Oh my, 2010 was a busy year for travel. Staying active on the conference speaking circuit, along with a bunch of international work/client gigs means the airmiles start to rack up.
Here’s roughly where I went in 2010:
- Rome, Italy (AIOMI work)
- Ottawa, Ontario (client work + IGDA-Ottawa night)
- Lima, Peru (EAD work)
- New York City, NY (4mm work)
- San Francisco, CA (Game Developers Conference)
- Toronto, Ontario (client work)
- Boston, MA (Penny Arcade Expo East)
- Sherbrooke, Quebec (client work)
- Raleigh, NC (Triangle Game Conference)
- Malmo, Sweden + Copenhagen, Denmark (Nordic Game Conference)
- Stuttgart, Germany (FMX)
- Seattle, WA (LOGIN)
- Toronto, Ontario (INplay)
- Ottawa, Ontario (GRAND NCE annual meeting)
- Los Angeles, CA (E3)
- New Orleans, LA (GNO work)
- Quebec City, Quebec (client work)
- Toronto, Ontario (client work)
- Paris, France (Future Game On)
- Toronto, Ontario (Toronto International Film Festival + INteractive Exchange)
- Ottawa, Ontario (client work)
- Reykjavik, Iceland + Copenhagen, Denmark (IGI Annual Conference + Copenhagen Entertainment Summit)
- Raleigh, NC (client work)
- Montreal, Quebec (Montreal International Game Summit + Unite 2010)
- Toronto + London, Ontario (client work and DIG Conference)
- Rome, Italy (Italian Videogame Developers Conference)
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Kre8tif!)
Admittedly, a little surreal when you look back at a year where you got to Rome twice, along with visits to places like Lima, Kuala Lumpur, and Iceland. Gotta say, I kinda like what I do :)
For my final trip of 2010, I flew to the other side of the globe to lecture at the kre8tif! Digital Content Conference in Malaysia. It was my first visit there and I was truly struck by the diversity - of race, culture, religion, food, talent, architecture, etc.
The conference itself was very well put together with many top-tier speakers from around the games, movies, animation industries. Though, I’d classify the games industry as still being quite nascent in the region, with very few large scale production efforts and the indie scene just starting to take root. Lots of talent and potential, but playing catch-up to powerhouse Asian countries like South Korea…
Despite a wonderful trip I was eager to get home for the holidays, and consider myself lucky to have made it back. I was scheduled to fly home via London, which was totally snowed in. Good thing I’ve got a decent amount of globe-trotting experience and did not hesitate to say “well hell, just fly me back the OTHER way around the globe!” Indeed, I flew home via Shanghai and over the Pacific.
Anyway, some pics from the trip:
Inner courtyard view of hotel.
View outside my room: The Putrajaya International Convention Centre.
Street shot in Bukit Bintang district. Notice one of the Petronas Towers peaking out from a distance…
The Petronas Twin Towers. Awesome.
Christmas shopping in the base of the Towers.
Jason Manley (Massive Black) gives the opening keynote.
Alex Laurant (Studio LXL) gives a hands on master class on art direction.
…and then Alex gets interviewed by the media students from Australia “logging” the event.
Leah Hoyer (Levity) leads the panel on pitching content.
Eating late night Indian: Ian Abercromby (Symphonic Pictures), Amir Irwan (e-One Studio), Sten Selander (Nordic Game Program), Alex Laurant (Studio LXL), Patch Khan (HP), Kamarul Ariff (MDEC) and Jojo Azeizul Azrein (MDEC). They almost lost me, but we all made it back safe…
Sten Selander (Nordic Game Program) discusses Swedish design.
Ivon Smith (Codemasters) reveals how talent is trained and nurtured at their Malaysian art production studio.
Nice lights/decor.
IGDA-Malaysia’s Pecha Kucha session gave exposure to several up and coming game development efforts: chapter chair Buzz Akmal Bidin discusses current efforts, local devs wait their turn while Hilmy Abd Rahim moderates the session.
