Derin Halil

Rishi Sunak’s plan to cut "Mickey Mouse" degrees has me thinking about how many of those degrees he deems worthless may be in fields crucial to video game development - like art, animation, and writing. One of the things that makes working in games such a rewarding career is the blend of creativity, innovation, and technical skills required to make the best games. Reducing support for these creative subjects could slow down the growth of the industry in the UK – even more so when considering the proposal to raise the salary threshold for a Skilled Worker visa to £38,700. The video game industry's success in the UK shows how tech and creativity work so well together. Let's keep that balance strong. #gamedevelopment #gamedev  #creativeindustries #videogamedevelopment

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My second #GDC2024 talk is now on the Vault. Emma Varjo and I discuss 'deceptive design' in video games: how interface and system design can influence player behaviour toward unexpected and unwanted outcomes. And what does it mean for a game to be 'deceptive' anyway? Link to the talk (requires Vault access): https://lnkd.in/dt38hGiZ #gamesUR #UX #gamedev

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The Sumo Group closures really have broken me a bit, and I need to rant about the state of things. I'm sorry if it seems I'm glossing over all the closures before this one, but so many ex-students went there, so many ex-colleagues passed through there, and so my timeline is just filled with people looking for work. We keep talking and talking about the economic factors involved, Brexit and Covid and this and that ... the thing I can't stop thinking of is that in my life I've watched the world slowly pitch into a place of despondent capitalism. Art has become more about making stars and fame than helping people escape and reflect. A drive for "truth" and objectivity has resulted, paradoxically, in people putting more stock in spreadsheets and numbers than people. I can't help but feel that if you're bleating about finance and trade deals and business decisions, you're ignoring the fact that general support for artistic and creative endeavours has declined sharply and is still declining, even in the so-called "art world". Games are ultimately always going to be the first to fall in a culture war against creativity, because games are ultimately and profoundly pointless things. That's the whole majesty of the medium: they make us feel profound feelings, they help us explore our existence by being separate from reality, but to do so they MUST bring us nothing tangible in return. The truth is that our industry will probably bounce back to some degree, but it's not any financial structures or cost systems that will save game development as a medium and an art form - it's a cultural shift to recognise the importance of expressive and explorative subjective art in the world today, and the need to support creative endeavours without the pressure of financial recompense.

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https://lnkd.in/eFu3ATPr hi this is Steven Moore no way I repeat no way children and kids cannot play the superhero horror game called Blade in 2000 that's why the computer game called Blade is Rated M because that's why the computer game called Blade has too much violence too much blood and gore too much language that's why the computer game called Blade is Rated M for PlayStation 1 that's why children and kids cannot play the computer game called Blade because that's why the computer game called Blade has too much violence too much blood and gore too much language that's why the computer game called Blade is Rated M for PlayStation 1 from Steven Moore

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The hiring problem in games. Yes there really is one, and it's probably not what you think it is. Many studios over hire. I've seen this in tools businesses, game studios and publishers. The default seems to come from a need arising, then the assumption that to fulfil the need a person/s is required. I've seen this first hand, where instead of defaulting to the question 'how can we do this with who we have, without adding extra time and pressure to current staff?'... ...the default is usually 'how can we grow the team to do what we need?' Those businesses who default to evolving methods, processes, utilising generalists etc. before hiring...they're the ones who'll likely be winning over the next 5 years. They won't be laying people off when projects shutdown. They won't be laying people off when investors ask for lean, as they'll already be lean. And they won't be laying people off to follow industry trends, as they'll already be a leader in industry trends. This is even more pertinent with upcoming AI solutions coming to market. I hope if you're hiring, whatever the industry you're in, you're hiring for the long term and not just for the need you have right now. #management #hiringandpromotion #careers #technology #startups

