Long before he was elected governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a really, really bad actor. His multimillion-dollar blockbusters were almost universally films in which he did little but grunt and shoot and blow stuff up. But the movies in which he actually, you know, talked and stuff? Yuck. Case in point: Twins, the 1988 [...]
When you’re as busy as we all are, with so much going on around us, it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. You get so preoccupied with the screwed up economy, squabbles between publishers and developers, indie opportunities and freelance opportunities and start-up opportunities and the half dozen cool ideas that you never [...]
Ten years is a long time for a game engine to survive. Bungie has managed to ship four (and soon five) games based off of the Halo engine. In this talk, Mat will go over one of the critical components of that engine, the tag system. The tag system is how everyone at Bungie thinks [...]
How does a game designer fall deeply, passionately in love with their field again? How does one come to believe that the game mechanic is more powerful than photography, paint and the written word? Veteran game designer Brenda Brathwaite chronicles her journey on this path. Returning to her native paper prototyping, Brathwaite started work upon [...]
Many online games rely on leveling up, stat increases, and item unlocking for the carrots that retain players. Sony Online Entertainment launched Free Realms as one of the first, large casual MMOs, and learned a lot in the first year about what motivates casual players to play, return, and spend money. This presentation presents examples [...]
How Nine Women Can Have A Baby In A Month: Making the Most of Multiple Cores Efficient Asynchronous Engine Design for the PS3 and 360 In the hectic, time-pressured world of game engine creation, engine architecture for new hardware starts from the most readily available solutions. This has lead many developers to build current generation [...]
Do you find that your pitch falls on deaf ears? Once signed, do you find that you have to dig in your heels and demand things be done? Or do you find yourself caving at every request? In this session, Indie developers as well as seasoned studios will have the not-so-accessible opportunity to hear candidly [...]
During a year of economic downturn and the closure of countless studios, how Runic Games survived and released their first title. These are Travis’ observations on what worked, what didn’t, and what was absolutely most important to their success ( it’s the people! ). If you’ve ever fantasized about starting your own shop, Travis will [...]
Using anecdotes of his own and from friends, Dan makes suggestions on how programmers and designers can get on better instead of needlessly bickering all the time. Because programmers are stupid, and they smell. – Dan Boutros
In order to provide the volume of content needed to compete in today?s market, the use of outsourcing is a necessity. However, is one outsourcer the same as someone in house? This session will examine realistic expectations for quality and ways to bridge the gaps between artists that are in and out of house in [...]
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