Month: August 2012

Video or it never happened

by Chris Tihor, posted in Presentations

I discovered today that Casual Connect Seattle have now posted the video recording of my talk for the 2012 IGDA Summit along with a whole bunch of other talks from that same conference. The fact that I mention this means that I have watched the video and wasn’t horribly embarrassed by seeing myself in it. In fact, I enjoyed it enough to want to share it with you. You can find it here.

Besides watching the talk and the excellent discussion afterwards with Wendy Despain and Richard Dansky, I spent a good deal of time watching other presentations that I had attended and also ones that I had missed for one reason or another during the conference.  I particularly enjoyed watching Luke Dicken’s Skynet and You: Game AI for the Uninitiated and Brandii Grace’s Design Secrets Revealed! How to Attract a Wider Female Audience. You can find the complete list of videos here on Casual Connect’s Youtube IGDA Summit List. Check it out and let me know which are your favourite talks.

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My Turn-Based Strategy Reading Game

by Chris Tihor, posted in blah blah blah

Like many writers, I’m a fairly avid reader. I also never seem to have as much time to read as I would like. So I’ll often just pick up a book for 15-20 minutes here and there when I get a chance. This means that I tend to leave a number of books lying around the house, strategically placed in locations that I habitually stop to relax in. I also tend to have many books on the go at once, partly because of the strategic placement mentioned earlier and partly because I have a variety of interests as so a variety of books that cover those interests. Here’s a short list of books which I currently have in some state between not read and not finished.

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

– One of his early Discworld stories for younger readers about a talking cat, some intelligent rats, a “stupid-looking kid” and their scheme to con villagers out of money. Personally, I don’t see much difference between these books and his adult oriented material except that the protagonists tend to be younger. The writing style is pretty much the same. I adore Terry Pratchett and usually bring one of his books along on a long voyage.

Access All Areas: A User’s Guide to the Art of Urban Exploration by Ninjalicious

– A practical guide to Urban Exploration i.e. going places you’re not supposed to. The author’s approach is light-hearted and informative which makes it an enjoyable read, and he encourages being respectful to the places you visit. I probably won’t be trying much of this myself, but it’s a good resource for researching modern stealth techniques.

Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames edited by Chris Bateman and

Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing edited by Wendy Despain

– Two books that I keep coming back to. Great reference material for your game writing needs. I’ll pick one up to look up something specific or read a random chapter to keep things fresh in my mind.

Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols by Adele Nozedar

– A guide to the symbols used by ancient and modern people and the meanings ascribed to them. Fascinating reading and useful when creating symbolic systems to use in your own creative work.

Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem

– The  story of a white kid growing up in Brooklyn in the 1970s. I like the other books I’ve read by Lethem, particularly Gun, with Occasional Music, but I find this one to be a bit slow going. It’s beautifully written, but so far I find it to be a bit too heavy and depressing for my tastes. I haven’t given up yet, though.

A Summary of the Summer Summit

by Chris Tihor, posted in blah blah blah

As mentioned in the previous post, I recently attended the 2nd annual IGDA Summit in Seattle. Monday night, at the August monthly meeting for the Victoria BC chapter of the IGDA, I gave a short presentation on the highlights of the summit. I spent some time talking about the various talks and the topics that they covered: Entrepreneurship, Advocacy, Monetization, Quality Assurance, Writing, Intro and Microtalks. I mentioned the great keynotes that I watched from Kim Swift of Airtight Games and Julie Uhrman, the CEO of Ouya. I told them about the parties and other fun events too. But what I really tried to focus on, what I thought was the most important, was the opportunity to meet other developers.

The best thing about the IGDA Summit is meeting other game developers. The theme of the conference is “Developers helping Developers” and nowhere is this more evident as when you are mingling with your fellow attendees and having a spirited chat. I met quite a few veterans of the industry and they were all more than happy to discuss various aspects of game development and answer all questions. Whether discussing the talk we just saw, chatting about current affairs in the industry, or just debating the merits of the latest comic book movies, it was engaging and inspiring. I soon realized that I have never before met a more friendly, helpful, or fun group of people as at the Summit. There was such a diverse crowd there that, chances are, even if you belong to a specialized group within game development like myself (Game Writing), you can still find your compatriots at the Summit. I found myself surrounded by people who cared about the same obscure things that I do, such as the future of narrative in games and escaping the mono-myth in your writing. And after the day’s talks a number of us ventured off to continue discussing writing and telling stories while dining on some excellent Chinese food.  (introduced to us by the intrepid James P).

My advice: if you can make it to the IGDA Summit next year, then go. If you’re strapped for cash, then volunteer. If you’re a student, look into the IGDA Scholars program, because not only can you get a free pass, but you can also get a tour of some of the local game studios, such as Bungie and Valve. So don’t miss out on a great opportunity to network with other developers and make new friends. Because the IGDA is about developers helping developers, and you can always use more friends. I know I can.

A Skedaddle to Seattle

by Chris Tihor, posted in blah blah blah, Presentations

Last week, I participated in the second annual IGDA Summit in Seattle, Washington hosted by the International Game Developers Association. I’d made it out to the inaugural Summit last year, but this year was my first as a speaker. My talk, “Rummaging in the Geek Culture Toolbox“, was a look at all of the great things that came out of  the workshop with the same title that I ran during the International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS) last November in Vancouver, BC. The main goal of both was to explore the potential of using different forms of geek culture (in this case Role-Playing Games and Comics) to help in creating games, with a focus on writing and narrative design.

The talk went really well, I thought. Following the talk was a really interesting panel discussion of the subject with Wendy Despain, Richard Dansky, and myself. It was great to get the perspective of game writing veterans, and it gave me a few new ideas to pursue. The questions from the audience were also thought-provoking. Overall, very inspiring for me and hopefully entertaining and useful for the audience. I’m already considering doing another talk/workshop that would expand on the themes from the last one, maybe even looking at a couple new forms of geek culture to explore.

If you missed the talk, it was recorded and will be posted on to YouTube in the near future by Casual Connect. I’ll pop a link up here when that happens, unless I watch it first and find it too embarrassing. In that case, I may never mention it again. 😉

The rest of the Summit was terrific. I got to meet up with a ton of other game creators, old friends and new, exchange ideas and stories, and generally have a great time. I’ll be giving a brief talk summarizing my Summit experience and giving reasons why you should come out to Seattle for the next one. It’ll be happening during the August Level Up/IGDA Victoria monthly meeting next Monday evening. So if you have any questions come by and ask away.