GDC 2008 & The State Of Independence
This year's GDC event at the San Francisco Moscone Center seemed to focus more on the little guys than the big boys, with indie and casual games like Fez and Crayon Physics Deluxe inspiring the specialist press moreso than your Gears Of Wars and your Street Fighters. (At least that's what they told me during after-show drinks).
Although both highly successful game franchises received rave responses from one and all, seasoned journalists commented that they were more hyped about the small original games than the big-budget sequels.
Crayon Physics Deluxe walked away as winner of the Seamus McNally Grand Prize; its premise is to simply get a ball from point A to B by drawing physics-enabled objects that would help it reach the goal. To see more, go here. Meanwhile Microsoft's announcement that Xbox Live would adopt a more open community "Youtube" model left plenty optimistic for the future of gaming, but also left many with questions.
The Redmond giant announced that, as of that very day, players could download XNA game content from Xbox Live Marketplace. Additionally, current XNA developers could take part in the beta test to develop, rate, and share games in what is now known as the XNA Community Program. Details of the program confirmed to-date are these:
- Games go through an approvals process before they are available on XBLA; the full process is detailed as "Create, Submit, Peer Review, Play."
- Peer reviews will happen within the Community Program.
- No ESRB rating requirements.
- The file size limit could be increased in the future.
- Games won't be region-locked to start with, but that could change in the future.
- Game creators will own the rights to their creations.
- Stats for XNA downloads may be implemented in the future.
- XNA Community Games will not contain achievements.
- Friends lists won't work on XNA Community Games, but this too could change.
Thus far, the big question remaining is …
five nominees in the initial go-‘round: “Crash Of The Titans” by Christopher Mitchell, “Dead Head Fred” by Dave Ellis and Adam Cogan, “The Simpsons Game” by lead writer Matt Selman and others, “The Witcher” by lead story designer Artur Ganszyniec and others, and “World In Conflict,” by Christofe Emgard and others.on royalty splits. Currently, Microsoft is said to operate on a 30% to them, 70% to developers share split for most, if not all content on the Arcade service thus far. Rumors have pointed to this figure changing drastically for indies -- the new split rumoured at 65 to Microsoft, 35 to the developers -- arguably making the platform an unattractive proposition for many. The rumor is currently without confirmation or denial, though we’d wager a platform holder-favored split increase will happen, purely because of the extra server space and bandwidth Microsoft will be ponying up to provide for all would-be creators and downloaders.
Sony and Nintendo kept their announcements to a minimum, with Nintendo merely specifying product release dates, including Wii Ware’s May 12 U.S launch and Sony releasing a variety of announcements, the most understated being that Insomniac was to share some of its impressive technology solutions with the PlayStation 3 development community. Under what terms and what exactly would be shared is still unknown, though it’s a promising boost for present and forthcoming PS3 developers.
Other than that, GDC was packed with inspiring talks, with the most talked-about moments including the discussion on the success of Valve’s much-celebrated Portal title, Ken Levine’s beautifully honest talk on story and, of course, Chris Taylor assertion that PC gaming as we know it is dead. Though my personal favorite had to be Josh Resnick’s refreshingly faith-affirming talk on building Pandemic. I especially liked how he asked his team if they wanted to take on a potentially big project, where the publisher asserted they would be “chewed up and spat out.”. Obviously, they said “no.”
Once again the show was a runaway success for the organizers, this year boasting a record 18,000 attendees. The event is set to return to the Moscone Center in San Francisco from March 23-27 next year.
In today’s information age, it is not uncommon for companies to run background checks prior to extending an offer. Even more common (and almost the rule), hiring managers will want to speak with your previous supervisors and co-workers to assess your suitability for their position. Since a formal offer will most likely hinge on a successful reference check, keep the following points in mind so you don’t let that opportunity for career progression pass you by.
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>> GDC 2008 & The State Of Independence
This year's GDC event at the San Francisco Moscone Center seemed to focus more on the little guys than the big boys, with indie and casual games like Fez and Crayon Physics Deluxe inspiring the specialist press moreso than your Gears Of Wars and your Street Fighters. (At least that's what they told me during after-show drinks).
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