There'll be Dragons!

Hello again, it's been a while since We last embarked on a public relations effort in the form of a blogpost. Well here we go again.

Some news about the Hoodownr-operation, we got accepted to pitch our game at the Big indie pitch -event in Krakow, Poland (Out of all the places in the world). The date will be 8th of May, next weeks wednesday. Big indie pitch is organized by Steel Media, the powerful force behind Pocket Gamer and 148apps. Lots of international press, bling, publicity and so such in store.

We'll get a chance to meet our assembly (and the associated shadow-event boozembly) friends behind Createrria to talk shop which is always fun: meeting people you've met along the way. A personal highlight would be listening to Julian Gollop's presentation, he's the dude who started coding turn based strategy games on a ZX Spectrum a million years ago and created Chaos, Laser Squad and X-Com later on.

Julian's now working on a reimagining of Chaos for pc's, please take a look at his website and check the game out on Kickstarter too! Looks like the Kickstarter was a great success, the game is really going to happen!

Motivationally speaking, if we really push it, there might even be a chance for an ubergeekish photo opportunity with the guy =)

Getting quite deep in the business side of things these past two months it'll be great to actually get to talk about the game and do some Hoodowning in Krakow. You couldn't believe how many daunting things there are when it comes to making a game. And how many ways to get there, I'm getting the sense of the old Lauryn Hill song Lost One that goes 'There come many paths and you must choose one'. True that. The Krakow trail is yet another one.

Well the adventure considering Hoodownr continues. The past weeks we've talked to a few really interesting people about the live-action role-playing aspect of the thing and a couple of dudes who do some freeform esoteric psychogeography here in Oulu (Out of all the places, again).

Heading to Krakow with our sharpened pencils and the general idea that Jeff Minter shared in his twitter feed a while ago:

'Game design should be about creating something that you passionately believe should exist, that you really want to share with others.'

We're doing just that. Catch you further down the road, people! Come and say hello to us at Krakow if you happen to be there. We're the ones with long hair and ponchos. =)

Finally, here's an earworm for your labor day lunch. Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators. Dig it!

Sami

Hastur

a-rolling

Hello again. The past few weeks have been a blur for us. We got in touch with Business Oulu and have been working on our marketing plans and investor decks etcetera. Lots of coffee consumed, paperwork and phonecalls and things. Da business side of the Hoodownr enterprise.

We attended the Oulu Game Spring event last week and met some really nice people with great ideas and advice about where to go with the game. Hell, we even managed to (somewhat?) impress the Paradox ceo, Fred Wester, with our concept. Please find an obligatory hanging out with rockstars-proof picture further down this post.

Mr Janne the beard also moved to Oulu last week and we're having more Hastur people living here in Oulu now. Me and Janne have been frequenting Kulttuuribingo (local, camp hastur style creative hangout/live venue/artspace). My perspective after attending gamespring and various other gaming events is that there's not enough focus on creativity and too much focus on funding.

So our mission now is to produce an event here in Oulu, mixing the game dev/business style people with the creative folks. A melting pot of sorts, all in the best possible taste. Looking at the end part of may, the event will provide an alternative angle on how to think about games, creativity and the joy of discovery. The preparations are moving well along, more data here as the thing solidifies.

On the software front, we've got a fresh new build of Hoodownr with improved graphics and most of the advanced new stuff we've been working on for a while now. Can't wait to field test with a group. Maybe at the event?

Coming to Oulu has meant focusing more and more on the various gameplay and longevity related ideas. And filling forms and talking to more and more people. Busy beez..

Today consists of more work towards the Event and finally upgrading this mac's hard drive. So much fun reinstalling all of the software and migrating things, can't wait!

Short note this time around, stay tuned!

Sami
hastur

when mr Z met with Fred

mr Petri Loukusa came in to camp over for the weekend to produce gfx

few lovely gals at Kulttuuribingo yesterday