Tuesday, September 22, 2020

A Word About The Brazilian Gaming Market

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(NOTE: this content is a teaser from my HCI's 2019 paper and the last post of this year)

The Brazilian gaming market is full of opportunities and peculiarities. The country is well-known abroad for being an emergent field where new game ideas can be explored, andalso for its high levels of piracy, unfortunately. In a certain way, the country is a unique "ecosystem" where different business models and creative processes can be explored, given the size and the diversity of its population, of almost 220 million people.

The gaming industry in Brazil is not consolidated though, and under many aspects it is still in an initial stage. As a first step into our discussion, we can highlight some attributes of the Brazilian gaming market, using as reference the data collected in an important survey named Game Brazil Research 2018 (Pesquisa Game Brasil 2018, in Portuguese), conducted by the company Sioux Games.



In its fifth edition, the research comprised interviews with 2853 people, in an attempt to investigate some demographic, consumption and behavioral aspects of the Brazilian gaming field. The first information we need to highlight is the fact that 75.5% of the Brazilian population plays games in a wide range of platforms, like smartphones, tablets, computers, consoles, portable consoles, etc.

According to this research, the gamer audience in Brazil is mainly cross-platform,with 74% of players experiencing games on more than one device. Smartphones lead the numbers as the most popular gaming platforms in Brazil (37.6%), while consoles occupy the second place (28.8%), followed by computers, in third place (26.4%).

Another interesting piece of information from Game Brazil Research 2018 concerns the self-image of the Brazilian gamer audience: only 6.1% of the respondents considered themselves to be "hardcore" gamers. Most of the interviewed people identified themselves as casual gamers.

It was also remarkable, in the research about mobile games, that 60.7% of respondents said they played while in transit (bus, subway or car).

Finally, it is noteworthy that 53.6% of Brazilian gamers are women, and among the female audience the favorite platform is mobile (59%), in which they spend an average of one to three hours a week playing games.

From these preliminary data, it is possible to understand that Brazil is a fertile ground for mobile games and a place with high potential for new gaming business in this field.

There are no massive game publishers in Brazil yet, and mobile platforms like App Store (Apple) and Play Store (Google) constitute interesting opportunities for game designers, indie studios and small gaming companies to showcase their work, in Brazil and abroad.

#GoGamers

Monday, September 21, 2020

Podcast Episode 30 - Finishing Up Demystifying AD&D Combat

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In this episode, I wrap up my attempt to demystify AD&D combat with a correction, some odds-ends and Weapons vs. AC!

Anchor Episode link: https://anchor.fm/thedungeonmastershandbook/episodes/Podcast-Episode-30---Finishing-Up-Simplifying-ADD-Combat-eb80m2

What do you think?! 

Leave me a voice message and let me know what you think or ask questions if you have them! (312) 625-8281‬ (US/Canada) You can also leave a message on Anchor: anchor.fm/thedungeonmastershandbook/message 

Find episode posts and other D&D content on my blog: chgowiz-games.blogspot.com 

Credits

Intro music: Dragonaut by Bradley The Buyer (bit.ly/2ASpAlF)
Outro music: Dream by Wild Shores (bit.ly/2jbJehK)
Stinger music by TJ Drennon - Check out his Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/TJD/
Stinger music by Nightingale - https://www.looperman.com/users/profile/207475
All music used with permission.

Saturday, September 12, 2020

ATTACK OF THE SAUCERMAN!

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by HeroOfAvalon

Before they were absorbed by Sony, Psygnosis were responsible for publishing some interesting games. Attack of the Saucerman, the sole release from Fube Industries Ltd, was an attempt at morphing the sci-fi stylings of a 1950s B-movie with an action-heavy mascot platformer.  With Mars Attacks and Men in Black hitting cinemas, the late 90s had something of a renaissance of flying saucer schlock, the latter of which appears to be a heavy inspiration here. With its 2000 release (a year after the PlayStation original), did it miss the B-movie boat?

