GDC 2007 - March 8th, 2007 : The Second Best Day Ever

FUCK YOUUUUUU

The hits just keep on coming. Today was chock full of stuff. I've put it in sections for your convenience.

Shigeru Miyamoto Keynote

Since between meeting him in person and watching him do a ton of stuff during the GDC awards show wasn't enough for my selfish ass, I also attended Miyamoto's keynote today. We were in the third row with a perfect view of the stage. Reggie Fils-Aime was sitting a few feet away from me and Carlos. I got to meet him after the keynote, but more on that later. Furthermore, while waiting in line for the keynote, the one and only GameJew himself John Mann interviewed me, and I told him the legendary story of my Miyamoto run-in. The more I talk to people, the more unlikely I realize my situation was in those fateful moments.

Miyamoto-san shows off one of the prototype Wii controls

It's actually quite hard to explain the impact that Miyamoto's keynote had on me. He is such a unique, incredible soul, so full of literal magic. You can't help but feel different when you're around him. The guy is simply incredible and his lecture let us get a very personal look at the inside of his mind.

The number one thing that he keeps in mind during every moment of developing a game - the look on the player's face as they play and experience it. If his creative vision makes the player's face look any less enthusiastic than it was, then it was the wrong way to go. Such is the way of the Miyamoto.

I have plenty of video and pictures from the keynote. I'll try and get some up soon.

Reggie, Kicking Ass and Taking Names

After the keynote, I manuevered over to Reggie, who was short on time but still had a moment to take a picture with me. Actual dialogue before the picture was taken:

Me : We have to take an angry face photo.
Reggie : Ha, everyone always asks for the angry face, but I don't usually do that for pictures. You want the angry face, get Phil (Harrison) back in here.

There was a lot of press around us and the people that were in the immediate vicinity roared with laughter. For the first time of many today, I am caught in the awkward moments of 'I'm about to laugh but I am trying to look cool'.

I am aware of how much taller Reggie is than me.

A Chat with Peter Molyneux

After the keynote, Carlos and I had the distinct honor of having a 10 minute or so conversation with the game design veteran from across the pond, the wonderful Peter Molyneux, creator of Populous, Black and White and Fable. He demo'd the most recent version of Fable 2 and dropped my jaw with the most realistic dog I've ever seen in a video game. Your character has a dog in this game that is your companion - every single dog is different, and changes with you, both mentally and physically. It was simply amazing.

Molyneux had a conversation with Carlos and me shortly after he signed my brother's copy of Fable.

Jeff's life is made better by me.

When he turned to me, he smiled and extended his hand. "And you are?" he asks in that enthusiastic voice of his. I smile and shake his hand sturdily. "I'm Joe Laurino, Game Designer for Gameloft." He smiles and says "Ah, Gameloft! So, let's speak Designer to Designer for a moment, if you don't mind, Joe. I just have a few questions I want to ask and wanted some critiquing on some aspects of the build I showed today."

He proceeded to ask for my opinion on various aspects of the demo, most importantly the dog. My words came out sort of jumbled, but I think I got the point across. I told him the animation was incredible, which it really was, and he laughed when I told him I thought the work they did on the tongue was amazing....which it was.

So then Carlos asks if we can take a picture with him. He says he'd be more than happy to, and I turn to move to the other side of him so I can get into the shot. During this, I step on Molyneux's shoe. I didn't step on his foot, just his shoe, so he wasn't hurt, thank christ. "Oh god," I say trying not to laugh, "I just stepped on his shoe." He laughed very hard at this, and I just kept looking at the camera like I totally fucked up, but the result is this amazing picture.

Me : I totally. Just stepped on his foot.
Molyneux : OH MAN LOLLOLOLOLL
Carlos : ^____^

He is one of the coolest people I have ever met, and I'm not just saying that. It was a serious honor for me to get to speak with Molyneux and be spoken to as a professional.

The Game Design Challenge, Meeting David Jaffe and Alexey Patjinov

After a lunch break, me and Carlos decided to go early to the Game Design Challenge. After securing the best seats in the house, I went to go you know, use the restroom. When I return, Carlos is deep in discussion with none other than God of War designer David Jaffe. Carlos is a huge, huge fan of Jaffe so he was pretty damn psyched to be meeting him.We spoke for a good 15 minutes or so - though a lot of the dialogue went on between Jaffe and Carlos. He remembered Carlos from his blog.

Two fucking awesome people collide.

So when it was my turn to introduce myself, mentioning Gameloft got Jaffe to go "No shit, Gameloft! Man, Prince of Persia 2, that was what I wanted fucking God of War mobile to be like."

I raised my brow. "So...aren't you making it like that, then?"

He said some things I won't repeat here, since I'm not sure Jaffe would appreciate that.

Did I mention that Jaffe curses about as much as I do? No? Well, he does.

I mention that between the two of us, we could probably get something going. I give him my business card, and tell him to e-mail me if he wants to keep talking. He says definitely, so I'm feeling pretty special at this point. Oh yeah, he told me to join his fucking blog also. No, he really said 'join my fucking blog'.

Finally. A loudmouthed, out of control game designer that's almost as short as I am.

So we sit and get to watch the awesomeness of the Design Challenge, which utilized a Needle and Thread interface as this year's challenge. Alexey Patjinov won it easily with his title called 'Stitch and Cross'. It is a game concept that literally dropped my jaw from how simple and fun it could be.

Left to Right : Alexey Patjinov (pitching Stitch and Cross), Eric Zimmerman, Harvey Smith, David Jaffe

For those unfamiliar, Alexey Patjinov created a little game known as Tetris. He is a mathematician from a completely different generation than most of us. He is humble, kind, and exudes warmth. After he won, I shook his hand and congradulated him. He was kind enough to pose for a picture with me.

Patjinov was not, unfortunately, very good at english. The things he said were absolutely hilarious and it was hard not to laugh. For instance, I handed him my camera without thinking when he agreed to the picture. He looks to it, looks to me, I look to it, and look to him, and we both laugh as a kind lady takes the camera from him and takes the picture for us. Right before she takes it, Patjinov says this, I shit you not ;

"I was goings to say, I am supposed to be making photo with you."

That's why my face looks like it does in that picture. I am fighting back laughter so bad it hurts.

Patjinov's first line during his pitch, I am not kidding : "Hello, this is me."

Eiji Aonuma : Reflections of Zelda

The Reflections of Zelda talk was insightful in that it showed that even a game as incredible as Twilight Princess, developed by one of the best companies in the industry, still has many issues internally during it's production. Aonuma, who is the Miyamoto-appointed Director of the Legend of Zelda series, spoke a lot about the different difficulties he and his team had while developing Twilight Princess and how making innovation in that game did not come easy. He tells about how he was guided by Miyamoto more than once during the game's lengthy production.

LOL OWNED NOOB!!!!!

I got to shake his hand and thank him, but was shut down by security when I asked him to sign my brother's copy of Twilight Princess. Sorry, Jeff!

And now I am back at my hotel room and I'm trying to soak it all in. I have a lot of serious thoughts going on in my head, but it's far too overwhelming to try and post here. I will be revamping my official website soon so that it's more intuitive and I'll have a much more easy time talking.

This concludes day two. Tomorrow is a talk with Koji Igarishi of Castlevania fame about 2D gaming, a discussion with Killer 7 creator Goichi Suda about developing original IP's and founding your own small company, a design document discussion, and the Video Games Live concert.