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PAX 09: Panels & Play
By Corvus | September 7, 2009
Let me get this out of the way first– The release of the HoneyComb Engine’s rough-draft manual has slipped to September 18th. This is a good thing for everyone involved, trust me. It gives me more time to incorporate feedback from this weekend without totally stressing myself out, which means a more solid and comprehensible manual for you and more sanity for me.
Okay, on with the post. Today I am supposed to be resting and recovering from PAX. Fortunately, I’m so keyed up over the success of the weekend that the task list I’m plowing through isn’t bothering me at all.
Friday consisted of breakfast with Darius Kazemi, Nels Anderson and Deirdra Kiai. Darius and I have spent time together at past GDCs, but we got to spend a lot of quality one-on-one time together on Friday and I feel we got to know each other quite a bit better. This, if you can’t tell, pleases me. Nels and I met briefly at a massive dinner earlier this year, but it felt like meeting him for the first time because I wasn’t a) tipsy and b) overwhelmed by the number of people that showed up (the GDC dinner had nearly 30 or so people at it). Nels is a powerhouse. To quote some other people meeting him for the first time, “Those are some eyes, aren’t they?”
Deirdra… well, perhaps Deirdra deserves her own post at some point. Suffice to day that as awesome as I thought Deirdra was before–she now heads her very own pantheon in my personal mythology. One of these days Deirdra is going to be someone about whom the industry-at-large wonders why it didn’t notice her sooner. And if there’s anything I can do to help her on her path to highly-visible-ossumosity, I plan on doing it. Long story short–I enjoyed spending a lot of time with her this weekend.
Max Battcher featured quite prominently and positively into the weekend as well. We talked about Python, the HoneyComb Engine, and our problems with over-committing to projects. I’ll let you build your own conversation out of those three details. I got to spend more time with Damon Brown as well and that’s something I hope to be able to say much more often in the future. Damon is one of those peaceful-but-forceful intellects that manage to calm the waters while simultaneously stirring them up.
Then on Saturday, not only did Rachel and I meet Joe, Randy, and Travis for breakfast, but got to spend quite a bit of time with them outside the confines of the #GBConfab. Plus, they all got to kick the tyres of the the HoneyComb Engine as well.
The list of amazing people goes on and on (and on). I reunited with GDC CAs and other industry friends, Twitter friends, local friends, and people who recognized me from the blog. I met new people, was far too busy to meet others (Darius, I’m going to poke you for virtual introductions here soon). If I sound like I’ve just come back from a brainwashing camp where I was told to gush enthusiastically over everybody–it’s because PAX has an intoxicating effect. So many intelligent, open, engaged geeks in a single place for three days is a high from which I don’t wish to come down.
The HoneyComb tests went very well. I got feedback from strangers and friends, had a film crew watch us for a minute or so on Sunday, watched as Rachel pitched in and helped run a session, and created the first rules variant called the Kiai-Megill Variant. I think I’ll break the HoneyComb test posts out into two posts of their own–one of the standard gameplay sessions, and one focusing on the Kiai-Megill Variant session that began with Travis asking, “So could you use the engine to do something like Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants?” My answer was, “Yes, it should be” and we went on to prove it. My spine tingled for the rest of the day.
Saturday also saw me staying up until three o’clock Sunday morning (about 6 hours past my normal bedtime) so that I could watch all three of Jonathan Coulton’s encores. Also, thanks to my tradition of switching on the Cartoon Network when I stay in hotels, I saw television commercials for the first time in a looong time. Suffice to say, for the moment, that I am glad to not have the television machine hooked to any signal other than my consoles at the moment.
All of which (horrible, mind-scarring televised pandering, and late hours) put me in a slightly manic state of mind Sunday, which I resolved by… um… expending a lot of energy, I guess. I ran a final HoneyComb Engine test, moderated the Murder Sex & Drugs panel, took a final spin through the expo hall, and drove home (it was nice to get a nap (I kid! I kid!)).
The MS&D panel was… The panel… I… Hrm. Words fail.
Okay, I understand that recordings of all the PAX panels will be made available soon. I’ll fore go trying to cram all me awe of N’Gai, Deirdra, Max, Nels, and Damon and let you experience the incredible power that supported my first panel for yourselves. Hopefully it inspired some other people to write about it and when/if I see posts, I’ll share them on Google Reader. I’m already planning next year’s follow up and formulating ideas for a second proposed panel as well.
So in short, I’ve come away from a weekend at PAX reinfected with an excitement for games (video and otherwise) and a slightly renewed hope for the industry. My deepest thanks to everyone who was a part of that!
Tagged:Honeycomb Engine, pax. | 4 Comments »
September 7th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
I hope you let us know where we can watch a video of the panel when one floats to the surface.
September 7th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
I don’t think we’ll get video, but I’ll let you know if/when I find audio.
It occurred to me that I didn’t mention the two panels I attended. The storytelling one wasn’t really interesting and it was fun to sit not 5 feet from Tom Buscaglia during the legal one.
September 8th, 2009 at 4:46 am
I agree that this was a helluva show. Thanks for introducing me to all those wonderful people you’ve mentioned. I’m seriously bursting at the seams with topics to write about, but also too tired and exhausted to do any of them justice at the moment. Hopefully the PAX high won’t wear off anytime soon and we can keep the discourse going online (or convince everyone else to move to Portland. They know they want to).
September 8th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Corvus, it was a pleasure spending time with you and Rachel both.