This week we released the game that I’ve been working on. It’s called FleaFall, and it rocks.
Naturally, now comes the job of marketing. You don’t understand capitalism until you’ve had a go yourself.
Most of us are quite isolated in corners of a hierarchy somewhere. We’re not really sure what the organisation we work for is doing or why. I could never get to the bottom of what was happening at Creature Labs over the last couple of years, and there were only 50 people there to analyse. Once I even went to visit the CFO to ask him who owned the company, how, on what basis and for whom decisions were made. The answer had little connection to the impenetrably complex political reality. Luckily I’ve never had to find out how it feels in a multinational corporation.
Programmers take particular advantage of this comfortable bubble to be able to ignore what their financiers and marketing departments are doing on their behalf. Or if they’re more socially or morally aware, to avoid having to understand why their managers are doing that on their behalf. It’s a kind of faustian pact. They get paid some of the money which could be used to pay us more, and use it to manage all the capitalist stuff for us. We get to not worry about it, to enjoy the friendly, honest and sharing atmosphere you find in an office of geeks. Happy in our co-operative mini-utopia.
This deal is very popular, even though it masks reality. Eventually you do get notification that something important has been going on outside your attention. Your company collapses, your pension fund becomes worthless or you find yourself living in a war-torn world full of environmental degredation. Morally, shouldn’t you be prepared to do anything yourself which your bosses or your workers are doing on your behalf? Even marketing.
So go play FleaFall Apprentice, it’s really very good. Easy to learn, requires you to press just two keys, but gorgeous to master. The multiplayer mode rules, so why not break your solitary internet-surfing habit? Get two or three relatives or colleagues over to your computer keyboard. You can have fun now! Then buy FleaFall Champion, and get your friends to as well. It’ll make a grand Christmas present.