Feature: 'Road To The IGF: Andy Schatz (Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa)'

In one of today's main Gamasutra features, and this latest 'Road To The IGF' interview, Pocketwatch Games' Andy Schatz talks about his development of the Seumas McNally Grand Prize-nominated Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa, his future plans, and his thoughts on the state of independent game development. In this extract, Schatz discusses how he got into the independent games scene: "I was a game industry burnout in a dead-end career. I started San Diego-based Pocketwatch Games in January, 2005, after suffering a severe case of industry burnout. My skills are as a generalist, but the increasing size of the development teams meant that I was getting pigeonholed as a niche programmer. I’ve never been one that could compete with some of the brilliant technical minds in our industry, but I also felt that I couldn’t move into game design – which is where my heart lies – without suffering drastic professional emasculation. The position of “Game Designer” has moved farther and farther away from “Programmer” and the job of the designer has become much more focused on directing content rather than designing the logical systems that truly make up the game design. The independent gaming world called to me – I could be a programmer-designer and gain experience in business as well. I saw opportunity with the increasing size of the gaming audience and the possibility of a tiny, multitalented team... I was also excited about making games that I truly valued – games that could be interesting and fun for adults and formative for children." You can now read the full Gamasutra feature on the subject, including more information on the IGF-nominated title and the plans of its creator (no registration required, please feel free to link to the article from external websites).