"We're an amazing little island filled with many talented people...but we also need to change."

That's the take of Game Dev Midlands organiser Ash Morgan who, in a blog post published in response to an article on PocketGamer.biz yesterday, has reinforced his claim that the mobile development scene in the UK needs to foster a greater sense of community.

"We all need to be more open," detailed Morgan in the post.

"Gaming is our passion, we all want to make games that people can play and have fun with but if we don’t communicate with each other we risk harming our collective creativity and setting ourselves back even more in a world that still thinks we are just a fad."

Climate of fear

Morgan suggests that's there's a culture of developers keeping things to themselves, fearful of revealing information they shouldn't, or giving the competition an insight into their activities.

That attitude, he suggests, results in many simply becoming too 'corporate' at events, closing down any sense of community as a result.

"Don’t go violating NDAs or revealing company secrets, but go meet up with others at a bar or arrange a little get together with people not just from your company," he added.

"Talk about what you do and what you enjoy, chat about what you don’t like and ask for the suggestions of others."

Morgan's call comes in response to an official statement issued by UK trade association TIGA - itself published in reply to comments he made in an interview with PocketGamer.biz.

More meet ups

In it, Morgan had once again called on developers to link up – the interview conducted at the first Game Dev Midlands meet up, designed to help studios do just that – claiming "no one talks".

"I totally agree that developers need to network more," TIGA CEO Richard Wilson said in a statement issued to PocketGamer.biz.

"That's why TIGA has previously supported GameDev North in its endeavours and why we also organise our own networking events around the UK."

Despite this response, Morgan says he stands by his initial statement, claiming that "no one in the UK really talks about what they’re doing and how they are."

"Sure we have presentations and ceremonies to talk of our successes but what about the in between time?

"That time when we are working hard on our projects or still in the planning stages? Hell, what about the times you’ve made a mistake and want to get the input of others? Game meet ups are there to serve that purpose and we need more of them."

[source: Ash Morgan]