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Watching Vs. Reading Vs. Playing games... I've watched a lot of gameplay video's, in fact just doing some terrible maths based roughly on live streaming once a week alone for the last 5 or so years, not including all the games that came through the Academies, I reckon I given thoughts with commentary well over 650+ games... Oooof 😱 double or triple that professionally to be conservative. I've also read a ton of books, some good, some great and others, well, average at best. Of course, I've built a poop ton of games that were extremely average as well to be fair. Whilst reading and watching gameplay is super valuable in gaining insights to game systems, production polish, feedback effects and a to some extent flow, there's really no substitute than getting the game in your hands and playing. You need to play. You need to play to truly understand how a game feels, how it makes you react and your emotional response whilst experiencing it. If you want to improve as a game dev / game designer, you need to play. Sure, listen, watch and read reviews, they can provide amazing insights, but these seldom include emotion and favour technical analysis. Play at least 10 mins of 1 game a day as your daily routine, especially games outside your typical genre as this is where those magic ideas can come from :) #gamedev #gamedesign #mobilegames #mobilegaming

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Two weeks ago, I attended Interactive Futures, a computer games outreach event held in Leamington Spa, UK. It changed the way I use AI in my workflow. Despite spending over 20 years in the industry, five of them locally, this was my first time at the event. I’m glad I went and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There were several highlights worth mentioning: * A great introduction to the vibrant games community around Leamington Spa and the West Midlands. * Opportunities for real, practical conversations with games industry professionals. * Engaging panel talks on industry hot topics. Of these, the panel talks stayed with me the most. I was particularly interested in the discussions on the future of games, especially the role that AI will play (many thanks to Clare Green, Laura Steel, 🕹️Csaba Berenyi, James Norris, Hernan Polloni) Over the years, I’ve attended many talks on AI and have a reasonable understanding of the subject. However, one comment seemed to challenge me directly: how much have I integrated AI into my workflow? The truth was, I hadn't—at least not to the extent I could. I knew of tools, the usual suspects, but they weren’t genuinely part of my workflow habits. Not as much as they might be. Since then, I've started to recognise and integrate the practical power of current generative AI tools, which feels like the sweet spot for my personal use. I’m now incorporating AI more into my daily routine—as a sounding board, a visualiser, a time-saver, and a productivity booster. This shift has led me to rethink how I view AI right now, even if my grander hopes for the possibilities remain. Initially, I saw AI as a grand intellectual game-changer, something that would mark a paradigm shift in how we perform jobs, but essentially unfinished and kept at arm's length. It might still be that huge leap in the future, but for now, for me, it’s more of a practical tool that I can weave into my approach rather than something that completely transforms the game. From a workflow perspective, it’s less like moving from two-dimensional to three-dimensional chess, and more like the introduction of metal rackets in tennis, DRS in Formula One, or VAR in football. The game remains fundamentally the same but, to play it well, you need to understand the changes, even if they aren’t immediately apparent on the surface. Because before the huge change, as is common, there will be a number of incremental changes for those who are looking. My goal now is to ensure I’m really looking. If you are interested in further insights into AI’s impact on tools, as well as the possibilities in the future, I'll include some links in the comments.

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CAERNARVON CASTLE LEVEL LUNCH BREAK UPDATE - 3.1 - THE HERO ARRIVAL - A quick update at my Lunch break to show the hero build I have finally found from the great modeler/artist Fajrul Falakh - I have been looking for a great hero model to encompass what was in my head and wanting to focus on my Level Design and entire coding and Gameplay. I had to found just the right artist for my hero and I finally did. He is also on Aststation and on the Unreal Marketplace. Take a look. He saved me the time having to model him and put my energy where I needed it. -Cheers Shane #Leveldesign #Characterdesign #CharacterAnimation #Gameplay # Gamedesign #Gamedesigner #Gameart #FantasyArt #Recreation #Unrealengine

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Seeing as I currently can't show off what I do in my main job, thought i'd show a little bit of what i've been doing in my spare time! Recently re-designed the player character for my game, adding a bunch of functionality to the right arm (ground slams to boost the player into the air, velocity based grapple, and a melee punch like Luffy) and implemented a new spell manager for the left arm. All of this is in #UnrealEngine5, scripted with Blueprint! The project has been great for learning areas of game dev I haven't really touched before like animation, environment art, VFX and SFX and the result of all of that is in this video. Everything you see here was made by me, with the exception of the UI (Nikolay Yordanov) and the enemy SFX (Eoin O'Hagan) Next up, level generator re-design!

