Plenty of Ammo

2 Weeks since I've been back from Cologne, Germany, after my 4th GDC Eu / Gamescom.

Managed to get a spot as a Conference Associate again, and it was a blast seeing my friends and making new ones. Went on swag runs, took advantage of free food at parties, expanded my network, and yes, even played some games.

Brought a few games with me this year. Bought Orleans for myself and enjoying losing, Tier Auf Tier for my brother/nephew and even got a free game for free - Gremlins inc.

The conferences were a little disappointing. Most GDC sessions didn't seem that interesting, The games I was most excited about had exclusive videos rather than hands-on gameplay, and I didn't have my friend Alex to get me inside places.

I know I'm going to have a lot of inspiration and ideas from what I did experience, so maybe this blog will see the frequency of posts go up.

Having gained some insight on what makes League of Legends such an exciting e-sport, the first thing that comes to my mind is the lack of turn based entries for professional gaming.

The idea I'm currently mulling over is an arcade flight sim, with timed turns that play simultaneously, with challenges coming from choosing an aircraft and weapons to suit the play style, then carefully maneuvering the aircraft into the correct position, and predicting where the enemy might end up during his turn,

Who knows if something like that would be appealing enough to be as popular as Star Craft or LOL, even if I do make it, but that's the way it goes.  

The Game I Want to Play

I have 2 games on my mobile - Puzzle and Dragons and Terra Battle.
As a gamer I tend to give a lot of love to single games, especially when they are endless (although I'm fairly close to finishing the story mode of Terra Battle as it stands right now.)

I've been looking for another game to add, specifically one linked with Google Play Games, but nothing has made a significant impact quite yet. Maybe I'll learn of something at GDC Eu / Gamescom (Signed up to CA this year as well just recently) that will entice me.

While I have been looking, I've been looking through the data of popular games in various countries. South Korea has it's Kakao platform which doesn't work for me. Americans are generally more into the casual experience, while the Japanese have more hardcore games which is one of the reason they appeal to me more. I also appreciate the artwork and stories.

Looking at mechanics and genres, I came up with a mash up I might have fun exploring - Mixing collectible cards (with lots of sexy anime ladies of course ;) ) with city building and a dating sim?
It just seems that most, if not all, of these collectible card games end up in a turn based battle system, which made sense for physical games like Magic or even war, the card game, and I still enjoy it and think there's room for more, but maybe we can do more in digital media.
Some of my inspiration comes from the Suikoden series, where some of the characters you recruited during your quest build up shops and add mini-games to an ever expanding castle.
Another source of inspiration is what I consider my favorite JRPG - Thousand Arms, where improving your relationships with your female team members allowed to forge weapons with special abilities.

Maybe my game could have a sci-fi theme, where you build a space station, visited by various alien types, each must be persuaded to diplomatic relations in various ways in order to collect their cards and unlock new facilities of the station.

Starfleet Manager

Been to Japan for the Tokyo Game Show. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't as good as the GDC Eu + Gamescom combo are for meeting people, getting my portfolio looked at or for collecting swag.

After a few more hectic, 10 bed dorm room, days - I headed out to Seoul, where I'm writing this post from my room at a serviced apartment hotel.

I like it here in Seoul, and could see myself staying, if one of the game studios I've been giving surprise visits to and dropping my resume at decides to embrace me into their midst, despite the usual work permit, language barrier difficulties.

Korea Games Conference is next week. A couple of weeks later I'll head to Busan for G-Star to wrap up my trip in South Korea. If nothing changes, I'll be out of options but to start making real progress towards becoming a freelance illustrator.

Watching people play on the Tokyo and Seoul subways has been delightful, people of all ages and walks of life enjoying the same thing I do (and some even pay money to do sod maybe I'll have a slice of that in the future.)

Seen a few people play sport manager games, and started thinking about taking the concept and adding a theme I'd actually be interested in: Science Fiction.

Grand scale space opera to be exact - instead of recruiting star players to my fantasy soccer team, what if I micromanaged the promotion of spaceship recruits?

Batting averages replaced by damage reports?

Diplomacy with alien species, research fund allocation, communications with other players?

Developing the world in which these stats would "live" would probably be the hardest part, and the main reason this will probably be just another pipe dream. Maybe I could connect it with my sci-fi programmable deck builder game, which I still think about on occasion.

Building the plane while flying it

A saying I read in my copy of "Making Games," a magazine I picked up at GDC Europe, talking about Crytek's mo-cap pipeline for Ryse.

This came after the weekly board game night at the Technion in which I tried Mage Tower for the first time.

As these things often do, an idea was sparked: a game in which you build your spaceship as you fly through the vacuum of space, somehow similar to Galaxy Truckers in reverse.

Pieces added to your ship would work with one another in different ways, creating all sorts of interesting combos.
A drafting mechanic for crew is considered.

In short, this is just another idea in its diapers that will probably gather dust in a corner of my mind, like so many other before it.

