Plan for Justin Mette

I've attended every IGC that GarageGames has hosted and every year is a very special occasion. This year however exceeded my expectations. While there was no IndieJam and the LAN party may not have come together (due to a lack of working MP games hint, hint for anyone planning on attending next year with their game) the conference had a new level of energy like I've never experienced.

The Associates Day on Thursday was an amazing opportunity to learn where GG is going with technology and games (check out TDN!), meet the huge number of talented associates in the community, and to share with everyone our individual studio plans. This day reminded me most of past IGC's because of all of the familiar faces. With almost 25 GG employees and the large number of associates that attended this day may have been as big as the first IGC alone.

The rest of the weekend saw a surprising number of brand new faces and really contained an overall energy yet to be matched by any IGC. There were some fantastic games installed in the ShowOFF center representing a much higher level of production value than ever before. Even some of the big boys at the event like Microsoft, Oberon, PopCap, etc gave a lot of praise to the quality of Torque/Indie games shown off this year.

In particular I enjoyed trying out Air Ace (even with no dog fighting yet it was really fun to fly around), Realm Wars 2 (with cool hand-to-hand combat), Aerial Antics (new MP version), Wildlife Tycoon, Determinance, Shelled, Facade, Gish (also with new MP), Flash Bios, and of course the freaking hot Marble Blast Ultra on Xbox 360. The games this year really generated the most energy because there is absolutely no question now that this community is figuring out how to make games with Torque which is damn inspiring all the way around.

While not a game, I have to make mention of the increasingly spectacular Torque Lighting Kit from John Kabus and Synapse Gaming the next version of which was on full display in the ShowOFF Center. John is directly responsible for how awesome many of the games looked this year and will be blowing your socks off with the new tech that is on the way.

The sessions this year were quite varied and I actually attended more than any previous year including the Casual Gaming Roundtable, the Future of Physics and Gaming, Taking Advantage of Torque 2D, the Constructor Preview (I mean who would miss that!), Marketing your game from the other side, Professional Game Development, and Porting Torque to the PS2 and Beyond.

One of the biggest surprises for me was the amount of business opportunities now available for independent studios ... from Microsoft standing up the first day and telling us indies that we are the "glue" tying their technology circle and casual gaming strategy together to the numerous mentions of the kind of money that is now entering the casual game market which will provide growth opportunities for many of the studios in this community.

Seeing how awesome the games were this year from starving studios was really inspiring but to think how much better they will all be when these talented teams are actually funded and working full-time on them is pretty overwhelming. I've been part of this community since it started and watched it grow over the years. It was a proud weekend to see so many of the same studios and teams still working at it after all these years and realizing that we are all on the cusp of breaking into the industry full force with some of the coolest and most innovative games out there.

I'm looking forward to next year with more excitement and vigor than ever before. We are 'over the hump' so to speak as a community of independent game developers and now it's time to reap the rewards. There is no better time than now to have an indie studio or start one up!

There is probably a lot more to say about IGC and the business opportunities that have emerged but I have to pack and get on the road to Portland for a flight home to snowy Denver. Until next time...

(PS if you haven't seen pictures yet, check out Danny's site at www.flickr.com/photos/tags/indiegamescon/)