Team Blog

Last week I went - along with Iain, Jan and Kieren from the Astraware team - to the Game Developer's Conference. While it was the first GDC in USA for them, this was (I think) my fifth, so my impressions are probably a little different from the others!

Here's a few of my thoughts and notes from the conference!

This year it was at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, but it's much bigger this time, taking up not just the West part like in 2005, but Moscone North and South as well. I believe that the attendance numbers were significantly up again, at around 12,000 people. I think much of this increase may be due to E3 having scaled right back, so many of the people who would normally have attended E3 have tagged on to GDC instead. I did feel that this year's GDC was a little less focussed as a result - in previous years the developers and designers of games have made up the majority of attendees.

I always look forward to meeting up with old friends at GDC - and I did get chance to see lots of them this year. A week felt like hardly time to see everyone though - some people I only got a brief chance to say "Hi!" to as we passed in corridors. This is the first year for a while that the Digital Eel guys weren't here - San Francisco just didn't feel as groovy (or weird!) without them - and that's really saying something!

I've always taken an interest in a reasonably wide range of the sessions and lectures that go on - this year being no exception! I didn't follow the GDC Mobile track this year, and went instead for the new Independent Games Summit track, which was all about how small development studios can work to be successful, without following the "standard" business route of having a publisher fund the development of a huge game, with all of the milestones and budgeting problems that ensue.

Since Astraware have followed this independent route since we started, it was interesting to hear other small companies who've been through similar kinds of learning to us - how to reach our customers and build a business, for instance. It was nice to meet lots of other developers in a similar kind of situation. There's always a bit of a fringe mentality to some of the independent developers, avoiding going down the big publisher / big contract route, making smaller and riskier games, but this year what came through more than before was that this is beginning to be a smart business move too.

I try to pick up on the ambience of where games are going, not just in terms of technology (which advances onwards like a juggernaut!) - but where the art is heading. A few years ago, the buzzword was "gameplay" - an intangible, hard to define word, that was the essential component that lots of people were saying that games were missing. The bit that makes games "fun", if you like, trying to capture some of essence of the games that made (for most game developers) arcade machines in the 80s so addictive. I think the casual games genre has really managed to pick up on this well over the past few years, as proved by the massive popularity of BigFish, RealArcade, PopCap and the like.

This year, the buzzword has been "innovation", with the rhetorical question being "Where's the innovation in games nowadays?". A few (misguided in my opinion) people think that's about technology - and the mobile industry has been somewhat guilty, though thankfully more people are beginning to realise it's more than just the technology that makes innovation. A number of people have been putting forward ideas about innovation being in styles of games, and exploring things that haven't been done before. The independent games group has been leading in this field, because they can take the risks with game styles and ideas (and generally the budgets aren't so large). They help to push the boundaries with the weird ideas, which get filled in later as the better (or more popular) concepts get expanded on by other more mainstream developers.

From my perspective, another big push has been about emotion in games - not just the panic-fear-adrenaline type of emotions, but exploring the other ways that people can feel emotions from games. More mature media (Music, TV+Film, and many other arts, visual and otherwise) have a lot to teach us about this, and right now we're only just starting to touch the edges of other areas of emotion. The social bonding of multiplayer games, the sense of achievement from working together... there's a lot more there to explore, and a long way to go for games as an art form!

Fresh off the plane and with his first dose of jetlag, WikiMonkey accompanied John, Iain, Priscilla and myself to a Windows Mobile® event at Microsoft® earlier this week. Whilst it was an early start, he still wanted his picture taken as soon as he arrived at Microsoft UK's headquarters at Thames Valley Park. Once inside Microsoft® he monkied-about whilst the team got the stand ready for the event and set up the demonstration devices with a range of games.

WikiMonkey is always keen to explore and check out the latest devices, so he made sure to take a close look at the Windows Mobile® demonstration stand in the lobby area. As you'll see, he was particularly taken with the Orange M600! There were also three XBox360™ stands nearby, but we managed to keep him away from those for most of the day.

Once the stand was set up WikiMonkey kept a close eye on Astraware's test devices - particularly the Orange SPV C600 - and helped man the booth and demonstrate games to the Microsoft staff and guests. He did seem to spend quite a bit of time sitting down on the job, but gave the excuse that his jetlag made him feel a bit dizzy! We're also pleased to say that the Windows Mobile Team used Broken Sword Shadow of the Templars to demonstrate the entertainment capabilities of Windows Mobile® to full effect.

