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GDC ’13 Recap: Day 4 Focus

Future of Mobile Gaming

 

Chris Doran- AAA titles on mobile is what I want. The console is not dead, it has revenue of over $45million and mobile is nowhere near that.

-Games like Journey are not extremely expensive but it is still AAA quality.

-I do not like the way the monetization model tries to draw kids in to spend virtual money when in actuality it is a real transaction

-It is not enough to just stick your app on the store and hope someone finds it. Marketing budgets are going to go through the roof

-Android is not a good market for graphics. Google just does not put enough love into it. Everyone is starting their own OS (Firefox, Linux, etc.) and it is going to get a little messy.

 

David Helgason- We’re falling behind in the market if we are not innovating. Unlike movies, every two years, mobile platforms become irrelevant

 

Michael Ludden- I think everyone should use retro pixel art. Mechanics (he mentioned “Brick”, a tactile device)

-The “democrative” status of games is hurting the distribution model. As more device are developed, more App stores are created and it becomes hard to get noticed by the “Gods” of those distribution methods

-Mentioned T-Store in Korea

 

Baudouin Corman- In regards to hardware “Why not a flat screen with buttons that are slightly raised”?

-The creation of a game can be 10-40 (team members). When you do an update, is it still in development? We are still investing into products and have to watch budgets.

 

Niccolo- It is probably $2-$4 million in R&D costs for production. It is not the easiest way to innovate but it is necessary.

-In the long-run, the future of distribution will be digital. The payment mechanism is going to be different but the distribution will be numerous; not having just one store to get all of your content from.

 

Jasper Smith- Innovation is being controlled by hardware. We are beginning to see this in multiple industries

-The console is in a really tough space. 42& of Gamestop’s revenue is trade-ins so it is increasingly becoming an eroding market (method of distribution)

 

Jason Della Rocca- Innovation is hardware, like screens, and the other side of innovation is business model experimentation. A lot of innovation is generated through business. The aesthetic look is not the entire picture, but a portion of it.

-I don’t think everyone is using the Smurfville model of “raping” the kids (out of money)

 

Nizar Romdhane- The smartphone is a gaming device. Every person on this planet wants a smartphone device so now every person in the world is a potential gamer.

 

Bungie Summit

Let’s build a world where we can tell any great story we want. A place where millions of people would want to visit for 10 years---and more”

 

-Halo was a narrow path that users would eat through the wonderful art. We wanted to build a place that gave you a reason to go off that path and take in the art.

 

Pillars of Destiny’s World

Hopeful and Inviting

-Bungie made a lot of concept art to make a world that merged classic fantasy with their love of science fiction.

 

Defining the center of your world

-In trying to define the game Destiny, the developers needed to make a place that could be considered castle-like or “the last safe city”. They still looked for a touchstone image which had variations on mega ships and derelict spheres. They concluded with somewhere familiar which led the team to the city, on earth, yet underneath the floating sphere. Settled on the name of the traveler (expo 1 not 2).

 

Idealized Reality

-First places Bungie looked to were Westerns (rustic, very raw), Tarvosky films (for mood and cinematography), Gilliam (humor and inventiveness, ancient maps), JohnHarris paintings, Zdzislaw Beksinski (darker moods), Peter Gric (patterns, surrealism, order/chaos), Anime (style, armor, vehicles

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