This past week, I was in Georgia on a very amazing vacation. Part of that trip including attending the Game Developers eXchange in beautiful Savannah, Georgia. It was hosted by the Savannah College of Art and Design, a school that has a very interesting Game Design program. The conference had mostly SCAD students with at least a couple dozen developers in attendance. The theme of many of the talks centered around the idea that games need to have more thoughtful content and meaning. To be more specific, the game industry is not young anymore and the message that games deliver has to be stronger and deeper than armored space marines killing aliens. Many speakers had great points in their lectures and some were even inspiring, reminding many of the students at GDX that they are the future of the game industry.
Highlights:
-Ian Schreiber held a talk that not only proved that the argument for games as art was solved over fifty years by art critic Harold Rosenburg. He also explained how lessons from art history can be used to solve and influence many game designs. It was one of the most interesting talks I went to, even though much of his art histroy discussion went over my head. I’m not too sure about surrealism in game design, where games can not be comprehended how to play, but it does sound like it’s worth experimenting with.
-Dustin Clingman honored many game designers throughout history that have contributed much to games and have since passed away in his talk “Where do Game Designers go when they Die?” The talk was a little blue at first; however, Dustin built it up into a very inspiring speech letting those in attendance know that they are the heirs to the legacy left behind by many greats.
-Colonel Reverend The Fat Man George Alistair Sanger basically told us to “put our dick on the anvil” if we want to achieve true greatness. Everything that man says is amazing. It actually made me think a lot about what I am doing with my life these days. I think I’ve grown too comfortable in my current position and that is keeping me from truly growing as a person and a game developer. I think some changes may need to happen for me personally. I hope to find my bliss someday, that’s for sure.
-I missed Jason Rohrer’s presentation live but was able to catch it later on GDX’s website. He compared some big titles that have visual glitches and bugs to smaller ones that accomplished what they set out to do and told the attendance “don’t write checks you can’t cash.” His presentation had more to offer but that is what i got most out of it more than anything else.
-Richard Dansky, in his talk “Just a Lad”, proclaimed that “we are a young industry” is not a valid excuse anymore, noting that the videogame industry is older than the internet, disco, Star Wars, parachute pants, and most of everyone in the room. Because of this, he feels that it’s time for games to be better and that we take games and the content they can provide more seriously. I’d say that this was the most important presentation I went at GDX to and I agree with many of his points.
-Andrew Bains of Epic Games went into the process of how a single level of Gears of War 2 is created and visually showed us the steps. It’s a long process that takes many months that includes brainstorming, prototyping, multiple visual and scripting passes, bug fixing, and finally shipping. The amount of time and detail that goes into each level is very impressive and its a good thing Gears makes the big bucks for Epic. I think I will stick to making smaller games for now.
In review, GDX had a lot to offer to those who want to think deeply about where the industry needs to go next, as opposed to learning how to be a better programmer or artist. I think a lot of these lectures were very important for game students around the world to attend which made me wish that some of my students in attendance. Many of the SCAD students I met were very nice to me and I think Brenda Brathwaite and SCAD did a really great job hosting this conference and I hope a certain other game school does something like this on their campus someday. I feel like my mind opened up to some new ideas that I hope to implement in future games.