The gaming industry is a multibillion-dollar industry. Stein Løtveit from Drammen works to code his way into the elite. – I promised my wife that I would finish within a year. Now it’s nine o’clock, says Løtveit, as he connects to the machine. “Sacre Bleu” is his game, but he is not alone. He talks daily with developers who work for him, in France, Canada, Spain and Thailand. Asked for more fighting When he asked for feedback on what they had created, the answer was clear: More fighting, and then it has to go faster. And now it is moving quickly towards launch. And that the game should have pace in it is important before Løtveit. – I like the idea that you should be able to easily put down a game. One board, finished in five minutes, and then do homework, eat dinner and or go to training. I don’t want to lock the player for hours at a time. It should be easy to pick up and easy to put down, he says. The idea came in 2009 when he drew some musketeers, and he thought it would be cool to further develop it into a game. He downloaded a game engine in 2015 and “it just happened”. But he put it aside a bit, just as he believes the players can do. It is only in the last year that he has worked full-time on this. – After the idea came, we have lived on two continents and had two children. I have worked on 10–12 films, but now this is the first priority, says Løtveit. Photo: Anders Haualand / news Growing every year On the eve of last year, the Game Report 2023 was presented, and according to the Norwegian Film Institute, it showed several positive trends: The turnover of Norwegian games in 2022 was 652 million, an increase of 47 percent in one year and a increase of 115 per cent in five years. The number of permanent employees in the industry has more than tripled in the last five years, and the increase here is a whopping 70 per cent in the last year. The proportion of women among employees in the Norwegian games industry is approaching a third, with 29.2 per cent in 2022, up from 22 per cent the previous year. – The government and the industry have invested significantly in Norwegian computer games and growth in the Norwegian games industry in recent years, and now the results are beginning to show, said Culture Minister Lubna Jaffery (Ap) when the report was published. The worldwide turnover was 406.2 billion dollars last year, and an analysis from Statista shows that they expect an increase in the coming years as well, with an assumed turnover of 666 billion in five years’ time. Game developers also need sun and some fresh air. Photo: Anders Haualand / news Last shot On one of the peaks in Drammen, at Konnerud, Stein Løtveit is sitting in the garden. The cup in your hand warms just like the summer sun. He works at home, and goes out several times during the day. – As a father of young children, you are also forced to relax. The children have to go to kindergarten. And then I go back in, and go through what they’ve worked on, the ones I have abroad. – What concretely remains now? – We work a bit with the final boss. And then we go over all the lights in the game and make sure it works even better on Nintendo Switch. We double check that the game delivers on both story level and in terms of game mechanics. – It must give the right feeling of ending. Game reviewer at news, Rune Fjeld Olsen. Photo: Privat Excited expert Rune Fjeld Olsen is a game expert at news. He talks about a vital and active Norwegian games industry, which gets better every year. – But compared to the other Nordic countries, the Norwegian games industry is quite small, so we are waiting a bit for the big breakthrough, he says. – Why haven’t we taken the same step as them? – It is both a bit random, in that we have not had the huge successes, but then we are a small country. It has also been bet a little bit. Money is now being distributed from the film fund, but the Norwegian authorities could invest more. He says that there are many people who work a lot for themselves. – It is very “easy” to sit down and make a game, as a solo developer, because there are good tools out there. You can make a great game, we see several examples of that internationally. But making it a success is something else. He mentions the “Norwegian” company Funcom, which is now 100 percent owned by a Chinese company – but they work from Norway and make good games, according to Olsen. – Creating a game yourself from A to Z is terribly difficult. You have to work for years to put something together that is playable, fun, exciting and interesting. It’s totally possible, and much easier than it’s ever been, but it’s still an incredibly complicated and lonely process. You must be an artist and have a burning desire to create something. Popular genre He is now waiting for the so-called ketchup effect, and believes it could suddenly hit the Norwegian gaming industry. Rune Fjeld Olsen has seen a bit of what Stein Løtveit has been working on, and has believed. – It is a genre that is popular and has many good games, but it looks like this can stand out a bit. It would be very fun if it can be claimed. If it’s good, there’s a hungry audience out there. Stein Løtveit has experienced firsthand how much it costs. – It’s not like you make a game on the first try. It has to be done over and over again, and in the end you might end up with a product that is good enough and that people like. Published 08/08/2024, at 19.58
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