In 2011, the folks behind the CGDC were gracious enough to allow us to put that year’s conference together. Of many great things to come from that experience, one of my favorite was the BarlowGirl concert.
For one thing, I’ve been a shameless fan for years. Second, it was such fun to put on a concert so it was a win in my book from jump street. But then there was so much more. We told them at a pre-set meeting that that our hope was something at least as worshipful as entertaining that seemed to change their expectation a little. When we told them that we really didn’t have any guidelines or boundaries but rather that we just trusted them to do what they were really good at – well let’s just say they took that invitation and ran with it. Continue Reading…
We have wanted to talk about this subject for a while. In this special Flurry Friday Episode Nat and Chris discuss the Smithsonian exhibit being featured through September 2012 called The Art of Video Games. Have a great weekend!
This week for What We Play Gavin and JB talk about two games, Crow from Sunside Games and Brawl Busters by SkeinGlobe. Let us know if you are playing either and leave your thoughts as a comment. Also let us know what you are playing.
We’re just wrapping up the LA Games Conference here at the Hollywood Roosevelt and I thought I’d share some snap observations.
1. This hotel is SO cool! Ultra groovy, old Spanish mission architecture updated with modern awesome – just beautiful.
2. On the still growling desire to see an effective bridge between Hollywood and gaming – I don’t know that it’s likely to happen any time too soon. The core difficulty is that both sides are trying to sell the other side on their way of seeing IP and of doing business but they are miles away from one another in basic thinking. One of the examples I can give that just gobsmacks me is the way of approaching a budget. Hollywood has such a long history of budgets that are an order of magnitude higher than games that they literally can’t conceive of a five-figure product that generates significant revenue. As a result, before any business conversation has even started, the participants are thinking in markedly different terms and even when they are using the same words they are saying different things.
3. The conference itself is really interesting in terms of format and content. One day of sessions and mingling with decision makers as opposed to enthusiasts. On the one hand that means a higher likelihood of meeting somebody in the power train. On the other hand, I’ve never been so aggressively ‘sold to’ by conference vendors who aren’t content to sit in their booths and let you wander by. I suppose that’s to be expected and I’m not complaining, I just wasn’t expecting it.
4. Based on several conversations here, the same thing we saw at GDC has happened here – namely that the AAA console folks seem to be markedly thin while mobile is in clear ascendency. Many people do not see that as good news and they’re not sure what to do about it.
I think I would have liked to hear more forward thinking at the conference and less dueling statistics but I know the heart of that is really just a question of everybody trying to make a living. In the absence of real clarity everybody has little choice but to look at what few things they do know…even if they can wind up being dim indicators at best.
Still, on balance this conference was a lot of fun, well worth the effort, and I hope we’ll be invited back next year.
In this new bi-weekly series (that means twice a month, I had to look it up), we at Soma share what games we are enjoying and why. In this episode JB and Chris talk about Splode, Ancient Frog, Angry Birds Space, Aquaria, Suitor Shooter & Fortix as well as yes jalapeño burgers, John’s lame game strategy and more. And yes, we filmed the first one in Soma’s kitchen!
This week we wanted to talk about favorite games both known and unknown (at least to most) we are really enjoying. Chris and John share their two. So check it out. Here are links to all the mentioned games.
No video today. A few weeks have gone by since our last update. We took some much needed time away over Christmas and New Years. Wind Up Robots and Santa’s Giftship was featured for the third week in a row on iTunes as New and Noteworthy. Today we were pleased to see that Wind Up Robots has been chosen as Gaming App of the Day alongside picks like Temple Run and Bejeweled on the front page of Kotaku! Go read the article, share it out and have a great weekend.
This has been a week of rediscovering some of the games we love to play. We would like to say that we are regularly involved in all of the game communities we love. Busyness sets in though and many of those interactions fall to the side. These past two weeks we have been revisiting forums and communities. As always as we re-engaged we also get to see the great games other developers are making. Chris mentions a few of our favorites in this weeks update.
This is why I got into computer programming. To make games. Any nerd worth their salt in high school wants to make video games. It’s nerd currency. You make games for a living, and while the life of the indie game developer may consist of working for mana during the day, we spend nights, weekends, and 3 am working sessions at Perkins crafting our vision for the glory of nerd riches, that is, players spending quality time with our creation. We want them to love it, spend time with it, discovering the jewels we lay into it. We want them to have fun. We want it to have meaning. We want the badge; “Achievement Unlocked: Game Developer.”
Skill +5
Strength +50
Cred +100 Level Up.
I’m sitting here reading Jane McGonigal’s new book “Reality is Broken” and right in the front she says something like “…[a year after her 2008 GDC rant] everywhere I turned I saw evidence this movement to harness the power of games for good was already happening.”
Right next to her book I’m looking at some of the reviews for Bulletstorm plus our own recent rant about the advertising for Dead Space 2 and I find myself wondering…
Which way gaming?
Will the next 10 years bring gaming up into something more relevant, more mature, and more important that feeds our souls and inspires us to live well or will better technology only drive gaming ever deeper down into our id with hyperrealistic gore – always feeding our basest nature? Continue Reading…
In 2011, the folks behind the CGDC were gracious enough to allow us to put that year’s conference together. Of many great things to come from that experience, one of my favorite was the BarlowGirl concert.
