#gdc2012

[playfulculture]

Wild Rumpus @GDC 2012

http://thewildrumpus.co.uk/

[glennwinters]

I wanted to share a case study that I have been working on that involves the game Journey.  The first part of this process is sharing a narrative review that I have submitted to GDC 2013's Narrative Review.  This paper specifically breaks down the different narrative elements in the game and starts the discussion about how visual composition works with the visual narrative in order to speak to the player and draw the players attention.  Feel free to let me know of any comments! 

Journey Narrative Review

[zeegeegames]

GDC 2012 - Players Change but the Game Remains the Same

By: Jay Powell I’ve  been attending GDC since 1999 (I think) and it’s always a refreshing  change to see the developers in our industry in their own element.  This  isn’t E3 where marketing and noise rules supreme, it is a concentration  of the folks that truly make the games we love.  I spent my days in San  Francisco bouncing between meetings and catching up with what’s new on  the business side of the coin and it all seemed wildly familiar.  The  game industry rolls on, platforms change, business models change and the  companies change, but we’re seeing another cycle now.  We  are on the front end of another big boom for the industry.  I spoke to  several companies who are now having the same discussions we had five  years ago (in a good way).  Successful games in the mobile and social  space now require real marketing efforts, licenses in some cases, and  true polish.  One could argue that this is going to push us into the  same derivative work we see with sequel after sequel in the core space  and that’s not a horrible argument but it simply is not true. The option  always exists for a small group to come together and release something  fantastic.  Having “publishers” (and yes the quotes are intentional) are  going to help promote and create some really jaw dropping games such as  Infinity Blade Dungeons, but you also have small studios like Imangi  Studios releasing Temple Run.  The mobile world is not closed off like  the PC retail market or console games.  You can still release something  new and original but that bar is getting higher and higher each week. The  next few years in this industry are going to be fun.  I’m thrilled to  be working with a studio who is sitting on the front end of this wave!

[zeegeegames]

Thoughts from GDC 2012

by: Patricia Pizer As another GDC begins to fade into the haze, I find myself poring over things I was exposed to during the conference, as usual. I know it was a good conference when I come away from it hungry to do research into some new area of knowledge or some new idea that hadn't come my way before. Of course the parties were fun (if over-visited by scantily clad gymnastic women). Of course it was great to visit with old friends and colleagues. I found the Expo floor to be more like Epcot with banners for Newfoundland, Scotland, Norway and Germany among others. It seemed like it should have been Beers of the World more than the place to get great swag for coworkers and kids alike. As for the sessions, ostensibly one of the reasons why we go the GDC, I attended some very interesting ones this year. I was unsurprised to see a wealth of sessions on the workings of Social Network games in many different aspects of them. There were also some notable sessions on story, including a good session on narrative and an excellent one by Richard Rouse on using classic cinematic techniques for developing characters (I always applaud his exhaustive research to find examples of games that employ the techniques he discusses). For me, however, this year's banner session was Jason VandenBerghe's session on the 5 Domains of Play. Using O.C.E.A.N. modeling, he equated the motivational aspects of this model to gaming, realizing in his research that he could predict player's preferences of games based on their personality profiles according to the Big 5 model. While this is not necessarily revolutionary material, especially if you were previously acquainted with the Big 5, it is another great tool to put into my game design toolkit, something I always appreciate. So, as I pore over my notes and work my way through my stack of collected business cards, I will ponder the latest ideas about the games I'm working on and how I can make my games better. And anticipate next year's GDC.

[iwadon]

[iwadon]

[iwadon]

[iwadon]