News - GDC 2009

21 comments by Noesis_Interactive on Apr 1st, 2009 digg this super bookmark

March 30, 2009, Santa Cruz, CA  — Today Noesis Interactive announced an agreement with Valve Corporation to provide SourceU developers with educational content including, curriculum, lecture materials and assessment aids for six game development classes downloadable through Steam, a leading platform for the distribution and management of PC games with over 20 million accounts worldwide. 

The educational classes for game development include: “Introduction to Content Creation and Level Design”, “Beginning Character Design”, Level Design & Scripting”, “Mod Programming”, “Advanced Character Design”, and “Machinima”.  SourceU is Valve's program to equip instructors and students with the real-world skills and knowledge needed to foster a successful and rewarding career in the games industry.

Noesis Interactive has been developing tutorials for video game modders and independent developers on the Source platform for several years.  As a part of the SourceU initiative, Valve, Noesis, and  SourceU  members  have developed an extensive curriculum based on several Noesis tutorials. Each class syllabus is provided along with instructor materials including lecture notes, tutorial examples, and assessment tools.

“We are excited to be working with Valve to make our Video Courseware available to the education market” says Casey Noland, CEO, Noesis Interactive.  “Noesis is all about teaching gamers how to create their own games, so working with educators to integrate our content into their curriculum is a perfect solution for students interested in game development”.

The Department of Computer Science, University of California, Santa Cruz, will launch “Introduction to Content Creation & Level Design”, an introductory class designed to teach 3D level design, as part of its Game Development Major curriculum. According to Professor Jim Whitehead, “Using Noesis content, the class can combine the theory of level design with practical hands-on level creation. Content creation and level design tools change quickly, so it's challenging to instruct students in the tool-specific aspects of level design. These packages solve this problem for us. Our first class will include 30 students, both majors and non-majors. Students are really excited about this class."

 “Beginning Character Design”, Level Design & Scripting”, “Mod Programming”, “Advanced Character Design”, and “ Machinima” are complementary classes that function as either stand alone courses or as part of an integrated curriculum. Each course is designed to enable students to build upon the knowledge and results from previous classes as they progress through the curriculum.  

The Interactive Simulation & Game Technology Program at Richland College in Dallas, Texas will begin integrating the Noesis SourceU curriculum in the Spring semester as additional learning resources for our students. “Our goal is to insure the Interactive Simulation & Game Technology program at Richland College is rigorous and relevant to the gaming industry, so our students know what to expect upon graduation," says Program Director & Lead Faculty Jeremy Roden. “Our students have had great success using the Noesis videos on an informal basis as part of our educational program. Accompanied with Richland’s instructional design team, the SourceU program, and experience of our faculty at Richland College, the Noesis videos allow the student to have reference material that provides additional guidance outside of the classroom.”

SourceU will be offering the Noesis Video Courseware at an education discount downloadable through Steam with a product key.  Various purchase options are available depending upon the requirements of the educational institution.

Noesis Interactive is the premier developer of Video Courseware and training materials for game modders and indie-developers. Noesis is dedicated to improving gaming related education worldwide and preparing its users for industry careers or independent production. Noesis is based in the California San Francisco Bay Area, just minutes from Silicon Valley. For more information, visit Education.noesisinteractive.com.

13 comments by stenchy on Mar 24th, 2009 digg this super bookmark

'Twas a great day today. Last year really felt like we were nobodies and had everything to prove. This year, after running into people from both Overgrowth and Zeno Clash, I can honestly feel good about what we've accomplished over the last year and how much of an impact we made. Still, there's always more to be done. I've taken quite a few notes on the sessions I was present at today. These notes may materialize into articles eventually, but not today – I'm about ready to pass out. Nevertheless, here's a short summary of today's highlights.

Sessions:

2D Boy: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Going Indie But Were Afraid to Ask

Ron Carmel and his partner Kyle Gabler seem to be making all the right moves with their wildly successful indie game, World of Goo. In this session, Ron's breaks down the sales figures of WoG for 2008 and lets us know which outlets mattered the most. In a surprise to many, WiiWare would have all but dominated everything else were it not for the almighty Steam sale.

Indie Games: From Buzz to Business

Game lawyer Tom Buscaglia peppers Zach Aikman (Fishbeat), Micheal Wilford (Twisted Pixel) and Dylan Fitterer (Audiosurf, LLC) with questions on how to nurse the buzz earned from IGF and PAX10 awards/nominations through to genuine business possibilities. The 3 took different routes but all agreed that press exposure was something you should give your full attention for as long as you have it. While it may siphon time away from actual development, its a necessary tactic to help ensure a successful game launch.

