Develop:Five - Dan Marshall, Size Five Games

Every week, we ask some of the best game development minds five questions in a feature we are calling Develop:Five. This week, Dan Marshall from Size Five Games answers our five question blog feature. 

1. What’s your earliest memory of playing video games?

I remember seeing Pong being played and being fascinated by it, but my earliest memories are probably the likes of Chuckie Egg and FRAK on the BBC Micro. I also have fond memories of plying Monkey Island on a preposterous, hulking great big black and white laptop, but I suspect I was a bit older by then. It's a memory that's stuck, though!

2. What are you most excited or annoyed about in the games industry today?

I'm really excited by the idea of games breaking free of the confines we've placed upon them over the last few decades - the new Zelda game seems to be a good example of that, this 'here's a world, have at it' approach I find really exciting. The indie space has long been pushing this with Roguelikes, procedural generation and what-have-you, and it'll be amazing to see what AAA and money can do with those concepts.

3. Tell us about a life-changing or special moment you've had at Develop:Brighton in the past.

I've met several people over the years at Develop, I'm not so sure there's one particular thing. But whenever we talk about Develop and what we want to see each year, the point I always hammer is that sense that when it's over I *can't wait* to get back to my desk and start working. It's like this big inspirational, cleansing process that reminds you how incredible the games industry is. Seeing talks, meeting people, taking some time away from 'work' makes the quality of what I'm doing in the weeks after Develop so much higher.

4. What are you most looking forward to at Develop:Brighton 2017?

The same thing I look forward to every year - bumping into exciting indie devs showing off games on their laptops in bars. That's always the thing that reinvigorates me, it's about meeting people and seeing what incredible stuff people are coming up with.

5. Which game developer would you most like to meet and why?

Oh, I don't know. There are so many people I'd love to shake by the hand and just point out how much they influenced my life, and my career. I'd love to meet Gabe Newell, I think I can convince him to let slip about Half Life 3, I can be very persuasive at times.

Dan Marshall (@danthat) is a BAFTA-winning Indie Game Developer and founder of Size Five Games.

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Find out more about Develop:Brighton here

Develop:Five Tim Wicksteed, Twice Circled

Every week, we ask some of the best game development minds five questions in a feature we are calling Develop:Five. This week, Tim Wicksteed from Twice Circled answers our five question blog feature. 

1. What’s your earliest memory of playing video games?
My earliest memory of playing video games was sitting around with my brothers, playing the demo discs that came with my Dad's Atari ST magazine. Seeing our fascination, and being a programmer himself, my Dad showed us how you could create a simple platformer using code. It was like magic! And that was that, I was hooked, from that young age.

2. What are you most excited or annoyed about in the games industry today?
The most exciting thing about the games industry today is that is feels like such an open playing field. There's such a diverse range of gaming tastes out there that there's room for games of every shape and size. There are amazingly affordable development tools and the route to the consumer has never been more direct, both in a promotional sense (YouTube, Twitch) as well as a technical one (Humble Widget, Steam Direct). But of course there's a catch; there are also more games and developers than ever before. It's both inspiring and terrifying, we all have the power to succeed but there's no-one to blame if we fail.

3. Tell us about a life-changing or special moment you've had at Develop:Brighton in the past.
I have very fond memories of my first visit to Develop: Brighton. I was still early on in my career and I was lucky enough to be invited to a couple of developer dinners by some friends of mine. It was daunting to hear that all these much more experienced developers were struggling with all the same things that I was at the time: discoverability, funding etc. But it was also reassuring that there wasn't some magic trick that I was missing due to my relative inexperience. The industry is constantly reinventing itself and in that flux there are opportunities for established players and new developers alike.

4. What are you most looking forward to at Develop:Brighton 2017?

I'm looking forward to catching up with developer friends from other parts of the UK. Develop: Brighton is special because it's the one nearly everyone goes to so it's a great place to catch-up, share and learn from the experiences of the last year.

5 . Which game developer would you most like to meet and why?
 I'd love to meet Finn Brice from Chucklefish (or perhaps their technical lead Catherine West) and talk deep, down, technical stuff. I'm amazed by the technical feat achieved by Starbound so it would be great to just geek out and learn how it was made.

Indie developer Tim Wicksteed (@TwiceCircled) runs Bristol based, one man game studio Twice Circled. He's the creator of pharmaceutical company simulator Big Pharma and was recently announced as a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit 2016. 

Tim will be speaking at this year’s Develop:Brighton – check out his talk here

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Develop:Five - Jonathan Smith, TT Games

Every week, we ask some of the best game development minds five questions in a feature we are calling Develop:Five. This week, Jonathan Smith from Traveller’s Tales answers our five question blog feature. 

1. What’s your earliest memory of playing video games?

Pounding aliens with a spade in "Space Panic". Dig-anywhere gameplay 30 years before Minecraft.

2. What are you most excited or annoyed about in the games industry today?

I'm hoping to see Switch players colonising public spaces with portable social multi-player fun. The more videogames are visible in the real world, the better.

3. Tell us about a life-changing or special moment you've had at Develop:Brighton in the past - it could be an inspiring talk, someone you met or something that happened to change your career or business? Or something else completely!

Develop: Brighton is always a highlight of the year. And I've seen... things... you wouldn't believe. One standout moment was watching David Braben and Dave Jones play GTA and Elite (respectively), two games I've loved dearly.

4. What are you most looking forward to at Develop:Brighton 2017?

Camaraderie.

5. Which game developer would you most like to meet and why?

Miyamoto, to say thank you.

Jonathan Smith is Head of Production and Strategic Director at TT Games, and a member of the Develop:Brighton Advisory Board.

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Find out more about Develop:Brighton here