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Texas Indie Game Con and Jay Moore

by Donald "Yadot" Harris · 07/22/2006 (7:32 pm) · 12 comments

So what a day I had.... I went to the Texas Indie Game Con. It was pretty neat to meet all the people who are making the Indie Scene what it is. What I found even more interesting is how much TGE is used
in the Austin scene. Finding myself having something in common with succesful people was awesome, this open all sorts of mentoring chances. I will get into more of that later. I had one goal in mind in going to this convention... NETWORKING. I was able to meet up with other names around the industry like Brett Butler from PublicGames.com, Jason Asbahr from Roxor Games, Billy Cain from Critical Mass, and some guy named Jay Moore. I spent some time chatting with Brett who has been apart of start many companies and making them profitable. He had plenty to say about how I was using GG technology. One thing he mention is how I should start trying make the scope of my project smaller with this being my first release. So then I went home and called the team up and suggested we cut the project in half. To my surprise the team was really acceptive of this. So things where going good. (By the way this took place on Wednesday, Pre-setup for the event) I also was chatting with Isaacs from SideRealFury.com and he mentioned that I should try making project smaller and he has a real good method of spending atleast an hour everyday on your project. So this makes it twice that I get told I should make some changes to my game. Now I am thinking man... I should really think about what I want to get accomplished in my project. So I am having a great time at the convention early in the morning waiting for Jay to show up. Jason ( My teammate) and I were talking and visiting all the events which almost all were rather informing and very well done. I am sure he will make a post about the meeting he was less than happy with.Now its about 11 oclock and I was exiting the meeting that evnolved how to get funding for your company.

Then I was able to see the man in the flesh Jay Moore. This was probably the most interesting chat that had the whole day. Not becuase I am a fanboy but becuase I am really interested GG as a company and the tools they provide. What's funny is I know better than to ask Jay certain questions but I couldn't help it. Just so everyone knows I did indeed ask about Constructor and he told me some really awesome information about it. But since I don't work at GG nor do I have any interest in saying some wrong I will just say be patient. So I figured I would change the subject a bit with him. We then started talking about the community. ABSOLUTLEY outstanding about how candid he wanted me to be. He at one point told me to stop blow smoke up... well you know. So I brought up the difficulties around documentation and the TDN as well as the Resource management. They are making steps in the right directions to make TDN what it needs to be as an information portal for us. Also possibly moving the Resources into the TDN. I know I may not be saying anything new but the fact the someone from the upper level management knows about the issues and is able to bounce back ideas then and there about what he thinks should happen and how he wants it to be is a great thing. From there the converstation took a turn to what are the next steps for GG in general. There were a lot of things that were said that I can put out on this blog but I would rather not, all I will say is this place is going to move really really really fast. The partnerships that GG is making is not only just excellent for GG as a company but this is going to open soo many doors for us as Indies. I will say that look for some news aroudn August or os and you will here some things that will make you smile. I took a really dumb picture with Jay that I will post here soon. Guys to sum it all up I had a really intersting chat with Jay which I hope to continue with him over email. I also made a lunch date with some other developers there. Next time this event happens guys you should really take the chance build your network and meet some of these movers and shackers about the industry anyways I need to hit the bed. Oh yeah one more funny thing I almost forgot.... Jay told to make the game smaller... then he said move to TGB .... so I guess I am making some changes to the project.

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#1
07/22/2006 (8:05 pm)
Thats great Donald! I didnt get to make it to the Con (family is here visiting), but my boss is there :P Mr. Asbahr! Hopefully he will fill us in on Monday at work :D Sounds like it was fun, wish I could be there :(
#2
07/22/2006 (8:27 pm)
Blake I thought John worked at Roxor??
#3
07/22/2006 (8:38 pm)
John who? :P I am talking about Jason Asbahr...
#4
07/22/2006 (8:54 pm)
Yeah Jason sorry man I got up at like 630am to get to the conference.
#5
07/23/2006 (6:31 am)
Quote:Oh yeah one more funny thing I almost forgot.... Jay told to make the game smaller... then he said move to TGB

Not trying to be rude ,but what is meant by this? move to TGB? Just curious on your thoughts.



Edit: nevermind. I understand now after I read Jeff Tunnel's article on "Five Realistic Steps To Starting A Game Development Company". Very interesting.
#6
07/23/2006 (9:46 am)
TGB stands for Torque Game Builder
#7
07/23/2006 (10:52 am)
I know what TGB is...I meant about the statement. I understand now after I read Jeff Tunnel's article on "Five Realistic Steps To Starting A Game Development Company".
#8
07/23/2006 (1:39 pm)
Basically what he explained to me is that using TGE for my very first project maybe a mistake as working with 3 space as he called it can be a big challenge. Getting an idea together and then making it happen is two very different and difficult things. He was saying that it would take a lot of work for 4 people (2 coders and 2 artist ) to make a game. He didnt say we couldn't just that the time it would take us would be very long and that we might get discouraged.
#9
07/23/2006 (10:02 pm)
@ Donald: Ya Jason is the head of Roxor, I work there as an artist.
#10
07/24/2006 (4:10 am)
So you are no longer with Star Cave and www.cellienstudios.com ?? I need to swing back by Roxor sometime ... Tell Koley i said "whats up"
#11
07/24/2006 (8:13 am)
I work soley for Roxor Games now... Cellien Studios (company I co-founded with Matt Sanders) was doing contract work for a while but long story short, it was getting old having to worry about where work was going to come from the next month etc. We were initially going to do contract work for Roxor, but ended working fulltime here instead.
#12
07/24/2006 (8:46 am)
Quote:Basically what he explained to me is that using TGE for my very first project maybe a mistake as working with 3 space as he called it can be a big challenge. Getting an idea together and then making it happen is two very different and difficult things. He was saying that it would take a lot of work for 4 people (2 coders and 2 artist ) to make a game. He didnt say we couldn't just that the time it would take us would be very long and that we might get discouraged.

I hate to hear that... but it's sooo true...