Comments on: A Flash Game Designer’s Story

By: Cicla

Cicla — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:35:07 +0000

yeah this article is a hope killer. I think i should go back to my Mc donalds job and stay away from flash :P

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:27:10 +0000

Agreed.
…but… are you saying that I’m not going to get rich with Mochiads?

C’mon! Where’s the love?

By: Jameson Hsu

Jameson Hsu — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:21:31 +0000

This is a great article depicting the internal struggle to balance passion and responsibility. I believe that there are many of us that get caught in the middle of doing somethings as a means to an end versus doing something that really fulfills your creative passions. While Flash games are no where near providing the financial returns as a AAA title would in the console world it at least provides hope and inspiration that there are some rewards to pursuing creations from the heart.

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:20:45 +0000

I kept waiting for the payoff…”and then MochiAds empowered me to make the games I love, AND pay the bills doing it.”
Is that in next month’s installment?

So…. how’s it end?

By: Marcus

Marcus — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:11:34 +0000

I agree with the previous commenter. The article is a bit confusing, the intro had me expecting it would be about a flash designer only partially “selling out”, but Ethan Levy doesn’t even seem to be involved in any independent flash projects at all. If he is, he doesn’t mention it in the article.

By: Luke

Luke — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 06:11:01 +0000

“So, with this infinite new world of possibilities, why have I been spending my time designing games like “Mystery of Shark Island and Polly Pride: Pet Detective”? This is the result of a side effect of adulthood: responsibility. I need to keep a roof over my head and food in my stomach.”

This makes it seem like you have to sell your soul to work in the flash gaming industry. If being a flash designer meant I had to design for Pokemon or Hanna Montana I’d quit right away and pursue something else. Sure, you need to make money, but freelance is 100% freedom and you can make REALLY decent money from sponsorships alone.

The article seemed a little strange overall, it was like praise for the creative freedom that has manifested in the industry, but then that paragraph comes along and totally negates the whole thing…

By: gludion

gludion — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:10:15 +0000

If you want to share thought on “where did the industry went wrong?” (a more than urgent analysis for those working at responsible jobs in this industry, which is quite mature too), the right place would be gamasutra.com, and it would really help to improve the quality of future games. There are big budgets at stakes, you know ;)

It seems that you consider Flash gaming as a new El Dorado (but take a closer look at monetizing figures), land of freedom (more probably, but it would be interesting to exam why: lower risk? quality bar lower? more culture of innovation or distinction (clone-averse)?) or whatever. But when you say “Today, designers and devs can easily make “Zombie Headstomp 3000″ or whatever twisted creations their imaginations spawn. They can code them up in Flash and reach an audience of millions on Kongregate [etc..]” Please let me remind you that it’s much more “possible” at EA: there are budgets, there are skilled people, there are tools, etc.. Lol at EA too, “These opportunities are out there, dangling in front of your eyes, just waiting to be grasped.” … so.. what is wrong then? Please develop ;) hehe..

On the Flash side, Alien Hominid probably required huge efforts, not only to make the flash game, but to port it on console, networking, distributing etc.. Same for “flow”. Regarding this examples, it would be interesting to study which actors favored the transition from a Flash game to a console game: connections between 2 distant worlds (industry vs flash) ? Or flash being just a “toy” for actors part or about-to-be-part in the industry?

Interesting article from an interesting position, though (I’m curious about the opinion of other “veterans” game designers of the “industry”).

By: Ada Chen

Ada Chen — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:32:08 +0000

“the opportunity to follow your vision, regardless of whether or not it fits into nice, neat, risk averse, easily marketable boxes, and the opportunity to craft the incredible, imagined worlds that live inside of you”

- well said!

By: Keith

Keith — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:05:52 +0000

This is a really great article that I think a lot of young developers need to read. I’ve really had to considered whether a gaming career is the best idea for these same reasons. Is it going to over-saturate my life to work for a game company like EA while also attempting to run my own flash projects?