By Pierre Boudreau
SAT was the site of the IGDA-Montreal’s GameCamp held on the last Wednesday of March, 2008.
As per usual, our own Executive Director and Head Camp Counsellor, Jason Della Rocca, kicked off the event and kept all 20 presentations moving at a nice clip. Brevity was the order of the evening, so I’ll get right to it:
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Michael A. Hawker - "BitCollapse Demo"
Michael Hawker is a local CS Masters student that regular IGDA attendees may remember from DemoNight back in ’06 where he showcased the arcade tribute, Paddlespace. This time out, he decided to look at Tetris from a different angle; or from multiple straight angles to be more precise. BitCollapse is a puzzle game that replaces the increased speed factor with geometric complexity. While BC doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, it gives a new twist to a familiar formula.
Joe Booth - "Craft: Going beyond a bunch of random ideas to create a cohesive emotional experience"
Joe Booth, by his own account, became a producer at EA more by happenstance than design; however, the serendipitous turn of events has served him well. From his humble beginnings on the Commodore 64 to his recent work on the successful FIFA franchise, Booth holds story, craft and emotional connection as his philosophical trinity. And while it was clear that he would have been more comfortable in a pub than at a podium, his passion for game development was unmistakable.
Jean Carrières - "I Screwed Up: Or, how you can recover from your blunders"
In an age where executive accountability is avoided like the plague, it was refreshing to hear this Senior Game Director from A2M not only admit failure, but openly embrace it as well. To anyone who has ever dropped the ball (and who hasn’t at some point?), Jean Carrières offered up an assortment of recipes for turning our lemons into lemonade. A nice slice of humble pie.
Nicolas Robert - "Mo-cap vs. Keyframe"
I was not aware of any great rivalry between advocates of motion-capture and proponents of keyframe animation, but then again, I’m not Animation Coordinator at Collège O'Sullivan de Québec. As AC, Nicolas Robert values both sides of this visual coin and is able to make a solid case for either form. His strongest argument, however, was for striking a balance where one technique supports the other, and vice versa.
Mathieu Lamarche - "Virtual Psychology"
The evening took a decidedly heady turn when Mathieu Lamarche, a Level Designer at Ubisoft, proposed a methodology to try and determine at what point the virtual mind takes on a life of its own. In his opinion, interactive applications have given rise to a kind of virtual psyche that can be better understood through the application of theories borrowed from ‘actual’ psychology and media studies. But at what point does a simulated cigar become more than just a cigar?
Nicolas Brosseau - "The gaming industry is more than just game production…"
As President of GamLogik, Nicolas Brosseau knows a little something about production, but tonight he came out to give props to some of the unheralded branches of the game industry tree. He sang the praises of the VG music sub-culture, various gaming communities and events (LAN parties, tournaments, etc.), as well as the journalists who cover them. Brosseau also gave a shout-out to professional gamers who tend to have a considerably shorter shelf life than pro athletes, and that’s saying something. A valid reminder that it sometimes takes a village to raise the level of play.
Laurent Gosselin & Vincent Blanchard - "A Walk in the Park"
Laurent Gosselin (Art Director, Corpus Studio) and Vincent Blanchard (Senior Virtools Programmer, Derby Motion) guided us through an entertaining divertissement in the form of a tour of their casual ‘shooter’. In A Walk in the Park, the player takes aim at various elements in an amusement park, such as a roller coaster or hot air balloons, which in turn trigger additional visual treats. G&B quite elegantly demonstrated that casual and high-quality are by no means mutually exclusive terms.
Vander Caballero - "Where did I learn how to shoot a moving target?"
EA Montreal’s Creative Director adopted a more anecdotal tone for his presentation. Vander shared the tale of a night-hunting expedition in Argentina where he amazed the more seasoned shooters with his ability to hit a moving target with a rifle. The realization that he had achieved such a high level of marksmanship through video games gave pause to the man behind Army of Two. Although Caballero raised some sobering questions, they were left largely unanswered.
Michel Plouffe - "Game Dev Tax Credits"
Michel Plouffe is the Director of Corporate Services for Pinchevsky, a consulting company specializing in scientific research and experimental development (SR&ED). According to Plouffe, the Quebec government is putting up some $620 million in this area with another $3 billion available on the federal level. This is by no means free cash, but principally tax credits and rebates. However, investors interested in getting into the game could stand to recoup a good deal of their seed money, if they’re not afraid of a little paperwork.
Clint Hocking - "Games and Meaning"
Clint Hocking, the active and outspoken Creative Director at Ubisoft, regaled us with a rant that he presented earlier this year at GDC 2008. Rather than attempt a clever paraphrase, I would do the speech better justice by posting the following link, http://clicknothing.typepad.com/Design/hockingc_GDC08_Rant.zip , where it can be read in its entirety. But to sum up, Hocking asks why, with the resources at our disposable, don’t we create heroic adventures that actually explore the concepts of courage, honour, valour, etc. rather than churn out formulaic quests that simply fill up our Bottomless Backpacks and Impressive Sacs of Holding. I for one look forward to the day when games will validate the principles that I hold dear. Seriously.
