GDC 2011.

After a quick trip to Meijer to pick up trail mix (a must have for the very long days of a CA at GDC...), I will be off to the 2011 Game Developer's Conference.

I'm pumped.

Let's talk about video games there, okay guys? That'll be fun, yeah?

I promise to bring back stories.

Work.

Since I'm on Blogger at work, I figure I might as well talk about it for a moment.

Currently, I work at Cornerstone University. (Coincidentally, I also graduated from here in 2009.) My job title is "Media Technology Coordinator," but all that really means is Studio Technician. I keep all the gear running smoothly in the department, teach students how to use the gear safely and effectively, and administrate all the post-production workflows for our film students.

Unsurprisingly, this is not what I wanted to do with my life. In college, though I was a film major, I worked largely in pre-production and writing. I want to be a game writer and designer. But you know what? I love my job.

One of the reasons why is the phenomenal progress we are making as a department as far as skill and quality of output goes. We finally started a Vimeo account a few weeks ago and we're sharing what we've done with the world. I'm really proud of what our students have done.

This is one of our music videos from last Fall semester. It just won Cornerstone's Creative Arts Festival (which is pretty cool) and will be making the festival circuit soon.

The sheer improvement over the music videos from the last time the class ran is unbelievable. (I was in that class and, frankly, I won't upload the video we made out of embarrassment.) And all of it - from the music writing and performing, the recording, the concept, the pre-production, the filming, the editing, and, now, the distribution - was done by Cornerstone University students.

I'm quite proud of where we've come from and I'm excited to be a part of where we're going.

(That being said, my passion still burns for video games and I'm working quite actively to get there. See the cool sidebar to the right about what I'm working on now to achieve that goal!)

So... did I mention that you should watch our videos on our Vimeo account? You should.

A New Attitude for the Game Industry.

(I wrote this back in the summer. For some reason, I never posted it.)

My playing of Mirror's Edge has got me thinking about the way we make games...

It seems to me that a lot of games these days are more like proofs of concept rather than full games. They are more like a highly polished demo of a really neat mechanic than a full game exploiting that mechanic well.

Mirror's Edge is a good example of this. As you can see in previous posts, I think there are a few ways in which the game can be improved. This short game was a great way to prove that yes, we can make a game about parkour. After making seven or eight short chapters, we can now move on and work on a full 15 chapter game with a few tweaks and new features.

Portal is another example of these proof of concept games. It was a very short game and proved that a game whose central mechanic is a new law of physics could work - both artistically and commercially. It was a fantastic triumph of game design. But so far, Portal 2 looks like it will be even better. After watching all the videos, it looks like it took what Portal 1 did and improved it in every way possible.

This kind of iterative development is supposed to happen in the development process, though, right?

Yes. But I think there's value in seeing what the audience likes and doesn't like - beyond a focus group. It gives the developers time to regroup. To wait for the audience to contribute some good ideas. To figure out how the heck they can make the story better, the levels more devious. Rather than developing something and iterating in the team until it's perfect, why don't we do what these teams have done and release small versions of the ideas we believe in? Then, after audience reaction and some more time to percolate in-house, we could go back in, tidy it up, and build a bigger, badder, more awesome version of the game we sort of already designed.

It's been a long time.

Oh hey, blog. Nice to see you again.

There's been some changes.

First (and most obviously), I changed the template. Isn't it lovely?

Second (and most importantly), I updated my portfolio page. You may now flood my inbox, job offers.

Thirdly (and most unlikely), I'm going to try to write on this thing a bit more. GDC is coming up and there's plenty going on in the game industry to talk about (in addition to my own, clearly inspired ramblings). I've already got quite a few articles buzzing around in my head that will likely find their way onto a keyboard in the coming days and weeks.

Anyway. We'll see.

P.S. If you haven't checked out my roommate and I's blog, you can click the link at the top of the page. That'll take you to the other blog that holds the podcasts.

P.P.S. I also added another doo-hicky to the sidebar on the right. Now, there's a little thing telling people what I'm working on. Because it's been quite a lot and will continue to be quite a bit.