As the 2007 Northern Exposure rolls on, Europe gets primed to become more competitive and more financially viable for the world game industry. Speaking on behalf of indie game developer Introversion Software, Mark Morris tackled the issues with intellectual property acquisition deals and how to fight these typical moves by publishers.

Introversion is well known for their popular, self-published games Darwinia, DEFCON, and Uplink, and Morris exposed how a small team can handle everything from concept design to development, right up to publishing and marketing a game - and still be successful.

"Do we really need publishers to help with development? With all the creative ideas in our heads, I think not," said Morris. But he did point out that publishers were really good for one thing: development funding. "That's no small thing," he said.

The one thing a developer shouldn't do, according to Morris, is sell their unique IP. "You don't need to sell your IP - try saying no to a publisher and see what happens," Morris suggested. In his eyes, publishers will become more flexible with contracts if you challenge them over IP.

The new age of digital distribution offers a lot in the way of self-publishing, and it's tried-and-tested successes that force publishers to re-contemplate content acquisition.

 

The Collector's Edition of Defcon for the PC by Introversion Software is their follow-up to DEFCON: Everybody Dies and the online RTS, DEFCON. To give you an idea of what Defcon is about, a line from the press release may describe it best: "It's Global Thermonuclear War, and nobody wins. But maybe - just maybe - you can lose the least."

Each match is said to last for about 30 to 40 minutes, during which you have to ready, execute, and follow through on a nuclear strike that will decimate the opposition. Defcon can be run in real-time or up to 20 times faster, which gives players a sort-of difficulty level for the game. For example, multiplayer games are set at the slowest speed to give players ample time to prepare their forces for a nuclear strike.

The developers have also implemented a level system, where the first part has players positioning their Subs and Carriers in preparation for a massive nuclear strike. In addition to this, players should also be actively hunting for their opponent's units during this time. The second phase has the nuclear conflict  itself, starting with each territory launching their nuclear assault. The final phase then has the remaining units hunting each other in order to "launch that final all-conquering strike on the enemy capital."

The collector's edition of Defcon is slated to be released in the UK this June 8 for £19.99 (about US$ 40). They have even further sweetened the deal by including their cult-classic Uplink in the pack. This game has been rated by PEGI at 7+, so with all the recent talk about video game violence, it makes us wonder what people will be saying about letting seven year old kids play a game which involves launching nuclear missiles at other parts of the world.

 

While nVidia's VP has stated that good graphics are one key component to good gaming, Introversion Software's Mark Morris thinks otherwise.

In a recent interview, Introversion's director said that his company was unlikely to produce a photo-realistic title in the near future - a trend which he observed was becoming commonplace among other developers.

What I think happens too often is that [developers] sort of go, 'We’re going to show you the best graphics you’ve ever seen and then we might pack a bit of gameplay or a little bit of entertaining fun on at the end," he said, noting that he thought it was "a very bad thing to do.

Detailing his stance, Morris did say that he thought that good graphics are still an essential part of a game in the way they draw players in. The problem, according to him, was that developers became so focused on developing high calibre graphics that the race was beginning to resemble a similar gaming trend back in the 1980s. "I think they’re stuck in the ‘80s when graphics in games were so rubbish, that every time a new game came out, the graphics would improve slightly and that would be really so important."

And taking a cue from Taylor's previous quip about lack of graphics being like watching "24" in black-and-white on a 7-inch screen, Morris pointed out that "24"'s forte was its story-telling style on TV -  each episode happened in real time.

[It’s] nothing that you can get from any other medium other than television. So when [Taylor] says it’s like watching 24 on a small screen, I think it’s nonsense… If I owned a cinema, I could go and run 24 on my cinema screen and it would get slightly better. But the real joy of 24 is that it maximizes the particular medium of television like nothing has ever done before. So I think when he uses that quote he picked a bit of a bad example.

This interview comes in light of the more highly anticipated visuals-heavy titles some of the fans here may be waiting up for, such as Halo 3, Lair, or Final Fantasy XIII. It will also be noted that Introversion is most famous for titles like DEFCON and Darwinia. Kudos to ssj3fox for this hot tip.

Introversion Software proudly labels itself as the last of the bedroom programmers. It is a truly independent developing studio founded in 2002 by three people. Probably the more successful titles under its belt include DEFCON: Everybody Dies and Darwinia which won the Seamus McNally Award at last year's Independent Games Festival.

