Wednesday, June 1, 2011

1 Year of Sun Turns a Developer into an Entrepreneur

June marks 1 year since I packed up, left my corn-fed Indiana life, and moved to the Tucson desert to make games for Sony.  I had the chance to ship one game with Sony, which was an outstanding experience.  But unfortunately, the Facebook landscape changed enough during development that the virallity of our game (wildlife refuge) did not stand a chance and we ended up in the red.  Turns out, our game wasn't the only one struggling at Sony Online Entertainment and the Tucson studio was closed back in April (along with Seattle and Denver).

Soooo.  Why am I still in the desert?

Good question.

Besides the perpetual sun, lack of tornadoes, and beautiful mountains, I also found a job here.  I use the term 'job' loosely here as most jobs typically pay money... ;)

Myself and 4 colleagues started a game studio we dubbed Kihon.

I am very excited to be a partner in this adventure into the world of indie development.  I do not think I could have found a more talented, passionate, and enjoyable group to collaborate with.  Follow our antics on twitter here.

Nuff of the mushy stuff.  I plan on writing more on Kihon.  Feel free to drop any questions below... What would you like to know about making mobile games, about starting a studio, etc.   I'll try to be as transparent as possible.

Cheers for reading!