February 26-28th, GAMBIT will be hosting the 2010 Complete Game-Completion Marathon to raise money for relief efforts in Haiti. Teams of players will gather at our MIT lab to attempt to complete a game in one sitting. Participants will independently seek sponsorship on a dollar/hour basis with all proceeds going directly to relief efforts in Haiti through Partners in Health, and with support from the MIT Public Service Center. The labs will be open 24 hours a day through the weekend to accommodate the teams, with snacks and refreshments available for the players.
This month’s Boston Post Mortem will be on Tuesday, February 9th at 7pm at the Skellig in Waltham. We’re having a multi-part presentation featuring presenters from our three Massachusetts Global Game Jam sites, where just last weekend many teams built a ton of games in 48 hours. We will also have a brief talk from Yilmaz Kiymaz and Alex Schwartz about their experience making the iPhone game Super Ramen BROTHers in just 24 hours!
If I were prone to alliteration, I would be tempted to call this one FAST FEBRUARY. But that would be really stupid. So I won’t.
Post Mortem coordinator Scott Macmillan points out some recent highlights for the Boston-area indie game scene. A full third of the finalists for the Indie Game Challenge are from the area, Dejobaan’s AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! — A Reckless Disregard for Gravity was named ModDB’s indie game of the year, and we just wrapped up the 2010 Global Game Jam, with three sites in Massachusetts participating!
I met with the Federal Communications Commission on January 14th, 2010 to discuss issues around net neutrality and game development. I was not alone: also present at the meeting were local game devs Matthew Bellows, Kent Quirk, Dan Scherlis, Jon Radoff, and Chris Dyl. The FCC published our meeting minutes as well as some extra comments we provided, which you can find here (PDF). There’s a post about it on GamePolitics.com, which does a pretty good job of briefly summarizing our meeting — although the original document only takes a few minutes to read, so I recommend you do that if you’re really interested in this issue.
As I stated on the record at the meeting with the FCC, I was there representing the Boston Chapter of the IGDA. I was not representing the IGDA as a whole, although some people on the IGDA Board and staff knew that I would be there, and I will be discussing these issues with them. I didn’t say very much: I was mostly there to listen and to pass things along to the IGDA.
On Tuesday, January 26th, NEDAG (New England Digital Artists Group) is holding it’s kick-off meeting for 2010. Yilmaz Kiymaz, game developer/technical artist will do two back-to-back sessions: the first on Unity’s art workflow, and the second covering Cinema 4D - modelling/texturing/animation - and how each are best used in art production for iPhone games.
For the January edition of the Boston Post Mortem, Jeff Goodsill of Tencent Boston will be giving a business-oriented talk called "Planning for Success in the Chinese Game Market." Here’s a brief description:
The Chinese online game market is the largest single online market in the world yet over 70% of the games that make it to market fail financially. This presentation will discuss the Chinese market and help you form strategies to improve your odds of being successful.
The Boston Post Mortem is organizing a group trip for game developers to see Sleep No More. Sleep No More is a somewhat-interactive theater experience — essentially a theater company took over an abandoned elementary school in Brookline and did a total conversion on it, turning it into a set where a cast performs something inspired heavily by dance, "Macbeth," and Hitchcock. When I attended in October I was blown away by the experience and I came away from it thinking, "Every game developer should see this." I couldn’t articulate why, which is why I asked Alexx Kay, a designer at 2K Boston and another Sleep No More fan, to explain below in a spoiler-free way why the show is so important for game developers.
If you would like to attend the field trip, please fill out this form to help us figure out what day works for everyone. Sadly, group rates are not available for the show, but I still think it would be a fun trip to take as a group.
Here’s Alexx Kay’s take on Sleep No More:
Sleep No More is like nothing you have seen before. All the reviews I’ve read completely fail to convey the experience of the show, because, while it has aspects of things you may be familiar with (including video games), it brings those elements together in a truly unique and exciting way, creating a genuine new art form. It has some roots in Shakespeare’s "Macbeth", but is simultaneously less, and much, much more than that. Since no one (including me) seems to be able to explain it properly, I’m not particularly going to try; it is far better experienced than explained, with as few preconceptions as possible.
This is a show that all game developers should see. It’s immersive, interactive, and immensely inspiring. The space is like something out of Myst, or BioShock, only real, physical, and touchable. Your other senses will also be exercised, and sound designers will find much of note. Anyone in the business of bringing players into an emotional space via interactive entertainment will find much of interest here. One of my colleagues described it as "The best level I’ve ever played."
Some caveats:
1) Don’t expect a linear story — or much ’story’ at all. A lot happens, but none of it comes with easy explanations, and you can’t see more than a fraction of it on any one visit, anyways. I have been three times now, and think I’ve seen perhaps 50% of what there is to be seen. There are puzzles, and some have solutions, but you may find those solutions not worth the effort you put into finding them. This is about the questions, not the answers; the journey, not the destination.
2) This show takes a lot of energy. If you stay for the whole thing, it’s three hours long. You won’t be sitting for much of that time, if any. And it’s not just standing in place, you’ll be moving around a lot also. You may find yourself running down halls and up and down stairs. Wear comfortable shoes!
3) If you are disabled in any way, you won’t get the full effect of the show. As I said, it’s a feast for all the senses, and if you’re missing any, you’ll miss that aspect of the experience. If you have any mobility issues, then you won’t be able to chase after actors when they flee… If you happen to own two styles of corrective lenses, contacts may be a better idea than glasses for this show, given its… unusual seeing conditions. Glasses are far from a dealbreaker, but some people do experience issues.
Other logistical details:
* The space is pretty warm, especially considering the exercise you get moving around. Coat Check is $1 per item. Be aware that at the beginning and end of the night, the coat check line can get long.
* The bar stays open for a while after the show. Though loud, it can be fun to hang out in with your friends, and sometimes the actors come out and chat. If you wait a while, the mob at the coat check goes away
* Dress… to be comfortable, with the knowledge that you’ll be on your feet for most of three hours, and moving around a lot. Some of the audience were wearing fancy-night-out clothes, but most weren’t. I wouldn’t wear anything with frills that might get caught on random objects. The decor is dense, and sometimes so are the crowds.
* It is possible to stay with your friends during the show — but *not* recommended. The experience works best alone. Split up, cover more ground, and compare notes afterwards.
Last, but far from least: Enjoy yourself. The show rewards many different approaches. If what you’re doing isn’t exciting you, try something else.
Mia Consalvo, of Comparative Media Studies at MIT, gave a talk on December 3rd titled "Western Otaku: Games Crossing Cultures." You can view the whole video online.
From Nintendo’s first Famicom system, Japanese consoles and videogames have played a central role in the development and expansion of the digital game industry. Players globally have consumed and enjoyed Japanese games for many reasons, and in a variety of contexts. This study examines one particular subset of videogame players, for whom the consumption of Japanese videogames in particular is of great value, in addition to their related activities consuming anime and manga from Japan. Through in-depth interviews with such players, this study investigates how transnational fandom operates in the realm of videogame culture, and how a particular group of videogame players interprets their gameplay experience in terms of a global, if hybrid, industry.
Mia Consalvo is visiting associate professor in the Comparative Media Studies program at MIT. She is the author of Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames and is co-editor of the forthcoming Blackwell Handbook of Internet Studies.
