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Josh Howard talks morale issues during APB development
Josh Howard spoke at the IGDA Leadership Forum last week, specifically about how to keep a team motivated throughout the dev cycle. However, on the minds of almost everyone attending was the closure of Realtime Worlds and APB: All Points Bulletin -- which has since apparently been purchased -- a game that the introduction to Howard's speech called an "ambitious" title. "Ambitious is a polite way of putting it," said Howard, who served as executive producer on the ill-fated MMO. "If something fails, it's ambitious. If something succeeds, it's just a big hit." But, as he strayed away from APB: All Points Bulletin and got to the meat and potatoes of his chat -- a discussion on leadership solutions for development managers -- Howard did eventually come back to the MMO to talk a bit about how he felt the morale of the team was negatively affected over the course of development.
THQ details Homefront sequel, novel tie-in and potential miniseries
An upcoming novel will follow a tabloid reporter in L.A. during the first moments of the North Korean attack on the US. It's the first salvo in THQ's "transmedia" strategy for Homefront, which is about "building worlds first," then having "different media access that world in interesting ways," Danny Bilson said during his keynote speech at IGDA Leadership Forum 2010. THQ is hoping also to do a miniseries for the game following the contents of the book -- it'd be on SyFy, we imagine -- but even more interesting are Bilson's comments regarding the next game. "The sequel has new features and doesn't even deal with the same characters," Bilson revealed. "It takes place on the other side of the Mississippi -- nobody knows what's going on over there because the North Koreans have irradiated the Mississippi with radioactive iodine and nobody can cross it without a hazmat suit. It's very interesting stuff." Bilson says the book will be available for purchase a month before the game launches. HomeFront is currently slated for March 2011.
Darksiders 2 will star new character, take place alongside events of first game
Cue that one sad song ... During his keynote speech at the IGDA Leadership Forum, THQ wunderkind Danny Bilson revealed some info on Darksiders 2, the sequel to Joe Mad's inspired take on a post-apocalyptic Earth. Instead of taking up the mantle of War again, the sequel will offer a new playable character -- one of the other three horsemen of the apocalypse, perhaps? "When we do the Darksiders sequel, it'll be a different character and take place simultaneously to the other story," Bilson said. "There's only one apocalypse -- I couldn't very well have four different apocalypses, one for each rider. It has some new mechanics and some very robust features that differentiate it a lot and grow it from the first game because you have to build on the first one, you can't repeat it. I think that's very important in franchise-building." It tied into the rest of the keynote, which revolved around Bilson and THQ's take on sequels and how to approach them when trying to create franchises. Look for our full write-up of Bilson's candid keynote speech soon.
Guillermo Del Toro's THQ game to be revealed during VGAs
"You've heard rumors of us working with a big film director who is actually a big gamer," THQ core games EVP Danny Bilson said during his keynote at the IGDA Leadership Forum. Uh, dude, heads-up: those aren't rumors any more. As it turns out, we'll finally get an official announcement about Guillermo del Toro's THQ project during the Spike VGAs next month. "He's a gamer who wants to make a great game," said Bilson about director Guillermo del Toro, "and has very interesting points of view and is partnered very closely with myself and my writing partner, Paul." Bilson revealed that THQ "will be announcing the game title and the studio and all of that on the VGA awards in about a month." If you're late to the party, catch up on some of our previous coverage here. Del Toro's game will have Lovecraftian themes to it ---- which is great, because we've always felt there should be more awesome games about Cthulhu.
IGDA executive editor resigns after first year
International Game Developers Association head Joshua Caulfield has resigned from his position after approximately one year and three months on the job, reports the organization's blog. This follows the recent departure of chairperson Brenda Brathwaite, and just before another rumored loss from the board of directors. For its part, the IGDA has said it's "not falling apart, though it may appear to be." According to the IGDA spokesperson, the resignations are reflective of changes at the organization on the whole. "The 'old' IGDA served a smaller industry in a different time, and some of the 'old' things have to fall away for real change and growth." After leaving the organization, Caulfield will head up the executive editor position on an architectural board. He characterizes the split as mutual and amicable. "It's just time for the next step in my career. I think the IGDA is headed in a great direction, and I look forward to helping to make this a smooth transition." Caulfield's last day with the IGDA will be sometime in August, though the organization has already begun seeking a new leader.
