Who wants a publishing deal with Mastertronic?

I'm a just flicking through this months Custom PC (UK) and on page 18 they are spouting on about The Games Creators, Mastertronic and nVidia all joining together to offer a publishing deal as part of a competition.

The winner will not only receive a top-spec PC, but will also get a publishing deal with Mastertronic, who will fund the development of their game into a fully fledged 15 level title.

There are 2 categories you can enter via:
FPS Creator - deadline is 16th Jan 2007
DarkBasic Pro - deadline is 16th Feb 2007 - an extra month

http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_fpsc_contest.html

http://nvidia.thegamecreators.com/

EDIT:
Bloody-hell - you don't even need full versions of the software - they are letting demo users compete too.

Where's the blitz section? Kisama!

> you don't even need full versions of the software

I guess it's tough then finding people who are actually gonna start and finish a game. Opening up to people who haven't bought full versions increases the number of people of entries I guess.

EXACTLY "ENAY" - EXACTLY.

BRL need to team up with ATI and Valve quickly.

Why is my name in quotes, are you quoting me from a passage of text? :)

It's not about entries "ENAY" - it is about TGC spreading - it is open to anyone - anyone reading this going into this magazine and every other magazine being published.

Forget the competition - TGC are harvesting all the hobbyist coders - some of which have yet to start coding.

It's a smart move.

And the position will only get stronger and they become part of the *new sensation* that will be unvieled at GDC2007.

I won a "write a game in AMOS" competition about 15 years ago, in Amiga Floormat.

Still haven't got my prize. :/

Huh, strange. I won a AMOS competition in the same mag and won AMOS Pro. Now that had a fancy white box, huge manual and 6 disks, ahhh them were the days :)

All I can say is that TGC must have one hell of a marketing guy, their getting everywhere! :D

So where does this leave us, are we getting left behind, forgotten about in other competitons like this?

BRL's competitors are gathering pace at a frightening speed, has anyone got an answer? :)

Dabz

EDIT: Cue 'locked' thread, deleted thread, or millions of quotes from Mr F Wack Wack ;) <--- Notice the wink

Yes. It's always lonely at the top ;)

It was an awesome bit of software. I wrote Hole In One and Par Fore's predecessor World Golf in it.

I bough mine, though.

Their growth is snowballing. The new shader thing they have come out with is what nVidia are spouting on about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZtMyU0zi9Q

It is not TGC spouting in those above links, it is nVidia - nVidia are the ones pushing TGC. TGC are sitting back here and letting nVidia do the publicity.

It may get to the point where we are all pretty much forced to use TGC products if this growth continues.

Let them. TGCs incompetance is BRLs biggest strength.

Too bad it's at the expense of product leadership.

mmmm, maybe, but they are still putting themselves 'out there', if you will.

In my game (workwise), if I get pally with a big building contractor, that's good for business.

I'd imagine it'll be the same with a programming language dedicated to creating games, if they get pally with a graphics card maker, that'll be good for business too, product leadership or not!

Dabz

Do they screw up a lot?

..I dont know how good or bad they are, but look at product list..its big and supportive for their main language, no matter how crappy is...AI lib, Lightmapper, upcoming Shader editor, etc..on another side BRL leave us with main languages and actually everything supportive was developed by forum members itself..so, it is obvious that they trying to make things work, so no wonder they going forward no matter we like it or not..simple as that..

Whilst the Blitz range of products is, imho, superior to those from the TGC stable, BRL could still learn a thing or two from TGC. TGC walk all over BRL when it comes to brand promotion and keeping the userbase happy (with new products and new extensions/tools etc). BLR simply remain silent for too long regarding developments.

I'm sure some people will argue that "BLR is just Mark (and Skid?)", but TGC started with Lee Bamber (and his brother I believe). He's done a great job to get TGC to where it is today; albeit it by employing/partnering with the right people/companies.

The same is true for TGC, the only difference being that TGC actively endorse a monopoly of these support products, where as BRL endorses a free market economy.

BRL used to do that. Once bitten, twice shy.

Not really. BRL clearly didn't associate with the right company (Guildhall/Idigicon). My point was that TGC have made very good business decisions and they now appear to be reaping the rewards.

Hindsighty is always 20/20.

How would you know? Are you a share holder? Do you have some specific insights into TGCs (or BRLs for that matter) finances?

I suggest you read up a bit on your marketing theory, particularly "The discipline of Market Leaders" before further commenting on what you percieve as a sound strategy. There is more than one aspect to becoming a market leader.

Lee is very open to discussion with his users. BRL on the other hand dont communicate and that is why it feels like BRL are getting left behind. Sad really, as the BRL product is superior to DbPro just not as advanced in feature. When Max3D is released in December it might make a difference, so all could change next month.

[sigh]

I'm sorry. I wasn't aware that you instinctively knew good business decisions without insight into their financial consequences.

Surely someone with your talent should be playing the stockmarket rather than videogames.

I'm just going to say, and I dont mean to be rude Flame, but you put yourself out on the forums as Mr Know it all.

The world's views dont revolve around what your thinking, it's a little selfish to have a dig at someone about something, when at the end of the day, you probably no sod all about the subject anyway.

It's getting a little tiresome now watching you break down someones post in to a million bits and nit-picking at everything they say, and then signing off with an 8 year old comment like the one above!

I mean, you even quoted someone saying '[sigh]', what the hell is that about!

