7 Supernatural

It is supernatural how being engaged in a highly challenging technical and artistic journey like developing a video game is constructed upon the foundations of a great team. It is supernatural how it seems that technical and artistic prowess is the number one necessity for the heroes in the team, but in reality it all boils down to the individual attitudes and chemistry between the great players in the team.

I have been part of a supernatural team working on video games for the past 7 years. I have clearly witnessed magic happening when we have had the opportunity to be a team. I have shamefully witnessed much technical mastery go down the drain in team dysfunction.

How it is all so supernatural, the magic that builds up around a few connected individuals, the brotherhood, the unity, the everlasting moments that spread much meaning from the internal desires aligned by the same vision and strengthened by a feeling to belong. Belong to the same team. A supernatural concept called a team.

Studying in Engineering and following science and being curious about the interactions of the subjects with the world will help make you blind from seeing what needs to be seen in order to proceed in the rough paths of novelty and creativity. Blind from seeing the supernatural power of the individuals in sync.

It is all about the people. It is all about the emotions rising on top of their mastery. It is all about a journey full of life.

7 years have let me experience working with many great individuals, many of whom I've learned a lot from, laughed with, cried with and felt the supernatural feelings. Many of whom I might travel far with in the future and many whom I won't ever see again. Many who present or absent, are part of what becomes of me. Memories remaining.

7 years have taught engineering, science and art how trust, love and brotherhood bring light to the darkest and coldest nights. Teaching the unteachable. The alchemy of the real people. The tango of the hemispheres over the solo of the left.

The 7 supernatural years.   

Storm Scars

Gustav is staring ... staring at the only thing stable in his life ... the infinite ocean ... the witness of his whole life ... Gustav is not here ... not now ... never drowned in the blue ocean but drowned now in his unconscious chaos of emotions ... emotions that were never witnessed by his crew ... secrets known only by the most chaotic companion of his life ... the one he spent most of his time in ... sailing with his ship ... the birds fear Gustav in this state ... anyone fears Gustav in this state ... the sound of the ice in his glass makes him wonder for a second if there has been any waves in the calm ocean ... no ... nothing to make the old and courage ship move ... his conscious mind was here many times before ... felt the feelings so much that it can easily pursue the subconscious mind into the dark lands ... lands darker than the darkest storms in the blackened waters of the north ... he feels the warmth of the unknown source in the dark caves of his unconscious mind ... a re-assuring energy ... an unknown so beautiful and full that push away the cold and uncertain memories of the stormy nights like ashes in a strong wind ... Gustav is not here ... his bruised body is ... his soul ... deep in the caves in search ... caves that breed the seeds that are the sources for him continuing on his journey ... can he ever see inside the caves ... never is the answer ... he knows it and he does not care ... he is born to live the life in the ocean ... oceans he travelled with his crew ... many gone and many with him ... Gustav is the crew gone ... living the experience forever ... forever in the waters that spiral forever ... up and down ... through the dark and into the cold ... with the joy and the ever lasting sorrows ... Gustav feels alive right on the border of death ... do they see the shores when he sees them ... is it the shores everyone is waiting for ... shores never delivered happiness ... deflecting the spear of Poseidon always did ... hearing the heart beat sound of the sailors did ... cracking the thick ice on the surface of the freezing oceans always did ... breaking his sword when stuck in the neck of the monsters always did ... this meaning was the souvenir for him from the caves ... souvenir from life ... Gustav will do what needs to be done ... will gather his will back on the ship while exhaling the final dancing naive smoke of his cigar ... will cover one eye to remind himself that it is not the distracting shallow vision he needs ... not the view that the deserters see every second ... the truth is in the un-tellable ... Gustav will only look ahead ... eye to an eye with the gods ... eye to an eye with the demons ... eye to an eye with life ... sets sail one more time with no concern for the ones in or out ... sets sail towards the sailable ... to feel alive ... towards the meaning which has only been a guest of the dark caves deep inside ... off he goes ... no sorrow in his mind ... reborn with one thing in his mind ... slaying demons and gods!

AI for Video Games

I recently ran a course on Artificial Intelligence for Video Games. The slides can be found here:

http://fanafzargames.com/ahf/igdiai/

The course was an introduction to the applications of AI in video games and diverse topics were covered.

Chaordic

Dee Hock has a lot of great theories about Chaordic organizations. Some of his quotes need to be carved in some stones that would live forever:

"It is essential to employ, trust, and reward those whose perspective, ability, and judgment are radically different from yours. It is also rare, for it requires uncommon humility, tolerance, and wisdom. "

"If you don't understand that you work for your mislabeled 'subordinates,' then you know nothing of leadership. You know only tyranny."

"An organization, no matter how well designed, is only as good as the people who live and work in it."

"If you look to lead, invest at least 40% of your time managing yourself - your ethics, character, principles, purpose, motivation, and conduct. Invest at least 30% managing those with authority over you, and 15% managing your peers. "

"Money motivates neither the best people, nor the best in people. It can move the body and influence the mind, but it cannot touch the heart or move the spirit; that is reserved for belief, principle, and morality."

