I’ve often been critical of developers who are too focused on their “awesome idea”, or more generally, lack all-around knowledge of more than just production. Namely, business/financial aspects and marketing/PR. Today, more so than ever, your business model is going to drive the kinds of games you’re going to make, how you need to deliver and market them, production process, etc.
Luckily, there’s a niche conference focused exclusively on finance and biz in games. The GameON: Finance program looks at emerging business models, biz stats and trends, public and private funding, etc. For studios that are just starting up, or scrambling for funding - or even just trying to wrap their heads around the fact that running a studio is more than just worrying about production - this is a must attend event.
I’m somewhat biased as I was part of the advisory/program committee, and I’m moderating the closing panel. But still…
After SIEGE in Atlanta, I jetted straight down to Brazil for the 2009 edition of SBGames in Rio. While I’ve been to South American before (Argentina and Uruguay), this was my first visit to Brazil. In summary, WOW! Rio is truly a vibrant and amazing city. This was definitely one of my more memorable/exciting work trips.
The conference itself was more academically oriented, with paper presentation and juried content, etc. Sadly, the vast majority of it was presented in Portuguese… The overall vibe was quite positive, with everyone working together to push games, and the industry, forward in Brazil. That said, there is some naivety in terms of their aspirations to compete with Western games (ie, “we’re gonna make the next Halo killer”). Whereas, they should be looking more so towards South Korea for inspiration…
Amongst much activities and work and fun, three stories stood out for me. One was my crazy last day, trying to get in as much touristing without missing my flight home.
The second story was getting thrown through a window during Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu sparring. I normally train in Judo, but since I was in Brazil, I figured I’d try the local specialty. Wow, it is tough. Anyway, I did an attack and the opponent countered by flipping me over. We just so happened to be at the end of room next to the window, and my foot busted straight through the window. I landed on my back and all the glass came crashing down on me. Luckily, I was not badly hurt. We swept up the mess and kept fighting.
The third story was mistaking the deputy minister of culture for being my translator on a panel. I told him to “go sit at the end of the table so you don’t bother anyone” and then proceeded to ask him a hundred questions about what everyone else was saying. It wasn’t until the moderator asked him a question, and he said “OK, my turn” did I realize that he was the deputy minister!!! No worries, we’re best of friends now.
OK, here’s a mix of conference and touristy shots from the trip.
The left-side view outside my hotel window: Copacabana beach.
The right-side view outside my hotel: Cristo Redentor far off in the distance, a favela to the right.
The strip of beach directly across the street from the hotel.
The (in)famous Copacabana Palace
Sand palace.
The Judo dojo on the main strip.
A red hot Cristo at night.
On my way up to Sugar Loaf.
On the lower summit of Sugar Loaf, overlooking the inner bay.
Romantic setting…
Don’t feed the little wild monkeys!
Cable car to the Sugar Loaf peak.
On my way to the peak.
Jungle walk-way action down the backside of Sugar Loaf.
SBGames opening papers fast-forward preview session.
Glen Entis delivers the opening keynote in the gymnasium.
The most complex and poorly designed program ever!
Student projects showcase.
Some augmented reality action.
The expo area.
Opening night reception and art showcase.
Some local game art.
…and invited pieces.
Deputy minister of culture, Alfredo Manevy gets a demo of the Zeebo console.
Jairo Margatho hoists Overplay’s award for Avalon.
Andre Carius de Oliveira and the Donsoft team collect the best overall game award for Capoeira Legends.
Deputy minister of culture Alfredo Manevy is recognized for his efforts to support and foster the game industry.
Samus looks on as everyone parties.
Gabe Ahn (Sony), Luiz Gama (O2Games), Roger Sanoli (TaxiLABS), Iko (Ubisoft) and Rodrigo Scharnberg at Jobi for late night drinks.
Franciele Pessin discusses workforce stats at Hoplon, the largest game company in Brazil with 100+ staff.
Cristian Ariss Acuna discusses the education situation in Peru. Anibal Menezes covers Argentina.
Dante Anderson (Kuma Games) and Alejandro Luna (Sabarasa) partying a Club 00 till 6am!
Iko at the beach. Dude, nice socks.
The beach filling up.
Some cool graffiti near the surf shops.
