Slitherine

Dear Slitherine, I am an author of Military History with my own book and 10+ articles that have been published on Military History topics. I would love to design some games for Pike & Shot or the Samurai games. I was thinking of a battle in 1644 at the Great Wall between a Ming army, a peasant revolting army and the Manchus. It was the decisive battle of the Manchu conquest of most of China. I cover that and many battles in my book "Unknown Wars." I thought of maybe a new game on battles of the age of sail. You know the way the tercios move around and shoot broadsides at each other reminds me of wooden ship battles. Can I make any money at this? I would love to get involved in game design and apply my expertise to your games. I am an old table top war game lover and I love your Pike & Shot game. So can I get involved? I also teach college History. I just love military history as a writer and game player. Thank you. Sincerely, Steven Johnson

Hi Steven,

thanks for the message. The game has an editor so feel free to mess around and see what you can do. Game development is very much about the execution of the idea rather than the idea itself. Unfortunately an idea on paper isn't really of any value, its only how that is brought to life in art and code that it takes shape. That's not to say design isn't important - it is, but its only as part of a bigger picture it has any value, and the design is relatively cheap compared to the programming and art. If you're really serious about getting in to game development you either need to start by modding existing games and getting a following of fans or by finding a team who is willing to work with you to develop your ideas.

Cheers

Iain