For those of you wondering – Hugatron is a game about hugging. Actual, physical hugging.
HUGATRON:
Hugatron invites players to hug it out.
Literally.
Choosing one of 3 modes, 6 hug poses & 12 hilariously inappropriate romantic pop songs to hug it out to… for example R. Kelly’s “Bump N Grind”. We’re calling it “the friendliest game on earth”.
More people wanting to interview me. But I mustn’t let the fame go to my head… must… not… succumb…
This week Adam from Technojobs got in touch to ask if they could interview me as an expert ‘appreneur’.
I actually met Adam a few years ago, in a pub (no surprise there), through a friend of a friend. I told him what I did, he told me what he did, we exchanged cards and have kept in touch on and off ever since.
He’s in the process of interviewing as many industry experts as possible to better understand the different job roles that Technojobs advertise and get a little bit of brand exposure at the same time.
They’re starting with all the different developer jobs to test the waters, then they’ll progress to other types of IT jobs.
Personally, I feel that more marketing teams should be doing this kind of stuff, rather than bombard people with their product over and over.
Anyway, here’s the interview: URL (I’ll send you the URL tomorrow)
And if anyone else fancies themselves an ‘expert’ and wants to see their name up in lights, I’m sure he’d be eager to interview you too.
It’s been a while since I updated, and because of this a few people have been asking “what’s up, yo?”
Well, I thought I’d summarise here, in the understanding I’ll not be regularly updating it for a few months yet. Fear not, however, as all is well in Spilt Milk Studios.
Firstly, both of the current active projects – Lazarus: Ultra Robopug Adventures (iOS, PC & Mac) and Smash the Block (iOS & probably Android) are going very well indeed. You can check my twitter feed for moment-to-moment updates, the facebook and tumblr pages for slightly less regular, and our YouTube channel for at-least-weekly goings-on.
Aside from this, I’ve been doing a shit-ton of client work with AppyNation. They’re a great digital publisher – a new breed, frankly – and I’ve been handling their communications, PR, Marketing and Community Management stuff, while also chipping in on product development, production, scheduling, and all kinds of exciting things. This basically takes up half my time in any given week and is tremendously enjoyable.
Anyway, as you can see we’re very busy, hence the lack of updates. I’ll endeavour to rectify this soon, but until that happens, take it easy!
Oh, and I’ve moved office/flat to London, so I’ve updated the contact page too.
I am ever so pleased to announce a new member of the Milky family!
Nicholas Lovell – he of forthright (emphasis on RIGHT) business acumen, informative blog GAMESbrief and speaking-at-many-conferences – has decided to hop on board the good ship Spilt Milk, to help better navigate the challenging seas that are the modern digital games market.
“Andrew has a refreshing approach to building a business. He’s open with the challenges that he faces, he wants to learn through doing, and he does it while keeping a sense of humour. I loved what he and Nicoll did with Hard Lines, and I’m really excited about the two new projects under development. I’m delighted to add Spilt Milk Studios to my portfolio of Black Swans.”
I, of course, agree wholeheartedly:
“Nicholas and I have a healthy respect for each other’s specific areas of expertise. The business side of things has always been the toughest for me to cover in my day-to-day work and as such I’ve found Nicholas to be invaluable. Not just that though; he’s also clever, cunning and he is not even slightly precious or proud of his (well informed) opinions. We talk, we plan, we discuss, and I never get the impression he’s anything other than relishing the challenges we overcome together. Spilt Milk Studios is better off with him on board, and I’m incredibly excited about what the future holds!”
The future is very exciting for us.
I can’t wait to get all these wonderful games that are running around in my head out into the world, and with Nicholas’ help they’ll be even better, more polished, more fun and just… MORE
Back in early July, myself, Byron Atkinson-Jones from Xiotex Studios, Gavin Harrison from Gavin Harrison Sounds and James Harkins from Big Pixel Studios all came together to make a game in an hour. Like an ultra-short game jam, I suppose.
The twist here is that we did it live, in front of an audience, on the Indie Track at Develop Conference 2012 in Brighton.
Plenty went wrong, a lot more went right, and here’s the video of it – courtesy of the charming Paul Ring – for everyone who missed out. Should raise a few smiles – both at my failings as a presenter, and at the kinds of things that go wrong.
Also: hear Lewie Procter from Savy Gamer blow a raspberry.
We’ve launched an IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign for Smash The Block – go and check out the rewards and cool stuff we’re giving you for some early cash. Also, tell your friends, email us proof, and we’ll add you to the credits!
That’s it, really. Now to answer a million emails and tweets
BAFTA got in touch, and have asked me to do a special version of Milky Q&A where I answer questions sent to them by young designers – kids and teenagers out there wanting to get into games development.
I’m really excited about this, so here’s the lowdown:
Follow @BAFTAGames on twitter, and tweet them questions, or go to this site and email them. Please help spread the word, this is a really cool thing they’re doing. I’m just happy I can help in a small way. If you’re on twitter, use the hashtag #YGDqa to spread the word or ask the questions!
Not to mention the fact that according to BAFTA I’m an ‘expert’ now. Can’t argue with that! Now excuse me while I go and scribble it onto all my business cards in blue biro…
Amazing bunch of questions this week, about all kinds of topics!
I answer questions about Harry Potter, console games companies, iOS6, hugs, and whether I’d prefer to fight 12 duck-sized horses, or 1 horse-sized duck. I also cover how much my creative process, how I tend to work as a games designer, John Carmack’s VR Helmet and tons more!
