February 2012

February 3, 2012

中殺界

THE BAD YEAR

I’m not a superstitious person, but as a businessperson I’ll hedge my risks wherever I can.

According to a Japanese prophetess, I’m due to have a “medium bad-luck year” in which I must take great care with any new endeavors I start.

By her same divinations, 2010 was a “peak good luck year”. That was the year I graduated at the end of a two-year educational ordeal and launched the Dark Acre. I suppose the execution of that leg of the journey could be construed as the result of “peak good luck”; personally I’d put it down to careful planning and a ton of hard work.

But like I said, I’ll hedge the risks.

So what does that mean for production at the Acre? As some of you may know I’m currently engaged in three major projects: Zero Zero, Prevengeance, and The Child. Recently, as a result of limited success with Unity 3D’s “Flash in a Flash” competition, a 3rd prototype awaits further development in the form of CHASSIS.

All four of these projects were planned and started prior to January 1st, putting them outside of the range of the evil prophecy. I’m not entirely certain if the stipulations of my doom include continuing work on them, but I owe it to my current partner on Prevengeance to ship that particular bird regardless.


MANA FROM HEAVEN

It’s no big secret that I haven’t collected a paycheque since October 2008. I’ve gotten used to it.

[Lost content, image. Alt-text “Sink, swim, or FLY”]

I worked in a Japanese restaurant when I was younger, for most of my late teens and early 20s. My boss would constantly talk about how the shop was like a life-raft, adrift in turbulent economic seas, and to quit without preparation would be like casting yourself at the mercy of those waters. The thought of “leaving the boat” was almost nightmarish.

That’s why I scrimped and saved and pinched every single yen I could for 5 years before embarking on this grand indie adventure. I wanted to build as solid and dependable of a life-preserver as I possibly could.

Until winning the TELUS contest back in November, the Acre hadn’t yet seen any real financial return. That was the first big cash influx, and those funds have been earmarked for Unity 3D iOS deploy licenses. That win pushed Dark Acre’s capacity ahead by at least a year, possibly more. In the original plan I’d intended to spend the first 2 years pooping out little projects here and there while getting comfortable with the whole process of making and deploying games, hoping to gain small amounts of income from web-deployed projects, eventually earning enough to cover the costs of Apple development.

Well, there’s been a second “windfall”, this time in the form of private investment. It’s not a massive sum, by any means, but it’s enough to allow the purchase of a second, state-of-the-art computer workstation and full licenses for 3D rendering software.

The thing that I feel will end up distinguishing what Dark Acre produces from the majority of other amateur independent releases will be the quality of the presentation. While many independents are finding great success with sprite-driven and “chip-tuned” 2D projects, the Acre wants to focus on offering the highest level of 3D visuals and full-suite audio. Modeling, texturing, animation, music, and sounds all need to be of a quality worthy of the player’s time and money. This only serves to enhance and amplify the quality of the overall game design. It’s not a binary equation of either/or. I firmly believe that, if the developer believes they have the capacity for it, why not produce the most lush experience possible for their players?

To that end the bulk of 2012 will be spent in intensive training targeted at gaining mastery over software packages like Mudbox, 3D Studio Max, and Motionbuilder. Additional training in Allegorithmic’s Substance Designer and close work with Quixel’s nDo2 will round out the visual production. More time spent composing audio in FL Studio X alongside Retronyms stellar TableTop will boost audio quality. And weekly practices releasing small projects for the Darkade will keep the Unity3D skills tight.

2012 is going to be a long year in terms of training. While we might not see many big game releases it’s important to understand that Dark Acre is running a marathon, not a sprint. We’re watching trends and keeping a strong grip on the pulse of the industry, picking our battles carefully and waiting for the right moments to take whatever opportunities come our way. Thank you for your continued support. I hope you’ll follow us through whatever channels you use, be they Twitter, Facebook, or Google Plus. (You can also follow/list my personal Twitter if you want some deeper insight into the mind of a solo independent game developer)

Stay tuned, and expect big things.

(I cringe whenever an obvious solo operation uses the plural “we”, though for this period of The Dark Acre it was indeed a two-person outfit. —Ed.)


February 12, 2012

(Amber Nasrulla interviewed me for TELUS’s now defunct “Talking Business” blog. –Ed.)

Playing Games: Elevator pitch finalist Dark Acre’s Jack Nilssen embraces social media

Posted by Amber.Nasrulla on Feb 8, 2012 12:36:20 PM

TELUS recently challenged entrepreneurs on the TELUS Business Facebook page to share their best to-the-point and convincing elevator pitch for a chance to win one of two business productivity prize packs. With more than 100 submissions, Dark Acre was one of two winners and was awarded an iPhone4, iPad2, and $1,500.

Christopher ‘Jack’ Nilssen’s diverse job experience includes security guard training, working in a restaurant kitchen, and computer science studies. He also taught English in Japan for 10 years. Though his career path was eclectic and exciting, he says, “I was totally unfocussed.”

There was one constant: “Games have been a huge part of my life. Playing video games, playing board games, cards, you name it.” So Nilssen followed his bliss by studying game design at Vancouver Film School (VFS). In September 2010, he launched Dark Acre, developing video games for mobiles and PC. A small business owner with high energy, Nilssen also writes eBooks.

Small businesses struggle to develop the pitch. What was your process?

In my first year at VFS, there was an entertainment business management course and you had to define yourself in one sentence, to let someone know what you are about and what you are doing. I had that in the back of my mind for a couple of years.

How did you test your pitch? How do you know that it does your company justice?

The pitch wasn’t the thing; it was the mechanics of the contest itself. It was how much I pimped it across my social networks and told people to go there. I directed people to the TELUS page and reminded them to go there everyday because they could!

When did you start using social media and how did you pick which social media tools to use?

Social networks like Twitter and Google+ are absolutely critical for me because I don’t have an advertising budget…and I need to get a grassroots social media following. I’m not a social media snob so if a new network comes along, I’ll jump on it and create a profile and start gathering people towards it. I’m using Diaspora, which is a competitor to Facebook except without the sense that your privacy is being invaded and data is being mined by corporations! It’s still very small. There’s also Good Reads for indie authors. It’s like a mini-Amazon without the storefront.

Quite a few businesses struggle with building their customer base and attracting new customers with limited funds and resources. Your advice?

The secret to success is creating the best product you possibly can and if you’ve positioned it on the Internet according to where you audience goes, the word will get out. It can be done.

You have to be very niche and, by nature, end up with a small audience. My approach has been to try to provide different content on different social networks and gather different audiences of people. On Twitter I find it’s mostly game developers or spambots; on Google+ it was actual people. It allowed me to do long-form posts, or a blog post with a video link into it. There are all these formulas and metrics, say, if you Tweet at 4 p.m. on Monday, that’s the sweet spot to get all the time zones.

What are your business goals for 2012?

I want to make Dark Acre into a complete gaming studio with a full staff, similar to Tim Shafer’s Double Fine Productions. He’s a successful developer from the classic days and his game studio has a bunch of mini studios. As creative director he helps smaller teams realize their visions. I want to create larger and larger products and eventually get onto Xbox and PlayStation, which are the gold standard. I guess I’m talking through to 2020!

(Dark Acre officially folded in 2015. –Ed.)

2012.02.01 – 2012.02.28


Previous: January 2012
Home
Next: March 2012