California AG and developers sound off over bill facing Supreme Court
In a statement released by the International Game Developer's Association recently, the group called California's controversial game bill "oppressive censorship, singling out one form of expression based only on popular myth and biased research." The response came just days after the US Supreme Court decided to allow California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's appeal to review the bill on a federal scale, though it's been ruled unconstitutional multiple times in his state (not to mention the similar bills in other states that have also been shot down repeatedly). We reached out to the California Attorney General's office to find out why it's pursuing a bill that's been plagued by overrulings, and were told, "All of those courts held that it is up to the US Supreme Court to decide whether extremely violent material can be treated the same as sexually explicit material under the First Amendment when it comes to minors. This means that we had to ask the Supreme Court to extend the law, something the lower courts were not willing to do." We further pressed for why it's targeting video games over films, television, and other entertainment mediums. A representative responded, "There is a growing body of social science that has identified violent video games as being especially harmful to children given the interactive nature of video games, and the FTC conducted investigations that showed it was easier for minors to buy Mature-rated video games than it was to get into R-rated movies." However, the IGDA's statement contends "Violence is conveyed in explicit ways on television, in print media, via the Internet, and in film. All of these platforms constitute speech protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution." The piece also states the association's position that it remains staunchly against "censorship of expressive media in all forms" but points out that it's especially against politicians using that censorship "for political gain." The appeal could see its first hearing as early as this October, when the Supreme Court begins its next term. [Via GamePolitics]
Game developers speak with FCC about bandwidth concerns
Last month, a group of online game developers (from companies like Turbine and Vivox, and even a board candidate for the Independent Game Developers Association) met with the FCC to argue for Internet neutrality, and against Internet Service Providers offering premium access and bandwidth to paying game publishers (here's the PDF of the meeting notes). The argument here, brought up again by a think tank called Digital Society, is about differentiating certain network connections from others -- if you allow ISPs to charge for accounts with better quality of service (QoS), then it's possible, argue these game developers, that companies or customers who don't pay will end up suffering from lag and other game-breaking problems. It's a tough issue. As the game devs told the FCC, bandwidth is already tough to program around (especially in games like FPSes where nanoseconds count), and with the advent of bandwidth-intensive services like OnLive and "peering" rather than dedicated servers, these developers argue that ISPs charging companies for QoS would edge out entrepreneurs and actually discourage innovation in gaming. ISPs answer that a premium service doesn't mean the non-premium service is bad, just that they want to offer premium products to customers (and of course rake in the ensuing fees). Unfortunately, it's going to take more than just an FCC workshop to solve this ongoing concern.
Lid comes off Global Game Jam 2010 on Jan. 29
Grab your mason jars and pectin, because it's time to make another batch of "Mario Mulberry." Oh, right, this is about the IGDA's Global Game Jam. Specifically that the annual event -- during which individuals and teams jam for 48 hours to make a game from scratch -- is right around the corner. In fact, it was announced today that all jamming will be performed between January 29 and 31 at locations in 36 countries. You can check out last year's creations at the Global Game Jam 2010 site, or, should you want to join a jam session, there's a location finder there, too. We know it's not mentioned in the official rules, but we figured you should know that bringing your own vacuum sealing gear is generally frowned upon.
IGDA issues statement regarding 'Rockstar spouse' accusations
While we've yet to hear anything from Rockstar Games surrounding the repeated allegations of mismanagement and overwork of employees at its San Diego, Vancouver, and New York City studios, the International Game Developers Association has issued a statement denouncing the claimed actions by Rockstar. "In any studio, the IGDA finds the practice of undisclosed and constant overtime to be deceptive, exploitative, and ultimately harmful not only to developers but to their final product and the industry as a whole," it reads. Moreover, it highlights the importance of "events like these" for raising visibility of "quality of life issues in the industry and among the public." It goes on to point out the December 2009 "IGDA Quality of Life survey" that found "over half of the developers surveyed felt that they needed more time for themselves and their families." Perhaps unsurprisingly, nearly every email we've received from Rockstar employees regarding the recent claims has mentioned this exact problem.
Idea pitch-to-publish ratio low in gaming industry
Jason Della Rocca, former executive director of the International Game Developers Association just put out an interesting editorial at GamesIndustry.biz. He talks about the importance of having great ideas for games versus the ability to actually execute them. This piece is written about the gaming industry as a whole but it sounds all too familiar for MMOs specifically.One thing in particular that caught our eye is the concept of idea pitch-to-publish ratios. In most businesses, many ideas are tossed around before anything is ever acted upon. Based on Jason's experiences, he feels that game developers can become way too attached to their ideas and as a result, the gaming industry has a much lower pitch-to-publish ratio. This can lead to bad situations for both the game studio and to an extent, the players. From a business point of view, investors care much less about your ideas than they do about how the implementation of your ideas can make them money. As for players of MMOs and beta testers especially, when an idea has become too precious to the developers, does your feedback even matter?
