GDCing: The Life and Times of the Smiling Volunteer X

Before Sunday he was not volunteer X.

It would not be a stretch at all to assume, in fact, that he had a name. When time came, his parents did choose a sensible name for their son, like Joseph or Michael and even if they had been more adventurous and opted for something more exotic like Asclepius, after that day, his name would be meaningless. Volunteer X, before he was called Volunteer X, attended school or had a job. He was not particularly young, nor old and the first thing the worker of the Moscone Center thought when she looked over the counter at the confused individual in front of her, was how unremarkable he was.

“X?” The girl laughed. “What kind of name is that?”

X tried to smile, yet what came out was an awkward stretch of his mouth. “They screwed up my badge, see?” He raised the laminated plastic to her eye level. It contained one simple white card. In it, rested a solitary X and underneath it, just a blank space where his title should have been. Lastly, a small, ubiquitous serial number (2****0) and, at the edge of the card, were the words All Access.

“Well..”She said. “At least they’ve got the important part right.”

~*~

That Sunday, X could not remember anyone’s name. He looked down the line, dreading the eventual approach of the others. The system, when it was first explained to him, was very confusing. The idea was to stuff as many bags as possible in a very short amount of time and, X, who had a talent for efficiency, soon realized the result was more of a speed dating event than a proper task. He watched the men and women as they moved from one table to the next, carrying the black bags and chatting as they did so, and sighed. At that rate it would take them the better part of the week to get the ever growing piles of bags filled.

“Hi!” Someone greeted him.

“Hi.” X reached into a pile and took a bright yellow sheet of paper, a black sheet of paper and, oddly enough, a ping pong ball. Would anyone at GDC even play Ping Pong? He thought, as he shoved the contents in a bag. “You’re X, right?”

“Yeah…and you are…”

“What? I’ve passed here five times and you still can’t remember? Starts with an M!”

“Mmmmmmike?”

“Megan.”

A moment of silence. Megan laughs. X looks down. He hears the shuffling of feet as she walks away. He never could remember anyone’s names.

~*~

His schedule for the rest of the week was subject to change. The man sitting next to the computer explained that he could change his badge at any time in the counter, but that due to some clerical error all his documents were labeled X. It did not matter, it seemed, that he did not have a last name. The man in the computer even mentioned it could be a good thing. “Everyone will remember you.” He said as an encouragement. Yet, X, staring at the piece of paper with a list of all his duties as a pink shirted volunteer, merely nodded.

He wondered whether Ken Levine would want to employ someone called X to work in the Bioshock sequel.

~*~

On Monday, a caffeine deprived X greeted 50 people in less than an hour. He made sure to smile allot, which may or may not have made more than a few attendees uncomfortable, and wish them a good morning as they walked by the door. It was all a rouse however, he just wanted them to stop long enough so he could read their badges and shove surveys into their hands. At one point someone walked through the door and X frowned.

“What’s wrong?” asked the other volunteer with a yawn.

“N-Nothing.” X nodded to a passing Summit and Tutorials holder “I just saw my future employer.”

X greeted 300 people in the following hours. Most of them were sleep deprived and allot were simply looking for a place to sit.

Later that day, as he walked to the hotel, X caught himself checking the people on the street for badges too.

(To be Continued)

GDCing: An Introduction to Grunt Work

We greet you every morning with a smile on our faces.

I am sure you have seen us, it is very difficult to miss our brightly colored shirts in the crowd of gray and black. We tell you good morning and check your badges, sometimes we answer your questions but most of all, we are just happy to be there.

We are your Conference Associates.

~*~

Everyone writes about the Game Developers Conference. You don’t even have to be there to try. Journalists sat with their laptops on hallways, their cameras resting quietly by their sides. They typed 60 words a minute, reporting on the new releases, the eccentric speakers and sessions that were too short. Even those who are not paid to write for a living offered a day by day account of their struggles and triumphs as attendees and in some cases, as volunteers or speakers as well.

It seems that everyone (and sometimes their mothers too) was at the Moscone Center this year and those who did not, know all about it too.

