Mid-terms were last week; my capstone game development class is turning the first drafts of their games.

Slug is a game by Eve Addison, Robert Donahue, Stephen Steinbach, Mary Lewis, Nathaniel Wise, and Michael Winch. It’s really cute, in Flash, play it now, play it here:

http://userpages.umbc.edu/~nwise1/Slug/bin/Slug.html

The title was “The Psychology of Game Design (Everything You Know Is Wrong)”, which did not get him a sympathetic audience to start with.

The room layout was most imposing: 5000 people in long rows, a 100-foot stage, 3 50-foot screens with one big face on them: EL SIIID. Standard GDC.

The talk, however, was not forceful. It did not reveal mystic, surprising truths. It was a set of anecdotes about different situations he’s been in over the almost 20 years of Civilization titles (and others).

The arc of the anecdotes was usually this: Sid tries some idea. User tester makes more-or-less boneheaded critique. In response, Sid changes the game, maybe discards the idea altogether, and the game is better. Twenty years of that.

So, really, the “You” in the subtitle referred to Mr. Meier himself, and what looked to be a haughty diatribe turned out to be almost an internal monologue on the benefits of humility and careful listening.

The last thing I expected was to be touched. That’s wisdom for you: not what you expect.

Sid Meier is giving the GDC main keynote at 10:30 today. Firaxis is everywhere. Jon and Closure won at IGF. Sure, San Francisco. Sure, Seattle. Baltimore too.

They’re throwing t-shirts around like confettii. I’m going to be mowing in style for 15 years. I’ve got pens, lanyards, hand sanitizer, bonky balloon things, styrofoam airplanes, a zillion chances to win an iThingie (declined). Kit-kat? Yes thanks.

And the Queen of all Schwag For the Rest of the History of the World: Google gave me a FRAKKIN DROID. A honest-to-Pete Smartphone. WITH FREE ACTIVATION. I haven’t read the fine print, but the rumor is that it’s a 1-YEAR PLAN. I had heard about it, and was pretty sure it was one of those “YOU MAY HAVE WON A TRILLION DOLLARS oh, sorry,” but no, bang, Droid, in my hand there you go next please.

Wonder if MD will let me keep it– I am employed by the state, after all. That would be disappointing.

So, is this a sign of economic resurgence, industry implosive doom, industry explosive mayhem, or just trying to keep up with Google. I haven’t seen anything like this since SIGGRAPH ’95. SIGGRAPH 2004, I scored a postcard, but I had to give a blood sample.

I’m thinking explosive mayhem. iPad, Windows 7 Mobile, Sony is offering dev kits to everyone.

Talk title: “How to Make a Universe Worthy of Devotion.”

Very entertaining talk. Big guy, New England blue-collar accent, telling stories about getting killed in Everquest– but it felt more like bar fight stories: “The last thing on my screen was the bottom of the guy’s sandal. Then I had to walk the whole stupid road again and kill all that crap all over. Took 8 hours. Because I hit ‘a’ instead of ‘s’.”

Basically, it boils down to logical self-consistency and backstory. (Well, why did the “Star Wars” franchise just implode? George got too lazy to keep his own made-up facts straight.) When RAS makes a new world, his standard of backstory excellence is 10,000 years of world history– most of which will never be published, except as telling little details.

1000 people in that room, hanging on every word. “‘Just keep running.’ What are those, giants? Cool! ‘Just keep running.’ Then I was in a forest. They said, ‘Go faster, it’s almost 7:00. I said, ‘What? Why does that matter?” “Bad things happen at 7. Quit typing. Just keep running.'”