Looking for good questions for my PAX Panel

ekips

I made a thread over here
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=127061

first time PAX moderator, looking for good questions for the Indies panel on Saturday @ 4 in the Developer's Lounge and figured Social Entropy would probably be the best place to get them.

thx 4 your help,
Gordon

panel is: playdead, uber, lazy8, twisted pixel & dark energy

L|ama

we're pretty fond of kpop, you should ask them about that

Orikaeshigitae

This guy is legit, btw. Treat him nice.

fightinfilipino

L|ama wrote: »

we're pretty fond of kpop, you should ask them about that

seriously what is up with Girls Generation and Wonder Girls.


that should be the opening question of the panel, immediately followed by music videos of each.

Centipede Damascus

ask them why they are so indie

fightinfilipino

ok legit question: can indie devs legitimately compete with the juggernauts like EA and Ubisoft in the current market, and how do they do it?

Futore

ask Playdead why they chose to use a physics engine in Limbo as opposed to working with sprites.

that is either a question they could really get into or a question they will answer super quick and move on

ekips

fightinfilipino wrote: »

ok legit question: can indie devs legitimately compete with the juggernauts like EA and Ubisoft in the current market, and how do they do it?

Thank you for the legit question, Fightinfilipino, you had me running off listening to tracks of 투애니원 for a second, to get current .

Gordon

ekips

Futore wrote: »

ask Playdead why they chose to use a physics engine in Limbo as opposed to working with sprites.

that is either a question they could really get into or a question they will answer super quick and move on

Thx Futore, will do. and how do you pronounce your handle?

Futore

ekips wrote: »

Futore wrote: »

ask Playdead why they chose to use a physics engine in Limbo as opposed to working with sprites.

that is either a question they could really get into or a question they will answer super quick and move on

Thx Futore, will do. and how do you pronounce your handle?

haha just like "future" but with an "o" in the second part.

when refining my question as a possibility to ask them, you may want to contrast their 3D physics engine use to something like Braid which stilll has a small use of physics in their puzzles, but everything was hand drawn.

it was just an interesting choice in my opinion as they were still on a 2D plane

ekips

Futore wrote: »

ekips wrote: »

Futore wrote: »

ask Playdead why they chose to use a physics engine in Limbo as opposed to working with sprites.

that is either a question they could really get into or a question they will answer super quick and move on

Thx Futore, will do. and how do you pronounce your handle?

haha just like "future" but with an "o" in the second part.

when refining my question as a possibility to ask them, you may want to contrast their 3D physics engine use to something like Braid which stilll has a small use of physics in their puzzles, but everything was hand drawn.

it was just an interesting choice in my opinion as they were still on a 2D plane

got it. thx for the refinement Futore.

gordon

facetious

My question is, how early in the development process do you start to think about promotion, and how do you tailor the promotion to the game?

DarkPrimus

ekips wrote: »

I made a thread over here
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=127061

first time PAX moderator, looking for good questions for the Indies panel on Saturday @ 4 in the Developer's Lounge and figured Social Entropy would probably be the best place to get them.

thx 4 your help,
Gordon

panel is: playdead, uber, lazy8, twisted pixel & dark energy

I have a question for Twisted Pixel:

When are they going to make a game so awesome and so huge that it comes out on a retail disc?

Fishman

The last few years has seen indie development move from being almost completely limited to the PC platform onto the latest generation of consoles and then once more onto smartphones, iPods and the like. How does this change the field of Indie development overall, and what does in mean in particular for each of your panelists?

Hunter

I have a question for the Uber Guys that did Monday Night Combat (which is awesome by the way and extremely worth the money on XBL).

Now that they have what appears to be a very successful game under their belt, do they plan to keep expanding the franchise which may lead to them coming out of their Indy cocoon or is it more likely they will concentrate on other titles/new possibilities, and maybe license the rights for MNC to a bigger studio to expand upon which may lead to a full disk release?

Is there any mechanism in place for these smaller studios that do have a hit game to move on to the next stage easily, especially during hard economic times where growth can be more difficult?

ekips

facetious wrote: »

My question is, how early in the development process do you start to think about promotion, and how do you tailor the promotion to the game?

great question facetious. appreciated.

Gordon

ekips

Hunter wrote: »

I have a question for the Uber Guys that did Monday Night Combat (which is awesome by the way and extremely worth the money on XBL).

Now that they have what appears to be a very successful game under their belt, do they plan to keep expanding the franchise which may lead to them coming out of their Indy cocoon or is it more likely they will concentrate on other titles/new possibilities, and maybe license the rights for MNC to a bigger studio to expand upon which may lead to a full disk release?

Is there any mechanism in place for these smaller studios that do have a hit game to move on to the next stage easily, especially during hard economic times where growth can be more difficult?

Thank you Hunter, I will ask.

ekips

Fishman wrote: »

The last few years has seen indie development move from being almost completely limited to the PC platform onto the latest generation of consoles and then once more onto smartphones, iPods and the like. How does this change the field of Indie development overall, and what does in mean in particular for each of your panelists?

Fishman and DarkPrimus, I think i am going to try to find a way to combine your questions so that the whole panel can get involved with it.

Gordon

The Geek

fightinfilipino wrote: »

ok legit question: can indie devs legitimately compete with the juggernauts like EA and Ubisoft in the current market, and how do they do it?

I can answer this question with one word.

ekips

And for those of your that are interested in getting into the industry. This is the 4th or 4 panels that day. We start with finding the best gaming school for you, then a panel on getting and keeping game industry internships, then one on careers in games that don't involve programming and then finally RISE of the Indies, which is where your questions will be asked. All in the Developer Lounge (310)

So please keep the questions coming and thank you,

Gordon

The Geek

ekips wrote: »

then one on careers in games that don't involve programming

Hmm, I didn't see that panel. I think I may have to check it out to see what all is discussed. Might even be able to contribute a bit as well.

