Box Art for DoW II: Chaos Rising

Dear Relic Team, I just want to say publically “Thank you very much for a quality gaming experience!”  I thoroughly enjoyed playing through the campaigns for DoW II and DoW II: Chaos Rising.  To those of you who like RTS games and Sci-Fi, make sure you check it out.  I bought both games through Steam and spent the little free time I’ve had in the last month playing through.  Good stuff.  So good I sat through the entire credits.  Keep up the great work!

The iPad being unboxed

I’ve used it quite a bit since then. I’m generally not a big fan of the Apple products, largely due to compatibility issues with the PC platform which dominates my industry. I have an iPhone because Heatwave has done some iPhone projects like the iSamJackson, but honestly I find it more useful as toy than as a tool. The iPad seems to be bridging the gap from toy to tool thus far, as I find it far more useful for typing on and the screen is large enough to actually use applications and watch movies on the go. So far, my biggest frustration has been that my powered USB2.0 hub won’t charge it. Why not? Apparently the batter requires more power to charge than most USB2.0 hubs can provide.  See the Apple support article to learn more.

I was looking for a good diagramming app to help the design work I’m doing on Platinum Life, but the only thing I’ve found so far that seems to fit the bill is OmniGraffle, at a whopping $49.99!  I’ll stick with Visio on my PC for now .

Internet bullying and flaming are ultimately unavoidable concerns, but they are reducible. Mark, as I’m sure you’re aware, this has been an issue for the Internet and online games since the beginning.  Anonymity has amazing power, but also significant drawbacks.  Obviously, one of the key ways to handle this kind of thing is a reputation system.  I won’t get into all the details of the challenges with those systems, but I would be interested in trying out a reputation system for twitter and other social networks, even if it was private…

Sponsoring an event like this is a pretty new thing for me.  We did sponsor Diddy’s White party as well, but this was really the marquee event for us.  Why do it?  Well, we thought it would be a great way to introduce the Platinum Life brand in the right context, particularly as we’re looking to bring the Web Edition to Facebook and MySpace in December.

I think it worked out pretty nicely.  Lots of great PR attention with celebrity association.  What do you think?

Platinum Life: Web Edition Logo

Cassie at Diddy's Birthday Party

Kim Kardashian at Diddy's 40th

Nelly at Diddy's 40th

T.I.

So if you were wondering what that previous post was all about…here we go!

Heatwave Site

USA Today

GameSpot

VentureBeat

Done a dozen or so interviews in the past 24 hours, so I’ll update with more coverage.  Not surprisingly, the reaction is mixed.  I can’t blame the MMO crowd for being skeptical, as the topic may not be core to an existing segment of the audience, and of course, the poor delivery of so many online games.  That said, the proof will be in the puddin’!  Lots more news coming down the pipe, with additional artists and labels.  As well, more products from Heatwave unrelated to Platinum.

Top 5 things I was wrong about starting up a company:

1) It was way harder than I thought it would be.  Now, this isn’t my first startup, but it is the first one where everything was at stake.  I left a job that I enjoyed and moved my family of six (wife, 3 kids and father-in-law) back from England to the great state of Texas.  Even so, it was much harder than I thought it would be.  Now, I don’t mean hard as in “takes lots of effort,” I mean it as in “trying of one’s character.”  I don’t have any problem putting in the late nights.  Hell, I generally spend Sunday waiting for Monday morning to come around.  But there’ve been some pretty tough times.  Partners you can’t control… an economy behaving like a punch drunk prize fighter trying to lift himself off the mat in the 12th round… downsizing.  I’ve had to part ways with some of my best friends as a result of starting this company.  Everyone involved knew that could happen, but when it does…hoo boy.  That’s probably been the hardest part. Letting go and trusting others has been perhaps the second most difficult.

2) Not all venture capitalists are “evil!”  Yes, this may come across to some as a bit of ass kissing, but it’s not.  I’ve met with dozens of VC’s over the last year, and before we were funded I certainly met some I was wary of, but I have to tell you that our VC has been extremely supportive.  Tough?  Yes.  Involved? Absolutely.  But evil?  Nope.  They want Heatwave to win almost as much as I do.  That’s a whole lot desire.  My experience with Syncom has been both uplifting and humbling.  They’re not afraid to tell it like it is, but they usually do it in a way that leaves me emboldened.  I look forward to exceeding their expectations.  I wish more entrepreneurs could find a partner as committed as ours.

3) Hiring in Austin will be a breeze!  Yeah, not as breezy as I had hoped.  First, the quality of life at the major studios in Austin has really improved, and there are more Studios (welcome back, EA) than when we made the decision to come, so there’s more competition.  Second, because we had some specific needs beyond just “online,” we had to hire quite a few folks from out of state.  Austin is still a great hiring market, but competition and specialization conspired to make it harder than I thought it would be.  Luckily, people like to COME to Austin .

4) Capacity of work.  I’ll admit it.  We tried to do too much with too few resources.  As a result, the results were mixed six months post funding.  Great team, great work product, but not enough focused progress to meet our original expectations.  As a result, we had to do a course correction that was a little painful.  Now the focus is back and if you’re reading this you should be seeing that labor beginning to bear fruit in the national press.  As they say, “No battle plan survives first shot fired.” The key is to amend that plan as the battle develops and to have the leadership and training to execute new instructions.

5) I thought I would miss the corporate environment.  I really don’t.  Yes, there was something comforting about the EA machine backing my project’s plans, but I guess after two and half years of being independent I’ve realized that I prefer the independence over security.  There’s something bracing about being somewhat exposed.  It keeps you alert and hungry.  I like it.

Top 5 things I was right about starting up a company:

1) I can do it.  Damned straight.

2) You can’t change people.  I really believe that people only really change when something dramatic happens in their life.  And by change, I mean fundamentally transition from one state to another over a short time.  This comes up a lot in the hiring process.  If you hear someone make the comment “well maybe they can grow into that” or “maybe we can help them change” you’re probably wrong.  Don’t hire that person if the perceived need for change is important.  I usually followed this advice, but not always and when I didn’t, I paid for it 100% of the time.  See my earlier post about being “in a rut vs. in the groove.”

3) Hard work does pay off.  Success really is about setting the right goals and just working towards them as intellegently and aggressively as possible.

4) “Presence” is extremely important.  My partner, Donn, is based out of Philly, but the studio is in Austin.  His consistent travel to Austin and constant use of telepresence makes all the difference for him and for us.  When he goes longer than 3 weeks outside of Austin, it’s noticeable.  Same for me.  Anyone following my facebook page knows how much I travelled in the spring.  Being away from Central Studio for several weeks at a time was very challenging.  It was nice being missed, but it wasn’t nice having to be missed.  Luckily those business trips were worth it.

5) I am doing things I never thought I would.  When I made the personal decision to start Heatwave, I realized I was going to have the opportunity to do things I had never even considered before.  When my father mentions how amazed he is by some of the things I’m doing, it really comes home.  Not that he never thought I could do these things, but that who would have thought it?  Thursday, July 30th will be one of those things.  And it’s only the beginning.

I’m sure I’ll be wrong about some things over the next two-and-a-half years, but hopefully my batting average will keep going up .

One last thing…neither right nor wrong because I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be: I’m grateful that Heatwave has strengthed my marriage rather than weakened it.  My wife has been wonderfully supportive and active and even though we work hard and see our children less than I’d like, I was working hard and not seeing my family enough when I wasn’t working for myself.  Ultimately, this is really for them as much as it is for me.

Thanks, Kim.