What We Believed Then and Why it Matters Now

 From worked on AAA titles  In took a break from games  In 2011 revived by Playdom

File Sharing …now

File Sharing …then

Communication …now

Communication …then

Target Audience …now

Target Audience …then

So… have you fought any imperials lately? I’ve been.. away What makes you think you can fight imperials in today’s rebellion? I was fighting imperials when you were a tadpole. I know how to fight imperials

 There are lessons that we can draw from making games in the 90’s that serve us well today  Because of the differences in market and environment perhaps they are durable

 Lesson 1: be earnest; love your audience; love your characters

So much of movie acting is in … loving your characters. I try to know them, and with that intimacy comes love. And now, I love Voldemort. Ralph Fiennes Examples Outside of Games: (US) Advertising Politics And any other kind of confidence game

 Lesson 2: a clear story

 It takes seven seconds for us to judge another person when we first meet them.  Most healthy teenagers and adults are unable to sustain attention on one thing for more than about 20 minutes at a time

Lesson 3: size matters size matters!

 With floppies, size meant cost of goods  CDs and DVDs, size management went out the window  Now, size matters again both in loading time and server processor cycles

 Lesson 4: the theater of the mind is alive and well

Love story? Chinese New Year?

"If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water." - Death In the Afternoon, Hemingway

 Lesson 5: understand need versus want and what risk of originality you can afford

Jose Ortega Y Gasset Some Lessons in Metaphysics Want: to desire more of something that exists Need: to crave something that does not yet exist

A sequel to a movie, a second episode of a show or playing a game “from an established genre”, are fulfilling a ‘wants’ The majority of economic activity is ‘want’ fulfilling There is an established desire for it, as long as you can recreate or slightly improve on the status quo – society is set up for this ‘Needs’ are tricky/risky because there is no roadmap No guarantee that people share your need Some original games can be a runaway success, start a new genre, create new wants In the end, you make the money off of the ‘want’ – maybe you arrived there from a ‘need’, but it’s the ‘want that paid off

Casual gamers are like hardcore gamers but they wont put up with your bullshit

Thank you for putting up with my B***t Q&A Additional Questions and Comments?