Asking him a bunch of questions, I was able to get the following feedback...
- Release games! Even if you have to work in a job you don't like and live with your parents, try and earn the money to make and release your own games. Thus people will recognise you as a games' developer and that reputation will help you get your 'foot in the door'.
- Even if you fail at a Kick Starter, a games' company may still back up and support your game if you had an idea that they liked.
- Don't be afraid to show off your games at ExPlay. Get the word out and make contacts with people there.
- When making a game decide if it's based on story or mechanics. Mechanics will mean that the game will need to be fun and possibly include something unique. Whereas, story will require high quality narrative and characters.
- Since I am doing a story based game for my third year project, Richard recommended that I make a large spider diagram showing how all the characters relate to each scene in the game and to one another. Do they agree with what is going on or not? Also, write down the who, what, why and how for each character, so as to make them fully fleshed out.
Richard was also kind enough to offer me and my friends the chance of visiting his games' company 'Total Monkery' so as to learn what the industry is like and get help and advice with our own games since Richard is keen on making Plymouth a real gaming scene. Thus I made sure to email him this morning, fingers crossed I get a response saying I can come over soon.
