Infinite Ammo » AustinGDC http://infiniteammo.ca Indie Game Devs from Winnipeg, Canada Fri, 28 Oct 2011 07:17:25 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 Storytelling through Indie Games http://infiniteammo.ca/blog/storytelling-through-indie-games/ http://infiniteammo.ca/blog/storytelling-through-indie-games/#comments Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:38:13 +0000 Alec Holowka http://infiniteammo.ca/?p=1235 As you may or may not know, I’m down in Austin to be part of the first “Independent Game Summit” ever held here. The IGS has been a staple of San Francisco’s Game Developer’s Conference for three years now, and the organizers wanted to make this new IGS pretty special.

I decided to propose a talk about something that had been on my mind for a long time – stories in games.

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Can you name ‘em all?

What ensued was an epic trip to Austin, Texas – to live in a house with about 8 other indie game developers, who also happen to be some of my best friends.

While there I also organized the Marian teaser in several days by drawing on some very talented artists from Winnipeg and the US. (I’m going to make a separate post about how that was done, because it was pretty intense!)

I ended up having the last time slot of the IGS, which is both a blessing and curse. It meant that I got the opportunity to wrap up the entire summit with my own little message, but it also means that a fair chunk of people would be tired or already on their way out the door.

Fortunately, a decent sized crowd stuck around and I ended up happy with how it went. I debuted the Marian teaser during the talk, and it was fun to see it on the “big screen” and hear it boom out of the sound system.

If you didn’t make it in person and you’re interested in finding out exactly what I was yammering on about, it turns out that Ashley Davis of Destructoid has written a pretty detailed and more-or-less accurate account. (can you spot the typos?)

I’m going to work on editing my slides and I’ll post them here eventually!

]]> http://infiniteammo.ca/blog/storytelling-through-indie-games/feed/ 7 Talkin' at Austin GDC! http://infiniteammo.ca/blog/talkin-at-austin-gdc/ http://infiniteammo.ca/blog/talkin-at-austin-gdc/#comments Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:40:55 +0000 Alec Holowka http://infiniteammo.ca/?p=1194 I decided to put together a talk for Austin GDC based on ideas that started germinating after I wrote in this blog about storytelling in games.

You can see the details here!

Full description:
“Are games a valid medium for telling stories? Are stories a valid basis for creating gameplay mechanics? Alec Holowka, creator of the IGF award-winning AQUARIA and the upcoming story-based game MARIAN, explores the essence of stories and games – journeying to the point where they intersect. By examining popular mainstream games, underground independent games and his own projects critically, Alec argues that its possible to create meaningful links between events in a story and gameplay mechanics – and it is a powerful technique for creating unique experiences that stimulate more than just our desire to play.”

Hope to see some of you there! :)

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