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Gama posted an in-depth interview with Keita re: the Nottingham park project. It does a great job of capturing his current state of mind.. especially as it relates to his feelings about being a “game” designer.

I liked this part especially:

After the press conference, one of GameCity’s organizers drove Takahashi to the local art store where he filled his basket with crayons, stickers, pens, sheaths of paper and, of course, a coat hanger. Then they took a taxi to this room, and closed the door behind him.

It’s hard to shake the feeling its precisely this sort of largely directionless creativity, free from the constraints of financial targets, demographics and brand-building that has brought Takahashi to this unlikely nook on the other side of his world.

In answer to his deflected question about what I think makes a good playground, I suggest that I’ve always enjoyed a sense of progression, where one object leads to the next, giving the participant a sense of journey, like a playful assault course.

Takahashi doesn’t respond at first, mulling it over, perhaps masking a sneer. “If there’s a pattern embedded in the design of a park, the danger is always that all of the kids just end up doing the same stuff…” he murmurs.

It’s this sort of aimless approach to game design that frustrated some players and critics with regards to his most recent title, Nobi Nobi Boy, a game that’s difficult to articulate within the usual parameters of success and failure. And yet, this dislike of the order and rigid structure of mainstream games seems to imbue every aspect of Takahashi’s approach.

It’s hard to put a project like the park into words.

I spent most of Sunday with Keita at the park site & studio – and I still am not sure how to describe it. After exploring the grounds, reviewing his sketches, drawing, playing with clay and then discussing the whole thing over ramen… I felt like I had a strange, foggy tangle in my mind. So many things to consider! Days later, that sense of … complex hugeness, is still with me.

Over the last few years, what I’ve come to appreciate most about Keita is his enduring patience – and ability to calmly contemplate huge, tangly messes. What makes me anxious and compulsive… he can sit with, quietly. Stuff that’s chaotic and overwhelming washes over him – and is transformed into something better. In no small way, it is this patience that makes our friendship even possible.

Walking back from the studio, we talked about this: the quiet center of his style (slow burn… gradually coming to an idea) the loudness of mine (flashes & sparks… an explosion from compressed inputs). He likes to tease me about my brashness… and I, his silent brooding. But in the end – these are strengths, too.

And for the park… an open-ended, visionary task – a designer like Keita is the perfect fit. Because the inputs are overwhelming, chaotic, fuzzy, strange. And you just have to be one with the space and all of its possibilities – until the idea emerges from within.

I was genuinely touched to read this interview, which gets at the heart of Keita’s gifts – and challenges within the context of our industry and even, this project. It’s nice to see a piece describe his process (and its context) with such tenderness and respect.

Home and recovered (mostly) – to find more goodness from GameCity in my inbox! For starters, Tony has updated his blog and site to include the awesome results of the SpiteYourFace “BrickStock” animation workshop:

Also, Brandon posted a piece on the Elite paper-folding event, and BoingBoing ran a piece on the 15 pixel megamix (flOw? C’mon now, readers!)..,

And Rex posted a super cool pic from our panel – with some great additions!!

Sugoi!!!

Greetings from Nottingham – host of GameCity 09!

This year’s festival has been a fantastic blend of talents – wonderful animators, artists, game designers, hackers and academics from around the world. Even tho we are mid-festival, I wanted to take a break and report on its fantastic events!

This is in no small part due to the blend of talking and performance that permeates the festival. Today, for example, I attended a panel on creating media about/for games which featured a live performance of GameBoy synth, and showcased the festival’s “mega=mix” of pixel-art tribute animations:

These were created for the festival by the same amazing team behind the Oxfam “Face the Music” spot – which takes basic game concepts and blends them with a message about climate change to create something truly remarkable:

But that’s just the beginning! Other performances included live playthroughs of Crysis (!!!), karaoke, the passionate singing of game reviews, and the especially cool paper folding session (plus artful arrangement) that culminated in a session about the glory of Elite.

And – as part of my visit, I conducted a live performance of Flower, which was truly wonderful. Not only was the game projected on lovely gauze screens in a beautiful old building… but as I played, flower petals were dropped from above, floating down into the atrium.

