Once again, I wasn’t there. I don’t know when it will happen but I hope it will one day.
Of course, it’s becoming very predictable now. I haven’t even covered it last year. I feel like we’re avoiding the same issues, making the same mistakes and pushing the same “realistic” goal over and over. It was the last game design challenge and I hope it will reborn somewhere else, it was very inspiring. /sad face
It looks like the industry is now paying attention to more personal and small projects -thanks Minecraft- which is good but obvious as this is where the most exciting things are coming from since 1845. Indie doesn’t mean anything now, that’s good too. Names, people, faces, regardless of your contract or platform where you release on, that’s much better.
A lot of discussion about free to play but nothing changed: sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I think developers shouldn’t focus so much on it. If they can afford to make a free to play game fine but to me it looks like you need to eat too. I want to educate people on how the small-transaction-between-you-and-me thing is the fairest business, make them learn that it’s worth it to help me out making this awesome shit. Really on the Chris Hecker wagon on this one.
I’m concerned about the total lack of noise around the app store problem and censorship. It’s amazing how “brand loyalty” can block people from opening their mouths. Imagine Microsoft leading the store paradigm, censoring games. OMFG the GDC would have been all about leaving the platform. It is once again the kind of stuff where I see how immature we are.
The problem at the end is that we’re barely starting to benefit from digital distribution and we’re already giving all its power to middle men. It’s not that distribution is everything but yes, it kind of is business-wise. We have this window to keep things in control and this window is closing up.
Layoffs en masse were not in the conversation either like it’s not connected to what’s going on, like if there was a barrier between big publishers and developers (which doesn’t exist, it’s the same people going in and out and now more out than in). People are still amazed at how the AAA business doesn’t work anymore, when it’s not news. Gotta connect the dots, yo.
Oh game development frustration, you are a bitch.