general spam to get through. Wee!

Posted by SunSword at 11:45 PM | Comments (0)

February 21, 2007

In response to MMO != VC

Over on Terra Nova.com, Dan Hunter commented on the sad state of funding for online games.

It frustrated me because the MMO development as a whole suffers from the scarcity of funding. Since I consult for one of the few venture groups that actually funds MMOs, I get a chance to talk to MMO developers. Specifically, I spend a lot of time hearing one thing: “VCs and I.Banks don’t get us.” I am a gamer. I want people to understand the industry. I want my colleagues to get the MMO industry, so they fund good games.

Obviously, this topic keenly interests me, as Heatwave is considering taking on some external funding in the near future.

Part of the problem is that MMO Companies aren't great at having a strong business plan that VC's can understand. I think this is widely true of the game industry in general. It's also a hit driven business and unlikely to support as many companies as the forecasted market numbers may indicate at first blush.

To complicate matters, it's really really difficult to find developers that actually have all of the right components put together for a likely successful liquidation event. I can't fathom the number of online games that I evaluated last year that were non-starters within 15 minutes. Wrong idea, wrong staff, wrong business plan, wrong technology...

MMOGs are hard. Perhaps the hardest thing to do in this business. I imagine it's a scary place for traditional VC's and banks to find success. I can only think of one major exit of an MMO company, and that's EA's purchase of Mythic. I'm sure there are others, and yes the industry is young.

In all honesty, I've assumed from the beginning that we'd get our funding from non-traditional sources. Mostly because of the kinds of stories many game developers tell of the difficulties associated with traditional VC's. Control issues and external pressures don't always mesh well with a highly creative, iterative process. So it's possible the problem goes both ways. MMO companies may not want VC funding in the first place.

Well, anyway, there's my perspective. I too bemoan the lack of funding in the game industry, but I also believe that it takes a special kind of backer to understand what it takes to find success in the MMO business. If you know any of those folks, feel free to send 'em my way ;).

Posted by SunSword at 01:46 AM | Comments (0)

February 18, 2007

I really was a child actor...if you call it acting...

So...remember THIS post?

Well...just to confirm some of what I said...I give you me. In the '80s. *sigh*

Here's the link.

Will I ever live this down? No.
The commercial was an all day shoot, the day before thanksgiving. I got paid $600 to do it, and most of the day was spent playing video games while waiting for the crew to setup the shot. The most memorable thing about this experience? Playing the stand up version of "Discs of Tron" for about 2 straight hours. Awesome.

Posted by SunSword at 09:32 PM | Comments (1)

February 11, 2007

Heatwave lights up the East Coast

Since my previous post, Heatwave has already passed some very important milestones. We've made an offer to our first employee and landed our first business contract, all in the space of a few days!

I can't discuss our first client, but I have to say, I'm pleased to see Heatwave already in the black. Assuming our first offer of employment is accepted, I think Heatwave is off to a solid start.

I'd like to thank all the well wishers for their thoughts and advice on this new venture. I know some people may have felt a little "left out of the loop" because they didn't know what I was up to, and I'm sorry for that. I'm also flattered, as I didn't know so many people cared :). Allow me to explain. We have a very specific business plan that focuses on our first client and then bringing on a more sizeable staff. My experiences in the past have made me extremely aware of the affect my actions can have on other people's lives, and I'm going to make damned sure that we're only getting people excited and involved if I'm supremely confident that the time is right. That might seem like an obvious thing to say, but I've learned that even the slightest hint or indication can be taken by some as reality or a promise. Maybe that's because my enthusiasm is so infectious, but nevertheless, I've had to very carefully keep my expressions of excitement limited to a close group of trusted people.

However, now I can talk about it! So, if you're interested in working with me at Heatwave or just talking about what we're up to, you can always drop me a note at anthony ||at|| heat wave interactive . com. While we're not aggressively hiring at the moment, I'm always happy to talk with people who are passionate about making games.