Embracing Constraints

Dylan Fitterer takes the stage again to emphasize constraints as necessary development tools for independents. While many independent (and mod) teams may push the bar in order to make themselves more comparable to full-on commercial studio titles, Dylan embraced his constraints to help himself author one of the bestselling indie games ever. Just as artists have done more with less, indie game developers should consider enforcing constraints to stimulate proactive development and unleash true creative freedom.

Stardock on The PC Hardcore Scene as Indie

Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock and outspoken advocate against DRM, reveals how his company has been able to achieve the heights of success developing and publishing games like Sins of the Solar Empire and Galactic Civilizations II. While not multi-million dollar blockbusters, Stardock is still thriving on what many wrongly consider to be a niche audience. After all, compared to games like Civilization 4, many FPS games just don't stack up in sales numbers.

5 comments by stenchy on Mar 23rd, 2009 digg this super bookmark

Well, here I am again in San Francisco yet again for my second GDC. Another year wiser and this time I'll know what to expect. Last year's conference had my head spinning in wonderment – just two months after my initial employment with ModDB, I was plopped into a building full of the best and brightest (and most hopeful) in the games industry. It was an experience that was both exciting and exhausting. This year, I have a better handle on the things to come over the next week and quite a few things I am looking forward to:

Indie Games Summit

The first two days of GDC are comprised of various summits specializing in different areas. The independent games summit has speakers from all the breakout indie hits that you may or may not have experienced this year. From Flower to World of Goo, the developers behind these projects share their tragedies and triumphs, their rants and raves. These sessions hold more importance to me not only because of their relevance to the site but the passion on display when watching these speakers. Everything seems just a little bit more unfiltered and raw, like they can tell you anything they want because they're their own boss.

IGF Finalist Booths

The Independent Game Festival finalists will all have their own booths on the exhibition floor space. I haven't had time to check out the full lineup of indie games this year, so this is a great way to catch up. It's also great to chat with the developers firsthand and let them know about ModDB!

GDC Awards

This event feels like the Oscars of the games industry – without the black tie. Developers awarded at the Game Developers Choice Awards are chosen through the voting of their peers. This year's show is hosted by funny-man Tim Schafer, the designer behind Grim Fandango, Psychonauts and the upcoming Brutal Legend. Should be a hoot.

Watching Mark's head spin in wonderment

(image coming soon)
Mark Chandler (lodle), our lead developer, is attending GDC for his first time. He doesn't know what he's in for.

51 comments by INtense! on Mar 18th, 2009 digg this super bookmark

Despite releasing CryENGINE 2 less than 2 years ago in May 2007, Crytek will be introducing CryENGINE 3 at this years GDC. Developers what is your reaction to this announcement? Whilst I'm not a developer I am quite surprized by this, as CryENGINE 2 is still so new (and one of the best next-gen engines available), the tools and development kit is not really there for the mod teams, and already they seem to be ignoring this and pushing on. Here is the official release:

Looks like they are staying true to their word and moving away from a pure PC development focus.

14 comments by INtense! on Mar 17th, 2009 digg this super bookmark

Beginning next week, the Mod DB team plans on adsorbing a ton of information from indies right through to the veterans presenting at this years GDC. Our schedule is jam packed, but if you are there or if you just live nearby and you want to catch up for a chat, shoot us a message.

Monday

• 2D Boy: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Going Indie But Were Afraid to Ask
• 2008 IGF Finalist Overview
• Independent Games & Sales: Stats 101
• Indie Games: From Buzz To Business
• 2008 AI Postmortems: SPORE, GEARS OF WAR 2, and BIOSHOCK
• CRAYON PHYSICS DELUXE Postmortem
• Embracing Constraints
• Stardock On The PC Hardcore Scene As Indie
• Am I dead yet?

Tuesday

• The Indie Advantage? A View From Both Sides
• The Art of Independent Game Promotion
• The Indie Businessman
• The Indie Game Maker Rant
• How Do You Manage Small Indie Teams?
• Indies: Beyond Single-Player
• Hothead Games: Episodic Content and The Evolving Indie Landscape
• Making Web Games: The Indie Experience
• How to Finish a Game Project You... Hate?

Wednesday

• Discovering New Development Opportunities
• From Bungie to Bootstrapping — Starting an Independent Developer Studio
• The Art of BRAID

Thursday

• My Lessons Learned from Flagship Studios
• From COUNTER-STRIKE to LEFT 4 DEAD: Creating Replayable Cooperative Experiences
• Unlikely Beginnings: FALLOUT 3's Lead Designer on his Path into the Game Industry
• Economic Downturn, Gaming Upturn?