Filipinos are happy people. They enjoy games and recreational activities as part of everyday routines. From the traditional piko and patintero, games have evolved and were innovated according to the niche of technology.

The imminent effects of technology on Gaming has brought upon a new industry that will greatly unleash the creativity of Filipinos.

With the success of business processing outsourcing (BPO) and the call center industries comes another IT industry, games development. Gaming is a new venture for Filipino IT professionals that highlight the innate playful nature of Filipinos.

Young IT Players

Flipside Games Studios Inc. combines work and pleasure with their exciting job description – making games from end to end and developing games by designing colorful characters and adding more action on a game developed by foreign developers.

“The game industry is very young in the Philippines, and we still do not have global recognition for the kind of work we can do in game development. It’s difficult to get started in this business and immediately gain a foothold in the market”. Flipside Games President Gabby Dizon stated as he expressed the company’s understanding on how difficult it is to establish a company in a new industry. But Dizon braved the odds for Flipside recognizing the creative skills of Filipinos as its advantage in the field of gaming.

“Without a good team and a good contact list you might find it very difficult to get off the ground at all so our strategy is to focus on small areas, do a great job for our clients and then let the word of mouth spread so we can get more projects”, Dizon elaborated.

Only few pioneer game companies are operating today but instead of seeing fellow gamers as competition, Dizon describes their relation as “coopetition” or having several great game development companies fortify the reputation of the Philippines as the place where games can be made. This is also the basis of founding the Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP). Game development companies formed GDAP so they can help each other grow by tackling industry-specific solutions together.

Gaming Warriors

Dizon is part of the first Filipino-made end to end game (Anito:Defend a Land Enraged), and heads Flipside Games Studios Inc. as one of the trusted names in the field of game development. He incorporated Flipside September of 2005 along with two co-founders who were also well adept in the field of gaming. His comrades were Jon Morin, an American who previously worked at Blizzard North on the best-selling Diablo series, and Lennard Garcia, Dizon’s friend from high school.

Fueled by immense passion in the field that he had always wanted, Dizon pursued his interest to create games even if there is no available company that caters his interest. He purposely chose to seize the best opportunity to be involved in making games.

“I’ve always loved playing games, and up to this day I still feel that there’s a certain magic involved in creating a good game. It’s very difficult and multidisciplinary undertaking, but working with talented people who all share the common love for games is very gratifying,” Dizon said.

Flipside provides full-scale development and outsourcing services for the game industry for clients from all over the world. Their specific focus is on casual games where Flipside had numerous successful clients. Filipino creativity also made way for the company to produce art-outsourcing units that create art assets for their clients. Ten people are working for the team most as full time employees and some as contractors on definite projects.

The company is a convergence of great minds from normal people to geeks and rockers; they were united by their passion to make powerful games. “Filipino talent is very well-suited to game development, and we just give our creative people the tools and training they need to become great developers,” Dizon added.

From working together the industry is gradually earning the recognition it deserves, highlighting the creativity of Filipinos when it comes to game developing. “We experienced working with teams in the US, UK, Singapore and the Philippines. We are currently finishing projects for Boomzap a leading casual game developer; we’ve also announced a partnership with Level Up! to provide content for their casual game portal,” shared by Mr. Dizon as he shares the current position of Flipside in the market.

Game developers of Flipside studios are results-oriented. These game experts were given free rein on how to perform their job. The artists can come to work in the morning or afternoon; they may even work at home, what’s important is that the task would be completed. When compared to other companies Flipside’s set-up might be a little bit weirder but truly convenient for the game artists. The team consist very talented and skilled professionals that produce world-class work.

Industry Pioneers

Being one of the first to explore the newest outlet of Filipino ingenuity, Dizon shared his vision of an advanced Philippines as the ultimate destination of game developing in Southeast Asia and Flipside is one of the leaders behind that vision.

With this in mind the studio constantly pushes the edge of what they do particularly in putting games in the hands of the everyday users who may not consider themselves as “gamers.” “We’d like to make gaming as ubiquitous as watching a movie every week,” the young president added.

Helpful partners always go behind visions with a good cause, for Dizon, the Center for International Trade Exposition and Missions (CITEM) has been very helpful in identifying gaming as one of the new high growth industries. “Citem is also lending us a hand in achieving that status more quickly,” he added.

Flipside and four other gaming enthusiasts went to Games Convention Asia in Suntec, Singapore on September this year. “We had a great showing at the convention and expecting almost 1 million worth of sales as a result of that event. We’re hoping for even greater success in partnership with Citem in the future”, shared Dizon.

To and Fro

Games today have evolved from family computers to x-box and other platforms and this evolution has captured the youth and even the adults who are young at heart. For the satisfaction of its market Flipside promises to extend their imagination and inventiveness to every game they produce.

Profit comes next, for the blissful feeling of completing a game is Flipside’s primary motivation to deliver optimum output. Dizon described his foremost dedication to the field he truly belongs as his source of strength. “It made me better equipped to deal with diversity. I’m also having lots of fun running my own business, meeting with different kinds of people from all over the world, and helping shape an industry from the ground up. I think I have the best job in the world –because I get to make up my own job description whenever I see fit”, he shared.

Dizon left four essential aspects of running a business which he shares to all other aspiring Filipino entrepreneurs, “Vision or having an over all goal for the company, to hold its ground when times are hard; Tenacity because things are always harder than expected; Flexibility being agile enough to change course and take advantage of opportunities and a Firm belief in ones self”, he ended.

For more information about Flipside Games Studio, Inc. log on to www.flipsidegames.net