http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberlore_Studios

While it didn’t completely cease operations (just changed its name to Minerva), Northampton-based Cyberlore is no longer focusing on regular games.

Since 1992, they produced a whole number of expansion packs for games such as Warcraft, Heroes of Might and Magic and Mechwarrior, but due to collapse of their publisher Hip Games, they changed their name and decided to target corporate training market.

One useful resource for anyone trying to break into game industry or just learn something about video games in your area is GameDevMap (http://www.gamedevmap.com) and currently 6 companies are listed for “Massachusetts”  and 27 companies are listed for “Massachussets”, which, all in all, makes for 30+ companies!

Not bad, not bad - now I wish that they could fix that spelling problem.

After seeing more than a few local game companies posting a whole batch of new positions on their websites, I decided to create a separate page for job postings which I will update every 2 or 3 weeks.

At this point it seems that Harmonix, Blue Fang Games and Turbine Inc. are some of the most active recruiters in the area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainless_Steel_Studios

According to Wikipedia, Cambridge, MA based SSS was founded in 1997 and ceased all operations on November 2005, with the reason being cuts in funding from Midway Games.

They managed to produce Empire Earth (published by Sierra) and Empires: Dawn (published by Activision) , with Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War finished/published by Midway Games, while Stainless Steel studios was closed.

Yet another Craigslist search revealed yet another gaming-related position:

Chump Studios is a new startup out of Somerville, Massachusetts. We focus exclusively on casual games, for digital distrution through PC and today’s major gaming consoles (XBOX, PS3, and Wii). The studio is still in an early phase, and has amassed a reasonable amount of seed capital. In the coming months we are looking to groom our engine, develop a demo of our game, and secure round 2 financing.

Right off the bat, we’re looking for excellent communication skills, since we’re a small outfit and we’ll all be in close contact. Secondly, you have to have a passion for gaming…it really shows in the work when enthusiastic gamers are the ones making the product. The position offered is Lead Programmer.

This is a full-time, paid position. Initial salary will be low as the company will be bootstrapping for the first few months, but this will be well compensated for by round 2 financing and profit sharing in our final product. Plus, you get to make games for a living, how cool is that?

As you may or may not know, I’m currently going through a web design certificate course at New England Institute of Art (http://www.artinstitutes.edu/boston/) and the fact that I came to one of the classes and wasn’t even supposed to be here because class was canceled, resulted in this…

By mistake, I was invited to a presentation by a company called GameBrix (http://www.gamebrix.com/). While not based in Massachusetts, company and idea/product that they’re trying to promote are quite remarkable in their own way.

Quote - “GameBrix enables everyone to create Flash games online without any programming. Anyone can create flash animations and sprites online using, a drag and drop interface. Script editor enables Actionscript users to create complex games.”

Ok, so I had to leave blogging world for a while and there are some things that happened in Boston that deserve some of your attention, in my humble opinion…

Some of you probably heard about proposed Massachusetts law about ban on sale of video games to minors. It attracted attention of none other than the master of horror himself, Mr. Stephen King. (http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/stephen-king-defends-violent-video-games).

Second part is that Westwood-based Turbine Inc. got $40 million in funding (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/turbine-secures-40-million-in-funding)

And the third and final part is that another Boston Post-Mortem meeting is coming this May - May 14 at 7PM at the Skelig in Waltham, to be exact.

Just yesterday I noticed this ad on Craigslist - check it out:

Hangout Industries is a stealth-mode, venture-backed start-up in Lexington, MA that is combining the best of the web and 3D to create cool new user experiences that you haven’t seen before. Hangout was founded by a combination of web entrepreneurs and gaming pioneers who have a passion for blending technology with creativity and innovation. If you enjoy an ambitious, independent, innovative environment focused on building a new generation of user experiences that leverage the web, 3D and social networking; we’d love to hear from you!

Hangout Industries needs a standout Game Developer who has excellent specific experience. Our team has implemented and is looking for a strong cultural and experience fit to help us hit new levels of velocity. If you are a detail-oriented team player who thrives on creating, implementing and executing project management processes that produce high quality, on-time deliverables then this may be the place for you.

Responsibilities:
• Individual will be responsible for developing Gameplay systems for cross-platform applications and unit testing.
• Develop UI’s based on designer specifications.
• Develop intuitive 3D interactive experiences.
• Maintain and update existing code base.
• Develop code to work on both low and high-end machines.
• Partner with different teams across the organization for maximum results.

Requirements:
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience.
• 1-3 years of experience that may include educational-based projects.
• Game-based programming experience is required.
• Basic understanding of linear algebra is required.
• Must be able to develop for a broad cross-section platform.
• Must be able to work in a fast-paced iterative environment.
• Must be able to work effectively in a collaborative team environment.

If you are interested in an opportunity to become part of our team, please send your resume to hangoutcareers@gmail.com

Maynard, MA based Iron Lore Entertainment (http://www.ironlore.com/) posted the following information on their website:

It is with great regret that we must announce that as of close of business Tuesday, February 19, 2008 Iron Lore Entertainment has ceased active game development. Several unrelated events occurred which resulted in Iron Lore being unable to secure funding for its next project.

We would like to extend our thanks to everyone who has helped us in the last seven years – our team who moved mountains to create such great games, our publisher THQ who has been a great partner through three product development cycles, and most of all our customers and fans. We owe all of the success we’ve had to you, and our greatest satisfaction has come from creating games that have given enjoyment to the community.”

I doubt that anyone will fall for one of those, but anyway…

Whenever you type in “qa testing games” or some sort of search query like that, you would inevitably see on those sites in results:

http://www.gamertestingground.com/

http://www.becomeagametester.com/

http://beagametester.com/

Or some variation on that.

Needless to say, those websites are as fake as can be, from claims that its incredibly easy to become game tester to an invitation to pay 70 bucks for a chance to become one. Last link (betagamester.com) actually does contain some tips on gaming industry, but then there’s all the same crap underneath it all.