I've been in San Francisco for the past few days attending the IGDA Leadership Forum. I got a chance to meet up with some other ETC alums and met a few new people as well. It was nice attending a conference that was microscopic compared to other conferences like GDC. There were only 3 rooms, about 400-ish people, and the majority of the people attending the conference stayed in the hotel in which the conference was held.
It was quite nice being in a room with the leaders in our industry. Mark Cerny's keynote speech Friday morning was quite good, and I learned quite a bit from J.C. Connors talk, "Making Lots of Small Games Without Going Crazy." There were a few applications from that talk that I'll try to use as soon as I get back to Pittsburgh. Kane Minkus's talk about working through conflict between people also had a lot of tangible take-aways.
Overall, I had a great time, and I look forward to attending again next year! Now to get some dim sum while I'm still in SF. :)
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Busy!
Well, since August, work has really picked up. We recently got two projects green-lit at work, both of which have incredibly short time-frames, so we're currently scrambling on those. Unfortunately I can't talk much about them since they're still unannounced, but I'll post as soon as they aren't secret.
Before Shawn and I left from work yesterday, we got a chance to meet Sheri Graner Ray who was visiting Schell Games in Pittsburgh. She's worked on a lot of neat and interesting titles, and I think getting an opportunity to work with her would be fantastic. Since Shawn and I were heading out to LA for a meeting regarding one of the projects we just got, we offered to carpool with Sheri, and hilariously enough we ended up being on the same flight to Houston.
After the meeting that I'm about to go to in 3 hours is over, we should have a much clearer direction for the designs of our project so we'll be going full steam ahead. Exciting times!
Before Shawn and I left from work yesterday, we got a chance to meet Sheri Graner Ray who was visiting Schell Games in Pittsburgh. She's worked on a lot of neat and interesting titles, and I think getting an opportunity to work with her would be fantastic. Since Shawn and I were heading out to LA for a meeting regarding one of the projects we just got, we offered to carpool with Sheri, and hilariously enough we ended up being on the same flight to Houston.
After the meeting that I'm about to go to in 3 hours is over, we should have a much clearer direction for the designs of our project so we'll be going full steam ahead. Exciting times!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Replay Value
Is replay value in games truly that important? Playing through Braid took about 5 hours, and while there are time trial speed runs available, there's a great deal of uproar about how paying $15 for a puzzle-game with no multiplayer and little supposed replay value is too expensive. In comparing Braid's release to Portal's release, there was little to no furor over the cost of Portal, which was ostensibly a 3 hour game. Having been bundled with the Orange Box definitely added a lot of value to the $50 (PC) / $60 (Xbox360/PS3) package, but the game also sold on its own for $20.
While both games in question have speed run trials, Braid and Portal are puzzle games that have relatively short playtimes. In any case, what comes into question is: why do people think that longer games with lots of replay value are worth more than games that don't have multiplayer or replay value? Is a game that a person plays through once in 3 hours worth less than a game that people play 4 hours a night, every night in the week?
Having recently finished Braid, I can say it's one of the few games I've played in a long time that has had a lasting effect on me. I've been thinking about the game, its story, and its themes more or less nonstop since I started playing it, and even though I finished it already, I'm still reading online all about the game, people's theories on its story, and just about anything else I can get my grubby little paws on.
Fundamentally, my frustration is rooted in people's unwillingness to try something new. Change has to come from somewhere.
While both games in question have speed run trials, Braid and Portal are puzzle games that have relatively short playtimes. In any case, what comes into question is: why do people think that longer games with lots of replay value are worth more than games that don't have multiplayer or replay value? Is a game that a person plays through once in 3 hours worth less than a game that people play 4 hours a night, every night in the week?
Having recently finished Braid, I can say it's one of the few games I've played in a long time that has had a lasting effect on me. I've been thinking about the game, its story, and its themes more or less nonstop since I started playing it, and even though I finished it already, I'm still reading online all about the game, people's theories on its story, and just about anything else I can get my grubby little paws on.
Fundamentally, my frustration is rooted in people's unwillingness to try something new. Change has to come from somewhere.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Words!
I figured I'd jump on the game design blog bandwagon, so here is my first post! My name is Andy Jih, and I'm a Producer at Schell Games. Unfortunately none of the projects that I'm currently working on right now have been announced yet, but I'll post as soon as anything official comes up. I also worked at Electronic Arts: Los Angeles last year as a producer intern on Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, which will be coming out later this year.
My plan is to post thoughts about the work that I'm doing, games that I'm playing, and probably any other miscellany that might come up. Stay tuned!
My plan is to post thoughts about the work that I'm doing, games that I'm playing, and probably any other miscellany that might come up. Stay tuned!
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