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My first ever 2D animation of a supposed 'Game Trailer' for an assignment. I had chosen 'Little Red Riding Hood' as my theme and when with it, with a few concept spins such as the Big Bad Wolf not being the main antagonist but a support summon and the main foe of the 'Game' being these 'Tree Monsters'. I had Riding Hood wield a massive wood cutting axe used against the tree monsters. [Scenes 3 and 4] (spin into crouch jump and aerial attack) are currently as of this final outcome the oldest scenes in the animation being made between the first and second day of me animating that's why they aren't to the same quality standard as the rest of the animation. I have future plans to either come back and redo the 'bad scenes' or the whole animation using the abilities I gained through out the animation process or make a new separate animation entirely. This animation was produced from on 22-26/04/2024. #Art #Animation #2DAnimation #Digitial #Digitalart

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🫨Absolutely humbled by another playthrough of my VR project, Altered Algorithm. 📈 I’m happy to say over 8,000 players have now downloaded and played the experience. Thats up from about 4,000 players. I know it’s not much, but I’m proud of it, especially that it was made in a little office in the Parable Worlds basement. After one long year of development in 2022 and many obstacles later… it’s a JOY to say I got this project out the door for the world to experience. 👉You can check the playthrough here on Youtube: https://lnkd.in/ddDqaaEt 👉Or you could play Altered Algorithm through most Meta Quest devices on #Steam for free here: https://lnkd.in/gCMApAiA 🙏🏼Enjoy! Keep inspiring the world, no matter how tough it gets! - Nick #gamedevelopment #career #learning #quest3 #vr #unity3d

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🛟GAME INDUSTRY RESOURCES🛟 Another week, another round of layoffs and people affected by them. The amazing Mayank Grover compiled this list of people who post game industry resources, and I have to say he’s one of them! He and his company Outscal provide so much information, funding, knowledge, courses, support, and opportunities for so many. Also follow these people: Amir Satvat - The video game community legend with a giant treasure of resources dedicated to helping a game dev in every possible. From resources that can help you find work to posts that can help you get visibility, you should definitely make use of www.amirsatvat.com Caitlin Cooke - Always provides a list of game jobs as soon as they open up! Latest Resource: https://lnkd.in/gGHxufpY Alexander Rehm - A frontline warrior who compiles and provides video game career resources for almost all the disciplines of game development Latest Resource: https://lnkd.in/gRsYe5iG Jordan Mazer — He looks out for the community with his best-in-class tips on building portfolios and performing well in interviews. Latest Resource: https://lnkd.in/gcP2Rm5n Ruty Rutenberg - Shares and compiles almost every resource that the game community forerunners upload. Has a list of important individuals to follow if you are a game developer trying to become a part of this community. Latest Resource: https://lnkd.in/gzBKRTNC (He listed me) Kelly Bender - An expert Narrative Designer who provides detailed Narrative Design tips, templates, insights, and information. Latest Resource: https://lnkd.in/gdbpvDjx Ali Farha - Helping the community understand video game tech better Latest Resource: https://lnkd.in/gMY4ZSig Willem Delventhal - Indie Game Academy founder, who runs this gamified online school for game developers! His latest resource is on how to break into the games industry. Latest Resource: https://lnkd.in/gDT28p2u Alex Gombos - Her most recent thread on game marketing jobs! Latest Resource: https://lnkd.in/gBiDsnmq Kat Craig - Her Latest UI/UX and Visual Design games job resource. https://lnkd.in/gu_VtnZP Ash C. - This is her latest post in support of Sumo Group and Timbre Games. https://lnkd.in/gmXjdT7Z

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https://lnkd.in/eWgUBJXJ. hi this is Steven Moore the children and the kids can play the superhero game called Batman – Rise of Sin Tzu in 2003 that's why the computer game called Batman – Rise of Sin Tzu is Rated E because that's why the computer game called Batman – Rise of Sin Tzu it has some violence in it of the computer game called Batman – Rise of Sin Tzu that's why the computer game called Batman – Rise of Sin Tzu is Rated E for Game Boy Advance that's why the children and the kids can play the computer game called Batman – Rise of Sin Tzu because that's why the computer game called Batman – Rise of Sin Tzu it has some violence in it of the computer game called Batman – Rise of Sin Tzu that's why the computer game called Batman – Rise of Sin Tzu is Rated E for Game Boy Advance from Steven Moore

