In my second profile of a conference speaker at FuturePlay 2008 I am going to shine the spotlight on Don Daglow.
Man, where to begin.... Don has been designing games since 1971. Yes, that is not a typo, 1971. He designed the first graphical MMORPG (Neverwinter Nights), he designed the first computer baseball game, he designed what is, to me, the best baseball game ever (Earl Weaver Baseball). What about Utopia for the Intellivision? Yeah, that was him too. This was the first sim game, or god game if you will.
He is also the founder of a little outfit called Stormfront Studios.
Awards? Oh he has awards.. How about an Emmy and an award from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (oh he is the only guy to have those two).
I could go on, and on... but I want to mention personally how huge this is for a gamer like myself. I have played four entire Major League baseball seasons (playing every single game myself) using Earl Weaver Baseball. I got interested in baseball stats and the history of the game through the statistical modeling used in Earl Weaver Baseball. I found out about Cool Papa Bell, and Amos "the Hoosier Thunderball" Rusie and Josh Gibson and Honus Wagner because of a great video game. When I was younger I had a copy of Utopia for the Intellivision. While playing that game with my buddy Brent in high school I learned that the military is not the only way to gain power and be prosperous (like it was in most games, and often still is). Running an economy and keeping people happy was NOT just about getting more land in this game. It was about providing service. Oh, I learned that in a video game, imagine that. Adventure Construction Set taught me directly about design. It introduced me to the idea of modding, and to the idea of story in a game. ACS came out in the mid 80s, who was modding in the mid 80s? Well, those of use with ACS were, and we have Don Daglow to thank.
I can't wait for his keynote. I might bring my old Earl Weaver disks and get him to autograph them...
Showing posts with label game design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label game design. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Monday, November 12, 2007
T6 Flashback 11 - Clint Hocking Keynote from 2006
As promised, here is Clint Hocking's keynote from FuturePlay 2006. This should give you a taste of what we have had in the past at FP.
Clint talked about getting a demo beyond the Male 18-34 bracket, there are a lot of other humans out there that could get entertained, and perhaps more from video games.
(As a side note, I think I was the only one in the room that did not fall for the 'look under your chair for you 3D glasses' bit).
Listen and enjoy
Clint talked about getting a demo beyond the Male 18-34 bracket, there are a lot of other humans out there that could get entertained, and perhaps more from video games.
(As a side note, I think I was the only one in the room that did not fall for the 'look under your chair for you 3D glasses' bit).
Listen and enjoy
Paper Sessions - An Example
Now we have keynotes (I will post one of them later today) at FuturePlay each year and then there are the paper sessions. I recorded some guy presenting a paper on experimental psychology and game design last year in London at FuturePlay 2006.
This talk should give you a good feel for the paper sessions.
If you check this dude's blog you can get the paper and the powerpoint slides....
Listen Now.
This talk should give you a good feel for the paper sessions.
If you check this dude's blog you can get the paper and the powerpoint slides....
Listen Now.
Friday, November 9, 2007
T6 Flashback 10 - Interview with CLint Hocking of Ubisoft
Episode 41 of T6 is flashback number 10.
From FuturePlay 2006 an interview with Clint Hocking. Clint has been working for Ubisoft in Montréal for five years. Most recently he worked as scriptwriter, lead level designer and creative director on SPLINTER CELL: CHAOS THEORY. Before games he worked in the web industry and experimented with independent filmmaking while earning a masters’ degree in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. He lives happily in Montréal with his fiancé and his dog.
Clint and I talked about the future of game design and the fact that games need not just be fun, they could also be what Clint calls 'engaging'. There is a whole other market out there beyond the 18-34 year old males.
Clint is working on a project currently for Ubisoft, but I could not get it out of him. Perhaps Sam Fisher knows....
Music in this episode from The Rantings of EVA and Battery Life.
Listen and enjoy....
From FuturePlay 2006 an interview with Clint Hocking. Clint has been working for Ubisoft in Montréal for five years. Most recently he worked as scriptwriter, lead level designer and creative director on SPLINTER CELL: CHAOS THEORY. Before games he worked in the web industry and experimented with independent filmmaking while earning a masters’ degree in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. He lives happily in Montréal with his fiancé and his dog.
Clint and I talked about the future of game design and the fact that games need not just be fun, they could also be what Clint calls 'engaging'. There is a whole other market out there beyond the 18-34 year old males.
Clint is working on a project currently for Ubisoft, but I could not get it out of him. Perhaps Sam Fisher knows....
Music in this episode from The Rantings of EVA and Battery Life.
Listen and enjoy....
