Hey guys, I was one of those interviewed in my country
about the local game development scene.

I was picked to give my opinions on 'indie' game development
and I hope I've made some important points about this area
of game development.

I gave some examples on successful indies and
pointed them to Dexterity website as an example of a
successful indie and how it is possible to make a living out
of indie game development. Possibly may have some errors
in my article but I hope I got most of it right.

The main start of the article is here
http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2004/1/20/itfeature/7077768&sec=itfeature

The indie game development article section is here.
http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2004/1/20/itfeature/7092163&sec=itfeature

I hope Steve doesn't mind I mention his company as an
example for the local article since I believe he's one of the
more well known successful indie in the online world.

Oh btw, I managed to fund myself also doing what I like,
making games, well mobile games at least, as long as I get
paid I can continue coding them. After work I go home and
continue to do my own indie games. ;-)

What part of Malaysia are you located? I was just in Penang last week.

There´s a typo in "Go, Malesia" article, "www.gamebrains.com" have been written "www.gamebrains .com".

Edit: Sorry, didn´t read your post enough well to notice that the articles are not written by yourself.

Jason,

Interesting articles, especially since I'm originally from Ipoh, Malaysia. The cost of living in Malaysia is probably a quarter that of the US, so it is true that you don't need to sell as many games to survive if you go independent in Malaysia.

Is it true that there are many good artists there? Do they have 3D skills too, because I'm looking for one!

Good luck with your new job in KL, and "Kong Hee Fatt Choy".

Heya, I am from Johor but moved to KL recently to do
some mobile gaming stuff.

KL is where most of the local gamedev scene is centered.

Basically KL is inside the state known as Selangor.

That's also where gamebrains is located and others as well.

Hey robert, nice to see someone from here over there. ;-)

Anyway, yes it's true, plenty of 3D artists here but
not all are geared towards game art but I believe they
can easily switch.

The thing is, the local animation/post-production industry
here are controlled only by a few companies that has
strong connection/ties with the government and some
well connected people, they dominate the sector and
monopolize, and create barriers of entry to other houses
and so there's virtually no growth in this sector except for
themselves. Call it nepotism and cronysm if you will.

Plenty of students studying in the creative multimedia field
ended up paying hefty price tags for their education and
don't have much of a choice in terms of job openings here.

Most are either forced to switch careers or give in to bread
and butter issues and ended up working for post production
houses that are well-connected to politically influential
people, get paid crappily, under pressure to finish productions
in less than a month and gets detached from the real world.

The typical Cronyism and monopoly mentality of the houses
here really makes it hard for the industry to grow. The welfare
of a few politically well-connected people are more important
than the growth of the industry for these people.

I think you will have no problem finding 3D artists here if
you're willing to pay for them. I have no doubt most will
rather do game related art or movie etc compared to
crazy post production stuff.

Jason, sorry to hear about the cronyism that is still present in Malaysia, in every industry I presume. I thought that that was a thing of the past, but obviously not. Malaysia could have been a wonderfully progressive country with its rich, multiracial society, setting an example for everyone else in the region, but it chose instead to go the path of racism (and cronyism). That's why I'm here in the US instead...

Anyway, is there a Malaysian website where all these good artists frequent in their spare time, that we programmers here can go to look for them?!

Anyway, is there a Malaysian website where all these good artists frequent in their spare time, that we programmers here can go to look for them?! [/B]
Seems to be the $54,000 question on people's mind here :) Well being one not to spoil the party... anyone know a good place to find good artists there or any other offshore locations?

btw - good story.

If not, there is your 54,000 dollar idea man ;-)

LOL.

*terin is glad DCS has two artists*

Joseph Lieberman