GDC08: Six things to take from Game Developers Rant: Balloons!
2. Balloons!
Jonathan Mak (Everyday Shooter) has had a lot of memorable moments at GDC. During last year's IGF Awards, Mak gave the most memorable and atypical acceptance speeches. For this year's Game Developer's Rant, he decided not to give a speech at all.
Instead, when Eric Zimmerman announced him, Mak asked everyone to stand up. Just then, a few helpers ran to the front of the stage with black garbage bags. In seconds, the room was filling up with balloons. The entire crowd was bouncing them up and down for what seemed like a long while (actually only about 2 minutes). Each balloon had something different written on it: we noticed "pay with this," "perfect" and a smiley face.
When the crowd finally died down, Portal designer Kim Swift was at the podium in Mak's place. At request, she screamed. She said he has no idea why she's up there. "Uh, yeah, things that are on [the] slide," she said, checking the computer. "Oh, it's got absolutely nothing on the slide. At this point and time, I have absolutely nothing to complain about, so let's take a look at these balloons." She asks if anyone has anything cool written on their balloon. Someone in front shouts "Mine says I'm a misunderstood robot."
Swift smiles and quietly steps down. End of rant.
