Clubberjack’s Unfocused Ramblings

• MediaShift . Zombie Bloggers Create Communal Horror Stories | PBS
  Zombies!
  (tags: zombies)

• jordanmechner.com » Blog Archive » The tyranny of the epic
  This explains why I've been enjoying the little games, like Gravitation. Or maybe it's that I don't have time for epics these days…
  (tags: games epics)

• Serious Fun § SEEDMAGAZINE.COM
  Kodu sounds pretty neat. There are also some interesting musings on the proper place of games and simulation in learning and education.
  (tags: games education simulation)

• All That Gore Gets in the Way of Gameplay | GameLife | Wired.com
  Interesting results… intuitively it makes sense, but now there's some research to back it up.
  (tags: gamedesign violence videogames)

• Tale of Tales» Blog » GDC impression: indie games have levelled up
  This jives with my impressions over the last few years at GDC. The indie scene is by-far the most exciting thing going on at GDC. People figuring out how to make their dreams sustainable (and occasionally, profitable).
  (tags: games GDC indiegames)

• How to build companies that matter - O'Reilly Radar
  Eric Ries lays out a compelling vision for the lean startup.
  (tags: business startups)

• » Learn more about Akoha ~ Akoha - Come Play it Forward
  I saw Austin Hill speak at GDC. Akoha sounds like a fantastic experiment in for-profit happiness generation!
  (tags: games community arg)
• Wonderland: My Ada Lovelace day post: Jane McGonigal
  Inspiring presentation by Jane McGonigal.
  (tags: games happiness)

• Monopoly Killer: Perfect German Board Game Redefines Genre
  Great article about the genesis and ongoing success of Catan.
  (tags: games gamedesign catan boardgames)

• Dailymotion - Warp Whistle, a video from MatthewDominick. Warp, Whistle, Super, Mario, Dominick
  Fun!
  (tags: games humor animation mario)

Well, I’ve been at GDC for a day and a half now, mostly attending the Serious Games Summit. As always, there’s a lot of great food for thought, and my brain is already threading things together into themes and commonalities. Here’s a few of them:

• Two talks had some great inspirational qualities. Austin Hill’s story of the genesis of Akoha was engaging and intriguing, and his goal of making the world a better place through gameplay is laudable (and seems achievable). Lauren Davis spoke about her work with Hidden Agenda, using a shoestring budget to generate a library of educational games. Her tactics are clever (and worth ripping off — for good, of course), and I’m now very curious about the gameplay in Elemental…
• Another theme (less apparent at the SGS, but there nonetheless) is the ascendance of Facebook games and their ilk: short-play/long-life, lightweight (HTML/Ajax/Flash), often asynchronous. Zynga appears to be the king of these games at the moment.
• From today’s sessions, Frank Lantz’s description of Chain Factor was entertaining: an ARG built around a casual puzzle game (that apparently is responsible for the economic crisis). Of particular note are Frank’s influences which include Oulipo, Christopher Manson, and Nabokov. It’s great to see such smart thinking going into mass media entertainment (and advergaming).
• Finally, one last link: Straylight Studios from New Zealand. Slick work from a team that is clearly passionate about what they do.

More to come soon…