Blade Edge

Transposed from Gaiiden’s Scroll

And that’s all folks. GDC 2007 has officially come to a close. It was a good time – nay, a great time. The industry is heading in directions that are very very exciting for indies, professionals and hobbyists alike developing for all fields (core, casual, serious, etc) and platforms (pc, console, mobile, etc). For the first time I’m seeing technology that makes it even easier to create games without knowing all the nuts and bolts of programming (XNA, TGB, etc). Sure this technology has been developing for some time but it’s finally starting to reach its stride. Sure, there are already game makers out there today, but how many of them can get you straight to XBox LIVE Arcade, or distributed through GarageGames? It’s an exciting time indeed. As Jon Mak put it in my interview with him:

Quote:

I think that the technical barriers to creating video games have lowered each year. Although it still requires quite a bit of technical know-how to create a game, I think that in a few short years, we will see more games made by less-technically minded people. As a result, we’ll see non-traditional ideas not rooted in what we now think of as a game. I can’t wait for that time.

That time is certainly coming quick Jon, and I agree with you.

The barriers that once separated the developer from the distribution channels have been broken down more and more each year. Now publishers are being forced to re-think their roles in the industry or end up being left in the dust. Digital distribution was preached so much and so often this year, and many talks centered around publishing to console – namely LIVE Arcade. Publishers are quickly losing ground as more and more reasons are created for developers to not deal with them at all. You know how once every few hundred thousand years the Earth’s magnetic field can just flip-flip completely? Well the games industry is quickly moving towards the point where it will be on its head as well – and much sooner than that 😛

There’s never been a better time to start making games, so if you haven’t already – get to it!!

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Ok so that was my little editorial for the week I feel inspired once again as always walking away from this conference. The future is looking very bright – although we as an industry still have many problems to solve, every year they are looking more possible to overcome.

So quick recap of the day. First was the fact that I didn’t have a session in the morning, so I slept in. I had too, otherwise I would have died. Attended three sessions in the early afternoon – game saving, game sketching (very interesting) and indie bootstrapping by my friend Charlie Cleveland. I also hit up Expo North in the afternoon and completed my IGF booth coverage, meeting the Bit Blot guys finally and just hanging out with the finalists, a great crowd. I also got to meet up with GI’s president Joe Meenaghan, who was out to scope the Expo this year. We don’t get a chance to meet up often since he moved from NYC down to Florida. Oh yea I also said good bye to Sibel Sunar, the GDC’s press manager – she’s awesome. Luv ya Sibel!! And I said good bye as well to IGDA’s community manager Rudy Geronimo, who’s moving on to “greener pastures”. Best of luck to you Rudy! Finally I had a business meeting and was able to attend this year’s AI Dinner at Jillian’s in the Metreon – mmmm them ribs were just as delicious as they were in 2005. Then Rafael came back to the room before his flight and Charlie was with him, so we got a chance to catch up since I hadn’t seen him all week and I had to leave for a meeting right after his talk. Funny how things work out like that huh?

And of course it was also very nice to have met Ian Overgard (The Senshi) and Sean Kent (Washu) in person. They were great sports and I’m sure they have plenty to share from their trip out to GDC (otherwise they get… punished). Also, even tho Rafael Baptista and I shared a room, we didn’t get to talk much but it was nice to meet him as well and I can see us having many interesting conversations in the future. Dan Marchant (Obscure) however stayed MIA throughout the week, which was too bad but I hope he still had a good time.

So, I’m chilling with family and relaxing all this week. I’ll be back home Monday, and from then until Wednesday I will be dedicating myself to posting up all my photos and session coverage. I took a lot away from sessions I attended this year that I can’t wait to share with all of you – this is exciting stuff!! I’ll be posting a summary of my updates in my journal each night.

To all of you I saw at GDC, best wishes and a safe trip home.