Today my post came later because I wanted to watch the whole show of The Game Awards, so I took my time. I loved the show, in my opinion it is getting better and better. I liked it better than last year, because I found the new teasers less like a Tool video and with more hope.
The first take is that it is a great time for independent developers. The creative director of Sandfall told that he is thankful for youtubers for putting out tutorials because he had no idea on how to make a game. And the game he made with the team was the most appreciated in the history of TGA, so yeah… I guess it’s easier to make games nowadays. The important part is the creativity, now more than ever. And I believe that now it’s a moment where we can, and should, risk a little bit more in that sense. Avoid repeating formulas, find new recipes. Now the tech permit beat everybody else with less than $10M.
Another trend I am noticing is that horror and monsters is casualizing. Monsters are getting cool, I saw zombies dressed like rappers and cool things like that. Sci-fi, instead, is animalizing always more, with bears and dogs in tech armor. These are two new trends that have been started years ago (in my opinion, from Twilight and Guardians of the Galaxy, respectively) but that now are exploding.
During my view of the show there were tears in my eye. First reason is because the show is fantastic if you love videogames. There is music and stunning visuals, incredible people coming on the show. There is everything I love. But I cried also for a little bit of nostalgia/sadness: it’s because it’s very hard to participate into something like the games presented there. Most of the work in games is on very poor experiences, so I feel that maybe I am losing my time. Maybe I do need to really care about my own world, things I want to put out there, and leave the chase of the next client. I have to think about that.