My favorite part of the experience was definitely the sound – which filled the hall, reverberating and mixing with the voices of spectators. That was really spectacular. Post-performance, we had a few questions about our new game (sorry – it’s still under wraps!), requests for more Flower content (maybe, someday!) and many lovely compliments.

Many thanks everyone who worked so hard to create Flower (you guys just ROCK!), the team that helped set up the performance (it worked!!) – and of course, to all who attended (you were fantastic)! It was such a pleasure to play for everyone and I think it’s definitely something we should do more often, with all sorts of games.

Finally – three cheers to the organizers of GameCity! Congratulations on creating a wonderful mix of discussion, debate, performance and play!

I’ve posted my last two talks, with notes and a few fixups for broken or missing fonts/pix. These are both works-in-progress… UX is the more polished, I think… but time will tell. I learned a TON in the process of writing them, delivering them and discussing them with the UX community.

Both trips were wonderful, especially the part where I got to meet and exchange ideas with people who are not in my own industry. Special shout-out to everyone who wrote following both talks – nothing is better than hearing from people as the ideas evolve in their own heads – especially when they continue the dialog with refinements, suggestions and questions. If I haven’t written back it isn’t because I’m not going to – it’s cause I’m busy with upcoming IndieCade events – and just plain old work!

For those of you who don’t have time to download and page through all the slides – the gist is that being at TGC has exposed me to the idea of “juicy feedback” – a squishy term that feels fun to say and is even more fun when in the game. The first talk explores my search for a way to relate “juicyness” to the MDA framework, and the second blends this more with notions about how UX & Game Design are converging.

A huge bonus for set of trips was that I got to spend some quality time with the folks from Stamen and BERG (formerly known as Schulze & Webb). Ben, Mike, Webb and Jones each had very interesting and helpful things to say – and speakers/attendees from both events (including folks at Last FM, Sifteo, Mint.com, Adaptive Path and Nokia) gave me a lot to look forward to.

I’m really grateful to live just a short distance (in the design continuum) from such wonderful people. Thank you for being so “juicy”!

Looks like I will be in SF for “Park(ing) Day” – a celebration of parks taken to the streets. I’m going up to the city for the UX Week conference – and attendees have been encouraged to submit a design! The park should take up 2 parallel parking spots for $200 or less.

Here’s what I submitted – inspired by a desire for something simple & thrifty, contemplative… with minimal water requirements:

Transient Bonsai Appreciation Park

Flooring: Soft, earth-toned cotton sheets, held down along edges with smooth river stones.

Content: Small bonsai placed at measured intervels within the space, at ground level. In front of each bonsai is a large, soft pillow that you can sit on, so as to appreciate the bonsai’s smallness in the scale of the city.

Requires: a few modest but beautiful bonsai (can be purchased in Japantown), cushions & some flat sheets, 1-2 bags of river stones.

• Bonus #1: Sand can also be poured inside the sheets, in a rectangle below the bonsai to create a zen-garden feel.
• Bonus #2: Extra stones can be used to create a small sculpture near each bonsai, or be given away as totems from the experience.
• Bonus #3: Bonsai can be donated to conference organizers post-display, to encourage continued focus on small, beautiful, living designs!

Looking forward to the trip, and the UX park designs!!!!

Saw a bunch on my trip – this saves me having to post them!

Wondering when the make-your-own will appear on Facebook…

Early this September, I’ll be heading over to the UK to speak at dConstruct in Brighton. This excursion, a talk at UX and potentially Picnic, as well as a visit with Gonzalo in Uraguay (November) will give me an opportunity to continue the thread on UI and play activity that I began earlier in the year with my GDC Micro Talk on game layer designs for HOME.

While developing the ideas for that talk, I had the opportunity to speak at length with folks all over – from Imagineers to academics to developers – and beyond. This trend continued – as conversations about the design of public space are incredibly engaging to people from all walks of life, and central to the ongoing debate about regional development, public transportation, economic trends and ethical consumer behavior.

In the past, I’ve blogged about Christopher Alexander (I still read Timeless Way every year or two) and Jane Jacobs, and Umberto Eco’s Travels in Hyper Reality. Now, I’m looking into books that explicitly focus on the design of entertainment landscapes: theme parks, urban entertainment centers, and the like.