Joystiq interview: Epic's Mike Capps responds to accusations of 'exploitative' working conditions
Several weeks back, independent game designer, Manifesto Games co-founder, and outspoken industry critic Greg Costikyan took Epic Games President Michael Capps to task for comments made during an IGDA [International Game Developers Association] panel in 2008. The debate over Capps' comments has raged on in IGDA forums and blogs, with Costikyan framing it writing, "The notion that a fucking board member of the IGDA should defend (and indeed, within his own studio, foster) such exploitative practices is offensive on the face of it, and has caused a considerable kerfluffle within the organization." Exploitative practices? At Epic Games? We spoke with Mr. Capps to get his perspective:Joystiq: There's a – I believe the industry term is – a "kerfuffle" over comments that you made at a panel back in 2008 when you were still an active IGDA board member. So just for the sake of setting the record straight, could you contextualize those comments for us from your point of view? Michael Capps: "Contextualize." That's interesting. Well, in reference to your comments, Greg Costikyan said, I think his exact quote was, that you were "a management dickhead." So I would ask you to perhaps put a different angle on that. Well, he really invites a reasoned debate on the issue.
Gaming industry advocates form Entertainment Media Council
There are plenty of organizations representing all aspects of the gaming universe. Professionals have the Entertainment Software Association, regular Joes have the Entertainment Consumers Association, and lonely, lonely gamers have NerdPassions.com. However, who's tending to the needs of the industry itself? Yes, even nonliving business sectors need tender loving care -- a need the recently formed Entertainment Media Council intends to fill in the coming years.The EMC is a California-based non-profit with a relatively simple objective: "advancing the interactive entertainment business in the United States." Though the organization is young, it's already boasting an impressive roster consisting of gaming journalists, analysts, developers and other industry leaders. Morgan Ramsay, CEO for the group (and former IGDA chairman) explained that the role of the group will be that of a "navigator" for the gaming industry.In a Gamasutra interview, Ramsay went on to explain that, though their responsibilities may overlap somewhat, he doesn't see the newly formed group as being in combat with the already established ESA, ECA or IGDA. He explained, "I think we have a better chance of making real our visions of transformation and enlightenment when we work together, not when we compete." We think he probably said this because he just knows Hal Halpin could take him in a fair fight.
IGDA breaks ties with China GDC amid trademark flap
There's new corporate-level drama in the ongoing tale of the two upcoming Chinese Game Developers Conferences. The International Game Developers Association has removed any mention of China GDC from its website and canceled plans for members to receive a ten percent discount on admission to the event, reports GI.biz. The trouble stems from the continuing row between Think Services, owner of the "GDC" trademark and organizer of Game Developers Conference, and Howell Expo, which is allegedly using the GDC trademark illegally for its China GDC event. You see, Think Services is also planning an "official" Game Developers Conference for China to take place in October. Howell's China GDC event is scheduled for July.Think Services has been placing legal pressure on its GDC partner companies, discouraging them from attending or otherwise promoting what it sees as a fraudulent and competing China GDC. We'd suggest that our readers, at least for the time being, refrain from organizing any sort of summit, conference or gathering that could be shortened to "GDC," such as the "Gnome Dating Conference," "Gnu Dance Competition" or "Greatest Dumpling Challenge." Trust us, it's for your own good.
Fallen Earth MMO tour will bring devs to GDC 09
We've mentioned a rather unique approach that the Fallen Earth team is taking to promote their upcoming post-apocalyptic MMO, a national tour across key cities in the United States. The Fallen Earth publicity tour began in North Carolina last month, meeting with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), and they've just announced that they'll be working with the IGDA again at this month's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Fallen Earth will co-sponsor the IGDA networking event at GDC on March 24 and developers will be on hand to speak about the game. Key Fallen Earth devs planning to attend include project manager Colin Dwan; associate project manager Dave Haydysch; content team lead Marie Croall; product manager Jessica Orr; and lead game designer Lee Hammock.
Fallen Earth launches national tour
The team at Fallen Earth are trying something a bit different to promote their post-apocalyptic MMO this year. They're actually taking the game on a national tour across key cities in the US to get the word out and let potential players get a better look at what their game has to offer.This tour kicked off at the Triangle International Game Developers Association (IGDA) meeting at Ess Lounge in Raleigh, NC on February 19th. The tour will continue to hit cities such as Baltimore, San Francisco and Houston throughout the spring and summer months. "IGDA is a very important organization in the gaming community, and it was really great to hear and answer questions that our fans had about the game," said Lee Hammock, lead game designer for Fallen Earth. "Player feedback is a critical component to closed beta testing, and we hope fans across the U.S. can join us at our future events."
