Gamertell

Like many young upstart companies out there, Burning Man Studios, based out of the United Kingdom, is trying to find its place in the world. We have faced many hardships, found some measure of success and learned a few new things along the way as we, as a team, fight to bring our own dream into reality.

In the past fifteen years the video game industry has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry that is now on a yearly bases, equals or surpasses the film industry. There are plenty of reasons for these expansions, from the improvement of hardware and technologies, down to the general acceptance of video games as a true art form. But most important is the simple fact that the game industry has become a living, breathing, entity that is fed by the talents and passions of creative individuals who refuse to grow up.

Like independent filmmakers, scores of gamers have the ambition to create their own companies or form a team to create their own epic tales or the next Halo or World of Warcraft.

It isn’t hard to find people who believe they have the next great gaming property. The hard fact is, however, that most of these gamers will never get close to creating that 3D representation of their dream. So the question is, why do these dreams often burn up before they get off the ground?

There may be countless reasons why a gamer’s dream of creating his or her own company or game might fail but foremost, they simply don’t have a clue how to get that idea off the ground.

Sure, there are plenty of resources out there for gamers to look into, from books to bloggers posting advice. While many of these resources are very helpful and offer a lot of wonderful insight, I’ve still found that most don’t really show the extent or hardships that small independent developers have to go through.

Over the next few weeks, I, will bring our readers an insider’s look at the hardships, obstacles, determination and sacrifice that a small independent studio has to go through in order to find its footing in this ever growing, important and exciting industry we call, video games.

I will show you each stage of Burning Man Studios’ production pipe-line, the strengths and weaknesses to owning or working for a small independent company and the obstacles that each department and team leader has had to face over the months of production as the team works towards that allusive technical demo.

Read all 10 weeks of “Burning Ambition: How to make your mark on the videogame industry:”

• Introduction: An insider’s look into indie game development  (February 26, 2008)
• Part 1: Start burning your dreams into reality (February 27, 2008)
• Part 2-A: The man with the burning dream (March 5, 2008)
• Part 2-B: An interview with founder and CEO Steven Hammans  (March 5, 2008)
• Part 3-A: The origin of an intellectual property (March 12, 2008)
• Part 3-B: An interview with lead designer and writer Christopher Buckner (March 12, 2008)
• Part 4: The nightmare of turning a story into a game (March 19, 2008)
• Part 5: The bigger nightmare of finding a concept artist  (March 26, 2008)
• Part 6: From paper to screen (April 2, 2008)
• Part 7-A: Colorists, the unsung heroes (April 9, 2008)
• Part 7-B: An interview with colorist Jesse Heagy (April 9, 2008)
• Part 8-A: The sound of beautiful music (April 16, 2008)
• part 8-B: An interview with composers Allen Pinard and Eike Steffen (April 16, 2008)
• Part 9-A: Managers, programmers and modellers, oh my (April 23, 2008)
• Part 9-B: An interview with Project Manager Andrea Wieslander  (April 23, 2008)
• Part 10: The dream becomes a bit more real with a working demo (April 30, 2008)

Site [Burning Man Studios]