Wondercon/GDC 2007?

[numble]

So anybody here was/is/is-going-to-be at Wondercon/GDC 2007?

How was/is it like? Anything exciting or fun to report?

[tabacco]

I was at wondercon on Sunday, and I'm going over to GDC this afternoon to sit in on our panel. Wondercon was alright... I'm not really a comic book person, although I did enjoy comic-con. Wondercon is much smaller, though, and much more tightly focused, so I found less to do.

I did get a Tek Jansen poster, though, so that made my day :)

[Hero1]

are we gonna get a video/blog/transcript about GDC?

[sirilluminator]

I was at WonderCon on Friday day/night and Saturday night (for the masquerade/Star Wars movies) and I was planning on going Sunday for the Telltale panel but after two days of driving into the city I got burnt out and decided not to go. And then it turned out I went into the city anyways. CURSES!

[tabacco]

The ferry, man, the ferry! That's where it's at! Plus if you get Translink, it's only $4 each way from Larkspur.

[numble]

Looks like there was a Telltale party that even had a famous grumpy gamer in attendance:

http://www.davelgil.com/wordpress/?p=200

(Scroll down for the Telltale/other-Gilbert stuff)

[numble]

And some tidbits gleaned from 1up editor Scott Sharkey's GDC live blog (http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=7927886&publicUserId=5048614):


4:31 Episodic content. Popped in right in the middle of a really cute metaphor from the Sam & Max guys (Dave Grossman & Kevin Bruner.) Episodic games as a "sandwich of the month club." Better to send complete little sandwiches than a slice of bread one month, a bit of lettuce the next. I get the point, but think sending sandwiches through the mail is a less than fantastic idea.

4:42 Talking about reusing characters, content, etc. Repurposing the car chase bit. "Repeating characters isn't as detrimental as repeating the same locales or gameplay... People like them." Community. "Build it and they wil come... Not true. We don't compete for shelf space, but we do compete for attention. Word of mouth isn't the snowball it's made out to be." Reminds me of something I was thinking about earlier. Maintaining forums, contests, general stuff to keep the game in everyone's eye. Something like ten percent of their (small) staff has to keep this stuff going. Would be nice if publishers handled more of this stuff. Then again, it'd be nice if they gave me a new car.

[numble]

And a nice, pretty funny video interview with Steve Purcell from Joystiq WITH A MAJOR SURPRISE ABOUT EPISODE 5:

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/06/joystiq-interviews-sam-and-max-creator-steve-purcell/







(You won't be spoiled too much, if at all, so go ahead and watch it)

[numble]

And Joystiq + Dave Grossman.

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/06/joystiq-interviews-sam-and-max-desiger-dave-grossman/

[Emily]

We got the whole Wondercon panel on tape, but unfortunately not Dave and Kevin's GDC talk. There might be some party clips on tape, too, but I fear them.

Many of us will be at the show Wednesday thru Friday, and intern Nick will be wielding the video camera then, too. Lots of GDC stuff to come! (Including maybe a blog today if I remember.)

Maintaining forums, contests, general stuff to keep the game in everyone's eye. Something like ten percent of their (small) staff has to keep this stuff going.

Woo! :D

[jp-30]

Kotaku reports drunken debauchery at Telltale party (http://kotaku.com/gaming/gdc07/gdc07-party-time--sam-and-max-241867.php). Mostly their own.

[Shauntron]

My stunt/filmmaking team had a booth with a video looping of our stuff. The guy who played the Rocketeer bought our DVD!

Thanks for stopping by Emily, good to see you and Dave again. Hope the rest of your con was fun.

[Emily]

http://files.telltalegames.com/blogs/gamedev_ad_sm.jpg

Bigger version here (http://files.telltalegames.com/blogs/gamedev_ad.jpg).

Yes, that's a spork in Max's hand. Brilliant.

[numble]

Anybody have any predictions about Sam & Max's special appearance at the IGF Awards Ceremony? A special machinima-created video? Life-sized pair of costumed Sam and Max running around?

[Haggis]

A special machinima-created video?
My guess is that it's something like that... sort of what they did with Gollum at the MTV awards maybe? That'd be cool. :)

[numble]

Hey any of you guys go to the Phil Harrison/Sony Keynote? It sounds impressive (so far)

[tabacco]

No, but I did go to the awards tonight, and I'm going to Miyamoto's keynote tomorrow morning. I'm a little disappointed that Gears of War won for art, though. I really think that should have gone to Okami or Viva Pinata.

[numble]

Here's a good rundown of the GDC/IGF awards, including the appearances by Sam and Max.

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/08/joystiq-not-so-live-coverage-of-the-igf-and-gdca-awards/

Heh... Surprisingly, the Joystiq guys are upset that Sam and Max lost to Zelda..

[sirilluminator]

Anyone at Video Games Live? They had four guys from LucasArts come on and play some old classic songs from Outlaws, Grim Fandango, and Monkey Island. It was awesome! The only name I can remember is Mike Land.

[Haggis]

Lemme guess... Michael Land, Peter McConnell, Clint Bajakian and uh... some other guy. :P

[sirilluminator]

Lemme guess... Michael Land, Peter McConnell, Clint Bajakian and uh... some other guy. :P

Yeah that sounds about right.

[numble]

Here's what looks to be a rough transcript of the Digital Distribution of Games panel at SXSW, which Dan Connors participated in:

http://blog.bibrik.com/archives/2007/03/sxsw_-_digital_distribution_of_games.html

Very rough "1st-draft of minutes"-like transcript; here are pertinent parts that I found (I will paraphrase/edit when necessary):

Dan: we have recently launched latest episode. first it is broadcast as part of subscription model, then sold on the website and then at the end of the season we will package it up into a single product. we are spending and making money at the same time. we have top of mind presence from releasing things on the web.

Q: you will sell at stores?

Dan: yes, we have a relationship with a publisher.

Q: Regarding open and closed distribution platforms, what do you consider the pros and cons of each?

Dan: on open platforms, conversion costs are low. but it competes a lot. On the closed sites, then you have a high conversion user. On a PC, average on everything including casual [is] 1-2% and xbox live is about 20%. On [PC], its found more randomly. On xbox they are looking for something particular so higher conversion. but you can't set up how you get presented etc. there’s not a lot of products on closed system yet and it will change - so how do you get noticed in the future. there’s not as much freedom to advertise yourself.

Now I don't exactly understand Dan's answer regarding piracy here, but it looks interesting (I also don't understand the context--the question immediately before was about piracy, so the question could be about lower resistance to piracy or lower resistance to purchasing).

Q: is there a lower resistance if in a episodic structure?

Dan: it’s a low price point, very web friendly. as they come back regularly, you can tell if they are pirating as well.

[DaveGilbert]

Looks like there was a Telltale party that even had a famous grumpy gamer in attendance:

http://www.davelgil.com/wordpress/?p=200

(Scroll down for the Telltale/other-Gilbert stuff)

I'm a grumpy gamer? Perhaps we Gilberts have that in common.

Anyway, it was awesome meeting you all. Roll on GDC 2008!

edit: /me reads the post in question and goes D'UH!

[Squinky]

I was there, and got hugged by half the Telltale staff. Ha!

[fathamburger]

I was there but I only ran into intern Nick at the IGF booth. Had no idea the telltale party was on Tuesday night otherwise I would have flown in earlier!