Consulting

I often consult with many game and entertainment companies around the world on projects of all sizes. The areas I focus on are: Game Design User Interface Social Features Production and Project Management Market Strategy Most of my work consists of evaluating existing games or helping to develop new games across any format. The work I do is bespoke to each project and I can work on a deliverable or on-going basis. Feel free to contact me if you're interested in discussing your project. Here are some of the services I provide: Design Audit The most common question that clients ask me is ‘What do you think of our progress?’ I look at a game from the point of view of a user and then analyse how it plays and feels. Is it fun? Does the user journey make sense? Is it responsive? Is it original? Does it have a marketing story? Does it have the potential to grow? I then compile my findings and recommendations into a report. This is called a design audit and usually takes 3-5 days to complete depending on the complexity of the game.  Game Design Canvas Creating a game design is often one of the major points of project failure. Teams get lost in a blizzard of design documentation that nobody reads and find themselves rushing to build something that they do not fully understand. I have developed a format called a game design canvas to overcome this issue. Using a visual approach of wireframing and functional description, a game design canvas gets to the heart of what your game is quickly and exposes major issues fast. I have had great success in using this format with a number of clients.  Continuous Evaluation I work with some clients on a continuous basis to evaluate the latest versions of their games. I act as the sounding board, the outsider who knows what the project is yet is separated from the day-to-day of development in order to remain objective. I flag easily-overlooked issues to do with user experience, navigation or design issues early before they become set in stone, and help critique mechanics, visual, language, marketing story and other areas as required. Continuous evaluation can either happen on site or remotely, depending on your needs. Project Planning No game design survives contact with reality. Like any software, initial planning needs to be experimental and prototype-driven rather than simply being assumed to work. Meanwhile late stage planning needs to focus on delivery and eliminating potential time sinks that might compromise delivery. I help clients with planning using an agile method. This method helps to focus the project on what matters most, what is most risky, what is a critical issue and so on early. This kind of project planning is best done as a collaborative process on site over a 2-3 day period. Platform and Market Strategy Should you develop for the iPad? How about for a social network? Should you use a cross-platform technical solution? What kind of business model should you adopt? These and many other questions are very important, especially in the era of single-franchise publishing, tribal marketing and flattened developer competition. Now, more than ever, where you publish and how you approach the market with a unique approach are vital to your success.  Teaching and Talks As you may have noticed from this blog, I love to talk.  More specifically I love to speak at conferences and run teaching or tutorial sessions with game developers. I currently teach classes at the NFTS, for example. I have also spoken at several university and business conferences, with crowds from 5 to 300 people, students and senior executives. Live Calls In partnership with ExpertInsight, I can be booked for live video calls to discuss your project and get straight to the heart of your issues. If all that you need is some straightforward and frank advice without getting too in-depth into a consulting relationship then click this linkto book some time. Calls range from 30 to 90 minutes in length.   And Finally All of my consulting work is run through Improv Science Ltd, a company regsitered in England and Wales. I look forward to hearing from you, and in the mean time feel free to browse the 200 articles on this site and tell me what you think!