ihobo

Off to the States

As usual, I’m off to the US this Spring, although not to GDC. I seem to have given up on GDC, or rather, it has given up on me - I prefer to support those conferences that support me, since I’m not short of opportunities to give talks right now. Will be mostly in Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia, including a talk at SCAD on Tuesday February 21st.

ihobo will return in March.

Closed For Winter

Right, that's all from me for now! I'll probably putter in the comments for a bit longer, but otherwise I'm winding this blog up for the holidays. I'm off to Didcot tomorrow to present on Discworld Noir for AdventureX - the first ever time I'll have given a presentation on this game, which was my first as lead designer and script writer. If I don't see you there, have a wonderful winter festival of your choice and I'll return after the only slightly terrifying prospect of my fortieth birthday on 1st January. Farewell, godspeed and qapla'!

ihobo is back early next year.

Back Soon

Taking a short break from the internet to enjoy the leaves changing colour. I'll be back in late November with some posts to promote Imaginary Games, which is out on 25 November.

Have fun everyone!

My Author Copies Arrived Today…

…so I was able to hold the first edition of Imaginary Games in my hands this afternoon. Don’t know if this means it’s available to buy now or not, but there are definitely copies in existence now.

AFK

Off to speak at Think Design Play in Utrecht on Thursday this week, and next week I’m visiting family in Devon so nothing more from me until next month. As ever, I will reply to any comments that appear in my absence as soon as I get back to my desk, so feel free to share your thoughts.

ihobo returns in October.

Much Needed Refreshment (and Forthcoming Papers)

Right, I really needed that break from blogging… Frankly, I was feeling incredibly weighed down by the weight of academic papers that I had to write, and needed to focus on them. Here’s a list of all the papers, book chapters and presentations I’ve written or worked upon in the last month and a half:

• “Player Typology in Theory and Practice” (with Rebecca Lowenhaupt and Lennart Nacke)
• “BrainHex: Preliminary Results from a Neurobiological Gamer Typology Survey” (with Lennart Nacke and Regan Mandryk)
• “Neurobiological Foundations for Player Satisfaction Modeling” (with Lennart Nacke) in Game Telemetry and Metrics (eds. Mady Seif El-Nasr and Anders Drachen)
• “Chaotic Good in the Balance” in Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy (eds. Jon Cogburn and Mark Silcox)
• “Dungeons & Dragons & Dice &… Prop Theory for Role-Play”
  in Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy (eds. Jon Cogburn and Mark Silcox)
• “Prop Theory for Game Aesthetics”
• “Orthodox Science Fiction and Fictional Worlds”
• “Fictional Worlds in Films and Games”

That’s a lot of papers for someone who doesn’t work as an academic! Anyway, I now have this workload under better control, so with luck I should be able to get back into the blogging.

Blogging resumes again next week - hope to see you in the comments!

Spring Break

I'll be taking a short break from blogging over the next few weeks, but I'll be back in June with more to say on game design, aesthetics of play and game philosophy.

Back soon!

Friends of ihobo

I have finally added a blog roll to the ihobo site, called ‘Friends of ihobo’, which you’ll see in the sidebar. Your site may already be listed – take a look! If it isn’t and you want it to be, check you meet the following three essential criteria:

• You’re a friend of the company International Hobo Ltd, meaning you have (1) worked with us (2) hired us (3) been a regular here at ihobo.com for at least a year (4) are a fan of our games e.g. Ghost Master, Discworld Noir or (5) have been drinking with us .
• I have some idea who you are i.e. I have had a conversation with you in blog comments, over email or in person.
• You have a website that is expressly game related in some way – sorry, no non-game blogs in this particular blog roll.

If you qualify, please leave a comment with your link and I’ll add it to the list.

Thanks to everyone who has supported ihobo.com over the years, and especially to the venerable old guard who followed me here from my philosophy blog, Only a Game - you will earn double experience points for all your comments!

With infinite thanks,

Chris.

Notice of Intention to Accept Paid Advertising

Dear ihobo readers,

I have recently been receiving a lot of requests to put advertising onto ihobo.com. For the most part these have been things I wouldn't want to be involved in promoting, but recently I have received offers for paid advertising that is a logical fit to the website and I have been considering it. The money to be made in accepting these ads is exceptionally slender, but it would cover the costs of the web hosting involved in the various ihobo blogs if nothing else, and shouldn't be disruptive to readers as it would just mean additional boxes in the sidebar along with the links for my books.

However, since any blog is nothing without its readers I am writing to consult with you about this decision to accept paid advertising. If you have any thoughts on this matter, I will be happy to discuss this with you in the comments. If there are no objections, I will proceed with advertising in April 2011. I promise nothing that will play music at you, nothing that will demonically possess your cursor, and no pop-up ads of any kind! (I currently have no intention of accepting ads at my philosophy blog, but will continue to pimp my own books there).

Let me take this opportunity to thank everyone who reads ihobo for your support over the years, and I hope you will stick around in the years to come!

Chris Bateman
Creative Overlord, International Hobo Ltd.

Spring News

I am back to blogging, albeit short on time as a result of the new baby! It’s a shame that I’ve had to miss GDC again, but then special circumstances apply. As a result of my new family situation, I may struggle to get game content together for ihobo for the next month, but I’ll try and find some time for a few brief thoughts if nothing else.

A few announcements…

• MotorStorm Apocalypse (PS3) launches in about two weeks time. International Hobo has been working on the structural and narrative content of this game since pre-dev and it’s been fantastic watching the extremely talented team at Evolution Studios at work. Looking forward to seeing the finished game.
• Green My Place, the serious game project that won a Learning Game Award last year, has launched. There are some fantastic minigames at this site, based on designs we provided to the project, and I’ve been really impressed with the way it’s come together over the last eighteen months. Casual game fans, check it out!
• Also about to be released is Air Conflicts: Secret Wars (PS3, 360, PC), the last part of the Air Conflicts trilogy we’ve been working on for about five years. The story materials we developed for this arcade flight sim are really quite exceptional. Set in World War II, it tells the story of a smuggler pilot and her crew who become embroiled in the struggles of the resistance movements in Europe, with flashbacks to her father’s story as a pilot in the Great War. It may be the best game story we’ve ever made.
• I’m also delighted to announce that Zero Books will be publishing my philosophy of games book Imaginary Games, probably in early 2012. This is the culmination of the Game Design as Make-Believe serial – thanks to everyone who supported this!
• And of course, I now have a little baby son, Soren Albert Bateman!

Have fun everyone!