This reading frenzy began with Designing Disney, which Warren got me on our last trip to the park here in Anaheim. Walking the ‘Land, talking about its design is always fun – but was amplified by his encyclopedic knowledge of Disney lore. And, as he suggested – there’s a wealth of information in Hench’s book which makes it essential reading for any game designer.

Digging around in leaf-node literature on park and entertainment construction – I’ve found interesting nuggets in unlikely places – like Developing Urban Entertaninment Centers – a late 90’s adver-book on “category killer”, megaplex retail design by the Urban Land Institute. While creepily capitalist in its language, the scholarship within it is sound – echoing theories that Jacobs, Alexander others presented decades ago. What’s more – it contains a lot of the same arguments for iterative design that you see in traditional game design tomes. (For a special treat – try replacing the phrases like “destination” and “retail” with “MMO” and “boxed-game”):

In large part, the distinctiveness of a destination development derives from the design of environments that create a sense of place for patrons and a strong presence for tenants. Rather than the predictable interior courts and shopping corridors that characterize malls and retail centers, destination developments have reintroduced the streets, piazzas esplanades and variations in facade that are the sine qua non of great cities…

…There is greater complexity in shaping the distinctive environments that define destinations. Developers must address the individual demands of retail and restaurant tenants for a wide variety of presentations that permit street front access, strong brand identity, and multilevel spaces. Creating engaging public places and overall identity and sense of cohesiveness while trying to meet competing tenant demands not only requires a skillful development team but a whole new approach to design.

Developers of destination projects engage in an interactive design process, adjusting and readjusting plans throughout the predevlopment stage to address the various requirements of tenants percieved consumer preferences, the particular demands of the site and often the standards set by public codes.

The soft costs associated with creating the sense of place that contributes to a project’s distinctiveness are considerably higher than those for the formula-like configurations of malls and shopping centers. In addition to the design costs related to an iterative process, the design team often is expanded to include scenographic artists, landscape achitects, special effects designers festival planners, graphic artists and branding consultants.

The hard costs associated with common spaces, tenant facades and store interiors are also higher than those for other forms of retail development. A central challenge in making these projects economically feasible therefore becomes the assignment of costs among the developer, the tenants, the public sector and in some cases even the corporate sponsors. Most of the forerunners in creating destination projects have seen these costs pay off in increased rents and sales.

In other words – when it comes to user interface and experience design, you get what you give. We really believe this at TGC – and design accordingly.

I happen to believe that presentations follow the same input/output model applies to presentations – so I’ll be thinking a lot about these ideas over the next two months! Have suggestions on books I can dig into along these lines as a I prep for my talks? Call, text or email me. I’m game!

So – as I posted before, my sound director Brad is a super adventurous dude – and recently convinced us to take a paragliding and sea kayaking adventure down in La Jolla which was fantastic!

In the fall, he also offered to teach us all how to SCUBA dive, since he’s becoming certified as a Dive Master. I considered over the winter, and when the weather began to warm up, decided to take the plunge and started classes along with a bunch of folks from work!

Learning to dive was much really an adventure! There is a lot of equipment to learn, operate and master. It’s a little to get started, and you have to purchase some things alongside your rentals… like fins (mine are HOT PINK), a mask and snorkel. And last but not least, the idea of running out of air as you are 40 or 60 feet below the surface of the water is kind of freaky – so you need some time to adjust… and study!

Our first day was focused on education – testing our knowledge of the dive tables (tracks the nitrogen in your blood!), procedures and common problems we might encounter on a dive. Then – a pool day where we become familiar with the equipment as it functions underwater. Biggest learning: My legs are floaty! When I try to achieve “neutral bouyancy”, my legs tend to float up, keeping me from laying flat in the water (like a fish). Who knew?

After our pool day I was pretty confident that I could handle the equipment – all I had to deal with was the cold. The water here on the coast is very chilly – especially down where we were going (kelp forests off of Catalina and Anacapa islands). A heavy wet suit, hood, booties and gloves will get you most of the way to comfortable – but the feeling of cold cold water on your lips and forehead (the parts that are NOT covered by your gear) is pretty striking. Your lips actually turn a little blue!

Diving with a buddy is key – and it’s important to keep eyes on them at all times. We did have a moment where Ben got caught in an updraft and had to surface unexpectedly – just as I was enjoying the view of some starfish on a kelp bed.