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Rescue And Recovery

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I own a hobby game store but one of my other hobbies, the one that takes all my meager disposable income, is overlanding and off roading. I have been stuck many times in my Jeep. For a while, it seemed like that's what you did, drive until you got stuck. I learned a lot during this time, both about preparation and technique as well as wisdom in avoiding mistakes.

Once I tried to get up a muddy hill and slid back down sideways, nearly over an embankment. I tried several more times and slid into the exact same nook on the hill, a little closer to the edge each time. Eventually I got half way up, avoided the slide, and winched my way over the top. My friend who didn't get stuck was focused on getting me to learn how to navigate the vehicle up the hill. I just wanted to get to the top. My installer thought I was foolish to buy a winch, "I've been off-roading for 20 years and never used my winch." Well, he never went with us. I ended up using the winch several more times that year. There are some fundamentals to off-roading that apply to business.

Be prepared. In my Jeep sliding situation, I had the original, street tires on the vehicle. I had no business being in mud. A wiser me would have looked at that hill and said "Nope! We go around." In business this means having some form of reserve. A cash reserve is the most obvious. Before we had our large construction project, with tremendous debt, I had cash reserves. We would look around and try to solve problems with money, rather than seeing problems and putting them on my white board of shame, a list to be solved another day.

Being prepared also means having a plan. What would you do if you were forced to shut down for a long period of time? Would you continue the business at all? That's the first question. Is it worth it? If so, how? Having checked your resolve ahead of time means you are acting on your plan while others are searching their hearts. This is a discussion I've had with friends and family many times, and the weekend before I was shut down, we revisited this. Is it worth continuing if they shut you down?

Self rescue. Rule zero of survival is nobody is coming. Be self reliant. With rule zero in mind, how are you going to self rescue in a time of crisis? You should certainly call for help, but remember, nobody is coming. Hope they come, expect they won't. My solution was to set up an online store and do no-contact home delivery. The best time to have set up an online store was a year ago, but you do what you can in the time of crisis. In coming days, I will change that to far less profitable, but safer, shipping of all orders. Nobody is coming. I'll believe there is an outside solution when the money hits my bank account.

Call for help. Nobody is coming, but they might. I've got a ham in the Jeep, but I really want a satellite communicator. The price tag and subscription throws me off, but before every big trip, I consider it again. How remote is this trip? Who am I going with?

In the case of the business, I'm refinancing my house to acquire cash out and tapping investors for a "cash call." This alone is probably enough to self-rescue, assuming things go back to normal. They'll never be normal again. When I went to initiate a refinance, the first several days the banks were swamped and stopped publishing rates. The next week, my mortgage broker added me to her schedule. It has been three weeks and she hasn't called me back. I'm half way through a refinance with a second broker. Is it possible this falls through? Absolutely. Should I have relied on the first broker? Nobody is coming.

I'm also applying for an SBA economic injury disaster loan, and was recently approved for one. Next is the PPP payroll protection plan, which really will employ my staff for more hours than I would give them otherwise, probably building a new online store I should have created a year ago.

One of these things needs to happen. I need the mortgage refi or the SBA loan and gravy if I get both. Let's turn failure into an embarrassment of riches. Since nobody is coming, sending out a request for help on every frequency might increase my chances somebody comes. If nobody comes, the online store becomes an even hotter priority. Everyone is screwed. It is to everyones interest to be patient and allow self recovery. It's the best option since nobody is coming.

The time to be prepared with a strong resolve and resources in place, was before this happened. The time to begin the self rescue and call for help was last week. The time to accept nobody is coming and figure this out on your own is now.

Friday, September 4, 2020

Kickstarter Ending Soon - Dreamforge Games Grav-StuG Tank

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Take me to the Kickstarter...


What does this project include?


The project was created to fund the tooling and production of a polystyrene plastic model kit. The Eisenken Grav StuG.




We also offer 3d printable building terrain sets, modular, stackable and and loaded with details.


The icing on the cake... Two lucky backers will receive an extra free kit, painted by the extremely talented David Woods! Each StuG you back will provide an entry into the raffle!


Good luck to all of you! now lets get this Kickstarter across the finish line!


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