The Chaos of GDC.

My life long goal has to become a Game Designer. I know most people say shit like that all the time. Lets be frank, they think video games are cool and every one has an opinion. You know what they say about opinions, right? Well the same goes for game ideas. I don't have game ideas, that's not what I do. I mean YES of course I have ideas of what a cool game would be, or an idea about a game, but im not delusional and trying to pass this idea off to a company and expect them to hire me because of it. I use my idea's to make things better, to make my design choices and why I make them.

I'm getting off topic though so let me digress. It has been my dream, my one goal, to go to a GDC or an E3 convention. Not as some random kid that can pay for it, but to go as a Designer. This year, this day, has been the realization of that dream and that lifelong goal. I've met with and talked to people in the industry. People that are doing what I want to do. I talked to the, as an almost equal. I say this because I am still a student and have A LOT to learn. Today though, today is by far one of the best days in my life.

I'm going to mention a few of the people I talked to today, mainly those people who gave me there buisness card and seemed genuinely interested in me as a potential candidate or just enthusiastic.

1. Blizzard Entertainment - Joshua Mosqueira - Lead Designer.
I sat with and listened to another designer talk to Josh about what blizzard wants and is looking for, and as Joshua started talking, I could almost finish his sentences. I knew what he was going to say, and everything he said they are looking for is what I do. After that person left, Josh and I, talked about how I could stand out and show Blizzard to hire me even as an entry level. I then asked him a tough question "What can I do to make Blizzard want to hire me as an Entry Level designer?" I asked this because he said they normally don't. He laughed and then told me that was a good question. I enjoyed stumping their lead designer. His answer, well that's for me to know ;) I got his card, and I am quite happy with our talk.

2. High Voltage - Mikah (sp?) - Designer
Mikah is a hard man to get a hold for sure. A lot of people want his attention and so I had to visit the booth more then once to catch him. Even then, I walked with him to get coffee and begin our conversation in transit from his booth to the coffee shop. Mikah was really interested in my D&D background and my story concepts for D&D. He spoke about how he spent a small fortune putting out supplement books and that's how he got hired. I plan on submitting my resume, and concept ideas to these amazing people.

3. Riot Games - Tom Cadwell  / Ryan "Morello" Scot - Design Director / Lead Champion Designer
Ahh Riot, how I love thee. I talked with Morello in a small group of interested people today. Listening to his rants and talks are quite seriously the most inspirational I can think of. He is by far the most passionate person I have seen here at GDC. His talks of how he hates Soraka, and listening to him destroy a potential designer with simple design questions, was amazing. I asked a few questions about High End game play and how about 50% of champions are played and what they are doing to fix the other 50%. Then I asked about Graves and why did they go with a shot gunner and not a dual pistoleer.

I talked with Tom on a more employee / employer relation and asked about the design jobs and how they weed out or do design testing. He said he was going to send me a design test and see how I do so I can be evaluated and make sure that I can fit in and my train of thought is on the same page with the people at Riot. Getting that chance and opportunity is just amazing.

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There are soo many more people I talked to and I will continue to post about my amazing adventures today and the upcoming days of GDC. I cant wait for the connections on LinkedIn, the emails, and just the opportunity. Thank you to every one today, and I hope I can secure a job some where! Right now though my feet are killing me, and I have a 10 page report I need to finish up.
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Final Project: Pitch Preparation.

So after fleshing out both games, we were tasked to start prepping for our pitch. For those of you not in the industry a Pitch is where the developers 'pitch' a game idea or two to the publisher, asking for money or backing of said games. The publisher asks questions and then decides what game to back or invest money in.

Here at Full Sail, the Publishers are our Teachers and Lab Assistants, we pitch 2 ideas to them through a power point presentation. They listen and ask questions and then decide which game for us to start to make for Final Project.

Yesterday though, we got drilled on our game Gravitas, our Gravity game. I went from being 100% sure on this being a great game, and having it all figured out, to being bewildered at how many things I didn't know the answer to. The main question that I started to dread is just a simple 'Why?'. Why does this world need to be octagon shaped, why cant it be flat? Why does he need to walk on walls, Why is it a robot, why, why why...

Our racer game, Starburst, which we have spent less time on, seems more fleshed out and a viable game then the Gravity game which we had fleshed out the day before. We spent all lab trying to justify WHY we wanted the features in our game.

I have a lot to learn, but I am looking forward to every bit.

-Michael Isaacs

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Final Project!

Ladies and Gentleman, it is finally here. My time has come, the stars have aligned, and the sun has shone on backside... Final Project! The next 5 months is the culmination of everything I have been fighting for and struggling to get to. From finances, to illness, it all boils down to this. 12 people. 1 producer, 3 Artists, and 8 programmers. 1 month of Design and Documentation, with the next 4 being the coding, iteration, and bug fixing.

This Saturday we pitch out 2 game ideas:

• a Space Racer with full 360 degree thruster control and movement, multiple track types, abilities, and ship choices, exact numbers TBD. We have a slingshot / drift ability as well with a defensive Pulse ability to beat back those pesky drifters.
• The second being a adventure puzzler, that takes place in am abandoned subterranean metropolis, Our main character has a gravity belt allowing him to shift gravity in 1 of 8 different directions, localized around him self. Letting him reach abnormal places easily. Creating unique and challenging puzzles with the use of this mechanic and traps.

Both game ideas are well thought out and well loved by the team. No matter which one is picked by the staff, we will enjoy this experience. We have a practice Pitch presentation on Friday. Wish us luck.

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