GDC 2013: Peeking into PixelJunk Inc.

f you ever wanted to build your own secret underground Bond-like installation, or... you know, a soup company with robots, Q-Games and the PixelJunk team have the title for you.

Among the many other wonders at this year’s GDC, we also received more details regarding a new PixelJunk game titled PixelJunk Inc. The game features robots, underground facilities, and co-op galore.

In fact, you could say it’s “totally co-op.”

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GDC 2013: Big Storytelling, Small Budgets

et’s face it you guys, video games are expensive as all hell. They’re pricey to buy, pricey to market, and even pricier to develop; it’s destined to be a constant in this industry. Regardless of these daunting budget trends, there seems to be this misconception that enthralling experiences can’t be done without Scrooge McDuck Money Bins-worth of funding to produce it. George Backer of Hotsauce Interactive approaches GDC with the philosophy that experiences are produced from the skillful heart and not the wallet.

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GDC 2013: The Best of the IGF Finalists Pavillion

he GDC floor expo has kicked off into full effect, and one of the highlights of this intimidating platform is the pavilion booth showcasing all of the finalists nominated for the annual Independent Games Festival awards. Sean and I had the pleasure of roaming through the aisles of all these favorable titles, and we highlighted some of our favorites. While some debuted to the public during our attendance to the show, others are still awaiting completion to go gold. Thanks to the partnership with Valve this year, each game will be available on Steam.

Here are our picks to look out for.

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GDC 2013: Expanding The Future of Storytelling With Forward Thinking

he art of an engaging story is constantly explored when it comes to the realm of video games, and still has an exponential amount to expand regardless of the advances that we have made so far. Storytelling is a factor that’s gained more and more focus in elevating the video game experience to another level. Jesse Schell, author of The Art of Games, takes the stage and talks about the likelihood that we will have the Shakespeare of games. The crowd gradually quiets down the excitement of his session introduction, and takes notice to what the luminary has to say for the future of the medium.

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GDC 2013: Videogame History Museum Highlights

All photos in this interview were courtesy of our friend John Celentano of Unwinnable.com, be sure to check their coverage of GDC too!

ideo game historians and Classic Gaming Expo founders John Hardie, Sean Kelly and Joe Santulli started collecting videogames and related memorabilia before it was cool.

No, seriously. They’ve been at this since the 1980s, way before the thought of “collecting” these products occurred to anyone else. These and other individuals like them searched for every obscure product they could find. No eBay stores. No Craigslist. Just patience, timing, and a constant interest in finding something neat and ever so obscure. Think thrift shop hunting even, only with a few more closed environments and “garbage” nobody wanted anymore. Hell, in once case, another person’s trash became everyone else’s most coveted prototype console: the Sega Neptune.

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GDC 2013: Kickstarter Get's Bigger-Tips for Success for Indie Devs

t’s an old joke that just never quite stops being funny, but there are people who loyally follow the work of another individual or entity and can’t help but shout out the words “Here! Take my money!” at the prospect of being able to get more content from their said heroes. Crowd funding was once a humorous anecdote whenever the concept came up, but has now flourished into a million-dollar industry thanks to an outlet named Kickstarter. Hundreds of thousands of fledgling independent game developers have fully realized their vision with Kickstarter’s assistance, and with an avenue it offers to those who have need of financial support, more and more people try to get in on that piece of the pie with every passing day.

Though contemporaries like Indiegogo exist to give options for crowd funding without all of the red tape included with Kickstarter, Indiegogo has amassed a total $2.4 million in successful projects while Kickstarter has reached $45 million — that's the same budget for development on most of Ubisoft’s AAA titles.

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GDC 2013: Mark of the Ninja Creators Discuss Design Challenges

ometimes, within the process of putting everything together, video game developers battle against waves of insanity. However, some developers and publishers have ways of maintaining product quality without sacrificing everything else in the process.

Jeff Agala and Jamie Cheng, two chief developers behind Klei Entertainment’s Mark of the Ninja, both outlined some of their strategies for fellow independent game developers at their first GDC panel on Monday. The panel, which revolved around “Making Mark of the Ninja, and how we did it without totally losing our minds,” described general tips and tricks for keeping game makers on task while also creating quality products at the same time.

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GDC 2013: The Breakdown of Inciting Emotions Through Playing

motions are strong, depending on how they’re conveyed or felt; they can go on to be overwhelmingly powerful. Storytelling in games is evolving from using the artifice of genuine emotion to simply drive plot or narrative, and instead is gradually manifesting itself into a very real takeaway from direct interaction that’s piloted by the player, and solely on a script. Susan O’Connor of Writing Studio alongside Chuck Beaver of Electronic Arts take the stage at GDC 2013 and explain the finer points and fundamentals of writing within games that will flesh out what the player feels above anything else.

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