Toronto Fan Expo 2010: State of the Toronto Game Industry Panel

Sarah – if you’re coming out of high school and you don’t know a thing about game development, you’ll definitely learn something at any school you attend. The real question is whether you’ll be useful to the industry once you get out – in other words, whether you’ve learned enough, and whether or not what you learned is valuable to prospective employers.

We don’t yet have a FullSail or a DigiPen here in Ontario – no school where we can really, truly say “wanna learn game development? Go HERE.” A number of Ontario schools are vying for that position, but we’re very far off the mark.

My best advice is to avoid community college video game programs altogether. If you want to be a video game artist, go to art college and build up a really killer traditional media portfolio. Take 1 year of post-grad 3D art somewhere. You’ll be in a much better position than if you subjected yourself to a community college’s experiment in getting it right.

If you have an organized and analytical mind, go to a University for computer science, NOT a community college for programming. Again, do 1 year post-grad in game programming.

- Ryan

New Toronto Café Has a Board Game Collection to Die For

For the cost of a $3.50 cup of tree bark, you can see the collection up close.

5 outrageous frauds involving mustaches

(next week’s is even crazier)

Toronto Fan Expo 2010: State of the Toronto Game Industry Panel

i like to say that i got to be where i am not because of my Ontario college education, but in spite of it.

Toronto Fan Expo 2010: State of the Toronto Game Industry Panel

Cheryl worked slavishly for an entire hour making it. i cut out the details like the eyes and the teeth, and suffered third-degree burns on my thumb from mishandling the hot glue gun. It was a perilous effort – one that we’re not keen to repeat. The hat is a one-of-a-kind.

Sucked Back Into the Vortex

Things that fit traditional “game” descriptions seem to fare better. i couldn’t get anyone excited about my multiplayer web trivia game last year, but as soon as a presenter mentioned a “boss fight” in his game, you could hear the boners in the room start popping.

Sony Mixes It Up in T.O.

Too right. And his montage music was likely “Any Way You Want It” by Queen.

Sony Mixes It Up in T.O.

What about the yo-yo guy?

Happy 18th Birthday, Señor "Hernan Felicitas"

Ignore all. Focus on the cockatiel.

Introduction to A* (A-Star) Pathfinding in ActionScript 3 (AS3)

Thanks, Jelani. Phil did a great job.

Science vs. Faith in Game Design

Jim – i’m not suggesting Zynga’s success is entirely luck. Of course not! But i AM suggesting that most of these great success stories owe more to luck than the storytellers let on. For every well-educated Pincus who had a brilliantly executed idea at the right time, there were umpteen well-educated also-rans who either had either a brilliantly executed idea at the wrong time, or even a poorly executed idea at the right time.

One of the examples in the article i mentioned – and i wish i could find it – was Palm. Palm had an app store years before Apple did, but Apple had far better timing (and marketing and mindshare, etc).

Science vs. Faith in Game Design

Agreed. Let’s frame it.

i get the same feeling whenever i go to a “Lookit How Awesome We Are” presentation by Zynga and others at these conferences. They always chalk their success up to their own ingenuity, and it’s always clear that so much luck factored into it. And if not, then why aren’t these “visionaries” able to repeat their successes? These talks may as well be called “How You Can Get Struck By Lightning Like I Did.”

i read an article recently that i found very helpful. It basically said that no one has it figured out … everyone’s just rolling the dice. That’s why products like Microsoft Bob happened.

Untold Entertainment Turns Three!

Thanks, Colm!