We decided to send him outside for a bit of fresh air and he spotted the Windows Mobile Team's very special Mini Cooper. These cars were only created in a very limited number, and Jason Langridge, Business Mobility Manager for Microsoft® is one of the lucky guys who drives round in one. He's even offered to send some goodies out if you spot one and take a picture. Later in the day, WikiMonkey caught up with Jason on one of his brief breaks away from the presentations to chat about their favourite Astraware games.

Revived by a spot of fresh air WikiMonkey decided to check out the rest of the Partners at the event and spent a little time visiting with the lovely ladies on the Orange™ stand and hanging around with the chaps from Expansys! Both were displaying a range of Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices including some exciting new devices from HTC™ which are due to be released during 2007.

It's my first time in the US, so I've been really noticing all the differences between the US and the UK. Here are a few of my first impressions. This morning I had something called 'biscuits and gravy' for breakfast, which turned out to be some sort of scone in a mushroom sauce. We do not have this dish in the UK! Everyone is so friendly in the US, and I must say it is the first time I've ever been called Ma'am!

As for the conference itself, it's amazing to meet all the people who develop the games I play at home, as well as some of the original developers of the games that I convert onto PDAs and Smartphones at Astraware. There have also been a lot of fascinating talks which have given me a lot of ideas that I can hopefully put into my games for Astraware.

It was also great to meet Yannis who does the music for most of our games, and is a really cool Aussie guy. Hi Yannis!

At Christmas a new member joined the Astraware Team. WikiMonkey is a furry little friend who helps Roland with the company's internal Wiki. Since Christmas he's got himself into all sorts of interesting scrapes and situations, but his latest adventure is the biggest of all.

WikiMonkey hitched a lift in Howard's baggage last week and escaped the office to join some of the Team at GDC. Since then he's been living it up big time - checking out the conference, imbibing what I'm hoping is banana juice(!), and seeing the sights of San Francisco.

Let's hope he doesn't get too fond of all this travelling lark, or who knows where he'll disappear off to next!

Today is World Book Day. (At least, here in the UK. For the rest of the world it happens on 23rd April.) Over the last week I have been working on an outfit for my daughter Maria. The schools in this country have a 'come dressed as your favourite book character' day. Unfortunately for me, the last book Maria read was Charlotte's Web Which meant she had to be a spider. My Son went as a dog. He has a cute little board book called 'Sam the Dog' and as his name's Sam....

So, in honour of World Book Day, I took a poll around the office of people's favourite books. We have an interesting mix. One or two people had very little trouble naming a book. Another one or two couldn't decide on a favourite, and some said 'oh I don't read much' There's also a nice mix of genres.

Here's the list! (In no particular order)

My favourite book varies depending on which I read most recently and how I feel. Today it's Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

Jan chose A Song of Ice and Fire, a fantasy series by George R R Martin. Here's the first book in the series.

Kieren's 'favourite of the moment' is The Night Watch, by Sergei Lukyanenko.

Katherine couldn't narrow it down to one, so we have: The Eternal, by Mark Chadbourn and House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.

Steve, our poker expert, chose The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky.

Mike likes A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.

Priscilla picked The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende.

Iain played the Tolkien - The Lord of The Rings card and David countered with Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials.

Alison was another who had trouble narrowing it down to one - She chose the The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, and A Moment in Time by H.E. Bates.

Graham likes Magician (Riftwar Saga), by Raymond E. Feist.

Paul S. admitted that Watership Down by Richard Adams still makes him cry (me too Paul!).

Paul K suggested Animal Farm, by George Orwell.

John picked The Complete Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant Part Two.

Roland went for Robert Rankin's Waiting for Godalming.

Howard narrowed it down to John Steinbeck, in particular, Cannery Row.

Jamie was another who picked a series - The Dark Tower, by Stephen King (yes, that Stephen King; no, it's not horror).

And finally Ruth, who managed to narrow her choice to a single author - Agatha Christie.

There are some fantastic books there, and I've certainly expanded my reading list for a while (I was very intrigued by Katherine's description of House of Leaves!)