Endless Drift

I'm currently reading through the Developer Magazine's Career Guide I picked up at GDC Europe. There's an article on how to make your own endless runner in Unity. A rocket avoiding obstacles and collecting bonue points? Lame.

So what sort of idea can I come up with that isn't quite so generic? An endless tōge to race down, drifting around the corners, trying to avoid dropping down the cliff or smashing into the mountain, skidding over loose debris.
A pumping eurobeat soundtrack, cars and achievements to unlock, scenery changing around you from typical Japanese mountain to fire and brimstone in hell... ;)

Left, right and brake, the only 3 buttons you would need as the car builds up speed without any player input.
A camera which gives exciting views and enough information so that the player can react to what's coming up.

Back From A Week in Germany

Found myself in Cologne once again, a volunteer at GDC Europe 2013 with a trade visitor pass to Gamescom which  I made full use of.

Some things were different this year, like my stay at a hostel or the fact that I had no shifts on Wednesday. Other things were similar, like the foot and back pain and the lack of meals.

Parties were better this year, in general, both from the networking aspect and from the free drinks / swag / comfort in room aspects. GDCE sessions a bit more boring than last year, and I had fallen asleep in practically each one I attended, the only exception being one of the sessions I was scanning for (a familiar role from GDC Online,) not that it was super interesting, it was more because I had been working and later had to sit on the floor.
Met some friends from last year, made a few new ones from the volunteers.
Grabbed more freebies than last year, regretting I hadn't brought a bigger bag and being forced to leave stuff behind.
Only scored a couple of VIP passes, one for Square Enix the other for Bethesda (given to my by a fellow volunteer who didn't have the time to use it) and didn't get to fully use them. Wasn't all that interested in checking all Squenix had to offer (I think RPG demos don't work well in a trade show environment, they require a slow build up and can be text heavy, being in German certainly doesn't help.)
Experienced the Oculus Rift, playing a demo of CCP's Valkyrie, played Forza 5 on the XBOX One, but didn't think the long lines for the PS4 were worth it. That'll have to wait for next year which I'm already planning for and thinking of improving. I'll probably spend Wednesday at the entertainment area if possible.

Still in the process of following up on all the leads I gathered. I had 25 business cards to work with, I thought I needed to save them for solid leads, ended up coming back home with a few, so there's some fear I may have missed some chances, but there's no helping it now.

Back in my daily grind of not knowing when I work my minimum wage shifts, falling even further behind in my app development class, and wondering if I'll finally give in and sign up as a freelancer.
On the positive side, it didn't seem that long ago that I thought it was going to be a long time before I get another holiday yet here we are celebrating the Jewish new year, and I've been back to board game night. Played 3 new games this week, and enjoyed them all: Summoner Wars, Battlestar Galactica (won as a Cylon sleeper agent,) and Courtier (won my second game.)

As far as game design ideas that sprung from these shows, there is nothing defined: just thinking how bad game pads are for finer control in FPSs, and how one might come up with truly innovative gameplay.

GDC Fever

The GDC Europe volunteer application form has come up a week ago, and there is a lot of action going on the facebook group for past volunteers. Everyone is excited about this year's event, anxious whether they will be picked, worried about sleeping and transportation arrangement, and anything else that needs to be taken care of.

As I wait for a response for my own application, hoping to hear a yes, wondering what I'll find this year in Cologne, Germany, I also think of my past experiences, and I thought I would share.

GDC Online 2011 in Austin, Texas, was my first GDC and I was delighted to have been chosen as a volunteer.

Small when compared to GDC and focusing on online, mobile and handheld, it nonetheless presented ample opportunities to gain new insight, network, and collect the all important swag.

GDC Online had the best parties in my opinion, with free food, open bars, more swag and enough room for everyone.

I wasn't able to enter as a volunteer at GDC 2012, but had plenty to do with my expo pass.

This show was huge: The career fair alone was about the size of GDC Online's expo, and I visited most of the booths with my business cards, portfolio and resumes. I went to the main expo floor and collected swag, spent some time in the Play area before the press got in, talked with the conference associates I met before or followed on social media, sat through the breaking in sessions and showed up at some parties.

GDC Europe 2012 was another conference I managed to get into as a volunteer. Similar in size to Online as far as sessions go, it had a tiny expo, although it was through here that I got my first art test.

My fellow volunteers at this show were more diverse than in Online, which I enjoyed (where else can a German, Swedish, Dutch, Briton, Greek, Turkish, American, Australian and Israel hang out in a bar and talk about video games?)

Lunch at the convention center was a definite bonus, although the parties weren't quite as good as the American counterparts, held in expensive places with insufficient space.

The best part about this show may actually be Gamescom - the computer game trade show which follows. While the main halls were open to the general public, volunteering at GDC gave me access to the business area, where I collected even more swag, got VIP passes to cut through lines which could reach 3 hours long for a hot game like Assassin's Creed 3, and made even more contacts. At the main halls I checked out some of the hottest new games (and a few duds,) took photos and yes, collected swag.

Can't wait to do it again, and with enough luggage space to take all my swag home.