It is *not* fun realizing your buddy is suddenly not where you expected! Especially when you’ve heard tales of divers drowning in kelp because they get tangled, freak out and spit out their regulators. Yikes!! Luckily, Ben is super zen – and was bobbing safely at the top when we surfaced. Our training kicked in as it should, and our instructors (Brad and Stuart) were right there to make sure everyone was ok. This is why you study and test before diving – and plan your dives thoroughly.

By far, the second ocean dive day was my favorite! We were mostly done with our training and able to focus on enjoying the beautiful, strange and ever-changing underwater environment. I was esepcially relaxed once I had successfully removed & replaced my mask underwater – which freaks me out a little because it involves breathing through your mouth only when your nose is exposed to the water.

After a nice tour of the kelp, we headed to a small inlet, to dive with young sea lions!

This was probalby one of the coolest experiences I have had with wildlife. They were at once wild and playful, close and far away. Even though they had the grace of dancers in the water, and were within an arms’ length as they came close… they were instantly teleported by their strong fins and tails such that they felt like a vision. Like smoke, running past in the water. Magic!

Luckily, Brad (who took all the underwater photos in this post) was able to capture the sea lions on video – so you can see for yourself just how graceful these funloving, diver-loving creatures can be:

As you can see from the linked videos here, the fearless beauty and playfulness of sea mammals is truly touching. And if you’ve ever kept an aquarium, you know that fish also have a strange, captivating manner as well. This experience totally transformed my perspective on what it means to dive. Not just something you do on vacation in Carribean – it is a whole new universe to explore and enjoy!

Yesterday I got notice that I am official certified for open water dives! This means I can continue to dive here in California – taking classes in bouyancy, night diving, and navigation. I can continue to explore the reefs and kelp off the coast here… and hopefully, go diving when I take my post-ship vacation. Thailand is looking likely…

Big ups to Brad, Ocean Adventures Dive Company here in Venice and our fantastic and fun instructor Stuart Tanner – who did a wonderful job teaching us how zen out, descend, and swim with the fishes. Best Bradventure yet!

On Sunday, we went down to La Jolla to celebrate KK’s birthday with Brad, Scott, Nick and Reyna… and it was AWESOME! To start,we drove down for a 9 am sea-kayaking adventure choppy enough to make yours truly leave her lunch on the waves! In fact – the swells were so huge that we could not actually go inside the caves – but instead, flirted with sea lions and cormerants and pelicans.

Brad can be seen here posing for his awesome adventure movie moment – which he plans to submit as part of an entry for the most awesome job in the world. Brad is my sound guy, super fun and really great at his job – so of course, I only reluctantly participated in snapping pix of him doing adventurous things this weekend. But you do have to admit, it would be an awesome job!

Then it was off to the Torrey Pines cliffs to paraglide!!

Watching people take off from the landing area I kept wondering exactly how the experience would feel. I mean – people were laughing and chatting as they strapped in – and one guy went up with his dog!! But takeoff in particular looks like an involved process: a lot of negotiation with the wind, chute strings and your bodyweight. Still – the gliders are so colorful and bouyant in the air that I was filled with joy every time they took off. They reminded me of the army parachute guys I used to throw up and watch drift, when I was kid!

Turns out – going up yourself pretty much feels like that times 10,000!!

:

Super beautiful views from the air – as you are rushed up over the cliff face and into the currents along the ocean. We had a near-perfect day for the paragliding (see the notes about huge swell and chop on the ocean – a sure sign of high wind).

My guide on this ride, Steve – has been paragliding and hangliding for over 30 years, and was full of great insights about the wind, where curents could be found – and how to operate the glider. Not only did he take me for some wikkid 360’s and swirls – he let me ride the drafts and turn side to side, by tugging on the hand-holds. It was probably the coolest feeling I’ve had since I summited the big pass in Bhutan.

There is just something toally amazing about being so high up, flying to and fro on just the power of the wind. I think it’s easy to forget how the earth is a huge ball, spinnning in space, with forces swirling all over it that will frigging knock your socks off! As scary as this experience may look to those afraid of heights or worried about a fall – I cannot say how truly peaceful and inspiring it actually was. Like the worlds best ferris wheel ride on massive flavor boosters!

