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30 Apr 2009

“What Makes Us Epic?” Keynote Summary and Q&A

Dr. Michael Capps, President of Epic Games was the first keynote speaker at the inaugural Triangle Game Convention is downtown Raleigh, North Carolina.

Epic games has come a far way since they started as a company in the basement of their house shipping games out in ziplock plastic bags.  First and foremost they are a game engine company.  Unreal Tournament 3’s engine is one of the most popular ones out on the market right now, and is used to design everything from Kid’s TV Shows to MMORPGs.   Because of their success, the Research Triangle has become the capital of gaming engines for the entire country.

Shameless Plug: “Make Something Unreal”  1 million dollars in prizes and possibly a job at Epic games.  http://www.makesomethingunreal.com/

Epic is a gaming company, but it really is how they treat their employees that sets them apart.  The most important thing is to treat all of their employees as if they are volunteers.  Because there are hundreds of other companies who would love to have their expertise with the Unreal Engine, so everyone must be highly valued on the staff.

The best way to accomplish goals as a company is to have shared responsibility and shared success.  If there is a team project rather than an individual one, everyone is accountable and has a vested interest to see that it succeeds rather than fails.  Since we have all of these brilliant people working for us, we have to keep them challenged constantly.  If you have brilliant people working towards nearly impossible goals, the end result will almost always be positive.  As much we like to have success with our teams, we always tell them “if you never fail, they you aren’t pushing yourself hard enough.”

Gears of War is particularly interesting, because it started from a simple concept of “vehicles fighting in space”.  After over 30 game of the year awards, some of which were even for marketing of the game, you would have to consider it quite successful.  But in order to make a sequel to this game would have to be a marathon event for the staff.  The game was supposed to be twice as big, twice as hardcore, twice as polished, and over twice the budget.  Unfortunately the metacritic score didn’t reflect all of the work that was put into it, however, the sales did.  And in the end since Epic is a game company, we want to makes the gamers happy.

In the end,  “What makes us epic?”  Simply learning from the lessons handed down from past “generations” of games.  The goal is to keep all of the employees happy and to reward productivity, but it’s important to not forget to have fun, because “we’re a game company!”

Post Session Q&A

o     What are your feelings about the kinds of marketing services that are available through Playstation Home?

-       Well obviously we have a lot of ties with Microsoft, but Home has always interested us.  Since it has been “developing” for so long, it will be interesting to see how companies will actually utilize it.  I’ve heard good things about the space that EA has created, and although there’s nothing like that planned right now, it’s something that we’ll have to look into.

o     When will we be able to fight a Brumak on foot in the Gears of War universe?

-       Actually that was already something that we did in the first Gears of War, although it was only something that was added to the PC edition.  There are a lot of exciting things in store for the series, I wouldn’t count anything out.

Keep checking back for more updates from the Triangle Game Conference!

30 April, 2009 at 11:25 by Will

Tags: 360, epic, home, ps3, TGC, xbox
Posted in News | View Comments

29 Apr 2009

Insomniac: “The PS3 is easier to Develop for than the PS2″

Nathaniel Bell – Senior Environment Artist for Insomniac Games had a chance to sit down and talk with me at the Triangle Game Conference about what it’s like to develop on the Playstation 3 console.  He has as first hand experience developing environments for several Ratchet and Clank games as well as both Resistance titles for the PS3.

The conclusion that he reached was that because of Insomniac’s amazing engineering teams, and since they make all of their own development tools in house, they as a company have been able to learn from their past experiences and develop new tools to improve on them.  This has led to his job becoming increasingly easier over time to the point where “it would be a nightmare to try to develop without the tools we have now”.  In the end, he just came out and said that he has had nothing but great experience developing solely for the PS3 now, and because of the tools that he has at his disposal, “The PS3 is easier to develop for than the PS2″.

This will hopefully lay to rest all of the arguments about how “hard” it is to develop for the Playstation3.  If you put the time and effort into learning the architecture, then amazing games are possible, as is evident from what Insomniac has released.

Keep checking back for more Triangle Game Conference updates!

29 April, 2009 at 12:53 by Will

Tags: insomniac, ps2, ps3, TGC
Posted in News | View Comments

27 Apr 2009

The New Game Conference: TGC

There is E3, GDC, PAX, etc.  But now look out because North Carolina is making a name for itself.  The first annual Triangle Game Conference is slated to kick off this week in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina.  (Wednesday April 29th – Thursday April 30th)  Why Raleigh you may ask?  This is because Raleigh and the Triangle region are home to the third largest density of game designers and developers in the entire country.  There are over 30 companies that are going to be represented at this conference that account for over 1000 employees.

What kind of big names would come to a conference in its first year?  That’s a valid question, except when your company is centered in Cary, NC and you make such blockbusters as Unreal Tournament, and Gears of War.  I am of course talking about Epic Games.  Not only them, but also Insomniac Games (Ratchet and Clank, Resistance) and Atomic Games (Close Combat) are some of the big names headlining.  

Make sure to come down and check out the conference if you’re in the vicinity of Raleigh.  Tickets start at $30 a day for students and range to $300 a day for premium passes.  Be sure to check out their conference website for more information as well as continue to check back here for continued coverage of the entire event as well as exclusive interviews with Epic and other developers.

http://www.trianglegameconference.com/

27 April, 2009 at 18:05 by Will

Tags: 360, epic, insomniac, ps3, TGC
Posted in General | View Comments

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