Steven Burgess (game designer of LostWinds) moving into indie iOS development.

arta · Apr 6, 2011

http://www.trialbyfun.com/blog/?p=191

Hold on to your hats, because the day has arrived and Ive finally, officially, taken the giant leap into the big wild world of being an independent developer. This decision has literally been years in the making but its now become a reality.

I have lots of things I want to talk to you about, but first Its probably best if i give you a little history about myself.

My name is Steven Burgess and Im a Games designer. Ive been a designer for a little over 9 years with my entire career so far at the prestigious UK based developer Frontier Developments. Ive worked on a number of original IP and licenses for a variety of publishers but there is one game in particular that im most proud of.

During my time at Frontier, I wrote the game design for an adventure called LostWinds. LostWinds was the story of a young boy who finds Enril, the Spirit of the Wind contained within a magical stone, and from there the journey would take them to fantastical lands with charming characters all in search of a way to free Enril from her Stoney Prison.

A key component to LostWinds was that it featured a unique control system that was fully designed to take advantage of its intended platform. A design philosophy I want to apply to all of my future projects.

In 2008 and with a small team of extremely talented individuals I was given the opportunity to turn this idea into a reality by becoming Lead Designer on the project development. 4 months later and thanks to countless miracles, LostWinds became a launch title for Nintendos WiiWare service.

LostWinds received an amazing critical response including winning a number of Awards. Another 18 months later (development was only 6 of that ), Its sequel, LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias, received even higher accolades and a Metacritic score of 86, the highest so far in my career.

Before talking about the future Id like to thank the people of Frontier for all the love and support they have given me over the years. I literally grew up within the company both as a designer and as a person, so the decision to leave genuinely felt like leaving home.

Now the umbilical has been cut! Im out there naked in the free world kicking and screaming at the new dawn!

Starting anew is extremely daunting and it feels like I have so much to learn, yet im filled with the kind of optimism and enthusiasm about the future that I havent felt in years!

In case you were wondering, my focus for the immediate future is on iPhone, iPad and Browser based games. I want to create games focused on those beautifully simple mechanics that can really make the platform sing, or just bring a massive smile to your face. Most of all, it just has to be FUN!

Ill be talking a little bit more on this blog about those projects and other things development related over the coming weeks. In the meantime if you like what I do, or want to talk to me a bit more about future project ideas (or maybe you simply want a friendly chit-chat), send me over an email to [email protected], or you can even follow me on Twitter @trialbyfun

Thank you for reading this far. I believe its going to be an amazing, wonderful, unrelenting and dangerous journey ahead, but I would be honoured if you decided to join me on the adventure.

Steven Burgess
Independent developer lvl 0.1.
Click to expand...

Here's the games that he worked on as game designer:

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MidianGTX · Apr 6, 2011

Just shot him an email. Anyone know if he's on TA?

arta · Apr 6, 2011

MidianGTX said: ↑

Just shot him an email. Anyone know if he's on TA?
Click to expand...

Not yet. I invited him on twitter.

trialbyfun · Apr 7, 2011

Hi! phew I made it, thanks guys!!!

arta · Apr 7, 2011

trialbyfun said: ↑

Hi! phew I made it, thanks guys!!!
Click to expand...

Hey, welcome to Toucharcade! There's plenty of iOS gamers and developers in our community here, hope you enjoy it here.

Steven Burgess (game designer of LostWinds) moving into indie iOS development.

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