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| 01-07-2010 01:12 PM | ||
Posts: 5 Joined: 23.12.08 Age: 21 
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6-29-10 Wisconsin IGDA Meeting notesSorry for the delay. Tueday's Wisconsin IGDA meeting was a bit different than some previous meetings. Most of the meeting focused on the launch of host Raven Software's new game, Singularity. It wasn't exactly a launch party or anything, but we did get to see quite a bit of the finished product. The single-player campaign was the center of the first presentation. They talked about some of the level designs, and how they relate to the players usage TMD (time manipulation device) abilities. One level pitted our hero against numerous Soviet soldiers. The designer talked about a very important idea for first-person shooters; the rule of two. Basically, there should be at least two ways for the player to progress. This keeps FPS combat from turning into another totally linear corridor shooter. I think we've all played one of those, and they're not a lot of fun. Another section threw the protagonist into a sewer system, where blind mutants will either rip you apart, or cover you in projectile vomit. They're zombies, but a bit different. The goal is to sneak past them and hope they don't try to reach out for you. It looked like a creepy scenario that serves as a nice break from the more action-heavy moments. The next presentation focused on the multi-player aspect. Its about what you expect; soldiers and creatures duke it out in deathmatch and territory control modes. This talk was given by one of the animators, who discussed how making creatures playable added a new dynamic in animating them. It was interesting to hear what iterations the various playable baddies went through, as well as how it affected their animations in the single-player campaign. For the most part, the creatures are melee classes. They need to be “fast and brutal” in order to combat the gun-toting soldiers. We didn't see any actual multiplayer, so I'm not sure how balanced it is. The trailer did look pretty good, though. They showed a playable zek (mutated soldier with phasing abilities), revert (the blind mutants from the sewer level), a phase tick (wall-crawling spider), and radion (cross between a spider, a tank; just add Venom's tongue) After the Singularity presentations were finished, Manveer talked about five things he's learned in five years in the video game industry. 1. Manage Your Time You will work a lot, but excessive hours does not guarantee quality. You may want to keep working on projects near and dear to you, but you run the risk of being overworked at the worst time. 2. Be Constructive While keeping your mouth shut is not a good policy, it is important to stay positive. Constructive criticism is good. Whining and bitching is not. You really need to understand the problem at hand before you mindlessly criticize it. The goal should be to offer solutions to the problem, rather than simply complain about what you don't like. 3. Be Humble Teams make games, not individuals. Your ideas will probably not make it into the finished project. Deal with it. 4. Communication is Key The team needs to be on the same page for a game to come together. The more time you spend getting everyone to the same place, the less time you have to actually make the game. Remember that whole “time management” thing? 5. Do The Right Thing Do what your heart tells you. Don't worry about pissing off people at higher positions. If there's something wrong with the project, tell someone. Make sure to stick with the whole “constructive criticism” thing, though. With that, Manveer announced his resignation from Wisconsin IGDA, as well as Raven Software. The new interim IDGA president is Rob Martin from HumanHead. He gave a presentation on the state of the industry based on what he saw at DICE, GDC, and E3. There are a lot more markets in today's game industry. We're seeing new rises in the popularity of mobile (iPhone) games, serious games, as well as social games on sites like Facebook. The economy is still hurting the industry, so these new markets are certainly appealing. There are problems, however. iPhone games often rely on dropping prices to $0, and then raising them after they gain popularity. This is one hell of a risk that sometimes pays off. As for Facebook, Martin politely accused social-game leader Zynga of finding new social game concepts and then blatantly ripping them off. Its hard to compete with an established company, even if the idea was yours to begin with. Martin then talked about the difficulties of establishing a new IP, as well as the decrease in available jobs. After this, the meeting ended. Manveer encouraged everyone to support their local game developers and buy Singularity. As usual, most of the attendees went off to TGI Friday's for drinks. I had to drive, so that was it for me. Oh well.  Next meeting is in September! |
| 02-07-2010 01:10 PM | ||
Posts: 136 Joined: 12.12.08 Location: Madison, WI Age: 23
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That was the game that I did focus-testing for when they were in Beta stage. I couldn't make it to the meeting because my car broke down, but I'm sure it was interesting. If there is a video available anywhere, post a link  |
