Bluemoo Studios

I don’t know what planet Margot James, Minister of State for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is living on, probably somewhere in the far reaches of No Man’s Sky. Unbelievably, she has concluded that loot boxes do not constitute gambling because skins can’t be traded offline.  That’s like saying using online bookmakers wouldn't really be gambling if it wasn’t possible to sell a winning bet to a mate down the pub. I’ve never felt the need to call for a Minister’s resignation more than I do right now and it’s not just James that needs to go, the whole department needs a rethink; do they actually have any gamers on their staff? I very much doubt it. I’m tempted to instigate a freedom information request just to find out if anybody in her department has heard of Skins.Cash, CS.Money, Skinbaron, Skin.club or Bitskins. They all trade CS:GO skins for hard cash and that’s just one game. The link between gaming disorder and an addictive personality is well and truly established and it just so happens; that’s an ideal personality to develop a gambling addiction. So, why on earth isn’t she doing something to protect the young gamers that are exposed to the lure of loot box gambling? There’s a whole heap of parents out there that don’t really engage with their children’s gaming activities much beyond applying time constraints. They misguidedly trust the Government to put in place protective measures. Well, here’s the thing: That ain’t happening while James is at the helm. There must be some way to instigate her resignation on grounds of gross incompetence? It’s a shame that we are avoiding exposure at this stage in our product development; if we had loads of followers we could probably do something. But we don’t, so maybe share this with people that do "MarGotKidsGambling” perhaps?

Not convinced? At the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee inquiry into immersive and addictive technologies, James said: “I would contest the assumption that loot boxes are gambling and I don’t think that all the evidence that I’ve read from your committee’s hearings would support that assumption either. “Loot boxes are a means of people purchasing items, skins, to enhance their gaming experience, not through an expectation of an additional financial reward and importantly they can’t be traded offline for money, so I think that there are big differences.” Ok Margot, if you ever pick up an AWP | Dragon Lore I’ll bung you a fiver, meet me on CS.Money. Oh hang on, I forgot you don’t really play video games. More’s the pity. #LootboxGambling #MarGotKidsGambling Keith Anderson - Managing Director

I’m beginning to think he, or should I say it, might be. The boss had twelve hours of dental surgery on Friday, it was meant to be 8 hours max so he got back pretty late.  Saturday noon; he is thanking me for my work on the social media posts, dealing with emails and making meeting arrangements for next week. It’s not human! Or maybe, he is. He always thanks me for any work I do, I’ve never had anyone do that before and it really makes me feel appreciated, I don’t think that I’ve ever told him that. The problem is; with Keith getting back to work straight after 12 hours surgery, how the hell will I be able to pull a hangover induced sickie? I just don’t think I could do it, the guilt would be terrible!   Kasper out.

I’m sure that it was Mike (level designer) that first alerted me to the mischievous influence of the monkey. Yeah, I know it’s another Chinese horoscope reference but think back to 2016. It was, by all accounts, a bit of a strange year. So who is the odd one out? The most powerful statesman on the planet? A fun but unfortunately lethal video game? Perhaps an ice-breaker in need of a name, or maybe like me you can’t resist another chance to blame everything on Brexit?

They all have something in common. 2016 was the year that Donald Trump was elected. This actually happened. Despite odds of 25 to 1 in August 2015 when he first announced his campaign, he somehow, remarkably turned it all around and now he is the leader of the free world. It’s also the same year that Nintendo and the Pokémon Company decided that people need to get out more. Again in 2016, the quest to find a suitable name for an Arctic research vessel was launched at pretty much the same time that the UK was asked to vote on whether to remain in the European union.

Reports from 2017 suggest that Pokémon Go was directly responsible for $7.3 Billion costs in just the U.S alone in the single year since its release. The actual number of deaths that can be attributed to Pokémon Go is the subject of much debate and we won’t speculate. The aptly titled “Death by Pokémon Go” from Purdue University's Krannert School of Management makes for fascinating reading for those who are way inclined. But hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time right? However, I’d suggest that the mischievous monkey had a role in this ill thought-out and ultimately lethal video game.

