A report by Games Industry had Dan Paladin, The Behemoth's co-founder, calling on all publishers to give developers leeway in the development process and let them do their thing. "I would like to see the traditional publishing deal change. I would like to see publishers act more as distributors," he said.

 

Paladin spoke out at last month's Nordic Game Conference, stating that developers will probably all tell you the same thing over and over again - their publisher has removed an idea they wanted in the game or that a feature was changed in favor of the publisher because they had the money and owned the intellectual property.

"I do think you publishers have too much power over developers, for the most part. All publishers are different, but on the whole," said Paladin in an interview with Games Industry, ending abruptly. Independent game developer studio The Behemoth funded and distributed their own title Alien Hominid over various platforms all by themselves.

"That's why we risk everything up front, so we can take it in and it's all there; we trust our own judgement," added Paladin. Developers are often forced to adopt the ideas of their publishers, according to him, and causes the games that used to be really good early on become a disaster when released later.

"The problem is the people who aren't making the game are calling the shots on how the games should be made," explained Paladin, calling such a way of development as "armchair developing." He claimed publishers just sit on their chairs and think of an idea, and say, "Wouldn't this be cool?"

It would be really cool if the ideas really worked for the game, but more often than not, they don't turn out the way everyone plans. "Publishers aren't developers, so I think they should stay out of the creative process," he concluded.

 

This year's Nordic Game developer's conference is starting off on a warm note, as we pick up word that 40 guest speakers are confirmed to be making it to the event. Aside from previously reported personalities like Paulina Bozek (SingStar) and Matsuura Masaya (LocoRoco), another high-profile speaker expected to visit the event is CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Petursson. MMORPG gamers will recognize CCP as the developer/publisher behind EVE Online. As for the rest of the new faces this time around:

• Michael Khaimzon (Crytek)
• Maurice Suckling (Mustard Corporation)
• Kevin Bruner (Telltale Games)
• Dan Paladin (The Behemoth)
• Matias Myllyrinne (Remedy Entertainment, Alan Wake)
• Christian Seger and Niklas Westberg (Massive Entertainment)
• Ben Cousins (DICE)

DICE's Cousins is expected to give a presentation on how videogames are losing out to digital entertainment, while Mustard's Suckling is expected to give a talk on script-writing for MMOs. Those are the details for the moment, though we advise the readers to keep updated in case more information shows up.

Nordic Game 2007 is expected to take place this May 15 to 16, at the Malmo Exhibition & Convention Center in Malmo, Sweden. Early registrants may also want to hurry, as early-bird registrations are expected to end this March 31.

Are we surprised? Nope, not really. The Aquaria trailer alone was enough to steal our breath away. Apparently, in the GDC, it got the attention of the crowd too. The 9th Annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) awarding was held in the said developers conference. Bit-Blot's majestic side-scrolling underwater action adventure bagged the grand prize, along with US$ 20,000 plus sponsor-related prizes.

Check out the full list of winners:

Seumas McNally Grand Prize
Aquaria - Bit Blot
Design Innovation
Everyday Shooter - Queasy Games
Excellence In Visual Art
Castle Crashers - The Behemoth
Best Web Browser Game
Samorost 2 - Amanita Design
Excellence In Audio
Everyday Shooter - Queasy Games
Technical Excellence
Bang! Howdy - Three Rings Design
Audience Award
Castle Crashers - The Behemoth
GameTap Awards
Everyday Shooter - Queasy Games
Blast Miner - Cryptic Sea
RoboBlitz - Naked Sky Entertainment

Congratulations to all the winners. Hopefully, this has given them some massive exposure to the movers and shakers of the industry, thus giving them a chance to mass market their indie games.