Year: 2012

  • Two cultures and games

    Hours Categories Game talk
    Comments 77 Comments

    In which I act like a crotchety old man urging the kids off my lawn.

    Between this piece at Gamasutra by Neils Clark (and especially Keith Burgun‘s comments in the discussion thread), and this blog post that caught my eye, “Designing for Grace”, I am struck once again by the way in which the gap between two cultures is causing strife in the game design community.

    I mean, take a look at what Jonas Kyratzes says in “Designing for Grace”:

    To say that story is a form of feedback rather than a game mechanic is not so much to make an incorrect statement (well, it is, but let’s not go there now) as to make a statement about a different matter in a different language on a different planet in a different universe… [emphasis mine]

    Holy Cow. Talk about a culture gap. Now, he goes on to discuss what it is he aims for, which is “grace,” and which he defines as something very real, but that the engineering-minded cannot grasp.

    This is temper-tantrum-inducing for me, because I have been working hard on being an artist for a period approximately equal to the time that Jonas Kyratzes has been alive.

    But I have no beef with him overall, really, because Jonas Kyratzes is reaching for the value of games.

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  • GDCOnline reg is open

    Hours Categories Game talk
    Comments 1 Comment

     

    Game Developers Conference Online 10.09.12 – 10.11.12 | Austin, TX.

    This will be the tenth anniversary of what was once known as just the “Austin Game Conference.” It has always been focused on online, from the first day, back when getting together enough people to talk about online games for multiple days was a challenge.

    Now online is where it’s at — just as we were saying all those years ago. It’s shaping up to be a a great set of sessions (disclaimer: I am on the advisory board, so I am biased!).

    Trivia: this means it will also be the tenth anniversary of “A Theory of Fun” — the original talk was a keynote at the very first conference.

  • Ray Bradbury, RIP

    Hours Categories Reading
    Comments 2 Comments

    It was a quiet morning, the town covered over with darkness and at ease in bed. Summer gathered in the weather, the wind had the proper touch, the breathing of the world was long and warm and slow. You had only to rise, lean from your window, and know that this indeed was the first real time of freedom and living, this was the first morning of summer.

    Douglas Spaulding, twelve, freshly wakened, let summer idle him on its early-morning stream. Lying in his third-story cupola bedroom, he felt the tall power it gave him, riding high in the June wind, the grandest tower in town. At night, when the trees washed together, he flashed his gaze like a beacon from this lighthouse in all directions over swarming seas of elm and oak and maple. Now . . .

    “Boy,” whispered Douglas.

    – Dandelion Wine

  • GDC Online 2012 Call for Speakers

    Hours Categories Game talk
    Comments 2 Comments

    I’m on the Advisory Board again this year. Submit your talks!

    GDC Online 2012 Call for Speakers Open through May 2

    The call for submissions to present lectures, roundtables, full day tutorials and
    panels at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) Online 2012 is
    now open through Wednesday, May 2nd.

    GDC Online focuses on the development of connected games including
    social network titles, free-to-play web games, kid-friendly online
    titles, large-scale MMOs, and beyond. The event returns to Austin, Texas
    on October 9-11, 2012.

    The advisory board is seeking submissions from social & online game
    professionals with expertise in any of the following tracks: Business
    & Marketing, Design, Production, Programming and Customer Experience.
    We are also accepting submissions for the four summit programs; Game
    Narrative Summit, Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit, Game Dev Start-Up
    Summit and GDC Gamification Summit.

    *Please see our submission guidelines and full details here:
    http://www.gdconline.com/conference/c4p/index.html

    *Submit a proposal here:
    http://online2012.gdc4p.com/