Category: blah blah blah

The State of the Ironic Iconic Nation

Featured by Chris Tihor, posted in Announcements, blah blah blah

Those who know me know that while I am a writer, I’m not much of a blogger. But I do like to take a moment on occasion to recount what’s happening in my life for the curious. I’ll begin with some highlights from the past year or so:

  • I recently celebrated my first anniversary of becoming a partner at Talespinners, a company that I’ve previous worked with as a writer for some time. We recently went through a restructure to a co-operative and founder Ian Thomas brought myself and two other partners on to help take things to the next level. Here’s the original announcement, if you’re curious.
  • Through Talespinners, I’ve worked on a bunch of projects for clients including designing and writing a special event for Bud Farm: Idle Tycoon for East Side Games, writing the launch trailer for Albion Online with Antimatter Games, writing and editing work on Cryptant by Orcari Games and story consultation for a VR project for DIVR Labs. Not to mention a bunch of work on unannounced projects for Playful Solutions, Jassim Albuarki, and the Royal Mint.
  • Returned to help organize the WordPlay Festival in November with the Hand Eye Society. And I’m happy to say I’m back again as Festival Director for 2019.
  • Was interviewed for an article for PC Gamer magazine: “The evolving art of dialogue in games“.
  • There was not one, but two EGLX cons last year: one in the Spring and one in the Fall. I spoke on the “Developing on a Dime” panel at the one in March and participated as a mentor in the Mentor Lounge at the one in October.
  • Participated in my first TOJam and helped to create the game “Grimistar” which was later selected as part of the TOJam Arcade at the Toronto Media Arts Centre (TMAC)
  • Returned to Breakout Con, a terrific local tabletop game and RPG con that’s been growing and getting better every year. I had a great time meeting new friends and old and playing loads of games. I’m looking forward to attending the next one though it’s months away.

Besides those highlights, there’s been a bunch of other things happening that I’m not at liberty to talk about yet, including work on a new game featuring a famous literary detective! There will also be a couple upcoming podcast appearances that I’m pretty excited about. Stay tuned as you know that I’ll be sharing more details as soon as I am able.

 

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A photo from November's WordPlay Festival

Looking Back and Looking Forward

by Chris Tihor, posted in blah blah blah

2017 was an interesting year. Not interesting in the “may you live in interesting times” way entirely, although there were certainly a share of challenges during the year. One challenge that was a welcome one was the challenge of becoming familiar with my new home in Toronto and getting to know a city I haven’t had much contact with for twenty years. But instead of focusing on the challenges that 2017 had brought, I thought I’d focus on some of the highlights:

And all of that is just stuff I can talk about. There are also a few things brewing up behind the scenes that I hope to be able to talk more about soon. Unfortunately, this means that the “looking forward” part of this post is going to be a bit light in detail at the moment. Rest assured that more news will be forthcoming as 2018 progresses. You can definitely expect to see more news about Mandatory Upgrade related projects, and possibly something around a certain web-comic that remains near and dear to my heart. Oops! I may have said too much, ignore that. Regardless, 2018 is shaping up to be an exciting year for Ironic Iconic Studios and I hope you’ll be joining me for the ride.

Which Subverted Medium Are You?

by Chris Tihor, posted in blah blah blah

I’ve recently spent time doing a number of those “which (insert pop culture artifact) are you” quizzes that have been ubiquitous on social media for a while now. I find them to be an amusing moment’s diversion and an opportunity for casual banter with my friends (“You’re Pink Floyd? I got the Doors. *sigh*”). I was tickled to discover one called “Which Punk Icon Are You?” which promised to reveal my inner punk. As I was very much the young, spiky-haired anarchist during my formative years, (There may even be photographic evidence of floating around the internet. I’ll leave finding it as an exercise for the reader.) I was completely game for this quiz.

After answering a short series of deeply probing questions such as “What would you like to smash?”,  I was rewarded with the insightful revelation that I am Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols. Being a lifelong fan of Mr. Rotten (or John Lydon, as he is also known) I happily posted my result and moved on with my day.

