Hello. My\u00a0name’s David, and\u00a0I\u00a0do stuff with indie game developers. Bit of\u00a0Alright is happening for\u00a0a\u00a0few reasons.<\/p>\n
Somewhere, sometime in\u00a02011: I’m at\u00a0a\u00a0conference, in\u00a0a\u00a0talk about indie game development. There’s a\u00a0man on\u00a0the\u00a0stage showing a\u00a0slide that has a\u00a0venn diagram in\u00a0different shades of\u00a0grey. He presses onward, to\u00a0a\u00a0pyramid with horizontal stripes, also in\u00a0shades of\u00a0grey, with a\u00a0businessy sounding word written in\u00a0each stripe. Over the\u00a0top of\u00a0this, in\u00a0a\u00a0monotone, he’s telling us we have to\u00a0be really passionate about things we pitch. It’s not that we don’t get it. He doesn’t get us.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0best meeting I\u00a0had this year, we were on\u00a0a\u00a0beach with sharpies, drawing faces on\u00a0stones. We’d just seen a\u00a0speaker who made us laugh like drains, then found a\u00a0vacant corner and\u00a0taught a\u00a0bunch of\u00a0strangers how to\u00a0play ninja<\/a>. Sometimes, these things happen. A\u00a0speaker is passing out post it notes and\u00a0making the\u00a0audience play a\u00a0dumb yet captivating game. Elsewhere: You get to\u00a0play a\u00a0beta of\u00a0something first thing in\u00a0the\u00a0morning, with a\u00a0huge projector screen, while you sink into a\u00a0sofa and\u00a0the\u00a0developer is eating a\u00a0fry up behind you. Later that day: A\u00a0game designer is leading a\u00a0game where people in\u00a0the\u00a0crowd tap each other on\u00a0the\u00a0shoulder and\u00a0shout things. Someone leaves a\u00a0load of\u00a0wooden spoons and\u00a0lemons around, and\u00a0someone else knows what to\u00a0do<\/a>. Sometimes, not only do these things happen, but you get to chat with the designers too.<\/p>\n More of\u00a0this. Less of\u00a0everything else.<\/p>\n Sitting in\u00a0conference sessions isn’t “maximising your takeaway”, more often than not it’s filling your head with fluff from talks that speakers threw together in\u00a0the\u00a0night. So less of\u00a0that. Fewer keynotes in\u00a0which people bang on\u00a0about MMOs\/social games\/casual games being money printers, six months before their pet project launches and\u00a0immediately fails. Fewer litanies of\u00a0past projects. Less hysteria over the\u00a0next big thing that probably won’t wipe everything else out.<\/p>\n I’m being unfair. Talks can be good, but there’s so much else besides. Entertainment and\u00a0useful information aren’t exclusive of\u00a0each other. People are interesting and\u00a0fun, and\u00a0that doesn’t detract from business.<\/p>\n Independent game development has been important to\u00a0me for\u00a0a\u00a0long time, because that’s where the\u00a0cultural fringe is, the\u00a0engine of\u00a0new stuff. I\u00a0used to\u00a0work for\u00a0a\u00a0company that did events, and\u00a0it took years to\u00a0convince them to\u00a0let me do an\u00a0indie games conference called World of\u00a0Love. It got very good reviews<\/a>, and\u00a0the\u00a0people who came to\u00a0speak were both lovely and\u00a0brilliant, but I\u00a0never thought it went far enough, or\u00a0was interesting enough. It was a\u00a0stage with a\u00a0load of\u00a0people sat listening, and\u00a0I\u00a0think that entire format is beset with problems.<\/p>\n At\u00a0the\u00a0same time, when conferences try to\u00a0add something to\u00a0that, I\u00a0feel like I’m being made to\u00a0stand up and\u00a0do the\u00a0fun<\/em>. Then it’s over, and\u00a0there’s more droning. I’ve been to\u00a0a\u00a0lot of\u00a0videogames events, and\u00a0worked on\u00a0quite a\u00a0few too. A\u00a0lot of\u00a0good and\u00a0bad runs through them, and\u00a0Bit of\u00a0Alright will be, I\u00a0hope, just right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello. My\u00a0name’s David, and\u00a0I\u00a0do stuff with indie game developers. Bit of\u00a0Alright is happening for\u00a0a\u00a0few reasons. Somewhere, sometime in\u00a02011: I’m at\u00a0a\u00a0conference, in\u00a0a\u00a0talk about indie game development. There’s a\u00a0man on\u00a0the\u00a0stage showing a\u00a0slide that has a\u00a0venn diagram in\u00a0different shades of\u00a0grey. He presses onward, to\u00a0a\u00a0pyramid with horizontal stripes, also in\u00a0shades of\u00a0grey, with a\u00a0businessy sounding word written in\u00a0each stripe. Over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about","category-why"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feral-vector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feral-vector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feral-vector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feral-vector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feral-vector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/feral-vector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70,"href":"https:\/\/feral-vector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/70"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feral-vector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feral-vector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feral-vector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}