I just came back from New York City where I was able to demo Cyber Heist to a community of game scholars, industry professionals, and game culture enthusiasts. The event was called
two5six, and it was an absolutely incredible experience. The event was an 8 hour, talk-show-style event where Jamin Warren, the founder of Kill Screen, talked to different professionals and game creators about the impact that games make on society from a cultural standpoint. He interviewed some pretty amazing people, like the lead AI programmer for Assassin's Creed, the Sound Director for Bioshock: Infinite, the creators of Dwarf Fortress (I particularly enjoyed that one), the co-founder of Telltale Games and the co-founder of Reddit.
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Dwarf Fortress creators Tarn and Zach Adams talk about the evolution their
game has made and the community behind it. |
Every person had some awesome things to say about what the culture of video games has to offer, and everyone seemed to point at the same conclusion: Video Games are a type of media that should and will be taken seriously as a cultural influence.
After the conference, everyone was invited to an afterparty at a renovated warehouse to hang out and play some cyber-punk inspired game demos. It was here that I was invited to showcase Cyber Heist, and people came to our booth and played with their friends. Despite the environment being against Cyber Heist's optimal playing conditions (most people were drunk and it was extremely loud, so people couldn't hear each other talking), the seats at the booth were rarely left empty.
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| The setup for Cyber Heist, complete with the floor banners and trendy barbershop chairs. |
The event was a fantastic experience, and I got to meet a lot of really awesome people interested in different aspects of game development. Occasionally I think back and wonder if jumping into game development was a good path for my life, but its events and people like this that make it very clear that these are the kinds of people I want to be surrounded by: passionate, driven, and motivated people who really believe in their craft enough to be a pioneer as well.
