24Feb 2015 by mirjame

It’s official!

going indie
Today I got help at Business First in Malta to fill in three very official documents. I have Applied for a trading licence, applied for a VAT number, and registered as self-employed. It seems I'm soon pretty much in business :) I registered as self-employed for now rather than as a company with shares. Later on, when necessary, I can register as company. I also got to meet a VAT expert who was at Business First for the day, and she could clarify what it means formally, when one is likely to sell games and consultancies internationally. For example, there are ways to simplify how the VAT accounting works across the EU member states. There was a lot to take in, but everyone was super-nice, and I have both already scheduled…
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22Feb 2015 by mirjame

Why I am going indie, leaving some bits of academia for now

Blog
I grew up playing games, but it wasn't until in 1995 I got obsessed by them. Back then, I wrote stories, and saw that games didn't only tell stories, they made players co-creators in another way than other media.  I wanted to get under the hood of the games, to really understand them, and then (and perhaps it is still so), the only way to do so was to learn to read and write code. So I set about to do so. Five years later, in 2000, I was working as a game programmer in Stockholm at Liquid Media. We were making mystery games and other games that were heavy on the story telling aspects. I dug up some some readings from my university years on story logics, and what had seemed,…
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22Feb 2015 by mirjame

Otter Play – the first steps!

going indie
Welcome to this page, introducing my (so far!) one woman indie game studio! I have just taken the first baby-steps: I thought about how I can be most creative and productive, and what stuff I want to make. I considered that otters hold hands when they sleep, to not drift apart from each other. (Hence the name of my endeavour.) I met with a representative from Malta Enterprise who gave me advice on how to start, given my goals. He helped me make an initial road map, and will help me set register as a 'sole trader' next week. I registered the domain otter-play.com I am right now making this site, and writing this post :) [caption id="attachment_6" align="aligncenter" width="660"] This is my initial road map. I have in it my handbag,…
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