Today, I'm in Philadelphia, PA. I've never been to the city of brotherly love before. So far it's been great. We came in from New York on Friday night, having completed some business there. We took the train from Manhattan and arrived in Philly about an hour later. The 30th street train station is an amazing structure. I'm staying with my business partner and Heatwave Co-founder, Donn Clendenon, in his very cool converted fire house.

The weekend has been spent working on business plans and taking care of miscelleanous corporate details, such as a failed attempt to open up our corporate bank accounts. I suppose that's a tale worth retelling...

We went to an American bank here in Philly on Saturday. The lobby was a little busier than expected, but that gave us the opportunity to watch Barack Obama's speech while we sat in the waiting area. It was very interesting to watch the other bank patrons watch the speech. Regardless of your political bent, or your thoughts about him as a candidate, Barack is undeniably an interesting person to watch. As Senator Obama delivered his speech, the bank, which had been blubbling with the hubub of tellers and customers doing business, grew noticebly quiet. Donn looked at me to get my attention and then pointed over to the teller desk where everyone in line had turned to watch Barack talk about his entry into the presidential race.

I have to wonder if that will be something worth remembering, or just an interesting mote of experience, soon forgotten.

Oh, and it was a failed attempt because after all that waiting, the computer systems went down and never came back online. We'll have to try again on Monday...

Anyway, the "big thing" we've been discussing this week is the Heatwave Interactive Inc. logo.

More on that tomorrow...

Posted by SunSword at 09:36 PM | Comments (0)

February 07, 2007

I feel a Heatwave comin' on... (holy cr4p, what have I done???)

The past two or three weeks have been incredibly busy and because of the nature of that bustle, I really haven't had much opportunity to talk about what I'm up to.

Last month, I blathered on about how I was going to make some big changes and things are going to change. I was serious.

Last Friday was my last day at Codemasters. I've started a new company called "Heatwave Interactive, Inc.", as a vehicle to bring great games to the masses and "right" some of the "wrongs" in the games business. Currently, Heatwave only has a few employees, but we've already landed our first contract for a major client. What are these great games you ask? How about those wrongs? And can I really do anything about them?

I'll get to that. But first, let me give you a little context for what my life is like in this transition.

Codemasters & England. My family and I really are very sad to be leaving England so soon. We firmly expected to be there at least three years. We've had an amazing time. We've travelled all over the UK and parts of Europe. The kids have been exposed to a very different way of life, and as a family we've had to adapt to some pretty significant lifestyle changes (family of six with no car for 5 months...). The people at Codemasters are fantastic. Along with some great professional contacts, I've made what I hope are lifelong friends. In particular, the Codemasters Online Gaming (COG) division are an inspiring group of people, weathering very difficult conditions for a vision they believe in (not to mention holding up the banner for online gaming's "forgotten continent").

I'll miss you guys.

Heatwave & Austin. So, as of Friday, I've been phoneless and computerless. That's been rough. Particularly since I've been travelling quite a bit in the US. At the moment I'm in Austin, Texas doing a little house shopping and getting some fundamentals set up. Over the next month or so, I'll move the family and get into the groove with our new client. Also, we've got some corporate branding coming along, and of course a website (the current domain is purely a placeholder). I've got a great partner in a gentlemen named Donn Clendenon, who I've been working with "virtually" for a while. We've also got some very talented folks working with us on various parts of the business. I can't wait to tell you a little more about that in the near future. So far, it's been one of the coolest experiences of my creative/professional life.

Over the next week, I'll address the "rights" and "wrongs," the reason for choosing Austin as our base of operations, the motivations behind the name "Heatwave Interactive," and other various topics as they arise.

Anyway, this is just a quick update to say, I'm dead serious. I'm a man with a family of six with a good salary and I just quit my job. Serious coolness will result.

One last thing, I'm considering doing some "reality blogging" about what it's like to start a new company, or more specifically, a new game company. There are a lot of implications to consider, but very few people have an idea of what it's like to start a business, much less a game company. Am I crazy enough to let the Intarweb vote on our company logo? What about which game project we should do first? Is that pure insanity? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about that.

Peace.

