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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 4th, 2023

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  • As a game studio - a developer rather than a publisher - it’s very much hand to mouth. You are paid by the publishers on delivery of milestones. Milestone reviews can sometimes be subjective. You’re basically the lowest link in the food chain and can be subject to a publisher’s whim, which can often be a bit random depending on your external producer. Keeping such a studio open in the long term is about chasing new contacts, and any gaps between contacts is expensive because you aren’t generating any income, but are having to pay wages. One or two project cancellations can easily shutter an independent developer.

    In some cases studio owners may simply want out, or they might legitimately see a sale as bringing stability to the studio… Or it might just be greed. But I think it’s hard to say whether a studio would have a safer long term future being independent or being sold.









  • My approach is to start with the least aggressive cleaners and work up if the weak one doesn’t work. So basically start with dish detergent, then window/surface cleaner, alcohol, and WD-40. Acetone is the final solution, but since it melts plastic its only useful on metal or ceramic. The lettering on the NES and Commodore keys will come off with alcohol. You should always test alcohol on a small area first.

    For rust, soak in white vinegar and then scrub to neutralise and remove. You should then rinse well and clean to get rid of the vinegar.

    Personally I’ve only ever retrobrited plastic, but I tend not to anymore because it really does make it more brittle. Also it can be patchy on anything other than white/beige.