Game Developer Conference 07

Developer of the Arcadia Strategy-RPG mobile game

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Game Developer Conference 07

Roundup & Sample-Bag

by Ben HutchisonLead Developer, Playscape Games


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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


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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


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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


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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


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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”


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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)


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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. ;)


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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


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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


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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

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Game Developer Conference 07