Who: Shawn Robertson | Animation Director, Irrational Games
When: 2:30PM-3:30PM PST
What: Behind the critical success of BioShock Infinite is the game's heart and soul, Elizabeth. Not only did Elizabeth carry the narrative weight of BioShock Infinite on her shoulders, she was also a robust AI that allowed for many systemic interactions. The creation of Elizabeth was an organic process that evolved over time and included members from every department at Irrational. This presentation will go over some of the decisions we made and the lessons we learned as we gave shape to Elizabeth and attempted to bring her to life. With a focus on animation, Shawn will talk about the various systemic and narrative techniques that we used on Elizabeth, and give practical examples of how they worked within the game. He will touch upon how a character like Elizabeth needs art, narrative and systems working together to create the illusion of humanity.
Lucasfilm Studio Postmortem
Who:
Steve Arnold | Co-Founder- Emeritus, Polaris Partners
Noah Falstein | Chief Game Designer, Google
David Fox | Director/Game Designer, Electric Eggplant
Ron Gilbert | Game Designer, Independent
Peter Langston | Cooperative Resercher/Co-Director/Arts and Technology Hacker, Apple Advanced Computation Group
Chip Morningstar | Principal Architect, PayPal
When: 10:00AM-11:00AM PST
What: Before LucasArts, there was Lucasfilm Games. From a small startup within a medium-sized (and very famous) film company, this group grew from 1982 to 1990 to become one of the most popular game companies of its day. It then morphed (a Lucasfilm term!) into LucasArts, which was acquired by Disney, and then shut down shortly after GDC 2012. In the early days, the company was known for experimentation, with early multiplayer (Ballblazer), first-person games (Rescue on Fractalus, Koronis Rift), the first MMO (Habitat/Club Caribe), and of course, some well-loved graphic adventures (Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken, The Secret of Monkey Island, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and more). This postmortem asks the questions, "What mix of creative and business forces shaped this early success story?" and "Could this kind of company be duplicated today?"
BioShock Infinite has won for best music (score) at this years BAFTA Game Awards, edging out other nominees such as Beyond: Two Souls, Super Mario 3D World, and The Last of Us.
Ever since Sony unveiled PlayStation Now earlier this year, gamers have been dying to know exactly how Sony plans to charge for its streaming service. If an image on the newly redesigned Gaikai website is any indication, Uncharted 3 and Far Cry 3 rentals may cost $4.99 and $5.99, respectively.
It's worth noting, of course, that this could be nothing more than a mock-up designed specifically to showcase what the service may look like. That said, it is exciting to see the little PlayStation Now logo attached to games in this hypothetical storefront. You'll notice that neither The Last of Us or BioShock Infinite have the blue triangle on their panels in the image, implying that they likely aren't available for rent.
Kill Screen Daily: Year in and year out, men, and typically white men, dominate the narratives of the best selling videogames. Looking at the games that have been critically and financially successful over the past few years, theres no shortage of brooding, heroic and flawed male leads: The Uncharted franchise. GTA V. Every single exhausting iteration of Call of Duty. The Last of Us. Assassins Creed. The lone exception might be the Tomb Raider reboot from 2013, but that game doesnt exactly boast progressive gender perspectives. This quality is not, of course, unique to videogames. All forms of media struggle with proper representation, including movies, TV shows and novels all predominantly crafted around straight white people.
Few videogame covers have captured the whitewashed, testosterone-driven media landscape the way the box art for BioShock Infinite has.
BioShock Infinite developer Irrational Games has undergone some major changes as of late. After letting go all but fifteen of its employees, the studio is carrying on in a much smaller and focused capacity.
Ever since Sony unveiled PlayStation Now earlier this year, gamers have been dying to know exactly how Sony plans to charge for its streaming service. If an image on the newly redesigned Gaikai website is any indication, Uncharted 3 and Far Cry 3 rentals may cost $4.99 and $5.99, respectively.
BioShock Infinite developer Irrational Games has undergone some major changes as of late. After letting go all but fifteen of its employees, the studio is carrying on in a much smaller and focused capacity.
