Devbump, the user-driven social content aggregator for game developers, was launched in September 2006 by game developers David and Ian Marsh. Both are currently working at Reality Check Studios as an interactive designer and engineer, respectively.

Morgan Ramsay, chief brand architect at Heretic and director at International Game Developers Association, San Diego, sat down with the two Devbump operators to discuss the venture and why you should care.

Morgan Ramsay: I’ve always believed that people come first, so let’s start with the people behind the project. Who comprises the Devbump team? Tell us about yourselves, where you work, and what you do.

David Marsh: I’m an artist, designer, and game development aficionado. I recently left the professional game industry after six years. I still work on game-related projects in my spare time and Devbump is one of them. I do most of the work dealing with the community and begging my brother to implement new features. I also try to ensure that there is a constant flow of good stories on the site.

[MR: Many years ago, David worked as a contract level designer for Valve on Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat with the maps "cs_estate", "as_tundra", and "dod_zafod" to his credit. Most recently he was environment artist at Troika on "Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines", environment artist at Midway on "Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows", and senior artist at Sandcastle Studios on "Da Vinci Code: The Quest Begins" and "MLB.com Shuffle".]

Ian Marsh: I’m currently doing work for Reality Check Studios which has a long history in television but is venturing into some interactive projects. I’ve been learning a lot of ActionScript 3.0 which I’m dying to have to time to make some games with. Before that I worked as an engineer for a studio making mobile games.

MR: If you’ve been living under a rock, or inside a dark and dingy cubicle, for the last couple of years, you probably wouldn’t know what all the hullabaloo is about. For those unlucky few, give us a rundown on Devbump. What’s it all about?

DM: Devbump is a central repository to share all kinds of game development-related stories and information. There are lots of sites that cater to specific disciplines of game development, or to the game industry as a whole. Devbump is a place to take the most interesting bits from all those corners and put them out on the table for developers as an entire group to examine. Like Digg, all the stories that appear on the site are user-submitted and democratically published.

IM: Devbump is really intended to be a place where game developers from around the world can share interesting news and articles.

MR: Devbump was clearly inspired by Digg, but why was establishing this community important to you? In other words, why should anyone care?

DM: Online communities have always been a very important part of my career and interest in game development. My first interest in developing games was nurtured by online communities and eventually enabled me to get into the industry. There are a lot of close-knit communities out there that focus on very specific elements of game design, but not much out there that covers a broad spectrum.

I’m an artist, but I still find every aspect of game development interesting. I like learning about new things from all different fields of game development work. It gives me a better overall picture about how things work, and also helps me relate to developers in different disciplines. For someone who is heads-down dedicated to animation, programming, or any other specific facet of game development, Devbump won’t have as much to offer as the close-knit communities. For the curious developer, Devbump is a bridge to things you might never come across otherwise.

IM: Having a site for developers that is community-driven and regulated means that only the stuff that is most interesting to the developer community-at-large makes it to the top. On most other game development sites, only one or a few people are responsible for determining if something is newsworthy. On Devbump, newsworthiness is judged by all the worldwide developers who wish to participate.

MR: Specifically, how does Devbump benefit developers? For example, if a developer writes an article on something of interest and someone adds the link to Devbump, what does that mean for the developer?

DM: It means getting that information to the game developer community as a whole, and opening up a dialogue about it. The main factor with Devbump is that the site is a level playing field, whether you are Will Wright or John Doe game developer, your access to sharing information through the site is the same. Stories are published based on how interesting the content is to game developers, not how newsworthy an editor deems them to be.

IM: Well, for example, suppose someone posts an article about the awesome office space and work environment at your studio. If enough developers agree that your studio is in fact pretty awesome the story will get bumped up and be seen by lots of people who are in the industry.

MR: The democratization of content aggregation is a double-edged sword. What if someone out there publishes a negative story about a local company or something particularly offensive to an individual, and adds the story to Devbump?

DM: So far, I have not seen the site sway in the direction of that kind of sensitive material. If a story like that were submitted and was voted to the main page, it would remain there until some sort of formal request to remove it was made. Users also have the ability to bury a story, and get it un-published if enough people take action. However, if something very controversial was published there is the possibility it would be removed by a moderator. Devbump has only catered to the more constructive aspects of game development, and there are plenty of other sites out there that focus on rumor and slander.

IM: The great thing about Devbump is that it’s community-driven and regulated. If something is posted that is an obvious blatant lie, or offensive to people, they can bury the story. If enough of the community feels that way, the story will automatically be removed.

MR: What can developers do to maximize the usefulness of Devbump?

DM: Submit new stories, and bump other submitted stories they find interesting.

IM: Register and bump stories! Even if you don’t have something interesting to share with other developers, bumping or burying existing stories on the site helps promote fresh relevant content to the top.

MR: And the question we all hate but are forced to answer: where do you see Devbump several years down the road? Just another Digg clone? Or is there something you’re not telling us about the future?

DM: My hope is that the site is basically the same, only with a lot more users and a lot more content. I hope it becomes a catalyst for discussion about game development ideas and issues just like Digg has become a forum for technology and other miscellaneous topics.

IM: My hope is that the community continues to grow and Devbump becomes the best source for industry news and articles. If we think of some awesome killer feature that would help the community, you can bet we’ll work to implement it.

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