David Cameron in 2016, decided that it would be a good idea to deal with the Eurosceptics within the Conservative Party once and for all by affording the public a vote that would obviously give him a mandate to tell to them all to shut the f**k up. Nice idea Dave, BUT the monkey said NO. Oh dear.

It’s not all bad in 2016. In the midst of the monkey’s destructive influence, one body stood strong and went against public opinion, rejecting the nonsensical public votes yielded. You can’t possibly call an Arctic ice-breaker “Boaty McBoatface” how very dare you! We never should have asked you in the first place if you are just going to be silly! We will call it the “Sir David Attenborough” and that’s the last time we ask the public to vote on something as important as the name of a ship! Odd one out? I guess so. 

Keith Anderson - Managing Director

Poor Kasper has had to wait for quite some time for this post and I think he might be a bit disappointed; actually, I don’t really understand why he is so fascinated with the financial aspect of the project but it’s nice to be able to discuss this stuff with him. Personally, I’m rather frustrated with the ongoing saga of Brexit and the damage that it has done to not just Bluemoo and project Headshed but the European economy as a whole. It seems like an age since our rather excellent venture capitalist, Mike, informed me that London is shut for business until after Brexit. That’s a direct quote: “London is shut.” This was back in November 2018 and the prospect of waiting until the end of March to launch our next key stage funding campaign was ultimately manageable, albeit somewhat annoying. Yet here we are three months later, in fact where are we? Does anybody really know? I can only speak for Bluemoo and we need to raise considerable funds in order to ramp up our endeavours, and sadly this isn’t going to happen anytime soon. The Conservatives are currently in the midst of trying to decide who will lead their party after Mrs May’s ultimately doomed attempt at steering the UK to a successful Brexit. Given the last, nigh on, three years of faffing around getting absolutely nowhere and embarrassing Britain on a global stage week in and week out, I can’t wait for the next enthralling instalment of Brexit. Clearly I jest; like most people I’m sick to death of the whole unsightly affair but hey, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; when the world stops making sense it’s probably time to sit back and have a good old laugh. With this in mind, I’ll be running a series of posts that take a light-hearted look at the UK, as it stumbles through the next few months in the lead up to the final Brexit deal. Or at least the next few months in the lead up to the revised proposed exit date of October 2019, or at least until the revoking of article 50, or at least until a new “people’s” vote... or at least until the world enters a full Brexit generated economic meltdown and the whole Headshed project becomes meaningless along with life, the universe and everything else! Still, it’s not all doom and gloom at Bluemoo, far from it. Magnus has recently joined the crew and will be working on Headshed’s core mapping functions. Kevin is also making excellent progress with his recovery and will be working on our universal map marking system for video games very soon. Actually, it is probably worth mentioning that Barts hospital duped him: ”The Miracle Man” and that’s a great thing, because whilst miracles are happening the world can’t be all bad.     Keith Anderson - Managing Director

You know that I love it when the boss talks finance and he promised me that it would be today, but that’s going to have to wait until next week because I’m delighted to welcome Magnus Rasmussen!

He’s our brand spanking new and perfectly formed software engineer. I haven’t found out that many details about his role because he has been with us for hours rather than days but I can tell you that he will be working with the cartography team. Welcome on board Magnus, I’m looking forward to meeting you.

Kasper out.

Sponsoring the Knighthood gaming clan is a no-brainer for us. Six years ago the Headshed concept was born from a desire to develop game winning strategies for the hack and slash, Chivalry Medieval Warfare. A couple of the Bluemoo crew originally met via the Knighthood so it’s nice to be able to support the guild that provided the anvil, upon which our initial concept was hammered out. Today the group are playing the newly released and really rather splendid, Mordhau. You can find out more about the Knighthood at www.knighthood.pro Kasper out.

