Talk about what goes into getting your Keynote speakers? Almost every major game company is represented at the show.
Gordon Walton: The idea is normally to say, how do we get someone who is relevant to what’s going on right now? They have to appeal to developers who can say, oh ya I really wanted to see that person; I want to hear what they have to say.
Izora De Lillard: The message we’re trying to get across with key notes is that this is no longer “your mom’s MMO conference.” We’re trying to show the industry that this is with very future thinking. We wanted the traditional with World of Warcraft and we want the timely with SOE and we want the future with Playfish… We brainstorm for hours on who we think would be right and who would be best in the moment.
What’s it like running a game conference on the heels of the summer season? After all the major announcements have been made.
Izora De Lillard: It is definitely by developers, for developers. The advisory board works a long time to get speakers that are relevant to developers. We also do fall into a space that we cover very in depth which is the online space, from MMOs to free-to-play etc.
Gordon Walton: The whole deal with the advisory board is to evaluate all the things that come in, but did everything come in that we were looking for? If not, how do we recruit some people to fill that gap. When we get excited it is when we say, hey I really want to go see that session. I’m going to learn something in that session.
Matt Firor: The only thing I can say about the timing of the show is that I prefer it not be in early Sept. when it is 100 degrees in Austin, Texas. Laughs!
Tell us about the game design tracks you are involved in at the conference.
Matt Firor (Production Track): Mine was kind of selfish. I looked for submissions of things that I would learn something from. There are a lot of development techniques in the last few years that have sprung up. There is agile management, and did that work or not? Now there are different types of agile management, which are basically things that I want to know more about. Management techniques, production techniques, middleware, what is good, what is not good. We have a few presentations from guys that have been around a long time. We have one from Jeff Hickman from Mythic Entertainment doing a production talk. So we have a good mix of here’s what we can use as tried and true techniques as well as more exploratory management techniques. It is all stuff that I think people who are making any kind of computer game will get something out of.
Gordon Walton (Programming Track and Services Track): I was more primary on the Services track, but on the Programming track it is not an entry level track, it is really for the people who are engaged in this kind of work who want to get something out of the conference. When you look at a lot of the sessions, they are going to be a little heavy on the tech side and drilling deep on some very specific topics. That is our goal of the programming track is to be of service to the actual programmers. On the services side we kind of cover the array of specific services that an MMO needs. It is such a big part of the business that is under serviced. The networking side, the customer service side, the quality assurance side are all very important to actually running and shipping an online game not matter how big or how small.
What would you say to a person who wants to start a studio, is new to the business but has a passion for games, what would you say to someone like that who is attending the conference?
Gordon Walton: My old answer would be take the money put it in a big pile, light it on fire, and dance around it naked. You’ll probably have more fun that way than making games. That was back when it was two million dollars. Now-a-days it cost a lot more than that. Today, I would tell them to think small, not big, think focused. Do not start out thinking about mass market, start out by finding a market and serving it. Think about how you can be more acceptable, not less. The biggest operating system in the world is called a browser, there is more of that than any other platform you can think about. There is so much blue ocean in what we’re doing that we have not even tapped in to yet. I tell them not to be like everyone else, but try to be something different. Something people have not seen yet. I could just say give me the money and I’ll make a game with it. *Laughs* That doesn’t seem very useful to people though.
What is your hope for the conference?
Gordon Walton: I want the attendees to be really thrilled by the information they got and be frustrated that they could not go to all the sessions that they wanted to go too. That there was always two or three things that they wanted to attend. I like the torture.
Izora De Lillard: We like having something for everyone.
Gordon Walton: We want them to have to make difficult choices; game play is all about making difficult choices.
Matt Firor: You just want people to come away having learned something. Developer-centric online game show, it is supposed to stimulate thought in your mind if that is right, not right, maybe come away with a new insight that you did not have before.
