Unformed Reality
with Seamus Blackley
Unformed Reality
Why Are We Here?
Unformed Reality
Where Are We going?
Unformed Reality
How Do We Know When We Get
There?
Unformed Reality
What the Hell is going on
Anyway?
State of the industry
• NOT as big as Hollywood
– 2002 US domestic game sales: $5.5 billion
– 2002 US domestic box office: $9.1 billion
• 2002 US Music Sales: $12.2 billion
• 2001 NAB/TVB data: $54.4bn US advertising
revenue
• 2002 US Leisure/Entertainment Book Sales:
$9.5 billion
• We are still a niche medium
– 2002 US domestic games units: 162.7MM
– 2992 US domestic movie tix: 1.9 BILLION
State of the industry
• Not creatively driven
– Technology and market driven
• Marketing people approve projects
• Programmers tell Artists what can be done
– License driven
• Becoming the marketing arm of the other media
• “Only way to generate awareness”
• This means we’re driven by Pop culture
– Not driving it
State of the industry
• Not able to determine what’s really
happening
– What metrics should we use to guide the
business?
– Why do certain types of games sell well?
– Why do consumer tastes change?
• Why are licenses suddenly working?
– etc.
• Classic case of knowing what but not why
Who the Hell Am I to Say??
• Started life as a musician
– Mainly to get girls
• Theoretical High Energy Physics
– “Academic dues paid in full thank you very much”
• Design
– Success, failure, and purgatory
• Xbox
– 847,000 frequent flier miles
• CEG
• Bad Attitude
– Jason thought would be amusing to you
What’s your point then?
It’s Time for Us to Get Some
Tools
Example: My Philosophy of
Physics
• Physics allows you to be master of your
universe
– Physics allowed my professors to avoid being
drafted for the Vietnam War
• Physics allowed the design of the 777 that
brought me to London to be done entirely
digitally
– Theoretical tools in aerospace are
outstanding
– Allowed Boeing to be masters of their medium
We Are Not (yet) The Masters of
Our Medium
• It is our master
• This is why other media own our asses
• We have to change this
Keeping the Industry Down?
• The lack of “theoretic armaments” is
keeping us down…
– Let’s look at some of the ways
Publishers are Scared
• No idea how to do “Development”
– Therefore must seek “McValue meal deals.”
• No idea how to understand the potential of
new ideas
– And getting worse
• No idea how to even categorize new
concepts
– Idea of standardized submission scares me
Developers are Pussies
• No understanding of the business of
publishing
– Yet willing supplicants of the publishers
– Not the case in other media
• Little understanding of the consumer
– This is an academic area
• No understanding of ways to
systematically innovate
– Nor any ideas on how to train people how to
do this
Audience is Confused
• Look at the randomness of reviews
– I’m not offended by the lack of “critical press” of the
literary type.
– Though I do feel the strong need for a “professional
critical corps” because…
• I’m worried that we’re not consciously training
our audience
– This is critical for the future…
• Ratings responsibility
• Cultural “placement”
• etc.
Seamus is Confused
• Xbox
• CEG
• My own games
Xbox Experience
• What are the major problems faced by
games?
– From the Audience and the developer?
• That can be solved with technology?
– And what should be addressed in other ways?
• That can be solved by business practices?
– And how can you measure success?
• That can be solved by Microsoft?
CEG Experience
• How can the production process be
enhanced?
• How can the distribution process be
enhanced?
• What is the real potential of Online
Distribution?
Looking Glass Experience
• Why do we find ourselves in a blissful
state of gameplay angst?
The Answers Exist
• One finds them in random places
Develop: “Mind Your Language”
• A great article by Ben Cousins of Big Blue
Box
– Jump times
– Level sizes
• Interesting analogy to battlefield measurements
• Transit times
• Understood as a very valid military academic
subject
• Randomly came across it
– Friends are using it now
IGDA, GDC, MCV, etc.
• Busy developers browse programs
– See copies of magazines in the lobby
• Hear about panels and talks from friends
– Most developers don’t get to go to shows
• Hit and Miss
– It’s no good if good research and results exist
in places only those of us who are actively
interested can find them!
So…The Knowledge is There,
How do You Make People
Care?
• Disconnect as usual between academic
and commercial worlds
– This is nothing new, exists everywhere
• Must show actual benefit to the
commercial world
– In an easy to understand, “executive
summary” kind of way
• Must do it in a way that is easy to access
from the real-time commercial world
How to Show Benefit
• Increase profits
– Obvious, but do you add this analysis to your
work?
• Increase predictability of performance of
novel ideas
– Hits Business means innovation=success
• Not be freaks
– Physics “personal hygiene code”
• Not talk like outsiders…
Become part of the Development
Culture
• If you do not work in the industry, find a way to
live in the industry as much as possible
– Learn the “realpolitik”
• If you do, be careful not to go on “theory rants”
that put off your peers
– At this point, you are an ambassador to an important
new world
– But a world that most industry people don’t
understand the value of (yet)
Let’s get it together
• I don’t have the answers
• The more I think about it, the more stupid I
discover that I am
• Therefore it’s your problem
• So go work!
– Why are you sitting there?
Questions