Posted by Derek Yu
Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:55:00 GMT
Wow, GDC… last year it was great, but 2008 was just friggin’ brilliant. I hope you enjoyed our hard-hittin’ (as in, the bottle) coverage last week, including all the photos and in-jokes (if you didn’t, then thanks for putting up with it). For me, having the TIGS community there in full force really made the conference. A bunch of funnier, more creative amateurs I have never met.
If there’s one thing I took from this conference, it’s that independent gaming is blowing up in a serious way. If you’re reading this, congratulations, you are witnessing some kind of history being made. What “indie” is going to be in ten years, or even next year, I don’t know. But for now, we’re making games we want to make, having fun doing it, and doing well at it… and people seem to think that’s a good thing:
“IGF is Good People,” 1up.com
“Indies Take the Cake at Game Developers Conference,” Game|Life
“Indies Start to Make Their Mark,” Los Angeles Times (scans): 1
| 2
“The Year of the Indie Game,” Chris Kohler (video)
But yeah, GDC-related posts will likely continue to trickle out through the rest of the month. I’ll also keep the GDC forum up a bit longer than planned, as I imagine there are still quite a few incriminating photos waiting to be posted, and stories waiting to be told.
If we didn’t see you this year, then we sure as hell better see you next year! In the meantime, don’t take any wooden monocles…
Posted in Nerd Love, Community, IGF / GDC | 8 comments
Posted by ARelativelyHotGirl
Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:59:00 GMT
Someone just put this up!
Posted in Community, Videos, IGF / GDC | 17 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Fri, 22 Feb 2008 02:49:00 GMT
We sat in on Jon Blow’s extremely packed Experimental Gameplay Workshop today. Jon and company discussed a number of user-submitted and found games, and broke them down into categories. I would have liked to hear more discussion of the themes as opposed to just finding about how the games work, but overall, it was pretty sweet.
Here are links to the games (a bunch of them have already been on TIGSource), and some quick notes about each one:
Read more...
Posted in Developers, IGF / GDC | 44 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:57:00 GMT
Not sure when video of the award show in its entirety is going to be available, since G4 is covering it this year. It’ll be pretty awesome to see Phil Fish say “fucking” (or rather, “bleep!”) on national t.v. And they’ll undoubtedly blur out Petri’s amazing sign…
In the meantime, hit the jump for some indie-related vids:
Read more...
Posted in Videos, IGF / GDC, Interviews | Tags DylanFitterer, KyleGabler, MattKorba, Polytron, QGames, thatgamecompany | 6 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:07:00 GMT
We’ll probably write about it more in depth later, but I wanted to mention that the indie spirit really dominated the awards this year. Not only did monocle-fever hit the stage (including a mention from Gabe Newell in his haiku homage to Phil Fish), but this was the first year that independent developers were eligible for GDCA awards. And Portal, of course, had its start as an independent title, and ended up taking home Game of the Year. Great stuff, guys.
Student Showcase Winner: Synaesthete
Technical Excellence: World of Goo
Innovation Award: World of Goo
Excellence in Visual Art: Fez
Excellence in Audio: Audiosurf
Best Web Game: Iron Dukes
Seumas McNally Grand Prize: Crayon Physics Deluxe
Audience Award: Audiosurf
Gleemies: Quadradius (Bronze), Skyrates (Silver), Desktop Tower Defense (Gold)
GDCA Best Downloadable Game: flOw
(Image Source: Joystiq)
Posted in Community, IGF / GDC | 32 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:22:00 GMT
Chris Satchell, Microsoft’s developer group general manager, announced during his keynote (Kotaku) this morning that Microsoft will soon allow users to create games using XNA and then distribute them on XBLA using a “democratized distribution system:”
Using a peer review system to filter out copyright infringement and objectionable content, Microsoft plans to put game development and initial approval into the hands of its Xbox Live community, not to mention money into the hands of homebrew developers.
The company expects it can double the number of games on Xbox Live Arcade by the end of year with the addition of community developed software.
Also, check out a “visual walkthrough” of the interface (also on Kotaku).
