Reality Panic

Last time I had been down to Atlanta was for E3, over a decade ago (remember, when the big show jumped across to the east coast for a couple of years). So, was looking forward to seeing how things have evolved…

While SIEGE is a relatively small and mostly local event, the quality of the content was great. There was definitely a positive vibe, with everyone was keen to learn and grow. And, southern hospitality was in full effect.

For my keynote, I gave an updated version of my “10 things that don’t suck” presentation. Also, did a more niche panel on economic development type stuff, and a separate lecture on failure as the path to success/innovation.

Here are some quick shots I took of the action:

Not a Game Panel: Dennis Keijzer (middle) describes his serious game application for water center training.

DeVry student team HeadFirst Development with their Threnody Online project.

Local big studio CCP at the career fair.

Poolside opening party.

Tripwire’s Alan Wilson on why publishers are not that evil…

Main takeaway from Sue Bohle’s PR-oriented keynote: don’t forget about the mommy bloggers!

Oldskool GDC-style suit-night parties. This one’s for the Art Institute.

In the GameTap suit, playing a card game.

Amazingly, despite all my travels and worldly conference participation over the years, I’ve never been to Austin for the GDC in Austin. This year round, some client work brought me to town and so I finally had an excuse to attend.

While I spent a decent chunk of time in meetings, I did catch all the keynotes and few other bits. PlayFish’s 50million users is pretty damn impressive, as is WoW’s 4600 global staff. Wow indeed!

The IGDA-Austin party at City Hall was great fun. And, overall the vibe of the city was hip and inviting.

Here are some quick picks from the trip:

David Kalina and Randy Smith discuss Tiger Style’s first game, Spider.

Rodney Gibbs rethinking the baby octopus on stick menu choice…

Harvey Smith (Arkane) welcoming Justin Hall (GameLayers) to his home party.

John Smedley delivering the Sony Online keynote.

At Maggie Mae’s for the opening conference party.

J Allen Brack and Frank Pearce describe the behind the scenes WoW universe.

Uh, 4600 people working on WoW!

A cute little rock smiling at me as I ordered a pull-pork sandwich at the BBQ stand across from the convention center.

Austin City Hall: IGDA-Austin party venue.

Bill Cashman (Peak 10) slamming back “car bombs” too fast for the camera to catch.

Rock Band action at the IGDA-Austin party.

Party minglers down below…

Sebastien de Halleux (PlayFish) on social game design…

…and how they grew to 50million active users in less than 2 years!

Despite the fact that my consulting work is focused on game industry stuff, I’m still lingering a bit in the association/non-profit community. Apparently, they like the way I think and still invite me to share my experiences in serving the IGDA.

And so, I went to the annual conference for the American Society of Association Executives to run a session on being innovative. The session was titled “Counterintuitive Paths to Success: Upending the Status Quo”. The session was itself an off-shoot of an article I wrote for their magazine on how I ran the IGDA (mostly against the grain of how associations are usually managed).

While at the conference, I got to take in some great sessions by the likes of Clay Shirky and Charlene Li, among others. And, of course, enjoyed some networking and social action as well.

They had the CN Tower lit up the whole time.

Participants hard at work during my session.

Charlene Li on building a groundswell of engagement.

Clay Shirky: “Convene, not control.”

Wow, New Orleans is hot. Or, more specifically, humid. The size of an event like SIGGRAPH alone is enough to burn you out, but with the heat (and all the food, and partying, and activities), I’m surprised I survived the weak!

As usual, SIGGRAPH is a nice eclectic mix of sessions and experiences. From the frying pan simulator in Emerging Tech, to the inclusion of audio visualization as a sub-theme, to the IndieCade game showcase, there’s always so much going on. Stephen Jacobs has a nice summary of some of the more game-oriented sessions from the show over at Gamasutra.

I was there primarily doing some consulting work for Greater New Orleans Inc, the economic development agency for the region. They were working to leverage the big show in attracting projects, studios and talent to the region.

Anyway, some quick pics from the week:

The frying pan simulator?!

Some fun play/light cubes…

Sam Roberts showing off IndieCade finalist PaperMint.

VR fun.

Will Wright’s entertainment/media flows.

Davey Jackson (GarageGames) enjoying a delicious muffaletta sandwich at the Butcher.

Autodesk had an eco-friendly booth made almost entirely of cardboard tubes.

Overdose!

Kim Pallister (Intel) and Meggan Scavio (Think Services) dive into the jumbo fried frogs’ legs at Herb Saint. Yummy!

New York Times’ graphics director Steve Duenes provided a fascinating keynote, giving endless example of data visualization and discussing the idea of graphical journalism. Great session.

Some beefcake at the ATI booth.

Matt Wisdom (TurboSquid) gushing about working in New Orleans during the LED/GNO party.

The “home team” booth.

Crazy float action at the Mardi Gras World warehouse, site of the closing party.

Closing party action. Too. Much. Food.

I popped down to DC last week for a photo shoot with Associations Now, a magazine for association leaders. I wrote an article on all of my radical approaches to running the IGDA, and they wanted to do a fun photo concept to compliment the article. In short, have me stand in an elevator with a bunch of stuffy status quo suits.

What I thought would be a few minutes to stand there and smile, took a full two hours. Turns out lighting an elevator is quite a challenge. By the time all was said and done, they had a good half-dozen different lighting rigs hooked up and had taken well over 200 shots.

Will be interesting to see what the end result will look like.

Plaque on the ASAE building.

Photographer Mark starts setting up some lighting rigs.

Magazine staffer, photo assistant, Mark and art director Beth Lower evaluate the initial results.

Stuffy suited models set up in the elevator.

I had the distinct honor of being the opening keynote for the GAMEplaces conference, held in Frankfurt mid June. As it’s organized by Frankfurt’s economic development agency, there is a greater focus on the business side of things, and getting industry players to connect with each other, and with local stakeholders.

My lecture focused on the evolving ecosystem of games, from the market/player perspective, as well as the development and business models that are emerging. Also covered barriers to innovation, and how regions can accelerate the process via a tight collaboration between industry, academia and government.

This was my first time to Frankfurt (despite flying through the airport many times), and was surprised by its relatively small size. The massive airport gave me the impression of a similarly large and sprawling city. Anyway. I did get some time to be a tourist and even took in the “Making of Art” exhibition at one of the museums.

Frankfurt is also home to Crytek, which I had the pleasure to visit. Impressive offices, and lots of cool stuff going on! But, I’ve been sworn to secrecy.

Some photos from the trip…

Conference organizer Manuela Schiffner opens GAMEplaces 2009.

Nicola Beer, the state secretary for European affairs of the Hessen state government gave the introductory remarks.

Silja Gulicher discussed Nintendo’s outreach strategy via book stores…

…and Tupperware parties!

The Production Panel: Klaas Kersting (Gameforge), Andre Peschke (Krawall), Chris Schmitz (Ubisoft), Ed Zorbist (ASAP Games), Jan Jockel (Keen Games), GAF van Baalen (Ranj).

The modern sports stadium right next to the convention center.

Frankfurt deputy mayor Markus Frank makes some opening remarks at the dinner reception.

Carla Hoekendijk (Hogeschool van Amsterdam) and Eku Wand (Braunschweig University of Art) awaiting their food.

Main entrance to the train station.

Cool cylindrical building, the Westhafen Tower.

Along the Main river.

Skater trolls under the bridge…

The Dreikonigskirche church across the river.

In the Romerberg area (ie, the old city center).

More Romerberg.

The very old cathedral, under repairs.

The Schirn Kunsthalle art museum.

Art…

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Outside the Crytek offices, right next to a McFit gym.