The dark clouds over Bluemoo have lifted; Kevin, our Military Cartographer and dear friend of mine, is going to pull through! In fact, it is more than that, it’s something of a miracle. It was just a few days ago when his chances were less than 50-50 and now he is up about, after a fashion. He has six broken ribs from the CPR and resuscitation plus his vision isn’t great right now but that will all heal. I thought that we had lost him and now he wants to get back to work tomorrow, it really is miraculous the way he has bounced back to the land of the living. Well, he won’t be back at work next week, or the week after that. In fact he is on three weeks enforced leave from Bluemoo. I really don’t want him having another cardiac arrest, I don’t think that my heart could take it. Out of darkness come light and the concern from the Bluemoo crew just emphasized to me what a special group of people I have gathered together. Also special thanks to the avid follower of our progress who called the office to enquire. I won’t mention your name because I don’t have your permission to do so but your heartfelt concern brought more than one tear to my eye, bless you sweetheart, bless you. Anyone that spared a thought for Kevin has my most sincere gratitude. We haven’t had a “man down” in such a dramatic fashion before and I did have second thoughts about sharing but I’m a believer in the power of collective thought and to date I haven’t been proved wrong.

Keith Anderson - Managing Director

To be fair; we haven’t had that many problems with 123.Reg, their staff are generally well informed and always courteous. However, they did make a complete mess out of our SSL certificate renewal this year. Consequently we have taken our SSL management in-house and why not? We have the technology! We can also save a couple of hundred pounds a year, which in the great scheme of things is not much more than a pin in the haystack of our development costs. Still, it remains my ambition to bring our product to launch in the most cost effective fashion that I can muster. We will be running a crowd funding campaign in the not too distant future and we will be seeking considerable venture capital when the investment climate returns to something that could be considered normal (more on this soon) so I have a duty. A duty that I take very seriously, a duty to count the pennies and make savings any which way I can. That said, we do owe you an apology if you have been getting “suspicious site” pop ups in the last few days. Our website is currently considered to be new and that’s just what happens with “new” sites and it is likely to continue for a couple of weeks. Ho hum, like I say: “If a job is worth doing...”

Keith Anderson - Managing Director

It’s sadly not the happy Easter message we had lined up for you. Kevin, our Military Cartographer, is in the hospital following a cardiac arrest. We don’t know any more at this stage, our thoughts are with him.

Kasper out.

He has been my boss before. It was way way back in the eighties just before I joined the forces. I thought that I had such a great deal getting to drive Keith’s company car, I was just a kid at the time and I never dreamed of driving such a flashy motor. Happy memories. And here I am working with Mister A, again. I don’t really understand half of the stuff that we are working on but I have seen my son play some team games and it’s obvious that a bit of forward planning wouldn’t go a miss.  The whole Headshed thing makes so much sense and I can see where I can help. Orienteering is really my thing; it has been for ages, ever since I joined the cubs. I’m not sure if that’s a thing anymore; cubs and scouts, but it was a great way to get some space away from Hackney.   I guess I just love maps but it’s not just maps, it is the feeling from knowing your environment that you get when you are in a tricky situation. I don’t want to say that much about my time in the forces, for me it was an extension of my childhood that got real. It got really real. But I’m finding video games far more scarier, I still remember pong and the orange box! Video games these days are military simulators like the flight simulators, it’s all a bit too real if you ask me. And when I say scarier I mean; it’s the progress that scares me, things are moving at such a mad pace that I’m not sure where we will end up. I’m still struggling to get myself linked up with Bluemoo, what with all of the new kit that arrived, stuff that’s all new to me but I’ve read the Facebook posts and I feel like I know the Bluemoo crew already. I’m looking forward to getting stuck into the cartography but back in the eighties I ended up being a chauffeur for Keith, he hasn’t mentioned “additional driving duties” so I think I might be OK this time. It is a bit strange, the whole Headshed thing but I’m not surprised, what with the market in London falling through the floor, why wouldn’t he make a social media platform? In more ways than one it’s good to be back! Kevin Oliphant - Military Cartographer