Comcast bigwig joins other bigwigs at 38 Studios
38 Studios, the best, most awesome MMO developer to have never announced a game, fired out a press release this afternoon, revealing that they have hired Jennifer MacLean as their new VP of Business Development. And for good reason too; Jennifer has a pretty impressive pedigree. In addition to being the Chair of the Board of Directors for the IGDA, and one of Next Gen's 100 most influential women in the game industry, Jennifer has experience as the VP and GM of Games for Comcast, and was once the Programming Director for AOL Games, which we hear is just great!Now, while some would presume that the position VP of Business Development would be less important than, say, Producer or Lead Designer, at a team like 38 Studios it's actually considerably more important. Since 38 Studios is self-publishing their first major MMO title, it will be up to Jennifer to figure out the best way to market and monetize their product. In a world where subscription models are quickly falling out of vogue, this isn't as easy as you'd think. In any case, we're hoping the near-endless stream of developer hirings and engine purchase announcements is finally come to an end. We demand more game!
GDC08: Preserving Games, day 2
Today's session of the Preserving Games panel dealt mostly with the issue of preserving not-games. More specifically, game-related material in the possession of developers -- design documents, contracts, notes, emails, and any minutiae that they may not even realize is worth keeping. This also went along with yesterday's talk of gathering oral histories. Warren Spector led the discussion for the most part, bringing up his work for a game design class at the University of Texas, during which time he brought in developers to tell their stories. His contention, and one that was shared by most of the group, is that the playable games themselves are trivial to preserve compared to the rarer materials, which also provide a historical record of the development process. Developers from Midway Games, Maxis, Obsidian, and Vicarious Visions mentioned their collections and their efforts to keep both a stock of games and of their own design materials. Former Maxis programmer Don Hopkins talked about the recent open-source release of Sim City and challenged other developers to do the same as a way of preserving the code. The group decided that a white paper should be produced, to describe to developers and publishers the reasoning behind collecting and preserving the game-design resources.The IGDA Game Preservation SIG isn't just for Warren Spector! It's for anyone with an interest in maintaining the history of video games. Do you want to help with the white paper, or the wiki? Check out the wiki or contact the SIG via email. And have a look at the University of Texas Center for American History's Video Game Archive to see game preservation in action.
Seen@GDC: The IGDA Katamari ball of junk
Why did the International Game Developers Association need to make a Katamari-style ball of junk? We have absolutely no idea. We'd imagine the answer is, as George Mallory said of Everest, "because it is there." ... Or maybe, more accurately "because a bunch of junk was there ... and glue was there ... and so was free time," even though we can admit that answer leaves one wanting in the panache department.What did we leave on the ball? Why, our plane tickets, of course. Charity doesn't count if it doesn't hurt.
GDC08: Preserving Games panel
The first day of the Preserving Games: Saving the Past and Present Now panel was focused on identifying problems in game preservation. First, panel leader Henry Lowood outlined some of the existing work from the IGDA Game Preservation SIG, including the Digital Game Canon, whose first year included Joystiq's own Chris Grant on the panel, and a new project on the SIG's wiki devoted to memorials of game developers who have passed. About this, Lowood said "The game industry needs to recognize the past more."Lowood suggested some future possibilities for gathering not only game code, but metadata as well, for permanent preservation, driving home the idea that we should at least intend for things to be available in 100 years. He suggested finding a way to capture data from existing game-data aggregators like Mobygames to associate with a library record. Issues that were discussed in this panel, to be continued at tomorrow's part 2, included bringing information professionals and knowledgeable gamers, collectors, and developers together. Lowood likened gamers to destroyers -- fast, small ships -- and the colleges getting involved with the Library of Congress-funded Virtual Worlds Project (the overarching initiative to preserve games) to battleships who happen to know more about "industrial-strength preservation."The attendees, a group consisting of developers, writers, academics, and collectors, discussed the issue of what constitutes a library, and what constitutes a "preserved" game. Is emulation preservation? Is the experience captured? Is it in a library's purview to attempt to capture an experience? Issues like these are what make the game preservation project difficult, and warrant further discussion.
Heads up: Game writing panel in NYC tonight
If you've got a serious interest in video game writing and live in or around New York City, we strongly encourage you to attend tonight's panel -- presented by the IGDA NYC Chapter and Writers Cabal -- titled Writing for Fantasy Game Worlds. Why do we care if you go? Because every time we play a video game, we're embarassed when loved ones ask what it's about. Panelists include Daniel Greenberg (Lord of the Rings Online), John Boomershine (Warhammer Online), Jeff Gomez (Magic: The Gathering), and Steve Balzac (Founder, Society for Interactive Literature, MIT Assassin's Guild).But that's not all! If you act now (ie: show up tonight), the panel will be followed by a networking meeting so you can add a bunch of prestigous business cards to your collection. The panel is being held from 6:30 to 8:30 on the 5th floor of New School University's Wollman Hall, at 65 West 11th St. in NYC (map). You can RSVP here. Enjoy ... and take notes.[Thanks, Sande]