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I think one of the things that's so frustrating about Xbox's recent studio closures is that it is stark contrast to the things they *say*. They say they want original, interesting games, but then they shutter Tango. They say they want to take big swings at live service stuff, but then release Redfall in a disastrous state and don't have the bottle to fix it before shuttering the studio. They say they want interesting, original content, but then close studios working on original content to bolster Call of Duty. Xbox needs platform-defining exclusives. But they've also shown they don't have the understanding to ship stuff that can legitimately compete with what Sony's doing with Playstation's first parties. What happened to Starfield? Redfall flopped. Halo Infinite's SP "infiniteness" faceplanted. Halo Infinite's multiplayer took years to sort out a fatally awful progression system, and it still mostly sucks, but who cares because no one's playing it. Forza Motorsport bombed. Where is Gears? Where is the next thing from id? From MachineGames? When it's one studio flailing around, maybe it's the studio. When it's ***everything*** under the Xbox Game Studios banner, it's a different situation entirely. What the hell are they doing over there? But the point is, when you see closures of studios when the platform is totally failing to deliver anything of meaningful, differentiating value to players... it's time to call it. Phil Spencer's driven the Xbox into irrelevance. How you could spend hundreds of millions of dollars to achieve *so little* is genuinely shocking to me.

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GTA could have been a Nintendo Title, and this deal could have totally changed how we view Rockstar Games and Nintendo today! The story dates back to 1985 when an indie British studio based out of Dundee came into existence. DMA Design was founded by students from Dundee Institute. These students were working on their first 'horizontal-scrolling shooter' game, Menace, which would go on to sell 20,000 copies and generate £20,000, allowing the company to build more games for the upcoming few years. Their next major breakthrough would come with a dynamic puzzle game called Lemmings, originally released for Amiga in February 1991, selling 15 Million Copies. (Folks who remember Amiga, comment below) Revenues from Lemmings allowed the company to expand, adding its own motion capture studio and a division called DMA Music, which consisted of the team's in-house musicians. DMA's games were published by a then-known publisher, Psygnosis which was soon acquired by Sony, ending their contract with DMA. DMA, on the hunt for a new publisher, knocked on Nintendo's door. Luckily, Nintendo became the publisher of DMA's first car race game, Unirally. Unirally’s success forced Nintendo to offer DMA an original for their next console, the Nintendo 64. DMA's next title was Body Harvest, an action-adventure third-person shooter game that Nintendo thought was too violent for its new console. Originally intended as a launch game for Nintendo 64 in 1996, Body Harvest received numerous delays following issues with the content. Nintendo ultimately scrapped the game. But, they wanted to give DMA guys another shot, but this time with a new title called 'Kid Kirby' Again, the project was cancelled due to slow developments and the misalignment of Nintendo's business goals. The series of cancellations left a bad taste in DMA's mouth. In April 1995, DMA Design began developing a new game, Race'n'Chase. The development team consisted of mostly inexperienced members who struggled with the task until producer and creative director Gary Penn joined the project. Race 'n' Chase was originally scheduled for release in late 1996.  Following many development issues, the game was ultimately released as Grand Theft Auto in November 1997. A critical and commercial success that ultimately spawned the legendary GTA series. If Nintendo had enough patience to publish Race'n'Chase, do you think Nintendo would've continued publishing the upcoming GTA titles despite the game being filled with gore, crime, and violence? In the following post, I'll share how the culture at DMA Design helped people make daring decisions and build a Paradigm-shifting series like Grand Theft Auto. --- If you were also impacted by the layoffs recently, then here are top resources that can help you get back in the industry stronger - https://lnkd.in/gZPnmjZC💎 #GTA #gamingindustry #videogames

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Well, that's what the third application to be turned down. It honestly stings but I'm not gonna sit idle while I wait for someone to come along. I have two things planned to broaden my horizons. Firstly, I'm going to practice with Unity Engine when I can, mostly using the templates to make small levels as practice. Also that storyboard I made that is on my portfolio, I will be making into a game via RPG Maker. Most devs may see it as just a toy for all I know, but as someone not very good at scripting, it would be great reference material should I ever find a job that requires JavaScript. Besides that all I can do is keep pushing through and applying where I can!

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