Leonard Teo - "Modding Crysis with Free Tools"
As Product Marketing Manager for Softimage, it’s Leonard Teo’s job to get the word out. Tonight he was plugging some free mod tools for Crysis which was a fair complement to the line-up; amidst all the game theory, the what and the wherefore, a little how-to is sometimes required. The featured applications were the Sandbox editor that actually comes with the game as well as the XSI Mod Tool by Softimage. Given the time constraint, Teo was able to give only briefest of tutorials, but free stuff is always appreciated.
Christopher Diggins - “HERON, a Programming Language for Game Development?"
Independent Consultant Christopher Diggins doesn’t believe in sticking to the script. He feels that C++ will soon go the way of the Dodo, and that the best way to achieve the next leap forward is by talking a new programming talk. Lately, he has been at work on HERON, a system that attempts to contain the general applicability of UML within a practical and accessible programming language. Time will tell whether HERON will fly.
Jonathan Dankoff - "Playtests Throughout the Game Dev Cycle"
Jonathan Dankoff came to set the record straight on playtesting. As Playtest Coordinator at Ubisoft, Dankoff makes the distinction between QA and playtesting whereas the former chases bugs while the latter gages playability. Nor, he asserts, does the process influence creative direction, as some might think; it simply helps determine what ain’t broke, and what needs fixin’ in terms of overall playability.
Francis Larose - "ODDBOY design"
There’s clearly something a little quirky about Game Designer, Francis Larose, yet his game, ODDBOY, is fairly straightforward: attain new heights or suffer crushing (literally) defeat. Despite the obvious challenges of working entirely in Flash, Larose has created a treacherously appealing clockwork underworld. Perhaps most interesting, however, was the addition of a feature that determines the violence level based on the user’s birth date. (Are you paying attention, Rockstar?)
Patrick Minotti - "My recipe to create a successful game studio"
Any chef worth his salt demands the best available ingredients. Tribal Nova’s EVP, Patrick Minotti serves up some stick-to-your-ribs advice on cooking up an appetizing commodity, stressing the importance of strong teamwork and a thorough knowledge of your abilities as well as your target demographic. Among all the tasty tidbits, one that is often cited by successful individuals is this: Do things your way!
Malik Boukhira & Simon Darveau - "Narrative gameplay: Gate key to immersive cinematics"
Malik Boukhira, a Level Designer at Ubisoft, and Simon Darveau, a Game Designer with the same outfit, offered one of the more original formats of the evening. Staged as a dialog between “Oméga”, an AI interface, and “Player”, a player, Boukhira & Darveau explored the challenges of creating realistic and non-linear narrative gameplay. Despite the minimal production values, this performance was highly entertaining and well deserving of a sequel.
Ben Houston - "Real-Time Air Simulation for Games"
Ben Houston, CTO at Exocortex Technologies, knows which way the wind blows, and if he has his way, so shall we all. His work on “real physics” simulators has been featured in a number of Hollywood productions, and now he is looking to apply his research in video games. If you need to chart some rough waters or to dispose of any foam bunnies, Houston is your man.
Paquito Hernandez - "The Rise of China"
It would appear that China is becoming something of global player. But while some simply speculate upon the potential impact of this Asian behemoth, others, like Bug-Tracker COO, Paquito Hernandez, are clocking the stats. From a gaming industry POV, the People’s Republic represents some $135 billion in disposable income that is growing exponentially every year; however, the lion’s share of this cash cow is consumed by MMOGs that are largely unknown in the West. And, for a nation that is often the target of harsh criticism on both foreign and domestic policies, their gaming community is quite progressive in terms of gender equality: 41.7% of Chinese gamers are female.
Martijn Steinrucken - "How to create a more immersive gaming experience"
As Concept Designer at EA, Martijn Steinrucken spends much of his time trying to create immersive games that are, as he puts it, “adventures in a box”. We have already succeeded in generating an effective technical representation of reality, as he illustrates by charting the evolution of graphics from Pong’s predecessor to Crysis. What is lacking, however, is a real emotional connection, or even a reasonable facsimile. Considering that this desire is already felt by many in the industry, the will should find its way.
Phil Fish - "Fez!"
Phil Fish, a prolific Game Designer and one of the founders of the Kokoromi collective, describes Fez! as “a Super Mario rip-off that will make you cry”. Actually, Fez! takes the phrase ‘putting a fresh spin’ to a several new levels. Its simplicity and originality has earned the game critical praise and international interest. Yet, Fish spent a good portion of his six minutes in the spotlight extolling the virtues of “micro-prototyping” (Fez! was made by two guys over 100 days). He encourages individuals and large developers alike to embrace the “Just do it!” philosophy that will hopefully spawn even greater things to come.
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During post-presentation discussions over drinks, it was clear that much ground had been covered, but there are still miles to go before we sleep. However, there will certainly be other outings of this nature judging by the number of happy campers at night’s end.
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