A jam packed Ipanema beach.
The well known Post 9.
Fresh coconut to drink.
On my way up to see Jesus.
View from Corcovado…
View from Corcovado… Largest soccer stadium in the world.
View from Corcovado… Escalator to the heavens ;)
Cristo Redentor
View from Corcovado…
View from Corcovado… Sugar Loaf in the distance.
View from Corcovado…
Zoom from top-left of previous photo… What the heck is that?!? Bat cave? Secret Bond lab?
While I’ll be posting a more thorough summary of my trip to Rio, here’s the rundown of my crazy last day…
Despite the fact that I do get to travel to many interesting cities around the world, I don’t often have much time to be a tourist. Of course, these are work trips, so most of my time is spent in meetings, at conferences, going to official receptions, etc. So, I half-jokingly refer to myself as a “2-hour tourist”since, obviously enough, I often only get two hours to see some quick sites.
Luckily, I had a bit of extra time in Rio de Janeiro. Here’s how my last ~9-hours in the city went down:
- …sleep in a little to recover from several nights of 5am, uh, social outings…
- 9:30: wake up call, struggle to get out of bed…
- 9:45: jump out, brush teeth/etc, through on some clothes, run down for free breakfast (which ends at 10)
- 10:15: catch up on some email, do a bit of work, call home…
- 11:30: hit the beach! Walk the 4km of Copacabana, then the 3km of Ipanema
- 12:45: realize walk took longer than expected, and crap!, check-out was at noon
- 12:46: buy/drink fresh coconut juice to refresh from 7km walk in 30 degree weather. I jump into a cab to hotel
- 13:00: beg for an extra hour, on top of the already extra hour of late check out
- 13:05: run up to room, change into swim shorts, run across the street to the beach and finally go for a swim, ride awesome waves for 25 minutes
- 13:30: run up to room, trying not to look hotel folks in the eye, take shower, finish packing up, etc
- 14:00: dump luggage with bellboy, jump into taxi to Corcovado
- 14:20: get to base of mountain, realize tram up has massive queue (Monday was a holiday), and takes a long time to get up, jump into a somewhat sketchy van service instead
- 14:25: make friends with some Australian tourists, and try to determine what’s actually going on. They suggest I get off the van now if I want any hope of making my flight!
- 15:00: we get to the top portion of the mountain. Two options to get to final summit: wait in a massive line for another van, or a 2.5km walk. I opt to walk. I say goodbye to the Ozzies cuz they’d just slow me down in their flip-flops.
- 15:05: already sweating as I run/walk the steep incline, watch the Ozzies zoom bye in a car from a worker (they kindly tried to stop, but the effing van I didn’t want to wait for was honking…). I keep heading up
- 15:35: get to the top. I’m breathless! (in more ways than one). Take some photos of the spectacular view. Bump into the Ozzies - we laugh…
- 15:50: this time I wait in line to take the summit van down to the mid point. Manage to subtly jump in mid-queue (sorry, not usually a jerk, but clock is ticking).
- 16:05: get to mid-point, and get into another massive line for the sketchy van to the base of the mountain. Line ain’t moving fast enough. Bump into Ozzies again, they encourage me to jump the queue. I go plead my case to the van dudes, and they let me jump into a full van. I sit on the floor. I make friends with Brazilians visiting from Florianopolis. They tell me how to say “I’m late. Fast please!” in Portuguese…
- 16:30: get to base of mountain, I jump into a taxi back to hotel. I tell the driver “eu estou atrasado, rápido!”
- 17:00: get to hotel, get bags from bellboy, run into the bathroom, to change clothes (and apply some deodorant!)
- 17:10: ask concierge if taxi will take credit card since I’m low on cash. No. Need a town-car, but those take ~20-minutes to order!!! I ask if they can exchange my last US$20 into R$, and if that would be enough to get to the airport. It is, with R$3.00 to spare :)
- 17:15: jump into taxi: “eu estou atrasado, rápido!”
- 17:50: get to airport, legitimately jump queue since I’m a frequent flier, check in, etc
- 18:20: plane is boarding…
- 19:00: take off!
Was a wonderfully productive and enjoyable day for any experienced 2-hour tourist :)
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.
