‘The games movement is bigger than the industry’

It’s not just the traditional games industry that is driving the medium forward, according to veteran designer Brenda Romero.

During her talk at GDC Europe yesterday, Romero marvelled at how accessible and widespread the very act of games development has become.

"The games movement is even bigger than the industry itself,” she said.

“Right now, somewhere, toiling away at their computer is a kid just learning how to code and hoping to sell their game. Somewhere, maybe at this conference, is the next big blockbuster. Somewhere, someone is making a game that they want to give their kids for Christmas. Somewhere, there’s a teacher trying to make a game to teach their students about something.

“People are making games not for the money but for the pure pleasure of doing so. And if you take money for your games, you’re a part of the games industry, so welcome.”

She also lamented the fact that those who find success – such as notable examples Phil Fish and Markus ‘Notch’ Persson – receive such harsh criticism if their later projects don’t live up to expectations.

Romero warned that, in the case of Fish, departures of such talent created ‘games development black holes’: voids left by “extremely successful developers with knowledge that should be shared but who keep to themselves or hang with other black holes”.