Reality Panic

Was super fun putting together the “Indie Space/Time Continuum” article for The Escapist. I had some general thoughts and insights on the topic, but figured it wise to check in with a few of my indie friends to get their input. Not a big surprise that they were all very open and super sharing with their thoughts and opinions - some of them waxing eloquent longer than the actual article! A quick thanks and props to everyone who replied:

• Deniel Benmergui
• Jenova Chen (thatgamecompany)
• Tracy Fullerton (USC Game Innovation Lab)
• Chris Hecker
• Heather Kelley (Kokoromi)
• Gorm Lai (Global Game Jam)
• Dino Patti (Playdead Games)
• Petri Purho (Klooni Games)
• Jason Rohrer
• Randy Smith (Tiger Style)
• Jonatan “Cactus” Soderstrom
• Nathan Vella (Capybara Games)
• Douglas Wilson (Copenhagen Game Collective)

Was actually a bit of a challenge to weave in the thoughts/perspectives from all 13 of them! The only one I didn’t incorporate a quote from was Randy Smith from Tiger Style (of Spider: Bryce Manor fame). He provided great input on how Spider was produced and how the team borrowed production processes from their AAA experiences, but scaled down. Also, Randy noted on how “normal” he and his team are. Or as Randy put it:

“The members of Tiger Style like to think of ourselves as a reasonably-well-adjusted, social, spirited, often outgoing and friendly group of men and women with acceptable hygiene.   we are a studio that works remotely over the internet without a single office, but we don’t just hole up at home.  we visit friends, we work from coffee shops, etc..  all of us have other hobbies and pursuits - there are indie rock band members, bikers, painters, karaoke singers, world travelers, photographers, etc..  when we’re not working we go to bars, parties, museums, beaches, rock shows, mountains, the movies, camping, etc..  most of us have fabulous taste in music, display a decent fashion sense, and have sex with other people.  no one in Tiger Style has a life that focuses primarily around playing and creating video games.”

I really wanted to work in the “have sex with other people” line, but couldn’t make it work without seeming totally gratuitous ;)

A recent interview I did with Mathew Kumar on tax breaks and game industry economic development was posted to Gamasutra, and got some good comment traction. A related article by Nicholas Lovell was posted as well, questioning the true value of tax breaks.

As I clarified in my own comment to my interview, I’m not opposed to tax breaks. They are a valuable tool. I’m opposed to thinking that providing a tax break is the only way to build/grow the game industry in your country/region. For example, listen to the language that Singapore uses with regards to building an ecosystem, creating original content, supporting education/talent, having players involved in all aspects of the value chain, etc.

In the UK, they just can’t stop complaining about Canada being a threat and fighting for a “level playing field”. I’d say their number one threat right now is their attitude! Instead of fighting for something they will never get and complaining about it, they need to look at the bright spots and clone those. Who is succeeding; who is persevering; who is growing; who is being innovative? How and why are they able to do this, despite not having a “level playing field” with tax breaks. Figure that out, then emulate. It’s more about amplifying the positive than getting stuck in the negative.

For example, I’m a big fan of incubation - in all its various forms. At the end of June, Joystick Labs was announced. Based in North Carolina, they are currently taking applications for their game-focused incubator program (deadline is August 13th). I was so pleased/impressed to see this initiative happening that I agreed to serve as an advisor/mentor.

That said, the UK has one of the best incubation programs around: Dare to be Digital. Instead of wasting energy complaining about some figurative “playing field”, get behind that and drive it even farther. Similarly, instead of complaining about UK culture minister Ed Vaizey’s non-committal language on tax breaks, folks should be jumping all over the fact that he announced a £5m investment fund.

There is no reason why the UK cannot return to its game industry powerhouse status. They don’t even need tax breaks or government support (though, sure, would be nice) to do it. They mainly just need a new, more positive mindset.

Wow, I’m shaking from eating too much meat!

Went to dinner with local indies Ken Schachter (Trapdoor) and Vander Caballero (Blue Lizard) to talk shop. Ken suggested Le Milsa, a Brazilian churrascaria style restaurant. Of course, we took the “rodizio” option… Too. Much. Meat.

There was even a carnival style samba dancer that come out to get the crowd revved up. Ironically, when I was in Rio last year, I meant to hit a churrascaria, but never got the chance..

Vander and Ken and lots of meat!

Ken and Vander attacked by the samba dancer!

One of my more popular lectures is on the need to fail in order to reach success. So many concepts and stories play into this, and I keep collecting new material to incorporate… I’ve made two recent additions.

First up, a book on fighting. The Fighter’s Mind: Inside the Mental Game by Sam Sheridan is a fascinating look into the mental game of boxing, martial arts, wrestling, etc. For one, I find it personally interesting given my fighting background (eg, be sure to ask me about the time I got thrown through a window during Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu sparring while in Rio next time you see me). But, there was surprisingly a lot of mention of failure and defeat. That great fighters need to accept that failure is possible and/or that many great fighters first had to fail before they kicked themselves into high gear.

Second addition was this mini TED Talk by Autodesk fellow Tom Wujec about the “marshmallow challenge”. Key here is using prototyping and rapid iteration to fail often and experiment in a hands-on manner to reach success. Well worth the 7 minutes.

Finally got around to watching Jane McGonigal’s awesome TED talk. It’s an expansion on some of the key ideas she presented during the GDC’08 rant session, essentially leveraging the problem solving power of games/gamers to make progress on real-world issues.

The second best part of the talk is when, at 1 minute 38 seconds, an audience member let’s out a nervous laugh of disbelief (ok, more like a cackle), when Jane proposes we have to collectively play 21 billions hours of online games (a dramatic increase over the current 3 billion). The best part is the standing ovation she receives at the end. Check it out:

Kind of ironic given the story that’s currently circulating about how folks from the White House asked Microsoft to create a game to help solve the budget/deficit problem.

I’ve got a drawer full of USB thumb drives. Some are really oldschool (big and clunky and only have 32MB of memory) others are more recent, pretty much given away as freebies/swag (slim ones with upwards of a gig or two), used as a cooler alternative to handing out printed brochures at a tradeshow. To say that these little storage devices have become a commodity is an understatement.

Then, my Mimobot drive arrives in the mail, and I’m all googoogaga for it. There are a ton of cool designs, and I chose the “Holybot”:

Of course, the concept of turning a commodity into a luxury via design is not new. Hmm, I seem to recall the classic story of some famed designer holding up a toilet plunger or scrubber from Target as the prime example - anyone got a reference to that?