I was soon dragged back to the social networks by the usual manner of comments from friends on my posting, but one of which stood out to me as a bit different:

“As a committed admirer of John Lydon, I have to be the buzz kill here and say that if you are doing pop culture identity quizzes, you are pretty much being the polar opposite of Johnny Rotten.”

Strangely, that comment lingered in the back of my head for the rest of the day, bothering me more than I thought it would. At first I assumed that maybe it was because my “punk cred” was being brought into question, but quickly rejected that idea as I haven’t concerned myself with “punk cred” for decades. But there it remained, tickling my lobes and demanding my attention. And the more I thought about it, the more I found that the central argument, that Johnny Rotten and pop culture identity quizzes were completely incompatible, was what was bothering me the most.

Why did this strike me as so wrong? I started by asking myself: what are pop culture identity quizzes really? Aren’t they just an extension of social media which is, at its heart, a DIY form of media? One of the ideas that forms the basis for the Sex Pistols and punk culture in general is the notion that you could make culture for yourself, that you didn’t need “experts” to do it for you. And, if you’ve taken any of these online quizzes, it becomes apparent that they were certainly not made by experts.

Also, although John Lydon is not a big user of social media per se, if you look at his history and relationship to the media in general, he appears to embrace media wholeheartedly, in fact, he never seems to shirk any sort media exposure. Apart from giving copious interviews to promote his work, he seems to enjoy making appearances on both serious programs such as the BBC’s Question Time, as well as pop nonsense like Jukebox Jury and Judge Judy. Why does he do so? I think his reasons can be made clear by looking at his response to the kerfuffle surrounding his involvement in an advertisement for, of all things, butter.

In late 2008, John Lydon appeared in an advertising campaign for Country Life, a British butter company. The campaign included a television commercial that he starred in, and he consequently received a lot of criticism from various camps for “selling out”. He defended himself in an interview with the Sun saying that not only was he happy promoting a British product that he truly enjoyed but that:

“It was the most maddest thing to consider doing. I thought it was very anarchic of the dairy company to want to attach themselves to me. And they treated me with the utmost respect and I love them forever as it all allowed me to set up my record label and put out this record.” (emphasis mine)

In a nutshell, he used a media opportunity to generate capital to self-finance a record label and release a new album by his band Public Image Ltd. If you look at his other appearances you’ll see a common thread: he uses the media, subverting it to his own agenda to promote his opinions and ideas about the world, and to potentially finance his musical projects. These activities are done knowingly and are done for the sake of his art.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, Lydon doesn’t appear too keen on social media himself; having said on at least one occasion that he has no interest in it. However, there are official social media accounts for PiL on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and the like, so I don’t think that he’s necessarily opposed to it altogether. I personally believe that social media is just something he’s unfamiliar with through lack of exposure and that he can’t be bothered with learning. And why would he, if he gets what he wants through traditional media?

But what about the young Mr. and Ms. Rottens of the world who grew up with social media and so are familiar with the ins and outs of it? I see many of them using social media as an effective tool for getting their own ideas and opinions out via Facebook groups, YouTube channels, and Twitter accounts. And if you’re serious about spreading your message, then why not use the tricks of the internet media to hopefully make it viral and reach more people? Why not make your own memes and quizzes and games? I’d be happy to take a “Which Corporate Criminal Are You?” quiz or play a round of “Inequality Crush Saga” if it meant that I could learn something more about myself and world that I live in and maybe even have some fun while doing so. And I’m sure that even though John Lydon wouldn’t partake himself, he would recognize and appreciate the spirit of subversion that lies behind it.

Sweet Validation (And I Don’t Mean Parking)

by Chris Tihor, posted in blah blah blah

I was reading over an excellent interview on Gamasutra with game designer Chris Avellone (he of Fallout 2, Icewind Dale and Planescape: Torment fame), when one particular question caught my eye:

“What about in terms of the differences between narrative in film or books, versus narrative in games? It seems like there’s some key differences that a lot of games don’t really seem to pick up on.

CA: I think that people [in the industry] are appreciating scriptwriting talents more, especially as games become more voice-acted and cinematic. I [think that for] anyone pursuing narrative design, scriptwriting is the best way to hone your craft, because it’s a lot of what you’re going to be doing. It teaches you all the brevity; using the environment to communicate a situation, as opposed to just the flat-line vomit of text, like Torment had. Which we had to do at the time, but that’s more of a novelistic approach to writing, which isn’t necessarily the best fit for games.