The company director, Mark Morris, recently spoke with gaming site Next-Gen and revealed that Introversion is planning to make releases on next-gen consoles and handhelds. Morris added that these titles will likely be downloadable.

I think you'll be seeing some console titles coming out from Introversion over the next twelve months or so. The downloads fit with Introversion very well. Downloadable games need to be smaller, they need to be unique. All of our games have at least got that.

The director wouldn't reveal though what specific console their company is targetting. As you all know, all three consoles are capable of providing the above-mentioned service. Morris added that they wanted the same for handhelds but there's not really much of a download market for DS and PSP at the moment.

With this move, some of you may be thinking that Introversion might lose its independence. But Morris shared that they believed there's a difference between console makers and publishers. The former, according to him, are just offering mass distribution of their games. However, he admits that there are some who try to control them:

There are still publishers out there that are trying to give us money and that are trying to take control. There's no way we're going to go anywhere near them. We're not going to touch them with a barge pole. We've not made a single deal yet and we never will that will compromise that in any way.

If most of your bug issues for Introversion Software's DEFCON: Everybody Dies were resolved in patch v1.2, well, good for you. But for most users, they have been encountering some glitches that still need to be resolved.

Like a good dev company who's set on pleasing their users, Introversion set out to address these issues but this time, not with a patch. This update is actually for those who have the Steam version of the game, and all you have to do to integrate the following updates with Defcon is to restart your Steam client and these updates will work their way to the game by themselves. The updates and changes are as follows:

• Allies can now share a battle plan directly drawn on the world map
• In the lobby, the last game name is now remembered
• Additional option to change the player name directly from the option menu
• Restart Ambience and Music (if in a game) when applying a mod
• Fix the crash when applying a mod removing sounds
• It's now impossible to start a game with a empty name
• Fix start up crash involving missing game name in game-history.txt
• Don't advertise a new version on the main interface if the current version is higher than the latest version advertised bythe meta server
• The version update link on the main interface is no longer opened when clicked if there is a menu over it

There ya go, at least you wouldn't have to download nor install anything with this one. Just make sure you check back with us for more updates on your favorite PC games.

In an age of Cells and multi-cores, of 1080p graphics and motion-sensitivity, it's too easy to be blinded into forgetting what it's all about really. Being sucked into the gameplay until you and it are one and there is nothing else (Oh, that is so Zen). Of course, increased processing power and innovation in controls were the means to that end, but as it is in so many affairs of the world, the means obscured the end until the means was all that's left.

That's why it's nice to see a game that doesn't have all that, but still manages to do what games are supposed to do. In this case, it's DEFCON: Everybody Dies from UK-based Introversion Studios, self-proclaimed "last of the bedroom developers". It's a very simple game that could run on a Pentium III - TWO PC GENS AGO - but manages to deliver a gripping multiplayer experience like no other. Why? Thanks to some good gameplay design, and what turned out to be excellent inspiration, this practically emulates - if not simulates - nuclear strategy and warfare.

It's a lot more horrifying than you think when you're the practitioner of the craft. The premise is simple, but the strategic implications are huge. Up to six players, each with a fixed arsenal of bombers, fighters, ships, and most of all, nuclear weapons. On missiles, subs, and bombers. Your objective: use these assets to take out the enemy nukes - and his population. Before he uses his to take out yours. Classic nuclear strategy.

Nobody dies if you read on at the full article.

Introversion Software has just released patch v1.2 for DEFCON: Everybody Dies. For those who have been living in a basement under the control of terrorist dwarves, DEFCON is a real-time strategy game where you'll find yourself squat in the middle of a Global Thermonuclear War.

Now, you must manage a full-on global nuclear war exchange and attempt to minimize the casualties in a war that threatens to destroy the entire planet (inspired by the Cold War era, of course). Honestly, it seems doomed to fail, but if you're really THAT good, surely you can manage thermonuclear war, right? Hahaha.

The game has been out since September 29, and to keep the fire burning (so they say), Introversion has released patch v1.2 which introduces a major change: a new mod support system. Before you get all excited about giving DEFCON a total graphical overhaul, you should know that this patch is for the boxed version of DEFCON. So if you got the Steam release of the game, sorry folks but this patch wouldn't work for you.

Changelog:

• New MOD support system

More info on Patch v1.2 changes in the full article!

Download: [DEFCON: Everybody Dies patch v1.2]