Remote vs Freelance in the Game Design World

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

Rock ‘em, sock ‘em game design.

There is a very very limited amount of remote work from what I can see in the field of game writing/design. Most of what people would call remote work is in actuality freelance or contract work. So the thing that remains to be decided for me is if I continue to search for that remote golden egg, or if I strike out and look for the sunny side up omelet instead.

Obviously if I intend to get anywhere with building my resume for the day that I trip over the golden egg, I need to start freelancing. With that in mind, I’ve begun the painful process of branding a studio name. In the next weeks I’ll talk more about the decisions I come up with, but for now, the process…

For all of you designers out there looking to “break in” with freelance or industry work, the first place to start is in creating your *sparkle*BRAND*sparkle*.

I’m doing this by first thinking up a name for my studio. This should fit with what I intend to design, my game style, and my own unique personality. It’s a choice that is very difficult to “fix” so take some time with it. When you’ve decided on a name, sleep on it for a week or so and see if you still like it.

The next thing to do is to reserve that name on the twitterwebz and as a domain. Even if you aren’t ready to create a web presence, you should register the name. Twitter names are going fast, and you need to snap yours up. Try to keep them the same, so do a bit of homework. You don’t want 5 different versions of your brand out there. You want one unified front.

When you’re thinking up names, keep logos in mind as well. Think about abbreviations. Ponder business card and website design prospects. And make sure that the name isn’t already in use by a design studio. ;)

You may want to practice saying the name out loud, try it out on some trusted friends, or write it out on paper in various forms. Make sure that it can’t be warped into something embarrassing. (Look up the history of the name “PacMan”)

I’ll be doing all of this in the next few days, so stay tuned for the outcome of my brain thunder!

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Crazy

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

Sometimes songs can leave you with little snippets of wisdom…

“Never try to outwit your common sense.”

I realize I do this all the time. I also tend to ignore all the things my common sense tells me. I’m actually pretty good at giving advice, but it’s hard to take your own advice. Therefore my life bounces up and down something fierce. Being a poet/author doesn’t help matters. Poets are supposed to be introspective breeds, and the stereotype is definitely true of me.

Lately I’ve been doing too much introspecting. There’s a quote by Nietzsche that I love… it goes something like this: Stare not too long into the abyss less you find the abyss staring back into you. I think I’ve discovered exactly what that means. I’ll refrain from sharing it, adn hope you lot never find out on your own.

I also want to give my sister a hug right now… she needs one I think. Jamie… *big hugs* I love you.

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