"The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out."

Highly highly valuable!

Disruptive Tech or Deceptive Myth!?

This year is going to be the year of new gaming platforms and devices. Ouya was a major surprise very recently followed by GameStick and the Shield by nVidia and the news and gossip about Steam box. This is just going to be the beginning and we will probably experience waves of new devices which are mostly open systems.

Whether these new platforms succeed or not, there seems to be lots of new opportunities for independent developers to make video games and have opportunities to self publish their work. Unlike the MS, Sony or Nintendo owned consoles which have strict developer and game selection policies, these new platforms are open for anyone to use and create games.

There is a lot of excitement in the air for the independent creative people but how important will these new opportunities be really? I am skeptical about the success of most of these platforms.

Android based consoles and handhelds will provide the opportunity for all to easily make games and their digital distribution channels will enable most to ave their games available to gamers all over the world. Is this really a new opportunity? PC gaming has been like this for a long time now and most recently, android based mobile games have shared the same level of open ness and ease of distribution. PC games suffered a huge decline in their sales, to a level that many big publishers stopped porting their games for the PC, indicating that it is not worth the effort. Android markets are a joke compared to the closed iOS store. Making money off of Android mobile games seems to be a myth more than anything. There are many reasons for these digital failures, piracy being a major one. Lower piracy rates for the closed console devices and the Apple products is one reason games made for them have been able to survive and enjoy a solid paying user base.

A big exception exists for PC gaming and that is the Steam digital distribution portal. The magic of Valve has been to create a software platform that will enhance the user experience and provide added value for the games to a level that it makes sense for the gamers to want to purchase their games from steam and live inside this highly maintained walled garden. Steam seems to be the reason PC games did not die and to seme extent have flourished during the recent years.

A quick review of the current situation in the game market reveals that Xbox, PS3, Wii, Steam and the Apple Store have been highly successful and developers selling their products for these hardware and software platforms have been doing quite good. PC sales other than steam, android and all other mobile platforms have been huge failures compared to the theoretical potential that they should have (considering their open nature and the penetration factor of the platforms in society).

Open systems, open markets and free opportunities for all has not proved to be the best financial solution for sustainable growth in the digital age. Similar conclusions can be made by reviewing the state of the music and film industries too.

I think that the new Android based consoles will experience a future very much similar to the non-steam pc market and the Android mobile market. It will get quite fragmented too and there will be lots of content made for lots of distribution channels and many devices. Not to mention tons of piracy. Epic failures will scare away the developers and the new kids on the block will be forgotten before anything major.

Other than tough marketing opportunities for these new consoles because of fragmentation, visibility and piracy, much lower capabilities compared to PCs and consoles takes away any competition possibility for them in wow factors and considering the fact that many mobile games showed flashes of brilliancy by employing new touch controls for otherwise mediocre games, reverting back to the standard console controls will toughen the challenge to come up with creative game ideas.

All in all, while we should be ready for quite some hype in the coming months around these platforms, I really don't think that we are going to witness a disruptive technology and a paradigm shift.

Having said all this, I do believe that a huge change will happen with the birth of the Steam Box or Steam Boxes! Adding the pleasure of relaxing on the living room sofa with console game pads to the PC games with big screens and the new small PCs that are configured to work with the monster gaming system called Steam seems to be a wonderful idea. This will further strengthen an already strong gaming system. With the new initiatives like the Green Light on Steam, there should be little worries about those complaining that the system is closed and not democratized well.

I think we should be ready for great news about it soon and it sure will be exciting for all developers, especially the ones that are independent.

Karateka

I recently played the remake of Karateka (1982). It is a great arcade style game, a wonderful remake full of visual, combat and musical beauty. The game is quite short but very enjoyable and although it can be finished rather easily, finishing it the proper way is very hard.

Jordan Mechner has done a great job for the remake.

http://jordanmechner.com/category/karateka/

I don't remember whether I played the original game on an Apple II or a 286 PC. Either way, I still remember the fluidity and smoothness of the pixel art animations and the great feeling from the combat.

The introductory game trailer is quite nice and funny:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YMx-_aFP1lQ

Outshined!

The verdict is here, before I turn 37, I am going to select the best music album of my entire life! Something I never thought would be possible but for some strange reason is quite obvious now. Drums rolling .... "Bad Motor Finger" by Soundgarden (1991) is at the all time number one position! Decision is made based on the music, vocals and lyrics and the magical fact that all of the tracks in this album are exceptional. The mysterious note is that every track you hear from this album feels better than the previous one, once you reach the end, listening to the first track one more time feels even better than the last. This is the concept of a strange loop, exactly like an Escher painting, an ever growing loop, like everything else in life.

Another major point is that for some reason I am absolutely certain that there will not ever be any album better than "Bad Motor Finger" in the future! Thank you Soundgarden for this miracle!

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Bad Motor Finger
Strange Loop
Escher
Honorable Mentions: 10 by Pearl Jam, Jar of Flies by Alice in Chains, Far Beyond Driven by Pantera, Undertow by Tool, Black Album by Metallica, Use Your Illusion by Guns 'n Roses