Posted by SunSword at 03:19 PM | Comments (1)

January 08, 2007

ArchLord gains momentum

Regardless of whether ArchLord is the game for you, it is an interesting product to watch from an industry perspective. Since we announced in December that no subscription is required to play, the average number of players in the game each night is up by 100% (that is to say it has doubled). Why is this significant?

First, it is significant because the game still requires a box purchase. The game's increase in users is tightly connected to new accounts which have come from box sales. Why is this important? Primarily because retail was in significant decline only a month or two after launch. The new pricing model has had (in the very short period thus far) a significant REAL impact on retail sales and active server populations.

Okay, that's all very well and interesting for AL. I'm happy for the community and of course it makes the business much more pleasant.

The second significant item here is that it validates the assertion that the MMO audience has become more price sensitive.

The bottom line is of course that now that we've found the right price for the service, we can continue the work of actually improving the game and addressing the many and various concerns that the players have with it.

The last piece of the business to shape up is item sales. So far, they've been very popular (uptake), but are they enough to operate the game service profitably in the long term (revenue)? Early indications are promising, but only time will tell.

Posted by SunSword at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

January 04, 2007

How I got back into the game industry

Thanks to Damion, I got to read a "way back when" post on UO by Dan Rubenfield. Mostly he concentrates on the amount of ganking and griefing that went on in UO, but it brought back some memories.

One of the stories he told is almost an exact retelling of the event that brought me back to Ultima Online, and more importantly prompted to me to leave my cushy Unix consulting gig to return to the game industry.

From his site:
Everyone talks fondly about it, but there’s never a happy story.

It’s always the shared moment of getting slaughtered in a dungeon, losing your stuff, hiding traps in your backpack and killing people who snooped and more.

But regardless of the tone, people still loved it. The fucked up moments, the slaughter of the innocents, the absolute depths that you could sink to.

When it first released, people would break into your house, steal all of your stuff, sapping you of thousands of hours of gameplay. Then, not content with having ruined your experience, they would leave you a book on the floor of your now empty house, with a note in it.

“You Suck”

When they broke into my house, they left all the furniture stacked in the back, with a book in the armoir. The book said "Thanks for all the cheese."

Now, I don't have the best memory, so I'll give you the romaniticised version of what happened next. I called Raph Koster on the phone (whom I had met when I was working in QA at Origin through an informal game design group called "Project Brainstorm" (memories anyone?)).

As the story goes, I told Raph, "Dude, you need to hire me so I can fix your game." A few months later and I was working my first large system in UO: House Security. Looking back an the resulting system, it seems like a fairly crude game design solution, requiring chat commands for a lot of functionality. But it sure did make houses more secure!

Thanks for the memories, Dan. Happy New year!

(As an aside, it seems like a UO day for me, as it keeps coming up. This morning I ran across the MMORPG.com Interview with UO Producer Aaron Cohen.)

Posted by SunSword at 05:04 PM | Comments (1)

January 03, 2007

A day in the life of a community manager...

Kyle Rowley, COG's RF Online Community Manager extraordinaire has penned a very readable article on MMORPG.com.

For those of you who are not familiar with myself, or my alter ego “Laeth” I’ll do a quick introduction. My “real name” is Kyle Rowley and I’m the Community Manager (CM) for Codemasters Online Gaming’ Sci-Fi MMORPG Rising Force Online (RFO). Professionally, some could call me a n00b in the Community Management business – I’ve only been CM for RFO for around 10 months after all – so my words are not to be taken as the bee's knees on what community management entails, or how one would go about doing this for a living; but it should provide some insight for those of you who are interested."

Certainly no n00b, Kyle has done an excellent job representing a difficult project developed in a far away country through a significant language barrier.

As a bonus, there are a few shots of some of my co-workers and our office out in the middle of the English countryside.

Posted by SunSword at 03:26 PM | Comments (0)

July 12, 2006

How to get into the game industry

Someone has suggested that I give my thoughts on "how to break into the game industry." Sure. Why not? Everyone else does it. More on this tonight...

***Updated***

Okay, "in a few days" would have been more accurate.

I only have a few thoughts for you, the first of which is a cop out.

