GDC 09: When was your "Golden Age" of games?

I must say that my first GDC was a great experience.  As ngmoco’s sole intern and this year being my first in the game industry, I felt it was my responsibility to soak in as much information as I could.  I attended a lot of great lectures about Production, but Mythic Entertainment’s Paul Barnett gave a great speech on the last decade of game design and some great insights on how we, as developers, can strive to make better games in the future.

I was actually fortunate enough to be able to meet Paul a couple of years ago during my undergraduate studies.  He was an inspiration for me and confirmed my aspirations to pursue a career in the game industry once I had graduated.  I was able to spend some time with him aside from his lecture as well, where we were able to catch up and talk more about his ideas that he presented in his lecture.

In his lecture, Paul’s main point was that we are finally in a great position for the game industry to really thrive.  Independent developers now have more outlets to express their creativity and make great games.  He explains this through a few key points:

Paul first pointed to the App Store, Xbox Live Arcade, and now Wii and DS Ware.  Everyone now has the potential to make great games, even right from home.  He went on to explain that we are not limited to the “console gods”, where only big name developers have the true ability to release games.  While many of these games by independent developers may not reach a large audience or be popular on a large scale, many of these games inspire us to think in new and innovative ways.

Paul also talked about our “Golden Age” of games; this is a 10-year period (more or less) when we started obsessing about games.  While Final Fantasy VII may be one of the most influential games in my “Golden Age” (I’m still relatively young), it may very well be Spore for my 7-year old cousin, who may have just entered his golden age.  I could show my cousin Final Fantasy and he may dismiss it right away.  He may not understand why the graphics are “not as cool” or why there isn’t any voice acting.

When talking to people about your golden age, Paul pointed out that your history is only really relevant to you, and it’s just a curiosity to others.  He went on to explain how our culture and upbringing defines how we think creatively.  With the current rise of independent developers, I believe we really see people’s creative genius coming to life with games like Braid and World of Goo.  It doesn’t always take a large team and a lot of time to create a great, unique gaming experience.

Finally, Paul said that things are new and exciting when YOU discover them.  While my cousin may have tried Final Fantasy and thought it was old or boring, that doesn’t change the fact that it was one of the greatest gaming experiences I’ve ever had.  We must use our discoveries and our own golden age to think creatively about how our next generation of games will be, regardless of how others feel about our experiences.  Whether it is the most simple or most complex game, we can always discover new and exciting things that we can take with us when making games in the future.

-Brandon the Intern :)