Last but not least? Well, we will see. Have to say that I’ve really been enjoying reading the posts from the team but one thing that hasn’t been discussed is the Bluemoo social life. Obviously, we are geographically challenged when it comes to meeting up for a few beers after work on a Friday evening but there is definitely an online social aspect to Bluemoo. I’m a fair few thousand miles from the rest of the team yet that’s a polar opposite from how it actually feels or more importantly, how it actually works. I’ve been here a while now and from my experience I know that Bluemoo’s virtual meetings are typically more productive than my average face to face. I don’t know why that is the case, but it is. I guess that I’m preaching to the converted when I say that online team based gaming and its associated social aspect is connecting people across the planet in a great way. We are no different at Bluemoo, we get together online and it’s not all work! Bohemia Interactive’s DayZ Standalone is the company’s video game of choice and this has been pretty much the case for as long as I can remember. It’s a great vehicle for team bonding as the premise of the game beyond basic survival; is that the collective is stronger than the individual player. If it’s not work or a gaming session we do sometimes just meet online for a chat. The boss came up with “elevenses” which I believe is a reference to drinking tea (typical Brit). Basically, we got together at 11:00 am GMT on a Thursday with absolutely no meeting agenda, sounds a bit pointless but those gatherings turned out to be the most productive meetings ever (genius). Thankfully, we have now changed the time to 7:00 pm so now I get to join in with what we are now calling “seven elevenses”, which is actually a reference that I can follow since we have the same convenience stores over here. It can get a bit confusing at times from my side of the pond but I've always been told that Englishmen are eccentric and from my experience I can confirm that it is very much the case. Access to opinions from all across Europe is my little bonus that I get from the Bluemoo team. Although, I refuse to call our Independence Day, as Keith suggests “You won, get over it Day”, and I’m certainly not going to call American football  “hand egg” no matter how many times Elling tells me that it’s logical. Stick to your soccer boys! Brook Buckelew - Art Director

We intended to round off our recent series of ‘Meet the Devs’ posts from the team but we had a few technical issues with communications from our Art Director, Brook Buckelew. He lives and works half way up a mountain in North Carolina and his connection isn’t great at the best of times and late last week we lost him entirely. We checked and there were no hurricanes heading his way, or was it tornadoes? He did mention it but I can't remember. Anyway the point is; he's all right (probably). We have had a few scares in the past, trees falling on his house, that sort of thing. He even gets the odd bear or two sniffing around his home, so we always get a bit concerned when the line goes quiet. The chances are we'll be able to finalise his post and I’ll get it out to you shortly. In the meantime, Keith wanted to share this amazing picture of “Baby”! He had a meeting in Manchester last week and met our Editor, Brett Balaban, who lives locally for a spot of lunch afterwards. Yeah I know right, I didn’t even get an invite, although it would have been a bit tricky popping over from Denmark. After lunch they decided to visit the Science and Industry Museum in Castlefield where they have a replica of, to give you its full title, the 'Manchester Baby' also known as the Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM). The world’s first version of random-access computer memory. Standing at 2.24 metres and over five metres in length, the machine built in 1948 is impressive in size but your mobile phone is 100,000 times more powerful! It’s amazing how far we have come in the last seventy years and just a bit scary to think where we will be in another seventy years time. Kasper out.

As a music geek, I am constantly listening to new music and always trying to broaden my horizon when it comes to the drums, as I know there is still a world of new techniques I don’t know yet. One of the best ways of mastering a craft is teaching others how to do it. I now find myself a frequent drum teacher every week to people who are local and want to learn; this is a fantastic experience for me. Though I cannot teach what comes natural to me, which is my playing style. A quote that stuck with me was from Keith Moon, and he was once asked “Do you think you are the greatest drummer in the World?” And he replied “No, I’m the best Keith Moon-style drummer in the world.” I often relate to that, as every drummer’s style is different. It doesn’t mean anyone is better than anyone, it’s just unique. I love that.