Awards night!
Bar fish tank with sharks and Christmas decorations. Admittedly, not a combo I was expecting to see.
The X|Media|Lab 1-on-1 advisory sessions in progress.
The X|Media|Lab mentor match-making grid.
Shiao Yee (X|Media|Lab) sings us a traditional Chinese song with tradition Malaysian musicians at the closing dinner.
Searching for (late night) shawarma in KL.
Brendan Harkin (X|Media|Lab) serves as impromptu tour guide.
The “spider bridge” in Putrajaya.
Arches of the “Steel Mosque” in Putrajaya.
Inside the Steel Mosque.
The Prime Minister’s office (aka the Malaysian White House ;)
A more traditional mosque across from the Prime Minister.
Praying posture instructions.
Inside the mosque. It sparkled.
Doorway for the prayer leader to enter the mosque.
Across town at Comic Fiesta, a local fan-driven manga/games/cosplay/etc festival.
Top quality cosplay!
Artisans and creators selling their hand-made goods at the comic convention.
Booth for Lim Kok Wing University, one of leading schools for games and animation.
When I visited IO Interactive back in September, Thomas Howalt was kind enough to give me some swag, including a copy of mini ninjas. For a kids oriented game, it is surprisingly well designed, with polish and depth. I finished the game, playing alongside and swapping the controller with my kids… Fun times.
For Christmas my 8-year-old son gave me the below interpretation of Futo, Hiro and an evil samurai from the game.
This piece joins my ongoing collection of video game inspired artworks by my son: Assassin’s Creed, Castle Crashers, Borderlands. Though he’s since done a much better Castle Crashers scene, and I need to dig an old Far Cry 2 piece…
As someone with Italian roots, I always lamented the fact that Ihad never visited Italy my whole life. Then bang, I go to Rome twice in the same year! Back in January, I headed over to work with the fine folks at AIOMI (the national game industry association) on their Vigamus game museum and culture research center. This time, I went over to lecture at the 3rd annual Italian Videogame Developers Conference, again on AIOMI’s behalf.
Despite being a single-track conference, IVDC covered a lot of ground. From case studies of Italian game productions to strategies for free-2-play success to a discussion on the cultural impact of games to the latest developments in audio creation. And, rarely seen at an industry conference, Adrea Pessino (a co-founder of Ready at Dawn) gave a sincere and heartfelt recounting of his career and how his passions have driven him.
Luckily, I had some extra time to do to a bit of sightseeing and catch some things I missed the first time… Gotta say, navigating the roads is so insane! Oh, and I ate way too much pizza.
The Luiss Business School, host of IVDC 2010.
Italian government representative Emanuela Rampelli and AIOMI president Marco Accordi Rickards welcome everyone to IVDC.
Phil Harrison (London Venture Partners) gives the opening keynote…
…and shows a lot of intense graphs!
Giovanni Caturano (SpinVector) and Daniele Azara (Palzoun) discuss their co-production collaboration on board game conversion BANG!
Irvin Zonca (Milestone) talks racing games.
Afternoon keynoter, Avni Yerli (Crytek) explores their technology and game production process.
Andrea Pessino (Ready at Dawn) with a personal story of passion.
Conversely, Peter Warman (Newzoo) with cold number numbers and graphs.
Uh, and here’s the part where my name badge decided to jump into the toilet. Oops.
Yes, that Mel B… Italian publisher Black Bean reveals the next hit in their casual games line up.
Dino Patti (Playdead) discusses the long gestation of Limbo.
The “Foro Romano” ruins near the Colosseum.
More ruins.
Hidden fountain under the ruins.
Massive arch part of basilica for a Roman god. Forget which one…
Massive arch part of basilica for God (aka St-Peter’s church in Vatican City).
More opulent arches.
View from the cupola (ie, top/dome part of church).
The Pope’s backyard.
Intense hallway/ceiling in the Vatican Museum.
Pope-Mobile, circa 1750.
