Wed 30 Sep 2009
Erin Hoffman’s blunt “Why Your Game Idea Sucks” article in The Escapist serves as a nice complement to the “Your Ideas Don’t Matter… Much” piece I recently wrote for GamesIndustry.biz.
Her piece looks at the topic more so from a designer’s perspective, whereas mine has more of a business angle (ie, when pitching to investors, etc). But, both fundamentally conclude that an idea in and of itself is pretty worthless.
Gotta have the courage to execute, baby…
Sun 27 Sep 2009
Great to read about the success of RedLynx’s Trials HD. Way more of a physics-based puzzle game than an actual racing game, it’s a nifty little diversion I pulled down on XBLA. So yes, I count myself as one of the 300,000 folks who forked over points for it.
Interestingly enough, I had no clue about the game originally. However, a couple of the RedLynx boys let me share a cab ride over to the party at the Nordic Game Conference a few months back. They filled me in about their latest efforts, and I was hooked.
Doesn’t hurt that the easier levels are simple enough for my 6-year-old son to play (and medal in). Never mind that I’m totally stuck on the last two extreme levels. Grrr…
Wed 23 Sep 2009
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!