Seriously – if you live in California or are planning a visit – check the weather and go give this a spin. It’s the best 30 minutes you can spend in the air – short of diving from a plane… and much much more relaxing. Super awesome kick ass experience shout out to Brad, KK and the weekend adventure crew. I cannot WAIT to see what you guys will dream up next!!!

Kudos to Matt & crew – really awesome work over at Doppler in 2008.

Best of luck and (thanks to your info) hoping to reduce my footprint even more in 2009!

Just going through my pictures of Bhutan – and came across this:

It was just gorgeous there!!

It wouldn’t be right to post all my vacation photos without going through the huge backlog of pix I have sitting here on my hard drive.

First up: The Game Developers Conference: San Francisco – February 2008!

Phew!

This year GDC was a blur! My phone bricked, just before the conference. I taught 2 days, then had to jump from the Experiemental Gameplay session early (thanks for picking up my presentation, DC!!!) so I could demo BOOM BLOX after Lou’s talk. After all that excitement, all I wanted to do was eat steak, drink wine, talk with friends, and relax. Luckily all these options were available.

Trip Highlight: Going to see Hannah Montana in 3D with Warren after burgers, beer and baskeball!!

Trip Lowlight: Stupid Phone! Why so sensitive to spilled drinks??

:)

Thanks to everyone for a fantastic conference – especially the workshop attendees (you know who you are). You made this yet another great year for learning about how games work – and how fun people can be! And of course Jane and Ryan for a fantastic post-GDC party. I miss you all so much already! See you at TGS??

The rumors are true – I have just returned from a 2 week vacation in Bhutan!! It was totally, utterly life changing, in more ways than I had expected.

First order of business was laundry – woah, stinky socks!! Also, I lost my phone in transit – had to replace it for the second time in 4 months. A new record? This means that I am numberless once again so txt name + digits for posterity.

It is so nice to be back… but strange. Taking one last day of vacation to get acclimated, did an am hike. THE AIR IS SO THICK HERE!!

:)

Now I am going through the photos. I took maybe 3000 – and there are prolly 500 good ones in the bunch. Setting myself a reasonable goal to have them up by this weekend.

Next weekend – I will be back up in SF to distribute presents and wish Lulu a *sniff* sad goodbye as she ventures forth to Berlin. Damn, I missed her going-away party while I was huddled up in my sleeping bag! What was I thinking??

As per usual, I will be teaching in the 7th annual Game Design Workshop at GDC. If you are attending the conference & have not attended the tutorial before – I strongly recommend it!!

:)

At the workshop, we teach the MDA framework: Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics. This framework serves as a formal vocabulary for discussing the aspects of game design – with a focus on how we can design towards Aesthetic experiences (Emotional Engineering/User-Centered Design).

The workshop is a 2-day experience with many hands-on exercises. Participants build games in small groups, using the vocabulary to discuss the goals, process and outcomes. Instructors include developers from all walks of industry… Clint Hocking will be joining us this year at the big round table!

I will also be co-organizing the Experimental Gameplay Sessions with Jon et al. Sure to pack in lots of discussion about the latest and greatest in experimental games. Come check us out mid-week as its bound to be a blast!!

Holy crap, CERN is cool – especially the helmets!!

Will post my own pix soon…

Greetings from Geneva – and Lift 08 – which was awesome!!!

I have not organized my snaps & thoughts yet – but Souris and others have been posting to Flickr and Twitter… and videos of all the talks are posted here.

But even MORE awesome… we are going to CERN today to see the SUPERCOLLIDER!!! Geek heaven!

Super dooper cannot wait – have been up since 4:30!!!

Wow – the time is flying by these days. But it sure is nice to see excitement out there for real and… for play!!

:)

In other news: I’ve updated the photos page with the backlog of photos from 2007. This includes Thanksgiving, Xmas and day trips and adventures in LA and SF… all but the MySims Tokyo tour (big set) is done. Most recent pix include the post-NAMM VJ party that Peter and friends set up… which featured a set from one of the guys I work with… and a live audio/visual re-mix of The Karate Kid!