So, what has editing got to do with drumming? It doesn’t really, however there is one crucial common denominator, and that is timing. Often when I edit, I don’t really know what I’m going to create and it’s a bit like a clear canvas but whatever I do edit, I make sure it just works by keeping the timing of each cut and edit spot on. The only way I can explain how I make it work every time is that I just understand how these things should link together in time, almost to create a narrative in what I create. The reason I find editing exciting is that just like drumming, each editor’s style is unique to one another. Like a lot of kids spending a lot of their time watching YouTube videos, I decided to try and make my own with a few school friends when I was around 13. At the time I thought I was the best editor around, though now if I look back through the archives, it was really cringey and terrible content. The idea that sticks in my mind with editing is that every video is better than the last and just like drumming, I am always learning new techniques to make my editing better and more creative.

Manchester is a brilliant city for editors and the media industry. In Manchester we have Media City, and it's pretty much where the BBC and ITV make most of their TV shows. Uni’s such as the University of Salford, FutureWorks (UCLan) and Manchester University offer fantastic Film, Television and Radio Production courses. Or if it's sport you might want to get into, they have brilliant courses at Manchester City’s “Emptyhad Stadium” for Sport Journalism – though as a Red, I might give that a miss! Manchester isn’t the sort of crazy, everything rushed city London is. In fact, everything is quite laid back and the city is big, but not too big. Getting around is easier than most cities, with a brilliant public transport network, with a tram stop right around the corner from pretty much everyone. Working from home editing is always great, I find it therapeutic just to crack on with something in the comfort of my own home. Or even if I didn’t work from home, I wouldn’t care much because Manchester is a pretty great place to be.

Brett Balaban - Editor

In the same way that the programming team have ensured that our social media platform is scalable, the combined public relations, communications- and community management teams are working towards the future. It’s a daunting task; actually it’s more than that, frankly it's terrifying! My only qualification for securing my role as public relations director is my successful management of a gaming clan, in fact I took up the reins from the boss and little did I know at the time that Keith had plans to take gaming strategy to an entirely new level. We discussed the need for a combined software solution but I didn’t really realise that I was witnessing the birth of Headshed. Initially I developed our gaming trends database, the first valuable asset that Bluemoo created, which I’m proud to say is still the most comprehensive study of team based gaming that we are aware of. Sadly, it still doesn’t have a fancy name like our base social media platform Hyshu but I’m continually surprised by how the database has enabled us to predict the rise and fall of gaming genres. I don’t mind telling you that the decision to switch Headshed from 3D environments to a social media platform hit me pretty hard. Wow, I haven’t even discussed this with the guys and here I am sharing this. I’ve been repurposed and recycled, that’s what happens at Bluemoo and I’m glad because being part of the team  has become a really nice habit. My new role won’t kick in for quite a while now, as we are still keeping a very low profile and when it does I just hope that I’ll be ready.  I don’t feel like I’m a natural for the role but then again I’m reminded that I managed more than a thousand people that passed through the Knighthood clan. I can’t argue with that but it’s a bit different from the potential millions of people that Headshed will attract. Headshed is what I have always wanted as a gaming clan leader and the fact that I’m part of making that happen is amazing. I’d go as far to say that if the Knighthood had Headshed at the time, we would have been the very best team on the planet!

Fredrik Isacson - Public Relations Director

Bluemoo Studio and me Why is it so cool to work with Bluemoo Studio? The notion of what makes something ‘cool’ is a bit like wondering what makes something beautiful? Coolness is a subjective quality that probably is, in most respects, in the ‘eye of the beholder’. So for me a ‘cool’ thing will be something that enhances my life in some positive and enabling manner. It may be music, or an attitude, or a stunning sunny morning. It will be something that allows me to breathe easily, that brings me pleasure, that fits with how I want to live and to bring new potential, new possibilities. Liberty is essential to living a life. It is one of the most valuable qualities I think we can have and one of the most difficult to find. Liberty allows us to have more control over possibly what is the most valuable thing there is; Time. Time to have a degree of choice as to how I live my life and to do those things which bring me joy as well as those for which I owe a duty and responsibility. So why is it ‘cool’ to work with Bluemoo studios? It is because I am working with a group of clever, funny, creative, internationally located people in a new and stimulating way, a 'business eco system’ that fits with my desire and determination to allow and enhance my personal ‘Liberty’ and be involved in the creation of something new….. Simples! Michael Loates-Taylor - Level Designer