#game design talks

[gamedesigntalks]

GDT 004     Deep Work - Jonathan Blow  Though, its not a design talk, but in actuality, its the only real desgin talk. The real stuff no one really talks about except Chris Crawford and this guy here.

[gamedesigntalks]

GDT 003    Interactive Storytelling -  Chris Crawford

One of my favorite people in Game Design. I simply love listing and reading to this guy. He talks about real stuff and no bullshit, but people actually never understand what he is talking about. When I read his book for the first time, I thought this is exactly what I have been looking for. I found an articulation for my own thoughts. The Game Design community has never given the place what he deserves for what he has contributed to the field. No one actually talks about him, and his amazing books. I try to read his blogs regularly and enjoy it so much. I’m trying to attend one of his current courses on the computer as a medium of artistic expression. Also, I feel the audience in this particular talk was not that tasteful. I mean, a 70 year old guy is jumping up and down with excitement talking about the subject he cares the most but the audience has no reaction. If I would have been there, I would find it a little disrespectful to the speaker.

[askagamedev]

Those interested in the processes at Valve and a few other studios might find this interesting. 28 different videos about various topics and design decisions made to support development issues. Valve in specific likes to push for a few things that I find admirable:

Creating positive externalities from their game systems

Embracing and empowering user generated content

Creating a collaborative environment with their user base, rather than an isolationist or adversarial position

It's pretty deep stuff and there's a lot of talks on a lot of subjects. You probably won't find anything here that will get you excited about Half-Life 3 or anything about specific upcoming games, but if you're interested in principles you follow while designing systems, there are quite a few interesting talks.