Apologies to all my wonderful fans out there who have been waiting with baited breath for my latest posting.  Today won’t be one of those ranty and arguably incredibly negative posts I normall post.  I know I’m a bit of a vain person, but I thought some people might be interested in an update on a few things that everyone’s favourite small firm, Denote, has been up to.  I’d love to provide something more substantive regarding each individual project, but launching three new arms of the company can take some time.

The big news today is that our, what I hope will be a long and fruitful, partnership with Helly Hansen Canada has officially kicked off!  Today, after a lot of work and effort by our team, we’ve launched the web site for the Helly Hansen Outlet Store out in Dartmouth.  We’re really excited as Helly Hansen Canada is a great local success story that exists right here in Halifax.  The operation is absolutely astounding and if you ever get the chance to take a factory tour, go for it!

The store itself is an amazing spot and sometimes I fear many don’t know that Helly goes beyond ski wear. We really tried to reflect the depth of Helly’s product line through amazing photography while keeping the overall site simple and clean.  That said, the common consumer is definitely going to find amazing leisure wear for all seasons.

Here! Have a random look at a random mockup we were working on at one point!  What a wonderful journey this was.

Other than that, we’ve been doing some really cool stuff on the market research and data collection front, as well as launching a program geared at the political side of things. As a pretty huge baseball fan, I’ve got the inherent love of stats and data.  Really excited to start gathering data on why people do what they do, the correlations between various actions, and really figure out what makes people buy.  Of course, it’s all for the consumer’s benefit.  I’m a firm believer that people only hate ads because they are not relevant.  Hopefully, through our market research, we’ll be able to identify the best audience and, create things that better resonate with them.

As for the political arm, it kind of goes back to what I was saying earlier.  Denote doesn’t just communicate, do advertising, design, etc. etc.  We get results.  In this case, we get people elected. Listing the services we offer would be of no consequence as, as a candidate, getting elected, and knowing we can do it for you, should be all that’s on your mind. (Note: Had to remove a bunch of details and a paragraph as I was apparently going to be violating a non-disclosure agreement.  I realize it looks incredibly shady but I assure you we aren’t breaking kneecaps .)

Those are pretty much the largest things that have been keeping us busy at Denote.  We of course have our new web business platform, Boost, coming out, but that is a big enough deal to warrant its own post.  That post may indeed come soon.  I truly believe it will revolutionize the way businesses look at web sites.  If anything above interests you and you’d like to hear how we can help you, please get in touch.

We love new challenges and would love to help build a comprehensive solution for you.

In addition, we have new web, graphic, and marketing campaign planning for our clients, and a new non-profit we are helping get started on a web presence and on user engagement.  But…this post is already longer than I’d like.

Until next time….

Getting Your Values Straight

To follow-up on my previous posting, it’s important to remember that a game with mass-market appeal, can still be a great game. An important part of what I do as a game designer, is the ability to not just know what is fun for myself, but to know what is fun for other people. Can you create a game that you don’t find challenging, but your target market will? Can you create a game that provides a playing experience that your grandmother would rather have, than yourself? In my opinion, you need to be able to answer ‘Yes’ to these questions in order to be a versatile designer.

As I had mentioned in my previous posting, there are several types of games I would absolutely love to see designed and created. With that said, I’m completely aware that the feasibility of these products simply are not there. I may love my baseball GM simulator, business sims, and point n click adventures, but the fact is that consumers (including even myself) seem to love their sports games, first person shooters, and party games. If I were designing a baseball game for myself, I would love to see the ability to demote and promote prospects through various levels (careful not to run out of options!) and participate in the rule 5 draft. The fact is though, you don’t always get to design games for yourself. Sometimes, you design games for people who want to take their Wii Remote, swing for the fences, and hit a home run that causes the scoreboard to explode.

It’s important to know your market and be aware that you’re not the only one who plays games. Always be aware of your market and, most importantly, make a game that’s fun. Just because you don’t always like what your market likes, doesn’t mean you can’t understand them and give them what they want. To the ‘hardcore gamer’, grab a copy of that ‘casual game’ that’s been dominating the sales charts and give it a play. You’ll better understand the direction that games are heading, and who knows, you may even have fun.