Posted in XBox Live Arcade / XNA, Community, Developers, IGF / GDC | 25 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Wed, 20 Feb 2008 06:18:00 GMT
I am so damn tired, but enjoy some photos from the first couple of days of GDC Proper. The IGS sessions have ended (Brandon will be posting about those later this week), and tomorrow the expo hall will be open. We got to sneak an early peek at the IGF Pavilion tonight, though.
Posted in Community, IGF / GDC | Tags MattHammill | 2 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:50:00 GMT
SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON (May 10, 2006) – RomeoPie Software® of America, Inc. and RomeoPie Software Europe Ltd. today announced the long-anticipated return of Diamond Rider™, a fan favorite since its original release in 1989. Developed exclusively for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Diamond Rider marks the first project from the recent acquisition of San Francisco-based studio, Drip Dry Software.
Diamond Rider delivers action-RPG thrills as a small band of Riders embark on an epic adventure to recruit allies, expose the enemy and prevent the annihilation of their breed. Delivering an intense and unique combat experience, players charge into battle on the backs of ferocious beasts or take their chances with the enemy while on foot. Fighting skill, wits and even magic are all called into action as players immerse themselves in the struggle to defeat an evil intent on enslaving the remains of civilization.
“Diamond Rider is one of our most treasured brands and is a complete re-imagining of the story that will take gamers on an unforgettable journey,” said Kyle Pulver, Vice President of Marketing, RomeoPie Software of America, Inc. “The vision we have for the remake of Diamond Rider is nothing short of remarkable and it can only be realized on the PlayStation 3 system and Xbox 360.”
Posted in MMOG, Windows, Freeware, IGF / GDC | Tags RomeopieSoftware | 36 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Mon, 18 Feb 2008 03:02:00 GMT
Man (Tommunism) Versus Owl
Hope you guys aren’t too tired of photos yet! Here’s the next batch.
For me, a big part of the draw of the indie games scene is that it’s so personal. You can very easily get to know the people behind the games. And you can tell these guys really love doing what they do.
Last year when I attended GDC for the first time, it was after working on Aquaria with Alec in a vacuum for almost a year. To be able to arrive and meet people who were doing to same thing we were doing, and get to talk and hang out with them was worth the price of admission alone.
This year it seems like a bunch of old friends meeting up, even though many of us were meeting for the first time IRL. I think that says a lot about the strength of the community. Rock on!
Tomorrow GDC Proper and the Independent Games Summit begin, and we’ll try to cover as much of it as possible. I’m not really sure how it’s going to work, but we have some fierce and drunken reporters on the scene (i.e. Brandon).
Posted in Community, IGF / GDC | Tags PillowFort | 8 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:07:00 GMT
Mark (aka Colonel Klink), cactus and Derek
GDC Proper doesn’t begin until Monday, but tonight I met Mark “Golds” Johns and Jonatan “cactus” Söderström at San Francisco International Airport. cactus is staying with me through GDC. His game, Clean Asia, is nominated for two IGF awards: Excellence in Visual Art and Excellence in Audio.
Speaking of which (via cactus’s website):
Me (Cactus) and VilleK of Z Game Editor has decided to try our hands at a joint effort to start up a business as independent game developers. This has been under the works for the past few months and we’ve got some things in the works, but for now they’ll remain secret a bit longer.
Some of you will be glad to hear that this will eventually lead to games not made in Game Maker. Which amongst other things could mean creations that will be playable on Mac and Linux.
Feel free to bookmark our site
lofiminds.com for further updates. Not much there right now, but we’ll try to post updates frequently once I return from
GDC/IGF.
Alright, yes! cactus, as you might imagine, is a pretty chill guy. And yes, Mark, they do have donuts in Sweden. I told the lady at my local donut shop that Mark and Jonatan also make video games, and she was like “so you’re all game buddies?” HA. Well, time to go play with Mark’s Wii (cough)...
It’s really awesome to know that all these TIGS people are going to be at GDC this year. Seriously, if you can’t make it next week, try to be here in 2009. Or at any events where TIGer’s might be… see you tomorrow!
Posted in Community, IGF / GDC | Tags cactus, Golds | 25 comments
