This year: I hadn’t even left the talk before I got this email: This is excellent. Easy and automated (using the RFID tags in the pass itself, that’s scanned as you walk in the door), it’s quick and accurate. As a bonus, I can rely on it to give me […]
conferences
73 posts
Great writeup in PCGamer about GameCamp4, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the feel of an unconference (and google the term if you want to know more). The first unconference I went to, the very first session … the speaker clearly didn’t know what he/she was talking about. They mouthed a […]
…if you: finish it and design it and build it and test it and refine it and launch it and sell it and market it …for me. This was the tempting offer whispered in my ear this evening by a hard-up web-developer at a networking event, once we were alone, […]
I just got two more emails about GDC attendance, and had to apologise that I won’t be there. Hopefully, this post will head off some of the rest. Disclaimer: for the past 4 or 5 years, I’ve run one of the main calendars of unofficial GDC events. Every night of […]
It’s a bit mean to hilight just one culprit here – this isn’t that rare – but it’s something I’ve been meaning to talk about for ages. Sometimes, bad or broken user-interface has a direct, measureable impact on a business, due to increased customer-support costs (usually CS is paid by […]
With only 250 tickets available, I guess a lot of people in Brighton will be getting one of these today: Dear adam martin TEDxBrighton I’m sorry to inform you that your application to attend TEDxBrighton on 21st January has been unsuccessful. As the first TEDxBrighton event, and offering free tickets, […]
Last GDC, we made an iPhone app for friends at the conference, but it got stuck in submission for too long (Apple was being paranoid about anything with location/GPS at the time. Sigh) and only a handful of people got to use the app (our beta testers). We ended up […]
This past few days, as people have asked me “how’s the conference going for you?”, my recurring response has been: I’m ambivalent. This is my first SXSWi; I go to 3-5 tech and media conferences a year, speak at 1-3 of them. The “party” atmosphere was fun on the first […]
…it’s not a good idea to mug someone who practices Kung Fu. Fortunately, in this case, I’d only slept 3 hours in the previous 40, and it took me long enough to realise what was happening – and I was sufficiently in-attentive – that I didn’t hit back in any […]
I’ll be in SF from Monday afternoon to Thursday evening (leaving SFO at midnight on thursday night). My iPhone is unlocked, so I’m hoping to find a cheap SIM to shove in, but otherwise it’ll be email-only. The 2010 list of GDC parties is looking pretty full (and there’s a […]
Google is giving away free Nexus One handsets to mobile developers attending the GDC this year Google is not a games company; Google has never shown any interest in the $75 billion (roughly) games industry. Suprising? Not really … $75 billion *for the entire industry* is smaller than some individual […]
Last night, I went to the Houses of Parliament for the first time, for a panel session on Video Games, organized by one of our MP’s, Tom Watson. Walking through the enormous medieval Westminster Hall (stone floor, stone walls, massive oak timbered ceiling) en route was a bit surreal, and […]
In general, it seems that most entrants to game-design-competitions could get huge benefit from just a small amount of fairly simple advice and feedback. I’ve been a judge on several game-design competitions. I’ve seen a lot of recurring mistakes and successes, and I’d like to see less of the former, […]
In a few months time, I’ll be in Austin, TX, sitting on a panel at SXSW … judging people’s ideas for new computer games. I’m going to make an offer here, now, to help people entering future competitions (FYI: it’s too late for SXSW 2010). This is the fourth time […]
Conferences don’t make these public. But they should. So … here are the evaluations (from the audience) for our panel session at AGDC 09. Judge for yourself whether you want to attend any future sessions featuring us again (Adam Martin, Bill Dalton, Rick Lambright, Joe Ludwig, Marty Poulin). Head Count: […]
Last month, I ran a novel panel session at Austin GDC, which was well-attended and (apparently) well-liked. I came up with the format myself, very different from normal panels, and spent a couple of months fleshing it out with the panellists, discussing different ways we could improve on it, different […]
Slides for our panel arehere: “Killing mmo tech sacred cows.pdf”. Final panel was myself (moderating) and speakers: Bill Dalton (Bioware), Rick Lambright (Gazillion), Joe Ludwig (Valve), Marty Poulin (Shady Logic). PLEASE NOTE: WE DON’T REALLY ADVOCATE EXTREMIST RESPONSES TO TECHNICAL QUESTIONS; THIS WAS JUST A BIT OF FUN. (Mostly).
A bit late to be asking, I know, but … If you’re (considering) going to GDC next year (the worlds biggest game development conference, in San Francisco), is there any topic in particular you’d like me to speak on? The deadline for proposals has been extended to today. I’ve submitted […]
If you’re in Brighton this week for the Develop conference … there’s a few places left at the free networking/talks event we’re doing tomorrow night: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/3017732/?ps=6 (if you can’t make it, I’ll get all the slides on-line afterwards, so long as the speakers don’t mind) …although we’re getting very close […]
Really? O, RLY? Well, no, probably not – but this is the kind of opening statement I often make at industry-conference parties. In this rare case, at LOGIN this year, I was showing something on my laptop at the time and happened to *type* my opening salvo, rather than just […]