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Constance Steinkuehler Keynote
As our (why do I say that, there is just me typing these things...) coverage of the upcoming Keynotes at FuturePlay 2007 continues, let's move on the talk by Constance Steinkuehler. Constance's talk can be summarized below (from an abstract of one of her papers).
"For those with a vested interest in online technologies for learning, the knowledge and skills that constitute successful participation in massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) places them squarely among the most promising new digital technologies to date. In this paper, I broadly outline the qualitative results of a two and a half year cognitive ethnography of the MMO Lineage and describe the current trajectory of research we are now pursuing, based on those findings: (a) the empirical investigation of focused research questions in order to document and analyze those core practices that constitute gameplay in virtual worlds, and (b) the development of educational activities for after school clubs that capitalize on those capacities found throughout our research. This essay concludes with a reflection on the multiple relationships between games and education, highlighting the potential for such technologies to transform not only the means of education but also perhaps the goals."
This one sounds very cool, as a psychologist, and a gamer, I am not missing this one.
"For those with a vested interest in online technologies for learning, the knowledge and skills that constitute successful participation in massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) places them squarely among the most promising new digital technologies to date. In this paper, I broadly outline the qualitative results of a two and a half year cognitive ethnography of the MMO Lineage and describe the current trajectory of research we are now pursuing, based on those findings: (a) the empirical investigation of focused research questions in order to document and analyze those core practices that constitute gameplay in virtual worlds, and (b) the development of educational activities for after school clubs that capitalize on those capacities found throughout our research. This essay concludes with a reflection on the multiple relationships between games and education, highlighting the potential for such technologies to transform not only the means of education but also perhaps the goals."
This one sounds very cool, as a psychologist, and a gamer, I am not missing this one.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
More On The Student Experience at FuturePlay
Gavan Acton is a graduate of Algoma's Computer Science programme and has been to each and every edition of FP. He has also been a frequent guest on T6. I emailed Gav the other day and asked him a few questions about his experiences at FP 05, 06 and his hopes for the 07 conference in Toronto. Currently, Gav is a grad student in Computer Science at UWO.
Dave Brodbeck: Gavan what are your best memories of past FuturePlay conferences?
Gavan Acton: My first Futureplay experience was completely insane. Futureplay 2005 - I went down not really knowing what to expect from the speakers. I was blown away by the keynotes. Their depth of knowledge, clarity of ideas and perspectives really got me thinking. When I left the conference, my head chewed on their ideas for weeks.
I still remember the ride home after the conference vividly, I sat in the back seat of the van thinking of how to apply so much of what I had heard over the last couple days into a new gaming experience. The result was some of the fundamental game mechanics that we later used in a game called Flux( that won a few awards at Dare to Be Digitall and Futureplay 2006.
Presenting and pitching a game to Clint Hocking was pretty dam cool. I also really enjoyed the games competition and not because I had a game in it. There is always so many interesting games that make you look at gaming differently. Last year there was this one game made for the blind that blew me away. You basically had to ski down this mountain only using your ears to guide you. I found the experience very visceral and left me thinking about a whole set of new game mechanics that could make use of senses other then the visual. Very interesting stuff and definitely not conventional.
DB: What are you looking forward to this year?
GA: What you are looking forward to
More of the same from the last two years. That would be spectacular. I am really looking forward to the panel "Players Gaming the Play, Toolsets, and Creativity in and around Games". I love the possibilities of new online worlds that seriously engage a player with a gameplay but also with content provide by both the game studio and players themselves. Online gaming communities have so many possible avenues of interesting entertainment, it's future is exciting. This panel looks to talk about some of these issues. I am also reading a fantastic book by one of the panelists(Katherine Isbister), it should be interesting to hear her speak.
The other panel that looks awesome is "Games for Immersive Learning in other Subjects". The panelist line up looks fantastic. The conversations will definitely be interesting.
Did I mention Keynotes? I am pumped.
DB: Do some name dropping, who have you met at FuturePlay?
GA: Ha. I am terrible with names. Let me dig up some business cards. ;-)
Clint Hocking (Ubisoft - Splinter Cell anyone?)
Micheal Mateas ( Co-Creator of Fascade - Ranked third most influential AI game according to aigamedev.com )
Ernest Adams ( The man with the insane hats! and a ton of game design books)
Ken Perlin ( Inventor of Perlin Noise - used in Half Life 2 a so many other games for NPC character motion and emotion expression).
Ricardo Rademache (Insane Physicist meets creator of WOW type learning world)
I really could keep going but wont. Futureplay has always pulled amazing people from both the industry and Academe. Luckily not many of them have rabies, so you can just go talk with them. Its not like GDC were its almost impossible to talk with anyone because your all crunched like sardines. It definitely has a relaxed feel.