The Geek

The Geek wrote: »

ekips wrote: »

then one on careers in games that don't involve programming

Hmm, I didn't see that panel. I think I may have to check it out to see what all is discussed. Might even be able to contribute a bit as well.

Just looked at the panel description and realized why I missed it. It's still about game dev jobs, just not programming specifically. I thought maybe it would have been about game industry jobs that aren't part of game dev at all.

Hunter

If the gaming industry ever needs inorganic chemists that specify in minerals and material science, give me a call.

Ubik

Hunter wrote: »

If the gaming industry ever needs inorganic chemists that specify in minerals and material science, give me a call.

Sounds useful for Dwarf Fortress

Hunter

Analytical Laboratory: The MMO

Alegis

Do they live as hobos in the first few months to get by?


or is personal hygiene included in the development schedule

Ubik

What type of legal hurdles affect indie development and do the companies find them particularly burdensome?

Is there a need to retain counsel to protect the company's copyright and trademark interests or does that only come into play once the game is released and possible infringement is discovered?

Rankenphile

Question: what are the dev's thoughts on incremental early buy-in funding like we've seen with Mount & Blade and Minecraft, where players can pay a smaller amount to buy the game in alpha and get free updates as it develops, with price increases as the team reaches milestones? Does the transparency of that process, as well as the inherit risk of failure once you already have investors buying in, make that too frightening a concept? Or do the benefits of having a source of funding and a dedicated player base voicing interest and testing gameplay outweigh the potential downsides?

Orikaeshigitae

Question: do the devs feel that their relative lack of resources in comparison to the juggernauts compromises their ability to tell the kinds of stories and present the experiences that they want?

ekips

The Geek wrote: »

The Geek wrote: »

ekips wrote: »

then one on careers in games that don't involve programming

Hmm, I didn't see that panel. I think I may have to check it out to see what all is discussed. Might even be able to contribute a bit as well.

Just looked at the panel description and realized why I missed it. It's still about game dev jobs, just not programming specifically. I thought maybe it would have been about game industry jobs that aren't part of game dev at all.

Yeah, the description might be burying the lede. It's a localization person, a CRM guy, a business development person, a lawyer, a game designer and an audio guy .. so it's a pretty wide swath of game industry jobs...details below


The show details are below:

---

Developer Lounge (310)
Saturday September 4th 12:00pm – 1:00pm
What Videogame School Is Right For Me?

---

This panel includes representatives from as many game dev programs as we can muster. The point is to get the panel talking about what their programs are like and what kind of student finds them a good fit.

Moderator,
Jeannie Novak, Lead Author & Series Editor, Game Development Essentials

Panel:
Jeremy Gibson, University of Southern California (USC)
Patrick Pennefather Great Northern Way
James Portnow DigiPen Institute of Technology
José P. Zagal DePaul University

---

Developer Lounge (310)
Saturday September 4th 1:30pm – 2:30pm
Getting a Game Industry Internship

---

This panel features representatives from game companies that run active, ongoing internship programs, and perhaps one or two current interns. This panel focuses on what it's like to be an intern at a game company and how to get this kind of job.

Getting a Game Industry Internship

---

Moderator:
Benjamin Ellinger , Head of Game Education, Digipen

Panel:
Sue Bohle The Bohle Company
David Chiu Intel
Jim Rivers Obsidian Entertainment
Jessica Blair Sandstorm
Chris Wright Digipen Student

---

Developer Lounge (310)
Saturday September 4th 3:00pm – 4:00 pm
Game Devs Aren't Just Programmers

---

Representatives from design, localization, audio, writing, marketing, artists, producers, etc. fill this panel, moderated by a programmer. The point is to describe what these non-programming jobs are, how they participate in making games, and how tech-heavy this kind of job is or is not.

Game Devs Aren't Just Programmers

---

Moderator:
Tom Buscaglia , Board Member, IGDA

Panel:
Jeff Royle AMD , He does CRM
Kate Edwards Englobe , She does localization
Michael Csurics Brand X Audio , audio
Peter Alau Digital Extremes , Business Development
Benjamin Johnson fmr. Rockstar San Diego , game design


Developer Lounge (310)
Saturday September 4th 4:00pm – 5:00pm
Rise of the Indie Game Developer

---

iPhone and console dlc have opened up new distribution paths for indie game developers. A panel of well-spoken, in-the-trenches game devs answer questions from the audience (and from questions submitted online ahead of time).


Moderator: Gordon Bellamy, acting Executive Director, IGDA

Panel:
Rob Jagnow Lazy 8 Studios
Pete Jones Dark Energy
Deb Jones Dark Energy
Bob Berry Uber Entertainment
Dino Patti Play Dead Games
Michael Wilford Twist Pixel Games

ekips

Ubik wrote: »

What type of legal hurdles affect indie development and do the companies find them particularly burdensome?

Is there a need to retain counsel to protect the company's copyright and trademark interests or does that only come into play once the game is released and possible infringement is discovered?

good question Ubik, thx for sending

ekips

Rankenphile wrote: »

Question: what are the dev's thoughts on incremental early buy-in funding like we've seen with Mount & Blade and Minecraft, where players can pay a smaller amount to buy the game in alpha and get free updates as it develops, with price increases as the team reaches milestones? Does the transparency of that process, as well as the inherit risk of failure once you already have investors buying in, make that too frightening a concept? Or do the benefits of having a source of funding and a dedicated player base voicing interest and testing gameplay outweigh the potential downsides?

now that is a great question once again related to business models, I think I will try to find a way to consolidate into one mega business model question for the panel.

Gordon