Go visit Zen of Design's Breaking In Page and follow all of the links. Plenty of good advice there.

In no particular order, or mixed together do the following:

That's it. It's not genius. As my mom has said to me in the past about the book trade, "Writers talk about writing. Authors write." Get out there and make something. It won't be brilliant at first, but as everything in life, the skills you need to succeed in this industry are not latent. You must build on whatever talent you have by constant practice. The end result will be some rudimentary skill and something demonstrable to talk about when you apply for that entry-level position you found on http://www.gamasutra.com.

Posted by SunSword at 07:37 PM | Comments (3)

June 18, 2006

I'm headed back to South Korea

and perhaps Australia.

The following is nothing more than base self-promotion, so feel free to skip on to the next feed full of actual useful discourse.

IPARK London have asked me to speak at the EU ICT Challenge 2006 on the challenges of entering the European marketplace. I'm looking forward to giving the speech (which I've been working on furiously for a week or so), as well as conducting various Codemasters business around the event, not the least of which is perparing to launch Archlord for it's first phase of user testing (I really hate to call it "Beta Testing", because it isn't).

So, if you're going to be in S. Korea between June 28th and early July, let me know!

Posted by SunSword at 11:12 PM | Comments (0)

March 03, 2006

The not-so-secret secret

So, just to clarify, I didn't go "work on RF Online," at least not the way some people have been speculating. RF Online is one of many games I'm now responsible for as the Director of MMO Games at Codemasters in the UK.

I've spent the last few months travelling back and forth between the US and the UK helping the very talented team in the Codemasters Online Gaming (COG) group launch two MMOs within a week of each other.

Now, for any of you that know anything about what it takes to launch one MMO, I'm sure you can empathize with the amount of effort it took to pull such a thing off, not to mention pull it off relatively smoothly.

For me, it's been quite an adventure. I've learned just how valuable Skype can be for keeping up with the family. I've realized how much my family means to me. Being away from them for weeks at a time has been rough. And of course, we couldn't be doing it without the help of our newest (and oldest) family member, my father-in-law, who now lives with us. He's been great to us, and perhaps too good. I hope he understands how much his presence has meant to Kimberly and I (not to mention the kids!).

Anyway, I'm rather enjoying England. It has snowed just about every time I've been here. And I constantly feel like I'm on a movie set, what with all the "mate," "cheers," and "knackered" phrases being bandied about. Much to my wife's dismay, I don't think there's much of a chance that I'll pick up an accent. If I didn't get a Texas drawl having been born and raised there, I doubt the English English will stick.

One of the things that really attracted me to this role is the opportunity to do some serious business development. Tomorrow, I set off on the second half of my two week circumnavigation of the planet. Time to finally go to Korea and see the most intense gaming culture on the planet. San Fran to England to Seoul back to San Fran. Wee!

Time to hit the sack. Right after I finish this quest...

Posted by SunSword at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)

December 12, 2005

SunSword's Last day at EA

Yep. 3+ years. It's been a valuable experience and I've gotten to work with tons of great people, but for a variety of reasons, it's time to move on. I couldn't ask the people I work with to more gracious or understanding about this decision.

You'll notice I haven't talked much about work over the past 2 years. That largely has to do with the fact that I've been working on unannounced projects. One has been cancelled, the rest are rockin' right along. I haven't really been working on UO for over a year, unfortunately. But on the flip side, I've gotten to work with some of the best people in the industry on some of the biggest titles, including lots of NextGen console online projects. For those who pay close attention, you'll have noticed that one of the hats I've been wearing is Live Producer for Battlefield 2 Modern Combat on Xbox and PC.

So, it's bittersweet for me, but MMOs continue to call and I eventually have to answer.

The past few weeks have been crazy. Since Thanksgiving I've been to the UK and back, Vancouver and back, Sweden and back, and tomorrow I step on a plane to head back to the UK. I have to admit I love the travel, but I hate being away from the kiddos. Next time, they might all be on the plane with me. :)

Wondering what I'm up to? Here's a hint:

Posted by SunSword at 02:35 PM | Comments (0)