Strategic Design Network, Inc. » Games http://sdnnow.com Strategic Design Network, Inc. Thu, 14 Oct 2010 17:07:59 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 September Contest For Pirates Of Somaliahttp://sdnnow.com/2010/mouth-of-madness/september-content-for-pirates-of-somalia/ http://sdnnow.com/2010/mouth-of-madness/september-content-for-pirates-of-somalia/#comments Sat, 04 Sep 2010 22:38:24 +0000 Seth Jay Goldberg http://sdnnow.com/?p=886 Do you think you would make a great content designer?
Do you think Pirates of Somalia is missing a cool item?

Here’s what you need to do:Create a new content item to be added into the game.
What you will win:Your name will be immortalized on the Pirates of Somalia credits and your item will be added to the game.

If that wasn’t enough the grand prize winner will win a $25 gift card of their choice (US only) or $25 via Paypal (US and International)

The more entries we have the more prizes we will give out! The Runner-up will win Pirates of Somalia Influence Points! If we get a lot of entries, we’ll hand out MORE prizes!

Contest will take place between September 3rd and October 3rd.Entries must be in by October 3rd. Winners will be announced by October 10th.

Rules:

    – You may not use the brand name or “marks” of another item. For example you can create a gun but you can’t call it a Walther. If you create a can of soup you can not name it Progresso.
    - In your submission you must provide a short description of the item and explain the item’s uses. For example, Shark Repellent is something used to allow you to do dive missions. If it is weapon or other item that has attack and defense stats giving the stats is optional.
    - An image to be used in the game is optional but is highly recommended.
    - Contest entry emails MUST include in the subject the word “contest”.
    - Method of obtaining the item in the game should be included in your description. Will players purchase it with Influence Points? Will it be randomly dropped? Will it be available as a gift? Let us know how you see the item being used in the game.
    - All items are allowed: Weapons, Armor, Transports, Buildings, Boosts, Gifts, Drops, Loot, Collections and Crate Entries.
    - All Items submitted become the sole property of Strategic Design Network, Inc.
    - We reserve the rights to use any, none or all of the submitted items. Furthermore we reserve the right to award multiple or no winners at our sole discretion.

Submit your entires to contest@sdnnow.com

]]> http://sdnnow.com/2010/mouth-of-madness/september-content-for-pirates-of-somalia/feed/ 2 Game Design Is Hardhttp://sdnnow.com/2010/mouth-of-madness/games/game-design-is-hard/ http://sdnnow.com/2010/mouth-of-madness/games/game-design-is-hard/#comments Fri, 30 Apr 2010 08:28:19 +0000 Sarah Lyons http://sdncldapp1.com/?p=531 Strategic Design Network, Inc. was formed early 2009.  Initial concepts had SDN revolutionizing the industry just weeks after initial conception.  How hard can this be..right?  It’s a game.  You come up with a great idea, write it down on a napkin, spin it around in your head for a few days, then get to work coding the next best thing to hit the market.  So here we go.  Man we have got A LOT of ideas floating around.  Well let’s start with basic research what is popular. So we log into our FaceBook accounts and begin the browsing.  Well let’s see I can have my mafia try to take over, or I can try to walk the cat walk better than anyone else, or I can try to organize the best darn sorority function out there,  all of course depending on how much energy I have any how many of my friends will play this game with me.  What else is out there…well I can have a farm or 12.  Daily I go in I harvest, I sell, I plow, I plant.  Now this is rewarding!  There has got to be something better than this out there.  Then I stumble upon this.  EUREKA.  For sure this is how other people are coming up with all of their brilliantly original ideas.  I have just hit the proverbial jackpot of ideas.

I spent hours a day clicking this button until the idea hit me that was perfect! I took everything I knew about game design, game mechanic, user experience and I rolled it all up into a nice document.  We sat around at coffee houses and kitchen tables and discussed and tweaked this idea for weeks.  OK it’s done.  Fully fleshed out.  I now hold in my possession the best thing I have ever seen come to life on paper.  Now it was time to go out and make it come to life.  I need art, I need ads, I need payment processors (because I am sure this thing is going to make a million dollars) and I need more than 24 hours in a day.  One quick check to make sure NO one else has had this idea already (and who would, this idea generator only works for me right) and there you have it.  Not only did someone else have my idea, they had art, they had payment processors and they were already running ad campaigns.

So tonight here I sit.  Clicking this button.  Waiting for the next best thing to be thrown at my feet like an offering from the gods above.

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