GO3 wrapup

GO3 was an awesome experience; it was only 3 days, but it really felt like a week!

The main highlight for me was definitely the conference. I played a strong role in suggesting potential speakers and the final line-up contained a lot of game developers that I really admire (and some that I now have a new level of respect for). My favourite talks were very introspective and honest, and communicated the internal processes which go into designing and developing games.

I hope to find time to write more about the conference, but for now I’ll direct you to the PerthNorg GO3 blog and PALGN’s excellent coverage, and post a few photos.

Note: Keep reading to see some photos. Also check out the photos on Hideo Kojima’s blog!

Goichi Suda gave an excellent talk on being a “Punk” games developer. I found it really inspiring; especially when he was talking about Grasshopper Manufacture being a “Band” (they’re like family, they make everything in-house, and they produce original games with short development times). I talked to him at the GO3 cocktail party and mentioned that OneTwenty is my band (Band-do!). He asked if we have a publisher and said that we should move to Japan (and that he would get Konami to publish us!). Oh yeah!

Here’s a photo of Goichi Suda with OneTwenty (with special guest Simon!):

Masaya Matsuura‘s talk/performance focused on music games and music as a core element of games. It was a very well-formulated presentation that started ominously, but ended with all themes resolved. The final musical duet with an aibo robot dog was completely unexpected! I managed to get this photo with him after his talk:

After the conference, we all headed to the Metro Bar and Bistro for the IGDA Perth Chapter meetup. While there I had a quick chat with David Kazim (the GO3 organiser). He seemed incredibly relieved and was already making plans (and business maneuvers) for next year. I’m looking forward to it!

The IZ Nullarbor game development demo competition was part of the GO3 Expo, and OneTwenty entered “Zyberflux” into the game development category. It was a hotly contested category and they walked away with second prize. Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to be involved in the entry (as I work for the competition sponsor, Interzone Games). Here’s a photo of someone enjoying Zyberflux on the show floor:

I don’t have too many more photos (a lot didn’t turn out :() but a lot more happened on that weekend. Tetsuya Mizuguchi‘s talk was enlightening and really made me appreciate his approach to games development. His constant search for new experiences is a inspirational driving force and I had the opportunity to talk to him a little after his talk and at the cocktail party. Nick “Cece” Cederström’s talk on how he got started in the games industry (quitting his job and working for 2 years on a game demo that bombed with publishers) really spoke to me. John Passfield gave me some sage advise on how to work on casual games while employed at a large games developer. Oh, and needless to say the keynote talk from Hideo Kojima was outstanding! 😀

Wow…. just… so much stuff… such a great weekend!