[sigh]

Dabz

.

No I don't. You interpret it that way. Feel free to prove me wrong.

I don't understand why people persist in assuming this is what's happening.

No offense, but do you (not you litterally) really have such a narrow focus, that you cannot see beyond the bit I've quoted? If you want to read it in it's original context scroll the page up a bit! It's not a terribly complicated exercise, and prevents me from having to quote large sections of stuff that's already been posted.

Then please explain to me, slowly as-if speaking to a slightly dim-witted child, how one can assess the quality of a business decision without having any insight into the financial situation or repercussions it has on the business?

Because I don't get it, yet for some reason you insist I'm the one acting like a Mr. Know it all? Sigh indeed.

> Max3D is released in December

Really? 4 days till Christmas then eh!

Forgive me but I think that even a dim-witted child could see that ANY sort of business relationship with a giant of the industry such as Nvidia can only be positive for a company that produces a game programming language and has to be classed as a good business decision.
I find it hard to imagine how the repercusions of such an asscociation can be anything but positive.
The status of the company increases simply by association.
This is safe to assume without any inside knowledge or financial details of TGC.
I admire Flameduck's stance to defend BRL at all costs but sometimes common sense should prevail.
We all know that BRL don't bother with any marketing at all. Maybe they are relying on the quality of their products but it is a dangerous game to play if they want to retain their share of the market.

Flame, I said I didnt mean to be rude, and I still don't mean to be.

I could re-quote you, you'll requote me, we'll go around forever.

I wasnt having any cheap shots, it was all said tongue in cheek. Though, I just fail to understand why you persistantly do what you do... I've read loads of your posts over the years, and yes, sometimes I agree with them, and sometimes I don't.

Though I have noticed that if someone doesnt agree with your point of view, you do nit pick their posts to the extreme. And if you cannot find a sensible arguement to a piece of a persons post, you quote it anyway, and answer it with sarcasm! Which I find unfair!

Sorry Flame, but if that's what I see here, thats what I see.

I'm going to google that 'Narcissistic Personality' thingy Amon mentioned, that might explain to ME, why you do, what you do.

Again, I didnt mean to be rude or fall out with you or anything like that, it may seem like I was having a pop, but that's not my way!

Dabz

[EDIT] 'Narcissistic Personality' mmmm, interesting!

Sales, sales and more sales, that'll do it :)

Sure. And if it where the goal of the company to increase it's status, then yes, it would be a good business decision. However it is the goal of the company (well any successful company) to generate income, not status. Thus any decision that does not generate income are, in my terminology, not good business descisions.

I admire your assumption that because I have a different opinion than you, I must subscribe to an us vs. them, gang-mentality. I assure you this is not the case.

Well one traditional definition of "Marketing" is: Any activity that directly leads to a sale. I fail to see how this competition is supposed to directly increase sales. Raising product awareness through promotions, such as this competition, is not something that as far as I can see is going to have any impact on sales. Seriously, hands up anyone who's going to rush out and buy DBPro to compete in this competition.

Now how much do you think it's cost TGC to form this strategic aliance they're now part of? How much has this promotion cost them? How much is it still costing them? Are sales likely to go up enough to put them out of the red on this account in the immediate future? I don't think so. You're entitled to disagree ofcourse, without any solid financial data it's hard to say with any degree of certainty.

So by the metric that good business decisions are ones that turn a profit, I maintain that this competition is not a good business decision. It might be good 'karma' for existing TGC customers who can now pretend they're playing in the big league, and I'm sure it boosts TGCs perception of themselves, but that doesn't make it a good business decision.

Yes being a product leader (aka. the company with the best product) is one way to become a market leader. In the high-tech industry however it's somewhat of a gamble since the best product has so-far never been the one to achieve market leadership. So one must conclude that BRL are content to not realize their full market potential. More importantly having the highest quality product (or best support/lowest price) doesn't mean much if you're unable to capitalize on it and/or have significant deficiencies in other areas.

Yup. However there are different ways one can achieve a sale. One can have the best product (not too good in high-tech markets), one can have the best product support (works for some high-tech companies) or one can have the best price (the most common/easiest strategy, particularly in free markets).

I don't really see how it can't. Look at the advantages:

-"Raising product awareness" is basically advertising. Advertising is a marketing strategy for increasing sales
-Allowing people to use the demo version of the software is a great idea, since it gives people entering the competition a chance to try the language out. Some may even decide they like the language, but find the demo too limiting, so decide to upgrade to the full version in order to complete their entry.


Are we the target market? Plus, it's a bit of a loaded question. The competition isn't designed to get people to buy the product in order to compete. You don't need to buy it to compete. It's designed to get people to try the demo, which will then hopefully lead to a proportion of the entrants generating sales.

Neither of us is a business expert (well, I'm not, perhaps you are ;) ) but I think we can assume that TGC has some idea of what they're doing. This isn't their first competition, after all. It's likely they expect a benefit ftom this in some form.

If it's not competition-related sales (and I have to agree, I can't see there being enough entrants to justify the cost of this) it could be longer term sales:
-From word of mouth from the entrants experience of the language.
-The association with nVidia (the nVidia fanboys will surely check out anything associated with the card)
-Shares of the winning game's profits from Mastertronic, perhaps?
-The chance to have "Made in FPS Creator" (or whatever) on the side of boxes on store shelves worldwide.

I must say, I think it's good idea, all around. I guess we'll never know exactly how good.