The Number One Educational Resource for the Game Industry
-
Overview:
-
Videogames are always being compared to one medium or another.
Most commonly, were described as being like movies (or television or theater or radio) and many game developers harbor secret (or not so secret) aspirations to make movies.
We turn to talent from other media to show us the way to mainstream acceptance. Film directors act as video game creative directors. Writers from screenwriters to novelists to comic book scribes are hired to put words in our characters mouths.
Techniques borrowed from film and television animation bring our characters to life. Visual effects development and audio design from film, television and radio are utilized to take our characters and worlds to new heights of believability and appeal.
Clearly, theres a case to be made for borrowing storytelling and lighting techniques from movies. Award-winning games have built on animation techniques from film and television. It makes sense to rely on approaches to audio pioneered in television or radio.
But just how far can, or should, this idea that were like other media be taken? Do these constant comparisons actually make sense? Are we just like other media (or close enough to justify borrowing techniques and talent)?
Warren Spector, veteran game developer and current Creative Director for Disney Interactive Studios Junction Point, will discuss how valid these comparisons are and suggest some new comparisons that may bear as much or more fruit. Using examples from a variety of media and a variety of games, he will examine what we have learned, what we still have to learn in the future and where we may even have learned things that hold us back from reaching our potential as the unique medium we must strive to become.
Recommended
