Don't miss
  • 2,232
  • 6,844
  • 6097
  • 134

Game designer is self-publishing inspiration

By on June 8, 2010

Andrew Crawshaw is an inspiration for self-publishing developers everywhere.

Because he’s just published a sketchpad.

I’m not being entirely facetious. Andrew is a senior games developer at Tuna Technologies and they are working on a bunch of interesting projects. But the self-published project that Andrew has launched is a book. And it shows the way in which the Internet is changing distribution for ever.

Andrew designs games for hardware such as the Nintendo DS, Sony PSP and iPhone. So he often sketches out what a game will look like. To really get a sense of it, he either sketches the controls and casing around the game design, or prints out several blank design sheets. Which then get lost.

So wouldn’t a sketchbook be ideal.

Andrew created this sketchbook on Lulu, the self-publishing website for books. He created it for himself. But because he can, he’s also put his game designer sketchpad up for sale for around £10 in case other developers find it useful.

You might find it useful for your game designs. But you should also be inspired. By the ease with which the Internet enabled Andrew to bring a practical idea to market.

About Nicholas Lovell

Nicholas is the founder of Gamesbrief, a blog dedicated to the business of games. It aims to be informative, authoritative and above all helpful to developers grappling with business strategy. He is the author of a growing list of books about making money in the games industry and other digital media, including How to Publish a Game and Design Rules for Free-to-Play Games, and Penguin-published title The Curve: thecurveonline.com