PPR at GDC 15

urviving another year of the world’s largest gathering of game developers and alumni, PPR takes to the studio, and this time they brought some friends.

In this special edition of Press Pause Radio, we’re joined by EGM’s Reviews/Previews Editor Ray Carsillo, and and EGM's Managing Editor, Andrew Fitch, and we talk about all the damn GDC.

Topics discussed include Valve Vive, Narcosis, PlayStation Morpheus, Keep Talking & Nobody Explodes, Oculus Rift, Time Machine, Close Your, Fart Jokes, Throw Trucks with Your Mind, Gamergate, Indie Mega Booth, and more. So kick up a seat, and give it a listen why don’t you!

Also, whenever you get the chance, go visit EGMNOW and catch all of the sweet news and reviews that Ray, Andrew, and the rest of the EGM gang have done. 

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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GDC 15: Picking out the best of the Indie Mega Booth

aking their presence at an event that’s considered to be the bastion of creative indie game design, Indie Mega Booth carves out a slice of floor space at the Moscone to show off some of the latest games to hit their exhibit.

Here are some of my choices for the cream of the crop that’s offered at this year’s GDC exhibit.

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GDC 15: Listing off the best of The 4th annual MIX

or four years running now, IGN has collaborated with people at Media Indie Exchange to host The MIX; a community mixer filled with people and indie developers who raise drinks and booze in hand in to celebrate the same communal kind of charm that you’d expect out of GDC.

I had the privilege to be invited to this fine event yet again, and as I strolled past the offerings booze and appetizers, I strolled the aisles in search of any game that caught my eye; especially something that I wouldn’t be able to see at GDC.

Here were all of my personal highlights from the event, and it’s safe to say that I left feeling a degree of anticipation for new games that I haven’t quite felt before.

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GDC 15: Advancing the genre of comedy games with Zoe Quinn

hile the concept of a video game striving to be funny is far from groundbreaking, titles that veer more towards everything humorous has yet to be recognized as its own genre, and some developers are aiming to change that.

Zoe Quinn took to the stage as she campaigned that the science of comedy can be adapted into the format of interactive media like video games successfully if given the right attention to the details that compose the humor.

While the irony of an independent developer who’s primarily known for releasing a title simulates depression wasn’t lost on her, she muses that the struggle of her emotional conditions have helped her to appreciate the nuance of comedy, and she presses forward with some ideas that can help this budding design of gameplay flourish in today’s market of indie games.

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GDC 15: Breaking down the IGF pavillion highlights

hat faithful time has arrived once more, the grand opening of the GDC expo floor, and like a moth to a flame, I immediately gravitated to the IGF Pavilion to experience the games that were picked as finalists for this year’s award show.

I have to admit, I was charmingly surprised as well, not since I had first played Gone Home at this very exhibit years ago, had I came away from the entire thing feeling so moved but what I was able to play.

Enough of the suspense, here are some of my favorites from the event that are sure to be on everyone’s radar when they release later down the line!

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GDC 15: Dissecting Narrative Design with Jurie Horneman

f there’s one thing that you can count on GDC delivering year after year, it’s the consistent distribution of new ideas and creative approaches shared from variety of talented game developers and visionaries in attendance.

Programmers and upstarts from around the world strive to share their ideas among their peers in hopes of improving the climate for video games, even when it comes to established philosophies and subjects in the field of design.

Jurie Horneman is one of these people, as he takes the stage at GDC 15 to challenge the climate of narrative direction in gaming, and how developers can be more conscientious with gameplay mechanics resonate with the plot and world of the experience in a way that can overcome the all too common issue of ludonarrative dissonance that currently plague modern gaming.

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