GDC 2014

The Game Developers Conference was held this week in California. Unlike many shows, this one was for the industry itself, teaching how to develop games, and lectures on better game design. There were tons of things covered both in and outside the conference.

If you think this was an event without people trying to sell their biggest, and latest idea, you would be wrong. Although there would be little in the idea of games being announced, the concept was more for the use of game engines, and devices.

The big game engine developers had their own displays to show off. Each one was ready to announce how big, shiny, and easy to use -which means working on minutia for visuals- for their own engine.

Epic announced their new engine and had a brand new trailer to show off for it. There has to be tons of people watching it because I can rarely get it to load fully. Epic also had a presentation event to talk about what could be done with this new engine. The big sale part was more for how it was to be paid for. First you had to pay $20 a month for updates, and then 5% of sales on top of that.

Cry Engine designers tried to thwart this by announcing a $10 a month deal, with no charges for profits. All of this was done with not one, but two videos showing off their technical skills. The first showed off games being made with Cry, and the second is single environments.

Unity showed off how you could use the engine on PC, Web Browser, and hand held device. It was actually hard to find the right video because Assassin’s Creed 5: Unity was announced today as well. The Unity company talked about being able to get early access soon.

The reason for the giant push to mobile and browser was in part because most game makers seem to be heading toward the PC, or handheld device. Most of the consoles were a very small percent for planned games. In fact, many of the major games of yesterday are headed to mobile devices. This includes a sequel to Crazy Taxi. (The last comment is just because I am excited about a new Crazy Taxi, but am really hoping it ports to the PC.)

Unity had another major show off by Nintendo. It seems that there are 50 games  using the Unity engine being made for the Wii U right now. Not only that, Nintendo hopes to have a port of the engine for the handheld 3DS.

This was part of Nintendo’s plan to regain game designers for their console. Not only were they promoting Unity, but the ability to port iOS and Android games easily over to WiiU. They had a Indie Booth showing off games coming out for the system, with numbers on how easy it was to make. There was also a demonstration of the HTML5 version of Mario vs Donkey Kong running on a Wii U.

Microsoft did not have a display at the GDC, but there was an event nearby. It was dedicated to the Indie developers as well. A trailer for new games coming out was displayed, and people got to talk to major Microsoft leaders on what to expect.

Sony was no less working for the Indie crowd with announcements that they would be releasing new tools for Indie Developers. They also showed off their app store for PlayStation Vita.

Sony not only tried to capture the Indie audience, but also showed off their new Virtual Reality Headset. Major videogame journalists got to play with the new headset, and found that it worked basically well. It will be another add on to the PlayStation 4 console. Sony also threw out a new buzzword for how they work, Presence, as well as ‘Future of Innovation’. Make sure to add this to Immersion, and ‘It Plays Movies!’

It was obvious that Sony was trying to get in on the Oculus Rift games. In fact, the designers of Oculus made sure to announce their new SDK platform with more power, and control. The winner for VR headsets was Oculus, and the other companies were just trying to show up.

The lectures were no less aimed at Indie folks. In fact, only two non indie companies made a major presentation. After that, it was either people talking about working at big companies, Indies talking about choosing to quit working for major companies, or how to get the attention of Youtube guys.

Nintendo made a presentation on Animal Crossing: New Leaf. The presenter talked about starting off as the only woman at EAD, and getting into the game designs there. They looked at what made Animal Crossing fun, and worked to make sure it stayed that way while changing things. They implemented all sorts of new social things about the game, and it worked. Now half  the Animal Crossing team is women.

Square Enix presented about having to rebuild Final Fantasy XIV. It was a big time graphical game, with very little in exploration, and items to find. The designers wanted big graphics, because that made them sales in past consoles. They had to replan, and rework the entire game. Instead of having experts at every corner, they instead worked to make sure everyone knew about what was planned, and how to do it.

Keiji Inafune, father of Mega Man, Dead Rising, and so much more talked about games. He has recently left Capcom to start his own company. He made sure to mention that Mega Man, and many of his other games were like Indie games.

Another recent former big company man is IGA. The father of metroidvania has left Konami to make it on his own. He talked about designing games, and what it was like working for the company. Things could not be talked about too openly because it might insult his former bosses. He spoke of his first masterpiece Castlevania: Symphony of the Night by the name SON.

There was also a presentation on the making of Robotron 2084. A game that was released to arcades in the early 80’s. Another big talk was about Lucasfilm Games in the early years, with point and click adventures. It was the first time there was a presentation on a company, and not just a game.

After that it was Indie game makers about making indie games. The coolest presentation was probably about Breaking the Indie Cycle of Shame. The game maker is accustomed to making a game through a company. That means going to work, fitting a schedule, and having others tell you what is needed. As an Indie, you work at home, make your own schedule, and have to make up your own motivation. The presenter worked to show how to overcome the problems of having no schedule, and not get caught back up into the rat race.

Finally, there was lectures to game makers from outsiders. The coolest sounding one came from a youtube video star, and he talked about getting attention in a youtube world. You couldn’t just post a video, and wait for major responses, you had to inform the internet start about the game.

The GDC is the biggest conference of its type. Game makers from far and wide come to see, and hear presentations. Game engine companies are working to get you to use their engine for a game. Likewise,  Major companies like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft are working to get people to make games for their systems. Big company presentations are slowly disappearing as Indies take over. Still, the presentations were well made even though it was about leaving the old behind.