There’s an interview up on Rock Paper Shotgun about Venture Dinosauria.  In it you’ll find lots of secrets and tidbits about the game in development.  Check it out!

UPDATE: Dinosauria is currently on hold.  I’m afraid that fans of the Venture series will have to wait an indefinite amount of time before I pick it back up again.  If you’d like to read more about this decision, here’s a blog post about it:

http://www.pocketwatchgames.com/side-projects/whats-up-with-dinosauria

I’m currently working on another game called Monaco, which won the 2010 IGF Grand Prize.  Read more about it here:

http://www.monacoismine.com

Dinosaurs live in our collective imagination as the end of things – the crumbling bone, the violently deceased.  We imagine flesh ripped from scales and meteors scarring the earth.  Through dinosaurs we imagine our own extinction – grey, dusty, lifeless.

If you were to look to the sky a year before the meteor came hurtling from the sky, what would you see?

If you were to peer through the foliage, would you notice the teeming life in the valley beyond?

Venture Dinosauria is about the chaos and color of life on Earth in the first days of flowers, in the last days of lizards.

We’re working hard, follow our progress right here on this blog…
You can also subscribe to get instant updates…
And you can comment below, or discuss in the Dinosauria forum…

From now until New Years Day, Venture Arctic is free for non-commercial, personal use! Merry Christmas everyone! Use this coupon on the Buy Now page to unlock the full game:

CPN5867042685

Somtimes it takes a little while to get to know a game before you fall in love with it.  This is one of those games.  That’s why it has received so many awards and glowing reviews but hasn’t really been able to crack into wider press coverage.  I just want everyone else to be able to get to know it as well.

Merry Christmas!

NOTE: This offer is now over, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.  Now get back to work!

Full streaming video here

Last March, I hosted the annual Independent Games Festival Awards show. The show was attended by 2500 people and awarded the highest honors that an independent game developer can receive.

A few of the big winners were:
Crayon Physics Deluxe
World of Goo
Audiosurf

Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa was a finalist for the IGF Grand Prize in 2006.

I’ve been working with a company called Liberum Donum to establish the look and feel of the next (mysterious) game.  Juan Cristobal Calle is the artist currently working on the illustrations.  He’s done some incredible work, ranging from scientific illustration to game art.  I was referred to him by a friend who used to work with him at Disney.  Juan and the rest of the shop at Liberum Donum are a dream to work with so far!

I’ll be giving the Game Career Seminar keynote lecture at the E For All conference on October 3rd. If you are at the conference get there early, it’s likely to fill up!

The lecture is with Dan Paladin of The Behemoth (Castle Crashers, Alien Hominid) and it’s entitled “Design By Committee”. The lecture is described thus:

Dan Paladin of The Behemoth and Andy Schatz of Pocketwatch Games have different design sensibilities. Andy builds cerebral strategy games about animals. Dan builds gonzo-retro-arcade-style games. Using input from the audience, they’ll somehow find a way to agree on a game design — and in the process illustrate their styles and processes in an open-ended art and brainstorming session.

Greenmuze has an interview up with yours truly entitled Venture Arctic and the Eco-Revolution.

An excerpt:

Will simulated worlds be all that is left of the Arctic?

Two thoughts spring to mind. The first is a bit contrary to the message of some environmentalists (of which I consider myself one) – the Arctic will not disappear, but it will change.

It’s not going to turn into a parking lot simply because it is warmer, but it will be vastly different for the animals and peoples that live there today. It’s even possible that some animal populations might flourish in the long run because of global warming. It’s easy to imagine Arctic wolves, or even caribou finding themselves to be unexpected beneficiaries of warmer weather.

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Venture Arctic has won the prestigious 2008 Honors Award from the National Parenting Publications Awards for Parenting Resources (NAPPA). The NAPPA Awards showcase the best in books, CDs, baby gear and innovative products that help make parenting easier and more fun.

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Can’t get enough Venture Arctic?  Well, at the request of a few fans, we’ve put together an extensive game guide with strategies, cheats, and more.  Check out the online preview, or dive right into the full downloadable PDF version (1 Mb).

Wired’s Geekdad played Venture Arctic with his 8 year old daughter… and the verdict is a sparkling 9 out of 10!

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