Gloucestershire's 100 Biggest Employers 2019

Nintendo makes play for Gloucestershire gamer

School teachers who ask youngsters what they most want to do for a living are apparently inundated with job titles like ‘gamer’ or ‘YouTuber’.

computer, which required him to write the code for each game into the machine himself. One of his early creations, inspired by what he describes as a movie “some people think is the worst ever” -

MANOS: The Hands of Fate (just so you know, if you are ever invited to watch it) - won him an approach from a publisher. “I think they liked the retro feel of it,” recalled Mr Beddoes, now 33. “I worked for them for a while. “Around this time there was a character around called the Angry Video Game Nerd. I had this idea to make a game based on him and I pitched the idea.” He had studied graphic design at Gloucestershire College, but never felt it was a job that got the respect it deserved. As his sideline prospered, it became easy to step across into a new role. A cult hit, Angry Video Game Nerd, led to‘high times’.There was enough money to ‘move to Cheltenham’, he said, tongue in cheek.

Smirk or despair if you want, but Sam Beddoes will tell you one thing – do not rubbish their dreams, they can come true.At least being a game designer can. “Youngsters will tell people that is what they want to be and they will be treated the same as if they said they had wanted to become a Hollywood actor or a footballer,” said Mr Beddoes, who has just returned from Boston, promoting a game he designed which will soon be on the Nintendo Switch. The handheld console is used by more than 10 million gamers currently. His own games are no Fortnite – the current Epic Games online super hit across all platforms. His thrive in the niche world of retro games. It is a market which still requires huge arenas for its shows – like the one he just returned from in the USA, where you rub shoulders with

Sam Beddoes and Nick Gregory, developer of “Eagle Island”

His first hard lesson in business was when he banked on the requested follow up toAngryVideo Game Nerd being a hit. The publisher was suddenly taken over and the idea sidelined. “A lot of people will want to get into game development and want to go for the pipedream straight away. But there is more to it than that. It is a business. “Don’t go straight away for the big one.Work your way up. Start on something smaller,” said Mr Beddoes. The industry’s appetite is insatiable. Which is why he was in Boston – promoting the long- awaitedAngryVideoGameNerd II,published by Screenwave Media. It seems the idea was too good to ignore l For more information visit www.freakzonegames.com

Sam Beddoes,Tony (writer for AngryVideo Game Nerd), James Rolfe (AVGN)

other game designers, fans, publishers and YouTube stars. Speaking to Punchline from Stroud, where he runs his successful game design company, FreakZone Games, Mr Beddoes said: “I develop games. Generally, I come up with the idea then pitch it to publicists who then finance it. I then take revenue after they have recouped what they put in to pay for it. It is like an advance. I have been doing that since 2012. “Before that, I was running a business doing graphic design. I did not think you could get into gaming. That was always something of a hobby.” While school friends played on the latest Sega Megadrive, Mr Beddoes was wrestling with an old Acorn

4 | May 2019 | www. punchline-gloucester .com

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