Reboot
A few weeks back I took a quick trip out to Dubrovnik to attend Reboot Develop Blue, a kind of micro-conference for game devs. I’d never really twigged that it was even a thing until a few people I met recommended it to me - one after another - and I decided to look into it. Miraculously, I somehow managed to get myself a free invite in return for doing some sort of talk. I don’t really like conferences — too many people, and often, worse still; corporate-people — and the idea of me talking in public is slightly too ridiculous to even consider. However, events moved fast and soon there was a plan to hook up with Seoirse Dunbar (of Adventure Game Podcast fame) and do some kind of ‘fireside chat’ with him.
What they say about Reboot is that it’s different - a more intimate and friendly kind of event. A place where indie devs will feel at home and unthreatened. It turns out that this is exactly what it is. Even I enjoyed it and so I recommend it wholeheartedly. I even managed to network a bit and met some interesting people, not least of which was Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games. The evening dinner crew was quite a roll-call of adventure folk. Cool stuff.
As to our talk… well, I believe Seoirse was at least happy with it. From my point of view it was diabolically bad! The saving grace being that it was set in a small side room and the audience would have easily fit on a single coach to the airport - which is likely what they were all planning afterwards. Amusingly, both of the Cecil’s came along and sat right in front of me, which was in no way off putting.
Part of my plan was to talk about the current and future state of adventure gaming, which I see as being pretty healthy at the moment. My example of ‘what to do’ when thinking of making an adventure game was to point to a game like Hobbs Barrow - e.g. traditional Point and Click with low tech graphics and an emphasis on the characters and story (which are what really matters). These games are coming back for various reasons, not least because no one cares about 3D this and 3D that anymore - people just want a good game first and foremost. It just happened that Dave Gilbert was also in the audience, and he, I would think, surely agreed with me. Despite feeling it was all a bit crappy, I actually got a decent confidence boost from the whole thing, so at least someone benefitted! Afterwards, of course, one starts to think of all the things you ‘should have said’ - ah well. There was at least a nice gaggle of Broken Sword fans to chat to in the corridor when we’d finished.
I wonder if they’ll invite me back next year? Maybe not! But I will likely go anyway as it really is a cool event. Moreover, Dubrovnik itself is superb.
Back in the world of actual game dev, I am making great progress on my own project - Wormhole Dungeon (as it might be called - I may yet try and slip the word ‘templar’ into the title!) I will soon start to talk about this game in more detail now that the book stuff is mostly out of the way. But here’s some brief details… my theory of ‘what to do’ when thinking of what game to create next is not to do what the corporate gaming industry does and look at what has sold well over the last few months and then do the same, but instead to take a far broader view of games over the last several decades and pick some position within that timeline where you might be able to do something interesting. Probably this is naive and risky, but not much isn’t in game dev to be perfectly honest. Making something that is ‘authentic’ in its own right is at least one box worth ticking.
Games evolve just like most things do, which is to say, by people trying new ideas atop of old ones. Pick some element to improve and see if it sticks. There’s always some linage, even if people deny it. In my case, I have great fondness for a long forgotten 8-bit genre known at the time as the Arcade Adventure. You’d basically have some arcade gameplay and simple key-lock puzzles. A brilliant example was the game, Sorcery, but there were many variations. My own game, Obsidian, was exactly this. The nearest thing now would be Metroidvania, but that genre is very rigidly defined these days (also, try reading up on Rogue, Rogue-lite, Rogue-like!). I’d not want to say that my game is in anyway a Metroidvania because it’s in no way a perfect fit. I’m basically going with simple graphic tech - pixel art, which I love so much, and which is 100% valid these days - sophisticated PnC style puzzles, characterisation and some not too difficult ‘arcade’ stuff. It’ll be a curious mix, to say the least, but it might just work!
Tony
ps - had a great chat with James Woodcock about AI, here.
pps - Revbook still available here.