game developer conference 07
DESCRIPTION
Game Developer Conference 07. Roundup & Sample-Bag by Ben Hutchison Lead Developer, Playscape Games. Shigeru Miyamoto. Famed designer of Donkey Kong/Mario/Zelda/Pikmen, gave a keynote. Well attended - the queue wrapped fully around a city block! - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Developer of the Arcadia Strategy-RPG mobile game
series
Game Developer Conference 07
Roundup & Sample-Bag
by Ben HutchisonLead Developer, Playscape Games
Developer of the Arcadia Strategy-RPG mobile game
series
Famed designer of Donkey Kong/Mario/Zelda/Pikmen, gave a keynote.
Well attended - the queue wrapped fully around a city block!
Outlined Nintendo’s “Expanded Audience” strategy by way of the Wife-o-meter - they aim to make games that would appeal to his wife, who has “no interest in games”.
Shigeru Miyamoto
Developer of the Arcadia Strategy-RPG mobile game
series
LittleBigPlanet
Sony used their Keynote to show off LittleBigPlanet
– UK indie Media Molecule.
Awesome concept!:– Cute 10cm high characters– Cute little platform world.– Physics & gadgets everywhere – Emergent gameplay
Customisable avatar & world– “Art-n-crafty” in-game creation
tools
Social Gaming– Share objects & levels with
community– Give & get info/comments on
content, what’s most popular, etc
Developer of the Arcadia Strategy-RPG mobile game
series
GDC Mobile
Frustration evident in North American mobile games market:•“Can’t innovate!”•“Operator squeezing me out!”•“Don’t know my customer’s needs”
Supermarket model prevails:•Limited customer purchase options•Getting Shelf Space key to success•Mass market casual games dominant
No shelf space for risky, hardcore or niche titles: “long tail” of mobile games
Mobile-game-free zone
Developer of the Arcadia Strategy-RPG mobile game
series
GDC Mobile
Innovation continues in Asia:Path of Warrior, a multiplayer online mobile game by Korean developer Gamevil.•Action RPG•Item acquire/trading focus•80K subscribers in 18 months•10% operator revenue share vs typically 50% in US
Developer of the Arcadia Strategy-RPG mobile game
series
GDC Mobile
Consultancy Shufflebrain advocated adoption of Social game features, eg•Points, Leader Boards•Player Profiles•Comments and feedback•User generated content
Idea is that players, even of single-player games, want to feel connected to a community
Few mobile games in this space, but eg•Xbox Live (on Xbox)•3’s SeeMeTV: “mobile YouTube”
Developer of the Arcadia Strategy-RPG mobile game
series
Multithreaded Programming
Coverage of multithreading featured heavily in the programming track. The near exponential growth in single thread performance we’ve enjoyed over ~30 years has ended. Multicore CPUs are the future.•Parallelise or Perish Valve outlined how they converted their Source engine to take advantage of multi-core CPU systems.
M ain Thread N -1 W orker Threads(N is num ber o f C ores)
Developer of the Arcadia Strategy-RPG mobile game
series
Peter Molyeux & Fable 2
Peter Molyeux spoke very well on innovation in Lionhead’s RPG Fable
–Track record of outrageously ambitious games that promise more than is eventually delivered
His Big Idea: Love. You the player feel Love while you play the game.
–A faithful dog companion that wants to please and help you.–Family members that miss you and fret when you go away adventuring.
•Also:–All city buildings are purchasable–Can have sex & babies in the game (no screenshots provided)
* For the record, Arcadia features a faithful dog companion, independently conceived. ;)
Developer of the Arcadia Strategy-RPG mobile game
series
Ernest Adams
Game designer advocated going beyond (violent) conflict as the core game mechanic•Exploration;“virtual tourism”•A space to hang out with friends in•LearningOn Far Cry: “it’s a beautiful tropical island and I’d love to look around, but everywhere I go a guy pops out and tries to kill me!”
Dig the message, Ernest! but …where have you been the last 3 years?•Nintendogs•Viva Pinata•Professor Neurogotchi’s Brain Training•LittleBigPlanet
Developer of the Arcadia Strategy-RPG mobile game
series
Briefly…
AI Roundtable• “Finite State Machines” popular• “Goodness Score for Each
Alternative Action” runner-up• No one using Learning or Neural
Net
Casual/Web Games• Lots of sessions & interest• Advertising-supported gaming
Independent Games Festival• Won: Aquaria underwater
platform• I Liked: BaseInvaders, Band of
Bugs
Developer of the Arcadia Strategy-RPG mobile game
series
Closing Remarks: Themes for 2007
• Player created content and gameplay• Online, connected and social gaming• More types of games & gameplay for a wider
audience
Thank you