DB:What was your experience like as an undergraduate at FuturePlay 05 and 06?
GA:My experience as an undergrad was fantastic. I walked around like a tourist, taking in as much as I could and all the while being a little awestruck. Although I have played video games my whole life, I had no idea the depth of creative thought that goes into them. Everything from the player experience, to the economics, to the legal, psychological and moral issues are all discussed. Futureplay definitely got my feet wet to the gaming world.
DB: Now you are a graduate student, do you expect your experience to be any different this time around?
GA: Ha good question. It will definitely be different in that I have much more experience in games now. Having been had the opportunity at Dare to be Digital to apply what I learned at Futureplay, I can listen with the experience of real game development. This will help me get a better understanding of the possible application of the speakers ideas. More then that, now that I have a very specific research area in AI for games, I will definitely be attending specific research presentations within my field.
Other then that, my guess is that I will be as blown away as I have been previous Futureplay conferences.
DB: At FuturePlay 2006 you spoke about your experience at Dare to Be Digital, was that a little scary?
GA: Public speaking can be scary. I always try to use coping mechanisms like drinking and/or dressing up in a Halo Master Chief suit. For whatever reason, I find imagining the crowd naked to be terrible distracting...Honestly, having presented the game 200 times over the course of 10 weeks at Dare, speaking in public becomes much easier. My nervousness fades after the first 20 seconds or so and then... i just look awesome in an armor suit. ;-)
Dave Brodbeck: Gavan what are your best memories of past FuturePlay conferences?
Gavan Acton: My first Futureplay experience was completely insane. Futureplay 2005 - I went down not really knowing what to expect from the speakers. I was blown away by the keynotes. Their depth of knowledge, clarity of ideas and perspectives really got me thinking. When I left the conference, my head chewed on their ideas for weeks.
I still remember the ride home after the conference vividly, I sat in the back seat of the van thinking of how to apply so much of what I had heard over the last couple days into a new gaming experience. The result was some of the fundamental game mechanics that we later used in a game called Flux( that won a few awards at Dare to Be Digitall and Futureplay 2006.
Presenting and pitching a game to Clint Hocking was pretty dam cool. I also really enjoyed the games competition and not because I had a game in it. There is always so many interesting games that make you look at gaming differently. Last year there was this one game made for the blind that blew me away. You basically had to ski down this mountain only using your ears to guide you. I found the experience very visceral and left me thinking about a whole set of new game mechanics that could make use of senses other then the visual. Very interesting stuff and definitely not conventional.
DB: What are you looking forward to this year?
GA: What you are looking forward to
More of the same from the last two years. That would be spectacular. I am really looking forward to the panel "Players Gaming the Play, Toolsets, and Creativity in and around Games". I love the possibilities of new online worlds that seriously engage a player with a gameplay but also with content provide by both the game studio and players themselves. Online gaming communities have so many possible avenues of interesting entertainment, it's future is exciting. This panel looks to talk about some of these issues. I am also reading a fantastic book by one of the panelists(Katherine Isbister), it should be interesting to hear her speak.
The other panel that looks awesome is "Games for Immersive Learning in other Subjects". The panelist line up looks fantastic. The conversations will definitely be interesting.
Did I mention Keynotes? I am pumped.
DB: Do some name dropping, who have you met at FuturePlay?
GA: Ha. I am terrible with names. Let me dig up some business cards. ;-)
Clint Hocking (Ubisoft - Splinter Cell anyone?)
Micheal Mateas ( Co-Creator of Fascade - Ranked third most influential AI game according to aigamedev.com )
Ernest Adams ( The man with the insane hats! and a ton of game design books)
Ken Perlin ( Inventor of Perlin Noise - used in Half Life 2 a so many other games for NPC character motion and emotion expression).
Ricardo Rademache (Insane Physicist meets creator of WOW type learning world)
I really could keep going but wont. Futureplay has always pulled amazing people from both the industry and Academe. Luckily not many of them have rabies, so you can just go talk with them. Its not like GDC were its almost impossible to talk with anyone because your all crunched like sardines. It definitely has a relaxed feel.
DB:What was your experience like as an undergraduate at FuturePlay 05 and 06?
GA:My experience as an undergrad was fantastic. I walked around like a tourist, taking in as much as I could and all the while being a little awestruck. Although I have played video games my whole life, I had no idea the depth of creative thought that goes into them. Everything from the player experience, to the economics, to the legal, psychological and moral issues are all discussed. Futureplay definitely got my feet wet to the gaming world.
DB: Now you are a graduate student, do you expect your experience to be any different this time around?
