Post GDC thoughts
I had hoped to blog at least once or twice from GDC. Having been to lots of conventions, and never having (as far as I can remember) written a single blog post while at a convention, I'm not sure why I keep thinking that this convention will be different. Obviously I can't be taught... Travel in general and conventions in particular really tire me out. But other than the GenCon when I actually exhibited, no convention has wiped me out as bad as GDC. I think it was mostly the sheer volume of information I was trying to gather and process. I would compare it to that movie "Twister", where you've studied tornadoes from afar for many years, but suddenly the time comes when you feel like you're ready to actually enter a tornado, there's suddenly 100X as much info as you had access to previously, and you've got only a short time to grab it all. (or something like that)
As I told everyone who asked, "I'm with a pre-funding start-up, so I can't go into all the details of our super terrific plan for changing the entire face of the industry." So I can't give out a huge amount of details about what I even did, lest it give aid and comfort to the enemy. But there are a few things I can tell you. First I may be moving to Prince Edward Island. Apparently they're trying to become a hub of game development so they offer some pretty outrageous tax incentives to game development studios who relocate. Secondly I tried out a game controller that is controlled by brain waves. It's pretty cool, but not as cool as you might imagine when you talk about controlling games with your mind. They had two algorithms: attention and meditation. With attention you could push, pull or burn the items in their demo game. With meditation you could lift items (they had an x-wing mired in a swamp that you could list.) I was pretty good with both algorithms though it was interesting what sort of activity made your attention or meditation bar go higher.
As I mentioned GDC was tough, tougher than I thought by probably a factor of about 5. (In other words one day of GDC was about as tough as I thought the whole week would be.) So I'm still recovering. I may cover more of the show tomorrow or later in the week, but for now I have to head home.
Just so it's clear I'm not endorsing the movie "Twister"
As I told everyone who asked, "I'm with a pre-funding start-up, so I can't go into all the details of our super terrific plan for changing the entire face of the industry." So I can't give out a huge amount of details about what I even did, lest it give aid and comfort to the enemy. But there are a few things I can tell you. First I may be moving to Prince Edward Island. Apparently they're trying to become a hub of game development so they offer some pretty outrageous tax incentives to game development studios who relocate. Secondly I tried out a game controller that is controlled by brain waves. It's pretty cool, but not as cool as you might imagine when you talk about controlling games with your mind. They had two algorithms: attention and meditation. With attention you could push, pull or burn the items in their demo game. With meditation you could lift items (they had an x-wing mired in a swamp that you could list.) I was pretty good with both algorithms though it was interesting what sort of activity made your attention or meditation bar go higher.
As I mentioned GDC was tough, tougher than I thought by probably a factor of about 5. (In other words one day of GDC was about as tough as I thought the whole week would be.) So I'm still recovering. I may cover more of the show tomorrow or later in the week, but for now I have to head home.
Just so it's clear I'm not endorsing the movie "Twister"
posted by DireKobold at 3:26 PM
2 Comments:
I always wanted to go to Prince Edwards Island. (You know the whole Anne of Green Gables.) Anyway if you move there I will for sure come and visit.
That would be cool to move, but we would all really miss you.
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