Video (Mega)Review - AltDev Student Summit 2012

I'm really excited about this post, and I've been waiting for a while to post it. Today I present my first Video (Mega)Review, covering about 12 hours of excellent and informative content that can benefit anyone interested in breaking into the video games industry.

The AltDev Student Summit, brought to you by the folks behind AltDevBlogADay, was an entirely online conference aimed at students in technical universities working towards game-development degrees, although, as I said, the lectures and presentations can benefit people of any age. This series of 22 presentations by industry insiders covers nearly all aspects of game development, from programming to art to marketing, and covers equal ground in the AA and Indie spaces. No matter where you want to land in the industry, I can almost guarantee that there is a video here for you.

I waited to make this post because I wanted to watch each and every video beforehand, and I was never disappointed along the way. Although the event was hosted live, all of the sessions are hosted online, and can be viewed at your convenience on the Watch Sessions page.

As a programmer, designer and marketer, sessions of particular note for me included:

A Day in the Life of a Tools Programmer/Buildmaster – Alex Crouzen
A Day in the Life of a Solo Developer – Mitu Khandaker
Being the Voice of an Indie Company – Andrea Schmoll
DIY Development Jay Margalus and Phil Tibitoski
Creating Games for Global Players- Kate Edwards
Starting and Running a Company, From a Programmer’s Perspective – Rebecca Fernandez

I like to keep these reviews short, so I'll leave you with one powerful observation before embedding the opening keynote presentation. One theme that resounded throughout almost all of the presentations was the following gem of wisdom: The most important thing to do to break into the games industry is to make games! Period! Time and again, presenter after presenter made the point that building a portfolio of finished projects is more important than educational credentials, more important than job experience and more important than personal connections. The resounding theme of all 22 presentations is that creating and finishing games is the #1 thing that will give you an advantage over everyone else when it comes to breaking into the industry. Can you feel the inspiration?

Without further ado, I present the opening keynote of the AltDev Student Summit 2012:




http://www.altdevblogaday.com/altdev-student-summit-2012/videos/

Video Review - "Game Design with Will Wright"

My last video review met with excellent reviews, so I'm going to charge ahead with another! In this post I review "Game Design with Will Wright," from a speech Mr. Wright gave at SD Forum in 2003. Even though the video and examples contained therein are a bit dated, the concepts shared in the video are timeless.

In this lecture, Will goes into detail about what it takes to achieve emergence in game design. Simply put, emergence refers to a paradoxical concept that arises when a system with a simple and straightforward ruleset and constraints can provide seemingly limitless opportunities for unique experiences. Will Wright is the king of emergence, creating franchises like SimCity and the Sims, which can be learned in a single day and yet can continue to surprise players with new experiences after months or years of play. This is a definate must-watch for anyone strategizing on ways to take their gameplay design to a higher level.



http://youtu.be/CdgQyq3hEPo

Video Review: Designing Original Games | Daniel Cook

I would like to try something new with this post. Previously I've shared my reviews on books useful to those in the video game industry, but I find myself watching a great deal more lectures in video than reading books. Starting with this post, I am going to share quick overviews and reviews of informational videos that I find around the web.

This first video review focuses on "Designing Original Games," a speech given by Spry Fox's Daniel Cook at Casual Connect 2012 in Seattle. I ran across this video as an embedded comment on an insightful post on Indiebits.com.

In this video, Daniel Cook shares tips and strategies for breaking genre paradigms and creating enitrely new game mechanics and systems. Daniel shares things that he and Spry Fox have done to train their minds to generate new ideas, rather than leaning on tried-and-true methods of player interaction. This video gave me insight into how to approach game design with an eye toward innovation and creativity from the start, rather than starting with a proven genre and adapting it to stand out.

Notable Byte: If you make a game in a standard genre, there will always be players who prefer your competitors' offerings. If you make something completely unique, every player will have to play your game for that specific experience.




http://youtu.be/f7DFuXDN29M