GA: Ha good question. It will definitely be different in that I have much more experience in games now. Having been had the opportunity at Dare to be Digital to apply what I learned at Futureplay, I can listen with the experience of real game development. This will help me get a better understanding of the possible application of the speakers ideas. More then that, now that I have a very specific research area in AI for games, I will definitely be attending specific research presentations within my field.
Other then that, my guess is that I will be as blown away as I have been previous Futureplay conferences.
DB: At FuturePlay 2006 you spoke about your experience at Dare to Be Digital, was that a little scary?
GA: Public speaking can be scary. I always try to use coping mechanisms like drinking and/or dressing up in a Halo Master Chief suit. For whatever reason, I find imagining the crowd naked to be terrible distracting...Honestly, having presented the game 200 times over the course of 10 weeks at Dare, speaking in public becomes much easier. My nervousness fades after the first 20 seconds or so and then... i just look awesome in an armor suit. ;-)
Sunday, September 23, 2007
T6 Flashbacks- 2
In the runup to FuturePlay 2005 I interviewed gaming industry luminary Greg Costikyan.
Greg joined me on the phone from New York where he works as a developer and commentator as well as a science fiction and fantasy writer. Greg is on the editorial board of Gamestudies and is the chief creative officer of Unplugged Inc.
We talked about the future of the industry, the effects of the convergence of gaming and other media forms (movies etc) and Greg shares his passion for World of Warcraft.
Greg also gave a preview of what he talked about in his keynote at FuturePlay 2005.
Note, there are some audio problems in this episode, and they are completely my fault.
Direct Episode Download.
Greg joined me on the phone from New York where he works as a developer and commentator as well as a science fiction and fantasy writer. Greg is on the editorial board of Gamestudies and is the chief creative officer of Unplugged Inc.
We talked about the future of the industry, the effects of the convergence of gaming and other media forms (movies etc) and Greg shares his passion for World of Warcraft.
Greg also gave a preview of what he talked about in his keynote at FuturePlay 2005.
Note, there are some audio problems in this episode, and they are completely my fault.
Direct Episode Download.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Why Are We Here?
Hey look, first post...
Well, the purpose of this blog is to get information about FuturePlay 2007 out to the community. I promise lots of content on the blog, and the frequency of posting will ramp up as the conference approaches. I will also live blog from the conference.
Of course, there will be content from the thunderbird six podcast, including interviews with past conference attendees, and a couple of past paper presentations.
The Future Play Conference focuses on three main themes. The first theme, future game development, addresses academic research and emerging industry trends in the area of game technology and game design. The second theme, future game impacts and applications, includes academic research and emerging industry trends focused on designing games for learning, for gender, for serious purposes, and to impact society. Finally, the third theme, future game talent, is designed to provide a number of industry and academic perspectives on the knowledge, skills, and attitude it takes to excel in the games industry.
Future Play addresses these issues through exciting and thought-provoking keynotes from leaders in academia and industry, peer-reviewed paper sessions, panel sessions (including academic and industry discussions), workshops (including design, technology, and career workshops), and exhibitions of posters, games, and the latest game technologies and supports from industry-leading vendors. The highlight of the games exhibition is a peer-reviewed competition of games in three categories: Indie Games, Serious Games, and Student Games.
For Future Play 2007, Algoma University College teams up with the University of Ontario Institute of Technology to bring you some of the most thought provoking and talented people in the gaming world today.
Well, the purpose of this blog is to get information about FuturePlay 2007 out to the community. I promise lots of content on the blog, and the frequency of posting will ramp up as the conference approaches. I will also live blog from the conference.
Of course, there will be content from the thunderbird six podcast, including interviews with past conference attendees, and a couple of past paper presentations.
The Future Play Conference focuses on three main themes. The first theme, future game development, addresses academic research and emerging industry trends in the area of game technology and game design. The second theme, future game impacts and applications, includes academic research and emerging industry trends focused on designing games for learning, for gender, for serious purposes, and to impact society. Finally, the third theme, future game talent, is designed to provide a number of industry and academic perspectives on the knowledge, skills, and attitude it takes to excel in the games industry.
Future Play addresses these issues through exciting and thought-provoking keynotes from leaders in academia and industry, peer-reviewed paper sessions, panel sessions (including academic and industry discussions), workshops (including design, technology, and career workshops), and exhibitions of posters, games, and the latest game technologies and supports from industry-leading vendors. The highlight of the games exhibition is a peer-reviewed competition of games in three categories: Indie Games, Serious Games, and Student Games.
For Future Play 2007, Algoma University College teams up with the University of Ontario Institute of Technology to bring you some of the most thought provoking and talented people in the gaming world today.
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