January 3, 2006
2005 Detritus, and Love from the Tunnel
Wait, before we say goodbye to 2005, let me quickly throw out a few extra links that shouldn’t be forgotten:
- Innovation pains: a fascinating pair of Gamespot articles discussing the difficulty of innovating in mainstream gaming, including frank quotes from a bemused Tim Schafer and an ever-optimistic Neil Young.
- A holodeck for crickets: very cool.
- A research community within a game: Katherine Isbister and Chelsea Hash’s sim SBRL.
- Making stories meaningful for thousands: A presentation by Mirjam Eladhari, The Holy Grail of MMOG Design.
- Spielberg as unappreciated game designer? A glowing review of The Dig, 1995.
- Everybody clicks in LA: digital art in SoCal.
- EA fishing for AI talent: The Tank Wars competition, but only open to select schools in the North America and the UK. Also see this article.
- “You can’t polish a turd”, and other young turk wisdoms: How to Prototype a Game in Under 7 Days: Tips and Tricks from 4 Grad Students Who Made Over 50 Games in 1 Semester.
And finally, 2005 ends on a nice note for Michael and me, with indie game site Game Tunnel awarding Façade 1st place for Innovative Game of the Year, as well as 4th place for Best Adventure Game, and 4th place for Best Sound. Thanks, Game Tunnel!