Also I think comic book writing lends itself to training you to write dialogue for games, just because you have to think so visually about what’s happening in the environment. I really enjoy writing comics. For Star Wars [Knights of the Old Republic II], for example, I found myself thinking about the process a lot differently. About how the shot was framed, what was being shown, and how that reinforced what the characters were saying and [their interactions].”

Those of you who have seen my talk, Rummaging in the Geek Culture Toolbox, may have noticed that I made some of the same points in that presentation, particularly in the section on writing for comic books. I’d like to take this opportunity to say: it’s a pretty great feeling to see your theories confirmed by an industry professional whose work you respect and admire.

Walking on clouds will now commence for the foreseeable future.

Why We Never Really Leave School

by Chris Tihor, posted in blah blah blah, Presentations

Last Friday, I headed out to my old school, Camosun College, to give a talk to the Computer Systems Technology students. The talk (which I gave with Mel Reams, another Camosun graduate) was all about starting a career in video game development. As I stood in front of the students, consulting my notes and trying to communicate what I thought would be the most valuable nuggets of advice to help them pursue that game career, I actually felt a bit envious of them.

I could remember my own college years and my burning desire to work in games: it was what drew me into computer programming in the first place. I could also remember Victoria being sadly lacking in game companies. Oh sure, Disney Interactive were here at the time. But they operated in such a secretive fashion that they were practically a secret society. And, never knowing the secret handshake, I never made it into their hallowed halls. In addition, there was no one around to tell aspiring game developers the way to get into the industry. It was a mystery that I had to solve on my own.

These days, there are numerous game companies operating in Victoria and more opening all the time. And as for someone to pierce the mystery of gaining employment in the industry, they now have folks like Mel and myself to give them a hand. Getting a game job is easier than ever, but as we mentioned in our talk, it still requires a bit of work. The most important points I’ve summarized here below:

Finish school

The game industry is still a highly competitive one, so you need to use every advantage that you can to make sure that your resume goes in the interview pile. A diploma or degree will give you a leg up over those with equivalent qualifications but no piece of paper. A diploma also shows that: a.) you know how to code and b.) you can finish what you start – both valuable traits to have. Also, if it turns out that the game industry isn’t your cup of tea, you can still get a decent job in software development.

Do your research

Find out which languages and technologies are being used in the industry and learn them. Research the companies that you want to apply to. Determine everything you can about them: how long they’ve been around, what games they’ve made, what games they’re making, who works in key positions, etc. And play their games! Also figure out what a good salary is for where the company is located. You can find out most of this stuff online.

Network

Get out and meet the people who are working in the industry. Find out if there are any local game developer groups and join them. Victoria has the LevelUp group which is also a chapter of the International Game Developers Association or IGDA (A professional organization that you should definitely look into). Go to game conferences if you can afford to. GDC in San Francisco is the big one, but it can be expensive. Look for other ones closer to home like the Penny Arcade Expo and the IGDA Summit both in Seattle. A pass to either is way more affordable and Seattle is a 2.5 hour ferry trip away.

Make games

With all of the inexpensive and free tools available, it’s super easy to make your own games these days. Start small with small projects that are simple. Learn by doing. The goal is to finish something. It’s harder than it sounds, but do it. Even if it’s a crappy little project, you’ll feel great. Clone an existing game as an exercise. Create a mod of an existing game. Sign up for game jams. Join up with other game developers in small project groups. Just make games.
Keep learning

The game industry is a young one and as such is always growing and changing. You need to grow and change with it to stay on top of it. Develop a habit of continuous learning. If you’re coming from school you’re already on the learning train, keep on riding it.

Journey to Rifflandia or There and Back Again

by Chris Tihor, posted in blah blah blah
Hat and wig brought to you by “Let your Freak Flag Fly” day.

