Buffalo Birth

Dare to be Digital takes place in Dundee every year and is open to all students studying at Scottish Universities and Art Colleges. Students have to apply as a team, and develop a game idea or an educational entertainment product. In 2002, five students had a shared interest in the competition. "All of us were keen to apply for the Dare competition that year," Tony explains, "So we joined together and formed Hiding Buffalo".

Team work

Buffalo knew they had to work to a high standard. The judging panel included established people in the games industry, and competition was fierce. But Hiding Buffalo were consummate professionals. "Forming a team who will work well together is a big consideration. As the time scale is tight, pressure can be very high so the team will have to be able to work well in this environment".

After brainstorming ideas they came up with the idea for their game Gumshoe. To help visualise the game, the team created artwork for their characters and locations, and also storyboarded sections to demonstrate how the game would work. As their game started to take shape, a basic technical demonstration was made to show the potential of the game in 3D. "Although very basic, it helped to give a sense of the overall look we were trying to achieve".

When the time came for the game to go before the competition panel all of their hard work and commitment paid off and Gumshoe won.

Not just fun and games

After winning the competition, Tony, Niclas Kjellin and Iwan Roberts decided that they wanted to develop their winning concept and develop the team as a business. "Hiding Buffalo's aim from the beginning was to try to establish itself as an independent games company and attempt to get the original concept for Gumshoe into development".

The first decision was to make the game available online. This avoided the impossible situation of trying to find a publisher willing to take on a new unknown company. It also avoids all the costs involved with getting the product in to high street stores.

The original prototype of Gumshoe then had to be re-programmed to work as an online game. As Tony explains, "In translating Gumshoe to a web based product, we've kept the same basic principles of puzzle solving and deduction, but the execution of the game is very different". The most significant difference to the game is the visuals, which had to function over a standard internet browser. The game was changed from 3D graphics to 2D.

Buffalo Business

There are three main roles in game development. These are programmer, game designer and artist. As the company's artist, Tony's job includes creating ideas, modelling and animating 3D characters and environments. "One of the best aspects of being involved in your own company is having the creative freedom to do what you want".

As well as the hands-on work involved, Tony also attends meetings with outside companies. Recently he gave a presentation as part of IDEASFACTORY Scotland's workshop at the Edinburgh International Games Festival.

If you want to work as an artist for computer games, Tony advises that you should have some knowledge of the industry software involved in the development process. Being familiar with software such as Adobe Photoshop, Maya or 3D Studio Max is recommended. An artistic background is always helpful even if it is not digitally based. "The technical skills involved can always be learnt or improved upon as long as the individual is keen and enthusiastic".

It's a good idea to put together a portfolio of work. This could include technical demos or modelling 3D characters and animating them. There are University courses available that are also a great starting block, and for serious contenders, there's Dare to be Digital. "If you are very passionate about the industry, and you know of other people who are keen, then it's worth trying to enter into Dare to be Digital as a team. Be enthusiastic and if it's what you really want to do, then give it all you can and go for it!"