GDC 2008 Insights, Part Eight

I’d figured the series were done but RPG Vault offers a surprise late entry by CD Projekt Red.

At GDC, I didn’t see anything revolutionary. Despite what the marketing people say, revolutions rarely happen in the video games industry. “Revolutionary solutions” means, rather, a number of small and clever gimmicks, discussed over and over at every possible opportunity.

However, I find the most interesting things somewhere between the lines. It is necessary to listen carefully and to analyze what has just been seen, because the most obvious ideas like to remain hidden. It’s the simple things that are the most valuable… can tiny guidelines direct us to perfect solutions? In a good game, for example, one must focus on searching for hints. Through this, we can approach some matters from another point of view, improve our skills, and do some things in better ways.

It is also worth listening to the problems other developers are struggling with; it is better to learn from others’ mistakes than our own… though regardless, we will have time to make some.

GDC has refreshed me and helped to gain more distance after a five-year project.