Home Field Advantage

It was kinda odd to be staying at a hotel in Montreal. I guess I was just too lazy to fight the traffic into downtown for the two days of the recent Montreal Game Summit. Given I live in the suburbs, and that I was going to be crazy busy, why bother wasting the time to drive home? Despite the wise strategy, I still barely managed to catch any sleep (ah, training for GDC). Anyway.

By all counts, the Summit was a great success, with the Alliance NumeriQC (the organizers/hosts) boasting that their reg numbers surpassed 550 - while they were only hoping to hit a max of 400. Well done! While the large community of pro game developers in Montreal certainly helped, the key was the great content. It was truly encouraging to see the extent by which they got developers involved (via forming an advisory committee) and focusing the sessions on relevant and meaningful topics. Plus, they worked hard at bringing in outside speakers, with over half of the lectures presented by non-Montrealers.

I gave a lecture on the ever popular topic of licensed IP versus original games, advocating for a more balanced approach to what we're seeing today... Also, I moderated the closing panel with all the local studio execs. That was fun With the cooperation of a 400+ strong audience, I grilled the execs on issues such as quality of life and production practices, technology vs design, reliance on licenses and sequels, etc, etc. Yet, beyond the stimulating discussion, it was significant to just have them up on the stage at the same time... I applaud their bravery.

Overall, it was a great summit, and a sign of even greater things to come!

(Check out Noel Llopis' Summit report (it's much more thorough then mine).)