There is a lot of fun in these photos – and more of it local than I expected. Despite the pain of missing friends in SF (Lulu and Ross I am SO looking at YOU!!), moving here is really turning out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

I am super busy tho. In fact – I can’t believe that despite my “rolling zen style” approach, I somehow managed to ship, concept new IP and then swap back to shipping again in just 6 months. Next time, I think I’ll take a vacation!

Which leads me to the next bit of news: recent travel. A weekend jaunt to Hannover for Game Focus Germany – where Jon spoke about Braid, Doug about “expressive gameplay” and myself about game studies & lessons learned from our first 10 years of industry/academic collaboration.

I will post slides …. soon…..

How time flies, when you are busy having adventures! My days in Australia were fantastic – and over too soon! I will really miss it – and especially the summer weather!

I have so many ideas and impressions swimming in my head at the moment that it’s hard to really put a nice frame around this visit – but I know that if I don’t try now, the details will slip and I’ll get too busy to post much of anything. This archival pressure/communication obligation was the source of many discussions over the week, as conference guests exchanged guilty confessions about lagging digital chores. It’s a strange time we live in!

But in a nutshell, what I liked most about this trip was meeting a variety of talented artists, film, music and game makers… cultural theorists, journalists, academics and students. When you spend all your time doing one thing, it is easy to forget about all the wonderful opinions, styles and practices that exist outside your own environment. You understand that art is made, films filmed, studies studied – but until you talk to someone who about their personal experiences in these venues – these are just concepts…. like so much type on a page.

I am grateful for the conversations I had there – and would especially like to thank Kat and Yusuf for encouraging me to make the trip. It was hard to pull myself away from the studio but it was worth the effort. Ten fold!

But don’t take my word for it – see for yourself! These photo galleries are part blog, to help describe the experience, as a whole.

- – -

Things I learned about Australia on this trip:

• Australia is closer to the giant hole we have created in the Earth’s ozone – so the sun here is intensely strong. The “safe time” for being outside without sunscreen is 10-15 minutes, depending on how fair you are. My back tells me that I’m in the 10 minute or less range….
• Universities across Australia are dealing with funding cutbacks and consolidation within and across departments.This reduces differentiation/offerings across the board, and students tend to stay local for higher education. As a result, there is a lot less of the “coming of age via college move” culture here.
• Because the population of the country is so small compared to its geography, there isn’t a lot of business development in Australia *for* Australia. Many of their best and brightest leave for Asia or the US when it’s time to make a new idea profitable – which is referred to here as “brain drain”
• There is a conservative feel to the place at the moment. Whenever we discussed this, people were eager to point out that the new government here will be less conservative than the prior one. It will be intersting to see if support for conferences like the one I attended will continue
• There is a quality to the light there that makes everything magical. The food is delicious (great cafe culture in the cities I visited) and the wine is welcome. Sure – you can see kangaroos and climb rocks there – but a relaxing stay in one of the country’s costal getaways is sure to melt just about any cares away.

Things I learned about myself because of this trip:

• I enjoy travelling by myself – much more than I expected
• I sure am glad I hadn’t watched “Lost” before going!!!
• My camera generates more work for me than I can handle. I’ve barely logged half of the photos I’ve taken since Labor Day.
• It is getting quite difficult to manage my various activities – blogging, photos, cooking, life… work. I think about having a baby and wonder – what will give?
• I love espresso!!

Hrm. Maybe that last item will help with the ones directly above???

Last year, I gave a keynote at Microsoft’s Academic Gaming Days conference – affectionately dubbed the “nerd boat” in its inagural year. The talk, which I have now also given versions of at Columbia and UCLA was about “soft skills” – the kinds of day-to-day interpersonal challenges that new students will face when breaking into the industry.

My goal with this collection of slides, overall, has been to begin a dialog about what professors in game studies programs can do to help their students be prepared for the realities of collaborative, creative work. Things beyond the basic vocabulary of game design, project management and production pipeline awareness.

During the cruise I had a chance to catch up with an old schoolmate – Yusuf, who is now teaching games and CS. We got to talking, and eventually made plans for a follow-on lecture here in Australia. One thing led to another, and I ended up on the program for IE 2007, which will be hotsted by RMIT here in Melbourne.

