"You are going to have to decide which side you are going to be on."
A recent lecture from Naughty Dog President Jason Rubin, called "Coming Out
Of the Garage," summed up my recent conference experience.
I just got back from the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Jose, my
second time attending. As most of you probably know, it is a trade-only expo
and lecture series that happens every March.
The first one I went to, in 1999, was surreal. Almost by pure luck I got a
chance to interview Shigeru Miyamoto, meet Eugene Jarvis (whom I later did a
profile on) and even talk shop with Pong creator Nolan Bushnell. I felt like
the fictional character Candide, wandering from event to event, not exactly
sure what was going to happen next.
I also felt like I was right on the dividing line of my two professions: I
was covering the conference for Game Developer Magazine via Gamasutra.com,
so I was there as a journalist, but I also was an ambitious amateur game
developer, so I was there as a game creator, too. I would greet everyone
(and I would greet EVERYONE) with "Hi. I'm a writer and a game developer,
too."
Wow, how things have changed. In the past two years I got another degree in
journalism, created a few minor titles and, also almost two years ago,
started this column. Yeah, it sounds like I'm a journalist covering games,
not a journalist and a would-be professional game developer.
Rubin's lecture from the 2001 GDC hit home for me. The creator of the Crash
Bandicoot series talked about the difference between being an amateur,
"garage" developer and being a business. "Garage developers make ego-driven
titles and don't care if it fits a public niche," he said, "while
professional developers make titles that are marketed and guaranteed to
sell."
His hour-long lecture was fairly intense, and perhaps full of truths, but
either way the result for me was positive. I realized that I didn't want to
work for Nintendo or Sega, and I didn't want to create a large company
myself, either.
I wanted to make games about strange things I found captivating. I didn't
want to conform to a standard. I also realized that my current attitude
wouldn't get me into the big leagues, but for now I wanted to make software
that was 100% Damon, whatever that is.
We should be proud to be hobbyist game developers. If you want to get into
the business, great, do what you need to do to get into the business. If you
want to make software for only yourself or your friends, though, be just as
proud.
And so when I attended the conference again last month, I was right on the
dividing line of my two professions: I was covering the conference again for
Gamasutra, so I was still a journalist, but I also was an ambitious
"hobbyist" game developer, so I was there as a hobbyist, too.
And I greeted everyone (and I would greet EVERYONE) with "Hi. I'm a writer
and a hobbyist game developer, too."
--
Written by Damon Brown.
