I am the Lead Game Designer at Zynga Boston, before that I worked as a gameplay engineer at Conduit Labs (which was acquired by Zynga in August 2010). In 2009 I graduated from the Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center. While I was there I worked on a project called Active-Adventure where we attempted to create a new generation of exercise game (more can be found here: www.activeadventuregame.com). The game we created during the project, called Winds of Orbis, was a 2009 IGF Student Finalist and has received high acclaims elsewhere. During the summer of 2008 I worked for Walt Disney Imagineering in the Creative Technology Group. I also have an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and love to help teach game design at several universities in the Boston area. Find more about me at www.sethsivak.com, view my general purpose blog at http://sjsivak.tumblr.com or follow me on twitter (if you are up for it) @sjsivak.
I was a judge for the IGF this year and I wanted to give some information about my experience. Specifically I want to talk about why I think the IGF is great for developers and for judges.
Yesterday Gabe Newell (co-founder of Valve) was shown in an interview discussing this idea for community funded games. This is an argument for trying this new way of funding and some possible ways this could actually be pulled off.
Nintendo responded to a fan that “there isn’t a true frame of reference or timeline possible for the series” based on the fact that “each new game represents a new Link” main character. This annoyed fans, what does it really mean for the franchise?
I disagree with this for two reasons: 1. A game doesn't need to be synchronous to be social. I have a been playing strategery http://strategerygame.com/ with a friend for months now and we never play it at the same time. We talk about the games when we are not playing, ...
Well Robert, I am not actually one of these gamers. However, the point of this article was to show that facebook gamers are much like the typical hardcore gamer most people in the industry are used to. These people attempt to maximize their game-playing achievements and abilities and go to ...
Hippie Chiq - Those are all great examples. I think this model has potential, but will need some work to iron out. The stronger the mod community and indie community becomes, the more potential this type of model could have.
Peter, I think you raise some interesting points. I doubt Nintendo will stray away from the current standard, but the Zelda Universe is no doubt big enough to do total direction changes. I could even imagine a Zelda game where you actually play as Zelda. I think the only true ...
Georgina, Did you read the article or just the abstract This is from the editorial the doctors wrote on the study: However, it is too early to know whether these data reflect a true plateau or a statistical aberration in an inexorable epidemic, and pre-existing racial/ethnic disparities show no sign ...