This is my first trip to Australia – and it is the first real break I’ve had since … last Christmas. Other than a talk at the Byte Me festival in Perth, I will mostly be on my own – resting, recovering from recent creative and production pushes.

While it’s nice to have a break, it is hard to be away from my new team. Even after just a short time in LA, I find myself checking email compulsively, cheering them on from afar. As much as I am enjoying a little extra sleep and a chance to catch up on my (woefully lagging) email, I mostly want to get back and continue helping them move things along.

The tugging of these newfound ties has put me in a contemplative mood. I am not sure, but I feel that there is something in the experience that will work its way into my talks here and in the future. Also, You Can’t Win, an excellent book which has brought on unexpected thoughts about development, process, the “realities” of the games market, and work/life balance.

Melbourne itself is busy with visitors and holiday shoppers… so strange to see signs for “Christmas Sales” advertising floral frocks and sandals. I cannot imagine a life where I saw Santa and thought of beach holidays – and yet, here it is! Much like my talk prep in Japan, I am trying to absorb some of the culture here before speaking about design or development. By observing, taking photos and thinking through the pace and experience of life in this country, I hope to better connect with the audience.

All this reminds me that I have not actually posted a formal discussion of my Japan talk… or really much else since I began rolling on down to LA. In the next few days I will be retro-blogging a lot of that stuff, including some of my pix from the last few months travels.

In the meantime – here are just a few of the snaps I got while enjoying the sunshine here and decompressing for my upcoming presentation. Yes, this city is indeed exactly as clean, artistic, musical and fun as it looks. If I had even the slightest (guilt-free) excuse, I would come here and stay for a month!

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks – as many of you have guessed. Thanks for all your letters and calls – it is wonderful to know that so many people notice when the blog lags, or my Facebook profile changes.

:)

Here’s the official scoop: When I left for Tokyo, I was on a mission. I’ve been thinking a lot about my life, quality of life, and for want of a better word – my goals. Friends assured me that this happens for most, post project, and that I should drive deep in evaluating where I want to be. Look out a year, 5 – or even 10.

For me, at least, this kind of math is extremely counter-intuitive. I’m a Tigger, to use Randy’s evaluation scale – and I roll with the punches, most of the time. Things that seem bad become lessons, things that seem great seem like good luck. I let the universe drive, but I attempt to steer.

It’s also pretty hard to say “what really matters”. Our time is so short, our connections so tenuous – it’s almost ludicrous to assume there is a point beyond feeling in control.

And then, if you get past all that to write lists and compare alternatives – there’s the content itself. There are things that seem important, things that seem impossible… things that seem illogical. And all of them weigh in, regardless. It’s enough to make you feel like a monkey.

Sifting through my thoughts, visiting with friends and colleagues… I uncovered a couple of things that are true for/of me.

1) Relationships are Life.

Nothing is quite like quality time with the people you love. Especially when you’re hard at work on something you love, too. We have people in our lives to give us energy, strength, patience and laughter. When they are far from us, physically or emotionally, it makes such a big difference.

So I’ve decided to move down to LA, after a looooong time of the long-distance thing. Will I take a permanent gig there? Not sure. But in the next few months I will be seriously focused on co-location, co-habitation, and collaboration w/r/t our future. Life doesn’t go any slower just cuz you’re cranking at work.

2) Living is Growth.

There are so many things to learn!

By switching locations, I hope to take the best lessons forward while gaining new experiences. Design is fun – but what else can I do? Step into creative direction or production? Help develop long-term strategy or focus on incubation? Start a company or build my own games (art, code and all)? At this point I still have no idea.

But something is changing – I can feel it. So moving forward, my job is to work, wait, and see.

That may sound cavalier, but I mean it as optimistic, grounded patience.

I am a Katamari. I will roll and roll, getting bigger and more oddly shaped… until the level ends. There’s no predicting collisions beyond some negligible horizon – but sometimes, if I pay attention, I can avoid the crazy mice, furious cats and dazed elephants.

Sometimes…

Starting Monday I’ll be down at EA’s LA office. Short-term, I’m psyched to pitch in and help friends get to the finish line. Long-term, I’m curious to see what rolls my way.

Wish me luck. Every little bit helps push the ball forward… every nudge, a blessing in disguise.