As the 10 men and women of the GameCity Festival’s All-Star British Development Panel took to the stage on Sunday afternoon, it quickly became apparent the kind of experience the audience was in for. A collection of brightly patterned jumpers, Hawaiian shirts, novelty ties and t-shirts printed with counter-culture Sci-Fi iconography gave a fast and efficient representation of the prevailing attitude of BritSoft. Smart, scrappy, grassroots, more than a little unusual and most importantly, very charismatic.
The panelists, between them representing the complete spectrum of British game development dating back to the early 80’s all the way up to right now, were brought together by video game writer Alex Wiltshire to discuss what makes British Software Development, BritSoft, so unique and to share their own stories and experiences.
“These elder statesmen of BritSoft all began their careers creating games in their bedrooms on the PCs of the day, with the BBC Micro and ZX Spectrum being mentioned in reverent tones”
The panel began with Ian Bell, creator of classic PC game Elite where he gave a brief and reserved description of the design process behind Elite. Before long there were interruptions from Martin Hollis (game design lead on GoldenEye 64), and the self-described ‘infamous’ Oliver Twins, the minds behind much loved British video game character Dizzy. This created the panel on the first of its many delightful tangents and revealed some truths about BritSoft; these guys are humble, and these guys are funny.
These truths can be attributed to some commonalities in the origins of the developers on stage. These elder statesmen of BritSoft all began their careers creating games in their bedrooms on the PCs of the day, with the BBC Micro and ZX Spectrum being mentioned in reverent tones, and had made games during those difficult and not-so-fondly remembered times of video game publishing pre-Nintendo Entertainment System. It was this era where publishers saw video games as commodities removed from the creative process that the BritSoft All-Stars found themselves talking about at length. And as the old guard reminisced, the newer faces on stage extolled the virtue of the new age of digital freedom, providing an intelligent counter point. These shared experiences, combined with a hearty helping of typically dry British wit, started to explain why BritSoft was so charming and so plucky when compared to developers from other parts of the world.
“Kickstarter and IndieGoGo and how this allows smaller studios to go directly to the people for funding for their games, removing the cigar-chomping executives from the development process entirely”
As the panel continued, the humility and humour of the panelists continued to shine. (Martin Hollis: “GoldenEye 64 did quite well”. It sold over 8 million copies!) It was here that as the Oliver Twins recounted horror stories of trying to get themselves credited in their own games, Cliff Harris of Positech Games described litigious action against him from a major publisher and Gary Penn, DMA Design creative director and video game reviewer, told stories of fighting to have game developers credited in reviews; the prevailing inclination among British developers to self-publish became understandable. In countries such as the US and Japan, game development is ruled over by big name publishers, with names such as EA, Activision, Namco-Bandai and Square-Enix conjuring up thoughts of large, anonymous development factories, churning out game after game on yearly schedules. So it comes as no surprise that BritSoft doesn’t fit into these corporate molds.
But the All-Star panel wasn’t purely a vehicle to complain about big publishers and the cut-throat business practices of yore. The younger faces present, namely Paul Taylor, Rosie Bell and Mike Bithell of Mode 7 Games, Chucklefish Games and (provided with an intentionally awkward pause) “…Mike Bithell” respectively, used the stories of their companions as an opportunity to discuss the newer development scene. This involved discussions of websites such as Kickstarter and IndieGoGo and how this allows smaller studios to go directly to the people for funding for their games, removing the cigar-chomping executives from the development process entirely.
As the All-Star panel drew to a close, the tone shifted to a more uplifting one. The whole group described with joy the change in attitude of game development, harkening back to those early days of placing adverts in magazines and mailing out Spectrum tapes you wrote yourself. The advent of Minecraft has born a new generation of children fascinated with building things themselves, and the independent development scene, once thought all but dead, has returned even stronger than before, creating a new frontier of fresh, clever ideas. This, the panelists agreed, can only lead to new, better games, and a better experience for players as well.
Mark Northfield
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