Yes it's Thursday, and by some miracle I managed to make it home before dark, despite another active day at GDC. For some this might be a bad thing, but trust me, after walking several miles each day hiking between the convention center and various swanky hotels I never expected to step into, a nice quiet blogging evening at home is just what the doctor ordered.
Today I began my GDC morning with a lecture and ended with a fan tribute party. All-in-all not a bad way to spend a day. Plus the weather was nothing but gorgeous today, and in San Francisco that is saying something.
After the jump you'll find tidbits from what I saw today.
* Flagship Studios' former president of business development took a hard look back at what went wrong with the developer the brought us Hellgate: London. His inciteful candor would suprise you; I know it surprised me.
* Huxley: This MMO/FPS hybrid is doing well what Tabula Rasa attempted to do but failed miserably. Perhaps it has something to do with the Unreal 3 engine. Perhaps it has something to do with Richard Garriott being no where near the project.
* Neo Steam: Steam punk comes to the free-to-play space with Atlus Online's latest title. This time they are also launching an online portal to build a community outside the game. Definitely cute, so stay tuned for more info when I can write it up.
* Fallen Earth: This is what would happen if Mad Max, Blade Runner and Fallout 3 got together and made MMO babies. My thoughts? Nothing but pure joy, but you'll have to wait for specifics later.
* Jeff Kaplan spoke about the mistakes his team made in quest development on World of Warcraft. Now that he's moved on to another Blizzard project, I suppose he has the luxury of hindsight. I just wish this sort of lens was used while he was still on the team. It would have saved us the tribulations of Green Hills of Stranglethorn.
* Atlantica Online: I finished off my day at a meet and greet event sponsored by Ndoors and celebrating the award-winning Atlantica Online. Just so you know, listening to rabid fans ask questions about buggy quest mechanics isn't the greatest introduction to an MMO, but once I get a chance to dive into the game, I'll have a better idea of what the hell they were talking about.