As saturated as the “writing about GDC” topic is, I cannot help but add my two cents to the conversation. However; in an attempt to break from the crowd and partially because writing articles can be really tiresome, I decided to take the storyteller’s approach by narrating little tidbits or scenes that are not all true, but very all very likely.

So please bear in mind that the GDCing series is a work of fiction and that the names of people and places have been changed to spare the volunteers (and, more often, the writer) any further embarrassment or repercussion.

…while I pondered weak and weary

I’d like to take this time to explain why a game about girls prancing around with cameras has made it to my top ten best games list.

Fatal Frame employs the “oh-crap-i-can’trun-or-shootthings-whatinthe-is-that-a-ghost-ohgod-runrunrun” system that I find is truly the essence of its genre. To me, once you acquire weapons, like full blown firearms or even a piece of wood, it becomes less about overcoming a terrible ordeal and more about shooting monsters in the face. The player feels empowered, safe even, and fear, which is the driving force of any horror story, is greatly diminished.

What I have come to realize, however, is that there are Survival Horror games and Survival Horror games. For the more active, brave, gameplay oriented player there are games like Resident Evil and Fear with cheap thrills, huge scary monsters popping out of the shadows and heroic characters, usually with some sort of military training. For the more passive, analytical, storyline oriented, there are games like Fatal Frame or Clock Tower, that feature a long convoluted plot, exploration of eerie scenarios and characters who are often helpless and alone.

I’d like to stress that no type is better than the other, different people like different things and all these titles have in common is that they are all bundled together under the same genre.

The exception to these categories, I believe, would be Silent Hill and that may be the reason why it is so cherished by game critics. In Silent Hill players do have weapons, but for the most part they merely stall for time, there are scary monsters, whose appearance is directly connected to the game’s convoluted plot and eerie scenarios where said monsters can pop out at any second. Players assume the role of many characters throughout the series, but for the most part they are 20-something young men with ‘civilian’ jobs. The camera control is typical of the survival horror genre as it serves more to hinder the player than aid him, but overall, Silent Hill possesses characteristics of both active and passive horror games.

Japanese developers continue to make ‘passive’ horror games and experiment with the genre with games such as Lifeline and the sound novel Gakkou de atta kowai hanashi but those rarely see western shores. When they do, fans have to endure long delays for localization, sub par voice acting (I am looking at you, Siren!) and outdated graphics.

It seems that in the United States, games of the active type are more prevalent. Alone in the Dark, the first survival horror game, had combat and weapons but focused more on solving puzzles, obviously attracting more analytical players. The upcoming sequel, however, suffered a dramatic change of style. This is what Eden Games producer Noir Polloni said during an interview with Gamespy.

“We’ve actually looked outside of the survival horror genre for our inspirations with this game. We wanted to create a broader experience which wasn’t appealing only to horror fans, and we’ve taken a much more action/adventure-oriented approach. One of our biggest inspirations was the first “Die Hard” movie which is the ultimate story of how one man survives using his environment against overwhelming odds..”

Even Silent Hill, now being developed by California based, The Collective, hints towards this trend. And why shouldn’t they? Games that mix horror with action are more successful and attract a bigger audience. The tendency is more and more games of this kind to be made in the future.

Hardly an enticing prospect for analytical horror fans.

Once upon a midnight dreary…

Before I waste any more of my dear readers’ (reader’s?) time, it might be important to point out one very crucial detail about the writer’s personality.

I am a very big, exceedingly obsessed, horror fan.

Whew, now that we got it out of the way, I can return to the usual magniloquent mumbling. (I was dying to use that word here at some point)

This rather old article will serve as a base for today’s rant.

To me it sounds like a dream come true. After the bitter disappointment that was Fatal Frame 3 (that tried so desperately to be as edgy as its predecessors only to fail miserably in the endless abyss of mediocre level design), it is refreshing to hear that the new one will be developed by none other than Grasshopper studios, makers of Killer7 and No More Heroes(a personal favorite for all the obvious reasons) who are so edgy they make otakus look cool. The development process will still be overseen by Tecmo (for horror continuity purposes, no doubt) and this time, Nintendo, who will hopefully sprinkle some of its magic dust on the title and make it sell like…ghost filled cupcakes…?

