Video games in Megelan
The history of video games in Megelan dates back to the late 1970s; today, Megelan has the third largest video game market in Tyran after Gylias and Delkora, and the second largest video game market in Eracura, after Delkora and before Akashi. One of Megelan's greatest contributions to the video game industry of Tyran is perhaps its interactive fiction output.
In 2009, the profits of Megelan's video game industry exceeded those of its film industry for the first time, with video games being seen as an art form not unlike more traditional formats such as painting and theatre. Several internal subdivisions of the Community give special tax breaks to video game companies - just as they give special tax breaks to other companies that concern themselves with other creative endeavours.
Demographics
In Megelan, 56% of gamers are male, while 44% of gamers are female; 93% of gamers play on the computer screen, but there is significant overlap between this category and the 42% of gamers that also play on a handheld, tablet or smartphone screen. 38% of Megelan's total population, according to recent data, is made up of gamers - a drop in the bucket at the regional level, when taking into account Tyran's total population, a fact that has pushed the Community's video game developers and publishers towards targeting foreign countries and players as well.
Action, adventure and strategy video games are favoured by hardcore players, while racing and sports video games are favoured by casual players, even though there's a fair degree of overlap between casual and hardcore players in the racing simulation and sports management sub-genres, that also attract professional athletes and coaches, to such an extent that their input is taken very seriously by their developers and publishers.
History
Arcade cabinets were first produced in Megelan in the late 1970s, by the Alba-based company Geloso; even though they often were clones or licensed versions of Akashian and Gylian products, a few original coin-operated video games were produced as well.
Around the same time, Gradaro-based company Hi-Toro debuted a line of home computers, that began to be used by bedroom coders with no formal experience in computer programming to develop video games; the interactive fiction genre proved to be especially prolific, due to how easy such video games were to code and develop for such people.
A legal dispute between Geloso and Hi-Toro, concerning the appearance of a video game developed on Hi-Toro hardware on a coin-operated arcade built by Geloso was then brought to the court of the guild to which both businesses belonged, but the dispute was retracted when the owners of both businesses decided to collaborate under the aegis of said guild itself.
In 1982, the Geloso/Hi-Toro CD 8 was born, a 8-bit console that, if upgraded with keyboard, floppy drive, hard drive, RAM and mouse, could turn into a full-fledged home computer; this home computer/video game console hybrid was followed in 1987 by a 16-bit version, the Geloso/Hi-Toro CD 16, and then in 1992 by a 32-bit version, the Geloso/Hi-Toro CD 32.
The success of these products prompted hardware and software company Genuino to release a couple of 8-bit handheld game consoles, the Genuino Mono in 1989, featuring a monochrome screen, and the Genuino Poly in 1998, featuring a polychrome screen. The planned release of a 128-bit console by Hi-Toro was cancelled, either because of changes in leadership and strategy, or because the CD 128 prototype was considered inferior to the planned Delkoran and Gylian consoles.
In 2015 and 2016 Hi-Toro, after a pause of 23 years in which the company focused solely on their home computer hardware and software, released the Pet and the Lion: a low-end and a high-end smartphone, respectively, able to play video games compatible with the Hi-Toro OS, turning computers and smartphones into interchangeable home consoles and portable consoles, with the usual focus on compatibility and modularity typical of the Megelanese video game industry.
Video game developers and publishers from Megelan
Video games in Megelan are commonly created by individual or small teams of video game developers; these games may take years to be built from the ground up, or can be completed in a matter of days or even hours, depending on complexity, participants, and design goal.
They are published by one of the several video game publishers regularly affiliated to any guild dealing in electronics, engineering and/or information technology; these video game publishers often finance the development of Megelanese video games as well, by paying the aforementioned individual or small teams of video game developers and - very rarely - by paying an internal staff of developers; they may also attempt to boost efficiency across all internal and external development teams by providing a variety of services.
Megelanese video game publishers tend to specialize in one video game genre or another, and often distribute both local and foreign products, even though there are publishers whose focus is on local or foreign products alone. Crunch is dealt with in a variety of ways, depending on the particular guild affiliation of each team of developers or each video game publisher; therefore, it can be either allowed, forbidden, or paid - often, at higher rates than standard work.
Popular titles from Megelan
Within Megelan there is a popular taste for interactive fiction, dating back to the release of Avventura nel Castello in 1982, and for historical business and warfare simulations, to such an extent that titles belonging to such genres have been topping Megelanese sales charts for years.
However, racing games and video games based on team sports such as association football, basketball and volleyball are just as popular - but unlike in other countries, sports video games are not released on an annual basis, with seasonal updates being usually released as DLCs or expansions, and stand-alone titles being produced only to take advantage of hardware and software advances.
The vertically scrolling shooter Quasar, released in 1980, was the first video game to ever have a co-op feature, as opposed to a player versus player feature. Today, cooperative video games are par for the course in Megelan, and span a wide variety of genres.
Video game conventions in Megelan
The main video game convention in Megelan is the annual Alba Games Week, that has been held since 2011; the latest editions have seen the participation of more than 150 developers and publishers, and the attendance of more than 150,000 people. The Alba Games Week features cosplay and eSport contests, as well as a section devoted to Megelanese indie games.
The Megelanese Video Game Awards, on the other hand, have been held since 2013, awarding prizes in 19 different categories, up to and including prizes for Best Indie Game and Best Narrative. The prizes are in the shape of a stylized golden dragon, and the ceremony, held in Alba's oldest aquarium, is also streamed live on the internet.
Game ratings and government oversight
Megelanese developers and publishers adhere to a self-rating system according to which the developers and publishers themselves can choose one of three rating levels for their video games (Adult Content, Teen Content, Family Friendly) without having them be tested by external rating bodies, be they private or public; they can, however, be charged with false advertising if this rating does not reflect reality.
No video game can be refused classification and banned from sale, and video game censorship is not enforced in Megelan for any reason beyond the extent stated above, not even if they depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena.
