We partnered with the Media Indie Exchange team (The MIX) team on our second Buzz Workshop at IDF in San Francisco, which was “buzzing” with the #buzzworkshop trending as 8th popular hashtag on Twitter." The all-day event held in the Moscone Center was attended by more than 147 game developers from the San Francisco Bay Area.
At the event, the attendees were treated to an insightful talk by Lee Petty (Art Director, Double Fine) about Elements of Style (in games) stressing “What not to include is more important than what to include.”
“How can indie developers build visibility for their games and get distribution on today's systems?” Steve Gee (Adult Swim Games), Dan Adams (Made with Unity), and Keith Katz (Execution Labs) moderated byJonathan Chan (Fig) called out the need to “talk to publishers at different times during the process.”
Not hitting your target FPS? Seth Schneider (Intel) showed game developers how to identify performance opportunities within their game by using the Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers. Baqir Shah was happy to find out Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers is free!
Frank Soqui (Intel) moderated top Bay Area VR studios Keith Kaisershot (Other Ocean), Scott Anderson (Funomena), Theresa Duringer (Temple Gate) and Oculus developer relations ace Anna Sweet about how they're approaching this truly special time in gaming. Luiz Henrique Bueno tweeted: “Are current VR games boring? I think we're (just) starting. The VR future will be awesome.” Marty Caplan further noted, “Game devs are the only people with the skills to make VR experiences, defining the paradigms that will be used in future.”
We closed out the day with Independent Game Developers Association (IDGA) San Francisco PresidentAlex Wilmer leading a discussion with Jonathan Blow (Witness and Braid), Amir Rao (Supergiant Games) and Chris Hecker (Spy Party) on how they're approaching multi-platform development now compared to past years. Nanette Rosen noted “Indie's shouldn't release all platforms at once. Work on creating the best experience on each platform.” Shane Bingham captured the best quote of the day from Jonathan Blow: “(It’s) Easier to build a totally new programming language' than to build his latest game. –Wow!”
For those who could not attend, I encourage you to watch a recorded live stream on Twitch.tv:twitch.tv/intelgamedev.
Everyone’s (and my) favorite is the Developer Showcase. This is where local and regional game developers pitch their games to a panel of industry judges for fun and prizes. I think of it as America’s Got Talent for game developers. The showcase was done in partnership with The Media Indie Exchange and we invitedDean Takahashi (VentureBeat), Robin Hunicke (Funomena), Amir Rao (Supergiant), Mary Kish (GameSpot) and Frank Soqui (Intel) to help identify the “Best Overall,” “Most Unique” and “Best Art.” This year, we added in the “Audience Favorite” to ensure everyone helped us find the next great game talent. 7 developers gave quick 5 minute pitches. After the game play and pitch sessions, we awarded the following prizes:
- Best Overall: Little Bug
- Most Unique: Narcosis
- Best Art: Beat the Game
- Audience Award: Shard
I am proud to say we raised a record amount and donated 100% of the proceeds to a charity called Child’s Play. For those are not familiar with Child’s Play, they purchase video games and peripherals for hospitals and therapy facilities so children can enjoy and be distracted from an otherwise unpleasant hospital experience. Travis Eriksen, Child's Play said: “Child’s Play is humbled by its partnership with the Intel Buzz Workshop, it continues to allow us to positively affect the lives of one million children a year. Over the years the Intel Buzz Workshop has continued to grow with this most recent event in San Francisco at the Intel Developer Forum being the most successful. We cannot wait to see what comes next.”
For more such intel resources and tools from Intel on Game, please visit the Intel® Game Developer Zone
Source:https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2016/08/24/bay-area-game-developers-mix-it-up-with-intel
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