I had the honor of giving the opening keynote for a new conference in Paris, called Future Game On. Given the event was meant to be forward looking and poke at the intersection of industry and academic research, I spoke on the broad topic of innovation (incremental vs. disruptive) and the value of failure/experimentation, plus some notes about stakeholder collaboration.
The rest of the event was an interesting mix of technical elements (eg, asset/pipeline management) and more heady topics regarding gameplay and user research. Overall an enjoyable conference and a nice complement to the game festival going on across the street.
Some photos from the trip:
Me taking questions from the audience after my keynote.
Thomas Demachy (Indeego Games) and Marine Freland (PourLeJeu.com) discuss agile production methodologies
Yann Richard (Eden Games) provides an overview of their toolchain and the asset “cooking” process.
Major industry, government and academic stakeholders discuss collaboration and innovation.
And then show off an home-grown robot dancing to Thriller!
Casey Hudson (BioWare) explores the challenge of keeping a successful franchise fresh.
Jos Stam (Autodesk) shows off his fluid dynamics code. OK, OK, Jos totally out nerded everyone else!
Entering the expo floor of the Festival de Jeu Video.
The Game Museum’s corner.
Awesome concept artwork by Viktor Antonov, who’s done art for Half-Life2…
Cool hybrid tabletop/PC game Ex Illis, developed in Quebec.
So many pretty dice…
My hotel was in the Montparnasse area. Overall nice neighborhood, but could not resist the irony in this nearby scene ;)
The Louvre.
Special temporary exhibit at the Louvre on the archeological history of Saudi Arabia.
Near Les Halls, I believe.
Massive Notre-Dame church.
Moulin Rouge in all its neon glory.