I’ve never been one for music festivals in the past. Mainly this has been due to a lack of interest in the bands playing and a lack of free cash on my part. The music festivals that I did attend were either the free festivals that were put on yearly, or the odd ticketed festival that appealed to my particular taste in music. The free festivals, like the Festival of Friends, Earthsong, or It’s Your Festival (where I actually worked for one summer, but that’s another story) were a fine Hamilton summer tradition and were well attended by just about everyone I knew regardless of your musical stripes. After all, they were free and it’s hard to complain about free entertainment especially when you’re young, bored, and broke.  As for paid festivals, the only one I’d managed to get to up until now was Lollapalooza: the first one back in 1991 and the fourth one in 1994. Both of these occurred due to a magical combination of my having money and the line-up being interesting enough for me to part with said money.

This brings me to Rifflandia. Since its inception in 2008 I’ve been watching it grow with interest. But every year it’s been the same thing: either I’ve been too short in the cash department by the time the festival rolls around or the band line-up hasn’t inspired me enough to cough up the dough for a couple of the steeply priced wristbands. But it was different this year: a friend had two extra park passes and generously donated them to Pati and I. So I was finally able to experience Rifflandia, or at least the main event at Royal Athletic Park. Here are some of the highlights for me.

  • I made it to the park on Friday shortly before Rich Aucoin took to the stage. I was glad that I did. His performance was high-energy and infectiously upbeat. He was able to get the notoriously inert Victoria audience jumping and signing along with him. And this was before he brought out a parachute for the audience to play with. It was like the best part of primary school had come back to visit for a brief moment.
  • Band of Skulls remind me of Rush. This is a good thing. Is it because they are a three-piece band with a rich full sound? Is it because they are skilled musicians? Is it because they rock? Is it all of the above?
  • The Flaming Lips were amazing and weird and colourfully celebratory. I thoroughly enjoyed their show and have now happily checked them off on my “Bands to See Live Before I Die” list. I was a slightly disappointed that they didn’t play more songs from the rocking part of their oeuvre, but what they did play was just the kind of crazy head-trip that they are famous for, and rightly so. Also, having small children running around during the concert made it somehow even stranger.
  • The Stanfields hard-edged Celtic rock exploded out of the side stage on Saturday afternoon, surprising all within earshot. Some folks in the audience looked genuinely disturbed, but that may have been because they saw my enormous grin and were afraid that I might eat them. They needn’t have worried: there were plenty of tasty tunes to satisfy all appetites. They’ll be back in Victoria at the end of October, in case you missed them this time around.
  • The Jezabels just may be a new favourite band. The Australian quartet have this great flowing ethereal rock sound that appeals to my endless love for all that is dream pop, shoegazer, and wall of sound. Hearing them perform outdoors on the exquisite main stage sound system may be one of the high points of my year.
  • Jinja Safari, also from Australia, played a perfect set of summer music. Their high energy performance of African influenced rhythms and infectious fair weather pop was a perfect companion to the hot and sunny September afternoon.
  • Much of today’s hip hop seems to be concerned with convincing everyone that the performers are possibly the coolest and undoubtedly the most sexually proficient people around. This is profoundly uninteresting to me. Grand Analog showed me that I can enjoy rap again. Their fun-loving brand of old school rap music was a breath of fresh air mixed with some kickin’ beats.

I have to admit something: my expectations for this year were not high. Beyond headliners the Flaming Lips, I didn’t know many of the bands on the bill. It turns out that this was actually a much better thing than I had assumed it was. It allowed for moments of surprise and discovery that really made Rifflandia for me. And I think that that’s the key to Rifflandia: go without expectations and just enjoy the experience. Chances are you’ll come out the other side with some new favourites.

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.

Rolling up my sleeves…

by Chris Tihor, posted in blah blah blah

In between everything else that I’m working on, I’ve decided to finally put together this website to showcase my creative and development work. It’s fairly modest at the moment, but I intend to keep on adding to it and tweaking it until it is a shining beacon of light for the web. Or at least until it gives you a good idea of what kind of things I’ve been doing with myself. I may even do the odd blog post. That’s how crazy I am.

So have a look around and see what you can find. There’s currently more detailed descriptions of my projects at my portfolio site. But eventually I’d like to transfer all of that over here for a one-stop buffet of project-y goodness. If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to send them along.