Fatal Frame fits very nicely to the Wii. It is a series revolving around young Japanese girls, an old camera and extremely self conscious ghosts. The act of raising your camera and taking pictures would work well with the nunchuck, and the lazy man’s way would be to make it an on-rails shooter (think pokemon snap) yet Grasshopper has demonstrated they are anything but. Gameplay wise, they will probably stick to the traditional exploration and odd camera controls, but now I am just guessing. Time will tell what direction this game will take, I, for one, am looking forward to it already.

On another note, Fatal Frame ties nicely to my next topic…

But more on that later.

Saw Party

Something on the Escapist caught my eye the other day.

Is it strange that the first thing I thought when I saw that headline was “I hope they make this a Wii game”?

The Wii’s catalog is childish. Sure, you sometimes have titles like Manhunt 2, No More Heroes or Call of Duty that sparkle hope into the hearts of those to whom the Nights storyline just doesn’t cut it anymore, but overall there isn’t that much variety in a console that is supposed to be so different.

The real Saw game is being developed by Brash entertainment known for..doing…well, they are new. According to the company’s website, their goal is ‘matching each licensed project with the skills of the best independent development studios, top writers and creative talent.’ Anyone familiar with the history of licensed game titles will realize what a tall order that is. Obviously, the Saw game is not being made for the Wii but for the xbox 360 or ps3, proper ‘next gen’ consoles. It makes sense since these are the people who enjoyed the movie in the first place.

So why did I entertain the idea of having a Saw game based on Mario Party? Probably because the idea is just as ridiculous as the movie upon which it is based.

Saw, like Mario Party,is about small obstacles, mini games if you will, with every situation requiring the player/ protagonist to overcome a different challenge. Through the gruesome solutions to each puzzle, we learn about the protagonist past and why he or she has become another victim to Jigsaw’s demented games. Regardless of the choices made, there are no truly ‘good endings’. That, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, could be a great game.

And of course, my fictitious Saw, the Game for the Nintendo Wii would be baned from England faster than you can say ‘Sir Knickerbottom’.

The Brawl effect – Take two

Quoting from the Destructoid article:

“The Smash Bros. series is made by and for life long videogame fans.”

Which brings me to my topic: The importance of fans

It is difficult being a fan in the games industry. You are often disappointed, taunted by delays, bullied on the internet and instantly labeled as a hapless fanatic with whatever you say being throughly ignored, followed by a shrug and the comment: “He/She is just a fanboy/fangirl”. Nintendo fans have it particularly hard lately, more so than their Sony and Xbox counterparts, but overall fans are an often abused sort.

Perhaps it is because of the comfortable niche we have put ourselves in, that of members of a secret society known as ‘gamers’ which makes us so frustrated when dealing with fans. We are all fanatics here, but discriminating fanatics none the less. We like to think of ourselves as connoisseurs, speaking with pride on all the games we have played and how Shadow of Colossus is somehow more meaningful than Halo or vice versa, and fanboys, well maybe they just remind us of a darker side of ourselves. That side that yells profanities at Jack Thompson or stood in outrage when film critic Roger Ebert declared video games were not art.

But what is wrong with being a fan anyway? I suppose it is the common ‘well they will buy any crap with Final Fantasy/Nintendo written on it’ line at work. The majority of fans dislike change, these are the same people who insist Fallout 3 will never outlive its predecessors, that Final Fantasy VII must have a remake and that the Super Nintendo was the best console ever created, and what happens when this pattern of thinking goes out of hand? The current state of the Japanese game industry happens.

Still, we should treat fans better (myself included) and fans should not be embarrassed of declaring themselves so. We are all fans of video games and all of us have bought some sort of game tie-in merchandise at one point or another. So, for everyone I bad mouthed Final Fantasy VII to, I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean it…much.

The Brawl effect

This will be a quick one, I promise.

Destructoid has an article for people (like me) who wonder what is the problem with all these crazy Nintendo fanboys/fangirls as of late.

So go ahead and read it.

I’ll talk more about it later.

See? Relatively painless