I was asked for the ‘slightly snarky response’

so here it is..

“No.

I’m sorry, let me give you a better answer.
Stop it. Stop offering a silly service (which doesn’t work) hoping that idiots will agree to it. You cannot provide the service you promise. I could pick any game or movie and download it immediately in seconds. Did they not take you up on your offer and your fantastic $99 deal?
Piracy, as you well know, cannot be stopped.
My game does well enough, but I have no desire to pay you $99 for an ineffective protection racket.
Probably best not to use your university account to send emails like this.”

An exciting new way to lose money on something rubbish!

Hi all,

Just a quick warning for any indies. I just got an email offering the services of a law student who removes torrents of your game by pirate sites.

He charges $99 a month.

It’s a really dumb con. If your game is being pirated, this guy can’t fix it for you.. he’s effectively providing a protection racket for a burning building. Save your cash. Ignore his email, or, like me, write a slightly snarky response. Whichever works for you :)

Just don’t give this guy a penny.

Win a Vita by doing my job for me!

Oh, hello there.

So there’s this game. A game about rectangles and jumping and stuff, coming to PS3 and Vita next week. It’s called Thomas Was Alone. It’s pretty good.

Do you see the problem? My utter inability to sell my own game? I suck at describing Thomas, and so I’m going to bribe you into doing it for me. Using Vine, I want you to create a 6 and a half second explanation of Thomas Was Alone. The plan is to then compile them into an epic release day trailer for Thomas’ proud arrival on PSN. If I get enough. And they’re not all sarcastic / pornographic.

And my favourite wins a PS Vita. I’ll pick one on launch day in EU (24th April) and a very nifty bit of hardware will fly your way. This competition is available to everyone :)

So, yeah, if you fancy spending a few minutes making something cool that’d be awesome. Be creative, explain what you dug, maybe introduce a character? I leave it to you. Hashtag that badboy #TWAPSN so I can see it* and you’re good to go.

Kinda excited to see what people make.

WOOHOO! PRIZES!

*I am assured Twaps is not a rude word. It seems like it should be though.

Announcing: Thomas Was Alone Open Day

Write a blog or work for a game site?

Mildly interested in finding out about how Curve Studios transformed my dodgy code into a Playstation 3 and Vita game?

Think Old Street, London, is a nice place to visit?

Well. Then. Yeah. Come play Thomas Vita, hang out with me and the team from Curve who are about to make me look very good on PSN. It’ll be cool.

If you’re free Friday 19th send me an email to mike [at] thomaswasalone [dot] com. Places are limited, but we’ll plan according to how many folks fancy visiting.

They have a very nice meeting room. That shouldn’t totally inform your decision. But it’s good. Frosted glass. Top notch stuff. I’d visit just for that.

Thomas Was Alone .. coming soon to a PS3 and Vita near you!

Crikey.

Not bad for a hobby project, eh?

So.. I did a little guest post thing for the Sony blog, link HERE.

But yeah, very exciting to bring the game to a couple more platforms, and on a personal level, super awesome because getting my own game onto a  console is another dream ticked off the list. It’s been a good year for that.

ANSWER TO INEVITABLE ‘WHY IS THIS NEW CONTENT NOT ON MY PC YET?’ QUESTION:

The new included director’s commentary and purchaseable Benjamin DLC episode are debuting on the consoles first. This is because, in all honesty, they couldn’t have happened without Sony’s help. They’ll be coming to PC/Mac down the river, but I can’t give exact dates yet (mainly because I’ve not worked it out yet).

ANSWER TO INEVITABLE ‘WHY DOES THIS GAME NOT EXIST ON MY FAVOURITE CONSOLE YET?’ QUESTION:

I agree. It should. It should be on all consoles from now to the end of time. Mention it to your favourite console manufacturers please :)

ANSWER TO INEVITABLE ‘WHAT ABOUT LINUX?’ QUESTION:

Yeah.. I know.. It’s coming.. slowly. Linux unity is super easy, but getting it to work just so is taking longer than expected. Bear with me.

So, I quit my day job…

Thank you.

If you’ve ever bought Thomas, told someone about Thomas, made a video of your mum playing Thomas or written nice things about Thomas, thanks.

Because of you, today I get to go live my dream. I get to go play with game design and storytelling ideas the way I want. The money made from Thomas gives me a couple of years to experiment and make ‘project two’.

It’s not a sequel, despite absolutely every peer and expert I know telling me that’s my wisest move from a business perspective. I never was that wise; I’d rather go risk it on making something new, primarily because I’m selfish and have a desire to do different stuff. I may revisit Thomas and his friends at some point, but it’ll need to be something cool and exciting to me, not just a financial incentive, which is what it feels like it’d be if I went and did it right now. He’ll be popping up in a few more places, but a full on sequel would be too big a chunk of time, if I want to do it to the standard it deserves.

A great deal of thanks needs to go to Bossa Studios, my now previous employer. They told me in my interview that I needed to continue with the project while working there, they supported me through development, and gave advice and support throughout and after release. Awesome people it’s going to be sad to step away from.

So, yesterday I started a new Unity file, let’s see where it takes me. Thanks for the time and kindness you’ve given me so far in my adventures, and fingers crossed you’ll stick around to play the next thing :)

MC Frontalot, could you play me out?

http://frontalot.com/media.php/66/mc_frontalot_-_indier_than_thou.mp3

Ludum Dare are hosting CRA JAM!!!

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/01/29/cra-game-jam/

So that’s super cool. Hopefully this will help us spread the word about how awesome it is to work at CRA.

(buy David S Gallant’s lie filled game, or vote for it on steam greenlight, here: http://www.davidsgallant.com/igtced.html)

Thanks again to the immensely awesome journalist behind this enterprising piece for alerting we, the indie community, to the evil David did. He has since lost his job.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/01/29/tax_agency_employee_creates_online_game_to_vent_his_frustration_with_taxpayers.html

Announcing the CRA jam

This weekend.

Make a game celebrating the Canadian Revenue Agency. Who are awesome, and deserve everyone’s love.

Also, go vote for the, completely unrelatedly, recently unemployed David S Gallant’s game on Steam Greenlight. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=116321868

Keep it classy, keep it complimentary. I wish I worked there. Comment up your games when done.

Oh, and here’s the excellent piece of journalism which inspired this jam. David has since lost his job.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1321317—tax-agency-employee-creates-online-game-to-vent-his-frustration-with-taxpayers

Aaaaannd.. Ludum Dare are taking submissions!

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2012/01/13/stop-sopa-game-jam-january-18/