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Day 1 at the Taipei Game Developers Forum – Part 2

Posted by hotdogtopus - July 4th, 2016


Click here for my previous post for Day 1 (Part 1).

Joseph Peter McGinn's 30-minute talk 10 Lessons From AAA Franchise Game Design covered lessons he learned from working on The Simpsons and Shrek titles. The main takeaway for me was that if you can't afford the most expensive brand names, a popular enough license can be sufficient. He also talked about how some lower quality games with popular IPs tanked and that sales are not guaranteed when securing the most popular brand names.

5894260_146762555142_joseph-mcginn-tgdf2016.jpgJoseph Peter McGinn at Taipei Game Developers Forum 2016 by Hotdogtopus

The cost for using The Simpsons' voice actors was exorbitantly high. He also talked about how not having direct relationships with IP holders can be particularly devastating.

The Simpsons characters having four fingers is problematic for the Japanese market. In the past, I've heard about people adding fingers to four-fingered characters when localizing games for Japan. Some people actually go and add an extra finger to all characters, but Mcginn suggested cutting off an extra finger – leaving the characters with three. This may be an easier solution for some developers.

5894260_146763567072_dilun-ho-tgdf2016.jpgDilun Ho at Taipei Games Developer Forum 2016 by Hotdogtopus

After that, I sat in on Dilun Ho's talk Hit the Ground Running: Year One Working With VR. His advice was to play every VR demo that you can get your hands on – good and bad. He also suggested working on really small projects, asking experts for advice, and completing game jams. Ultimately, he said that VR is new for most people right now, so it's really hard to judge the quality of VR games. He also did not state a preference for Unity over Unreal, stating that each engine has pros and cons.

5894260_146763583621_snacks.jpgAttendees Raiding the Snack Bar During 'Tea Time' by Hotdogtopus

Unfortunately, I did not make it to Day 2 of the Taipei Game Developer Forum due to a headache, stomach illness, fatigue, and the worst thunderstorm that I have ever seen in my life. The English talks were mostly earlier and if I had gone in the afternoon, I just would have had about one and a half hours of conference time. I missed a few conferences, but hopefully they'll get archived like the talks from last year.


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