I follow the GDC (Game Developer Conference) channel on YouTube and, just right now, I recommend you to do the same. A great number of excellent talks (of course there are some exceptions, like the lame at-the-time-GDC-board-member Peter Molyneux making plain simple propaganda).

There is one that I just watched and is very eye-opening: it’s the annual talk from the guys of EEDAR (a data consolidation company) presenting numbers of the whole industry. There are talks about prices, sales, regions, and mobile/pc/consoles. Everything!

It is a must-see.

My favorite freelancer service, UpWork (formally oDesk), has hundreds of skilled professionals. I hired several artists and programmers for my personal and professional endeavors. Their blog consistently shares hints and posts from other sources for both contractors and companies.

Thursday! Let’s see what stuff I’ve discovered this week.

HootSuite

HootSuite.com It’s a useful service for yourself or your business to manage the several Social Networks that we use constantly. It can replicate the same posts in all of them, manage the followers and comments, and see what they are saying about you in every network at once. I use it for both personal and Gamenific spheres.

Concurso INOVApps

comunicacoes.gov.br/concurso-inovapps Brazilian only. É um concurso que o Ministério das Comunicações que está interessado em promover apps e jogos móveis. Serão 25 ganhadores nas duas categorias. Eu estou pensando seriamente em participar.

26 melhores sites brasileiros sobre desenvolvimento de jogos

https:://producaodejogos.com/os-26-melhores-sites-brasileiros-sobre-desenvolvimento-de-jogos Brazilian only. A great compilation of 26 Brazilian sites about game development. There is a mix of associations, indie devs, and general discussion. Great source of material and a good networking opportunity.

I’m not dead. Neither is the blog. I’m going to —poorly- explain why.

I’m just very focused on other projects, like my own new company Gamenific. It is, for now, an informal company, but I am investing more and more time and money, and energy into it. The Gamenific blog, that I write, is getting much more updated than this one.

My main day job is also requiring loads of time. Especially at the beginning of the year, when I was responsible for implementing an Online Booking tool in the company, was very demanding. I was working 16 hours a day. No social life was allowed. I cannot stress enough that it is very counterproductive: working that much for long periods is very tiring. Tired minds do not think properly and make constantly wrong decisions. One after the other.

But now things are normal again.

World Cup is here. It will officially start this Thursday and Rio de Janeiro, one of the hosting cities, is upside down. The transport is the worst, not only it is operating at overcapacity, but also the worker unions are taking the advantage of the situation to start constant strikes to raise salaries. The population is a hostage.

Back to Gamenific:

My plan is to make this company my life. If all goes right, it will become my main source of income in the next year, maybe two. And at this point, I plan to make it a full-day job.

Being a one-man company is not easy. By far. The amount of work that it takes is enormous. Secondary administrative tasks, like blogging, contacting new contractors, marketing, and making strategic plans… are very demanding. I wish I have someone to share the burden. But I am not complaining. On the contrary, it is very fun. Is hard and I love it.

I will keep Gamenific news in the Gamenific blog as much as possible, keeping this blog more as a personal view, especially related to programming, video games, and cinema. Eventually, I address some political or economical matters.

In Brazil, national elections are coming. I think it will be the subject of some texts in the near future.

It is another vacation! Hey!!!!!

After Argentina and Chile last year and Cube and Mexico in May, this time I will visit… nowhere!

The old plan

That’s it. I was planning to go to Disney World, USA. The idea was to go in a big group and have fun. I went to Disney when I was in college (I lived in the USA for 6 months in an exchange program) and I loved it! Loved it! Disney creates a magic atmosphere that one cannot ignore. They mastered the idea themed park.

Well, my original plan started to go wrong when I foresaw a complicated end-of-year in my job, due to a project in that I was involved. Things went worse with time. My boss said once or twice that we would stay in extra hours if needed.

Then I reached the moment of choice. With a lot of uncertainty, the dollar-real ratio in a bad shape, and missed momentum, I’ve finally decided to abort my trip and stay home.

The new plan

Cry no more! I have a new plan!

Besides my formal job, I invest a great deal of time in my lovely hobby: designing video games. I do all the processes, from programming, drawing, writing, painting, and whatever is needed.

I have about 8 prototypes that I believe can reach the market someday. One of them is a puzzle game called Picubic. It is charming, it is challenging and it is fun. But most of all, it is the closest one to have, at this moment, a shot in the wild market. I named the gaming division of Bruno Massa Corporation as Gamenific, a mix of Magnific (magnificent) and Game!

For this reason, since I decided to abort my trip I also decided to invest all my time to launch it. Finish it once and for all and sell it. The plan is to launch its beta ITS WEDNESDAY! Kind of… The plan is in fact, to launch a funding campaign on Indiegogo (the poorer cousin of Kickstarter) to help to leverage some money and close it. But most of all, to attract people. The company will only gain traction if there is a big enough audience. Let’s create a brand!

I can now only hope that this plan works. Otherwise, it will be a waste of a good Disney moment.