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Colin Anderson's Blog
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Colin Anderson is Managing Director of Denki, a company he co-founded in March 2000 as the world’s first digital toy company. Denki has always believed that computer & video games are first and foremost about the toys inside.
Denki went on to create 180 individual games in under nine years, establishing a reputation for creativity and tight, efficient development and picking up a number of industry awards along the way. Denki has now brought its experience to creating a new generation of games to these new-fangled digital console platforms such as Xbox Live Arcade, Wii, PSN, iOS, Web, etc.
Denki's most recent release, Quarrel, is a strategy-word game that's currently available for iOS.
Before founding Denki, Colin worked at DMA Design from 1993-2000 heading up their Audio Team - so yes, he's somewhat to blame for all those radio stations you have to endure in your driving games these days.
A recovering musician, it's fair to say that Colin really loves guitars – and anything chocolatey. Especially "Galaxy" chocolate. In 1986 he used his scientific background to perfect the technique of microwaving a Mars Bar to melt the inside, while leaving the exterior structurally intact. A feat professional chocolatiers are still trying to emulate to this very day.
If you're really bored you can follow the minutiae of his daily existence at twitter.com/denkicolin.
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Expert Blogs
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Quarrel vs The Games Industry: Who's Right? |
| Posted by Colin Anderson on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:30:00 EST in
Business
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| Do Indie Developers really know what gamers enjoy playing, or do Game Publishers actually know best? It's often debated, but rarely settled. However, with the launch of Quarrel on Xbox we might be about to get a definitive answer. Will we like it though? |
| Read More... | 4 Comments |
Do Lean Startup Methods Make For A Better Game Development Model?  |
| Posted by Colin Anderson on Mon, 12 Dec 2011 09:47:00 EST in
Production,
Indie
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| Denki has championed the application of scientific method to game development as a route to establishing best practice for over a decade. Eric Ries' new book "The Lean Startup" agrees. Could "Lean" be a suitable blueprint for Indie Developers to follow? |
| Read More... | 9 Comments |
Inside The Digital Toy Factory – Developing To Deadlines  |
| Posted by Colin Anderson on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 07:30:00 EDT in
Production
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| The creative process is widely regarded throughout the world as a "dark art", full of superstition and ritual. We don't believe in using magic to make games at Denki, so we've set about prodding creativity in our laboratory to see what makes it tick... |
| Read More... | 11 Comments |
Busking – A Guide For Indie Game Developers  |
| Posted by Colin Anderson on Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:00:00 EDT in
Production
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| Most people don't care if we almost kill ourselves on the way to making great games; they still judge them entirely on what they play in the end. In this blog, find out why Denki have embraced "busking" as part of developing their latest game - Quarrel. |
| Read More... | 12 Comments |
What Has The iPhone Really Changed?  |
| Posted by Colin Anderson on Thu, 30 Jul 2009 06:45:00 EDT in
Production
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| Treat claims like "the iPhone has changed everything" with some caution. It may not have changed as much as you first thought. Here's Denki's take on such claims for the benefit of indie developers seeking their fortune, regardless of platform. |
| Read More... | 8 Comments |
Creative Assembly Lines  |
| Posted by Colin Anderson on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 06:37:00 EDT in
Production
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| The challenge facing all creative media businesses today is to establish a production system that balances creativity alongside productivity. I went looking for examples of systems that have delivered results. Here's what I found... |
| Read More... | 12 Comments |
[More Colin Anderson Blogs]
Colin Anderson's Comments
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Comment In: Quarrel vs The Games Industry: Who's Right? [Blog - 01/25/2012 - 05:30]
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@Gerald - no offense taken ... @Gerald - no offense taken I've heard much bleaker assessments of Quarrel's commercial chances while pitching it to publishers over the years I can assure you You summarise the issue from a publisher's perspective pretty well in your comment. Your assertion is based on the same assumption as most publishers ... |
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Comment In: Do Lean Startup Methods Make For A Better Game Development Model? [Blog - 12/12/2011 - 09:47]
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Hi Chris: Thanks for the ... Hi Chris: Thanks for the link to the Founder Stories videos - I hadn't seen them. Your observation about the problems caused by batch size in game development are definitely something I've observed myself. In my experience they tend to result from team members identifying themselves with their discipline first ... |
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Comment In: Inside The Digital Toy Factory – Developing To Deadlines [Blog - 09/17/2009 - 07:30]
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Apologies for not replying sooner ... Apologies for not replying sooner - I just noticed today there was a question I hadn't answered I think it's a fair criticism to say that this sort of production process applies best when developing games in known genres, or with an established way of playing. That doesn't mean it ... |
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Comment In: What Has The iPhone Really Changed? [Blog - 07/30/2009 - 06:45]
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@Roberto - Thanks very much ... @Roberto - Thanks very much for that recommendation. I'll be sure to give it a read and see how it influences my conclusions. I'm always interested in hearing alternative views, as my primary motivation throughout everything is to learn, not simply to be right :- |
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Comment In: Busking – A Guide For Indie Game Developers [Blog - 09/03/2009 - 05:00]
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@Claire - glad to hear ... @Claire - glad to hear you got something useful from my ramblings. Your point about being able to compare The Way vs The End with regards resumes is a really important extrapolation of the ideas in this blog. Well done for making that connection - you're totally getting the hang ... |
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Comment In: The £500 Game: What Games Could Learn From Shoes [Blog - 09/01/2009 - 11:32]
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What a thread you've started ... What a thread you've started Tadhg - well done My gut feeling says there might be a business model in the Super Group approach. You know, get Will Wright, Sid Meier, Dave Jones and Pete Molyneux together to work on a new game and then sell it at a premium ... |
[More Colin Anderson Comments]
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