Vancouver Film School In Focus Magazine – Issue 17 Cover Story

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There was a time in the not-so-distant past when a video game could only be played on a purpose-built cabinet at an arcade. Suffice it to say the times have changed, and your average mobile phone now has more computing power than the original NASA command station. With gaming theory influencing almost everything we do, from interacting with friends to buying groceries to getting healthy, games are set to take centre stage in the popular consciousness in a big way. How big? Well consider that in 2011:

• Approximately 16,000 people were directly employed in the Canadian video game industry
• The industry had an estimated $1.7 billion of direct economic impact on the Canadian economy
• In the U.S., 72% of households played some form of video games, and 29% of gamers were over the age of 50
• 59% of Canadians are gamers (have played a video game within the last month)
• 45% of Canadians played a game at least a few times a week

In the following article, VFS grads – nine Game Design alumni, a Classical Animation grad, and a Sound Design for Visual Media grad – present their thoughts on games and the industry’s future.

A NON-EXISTENT GAME THEY’D LIKE TO PLAY

Annie Dickerson (Game Design, 2011 | Digido Interactive): I want a game that tracks every activity I do throughout the day. Brush my teeth – 2pts. Walk the dog – 5pts. My real world efforts then feed into a virtual world that rewards me for my deeds, challenges me to try new things, and helps me visualize patterns in my daily life.

Bruce Kelly (Game Design, 2006 | Eidos Montreal): Because they’re the only games I can think about right now: I want a game that looks like Skyrim, plays like Dark Souls, feels and sounds like Battlefield 3, and theoretically never ends like Diablo. I’m pretty sure that game would be considered a crime against humanity, though, so it’s probably for the best that it never sees the light of day.

McElroy Flavelle (Game Design, 2008 | Vancouver Social Games): Though I spend a lot of time talking about how the console era is coming to a close, I’d love to play a Red Dead Redemption-like game set in the Pacific Northwest. I imagine this is interesting to very few other people and there’s a good reason nobody will ever build it.

Grayson Scantlebury (Game Design, 2008 | Radical Entertainment): Still waiting for a “holodeck” to be a real thing.

Jake Kazdal (Classical Animation, 1996 | Haunted Temple Studios): I want the 16-bit adventure game genre to be revived. That may or not be a hint about what I want to do next!

Brennan Massicotte (Game Design, 2007 | Independent): I’d like to see games that have compelling personal journeys that exist in a social space with your friends. There’s so much potential for experiences where the players generate the content and the meaning of the world that hasn’t yet been explored.

Lawrence Metten (Game Design, 2009 | BigPark): I want to play a fighter where you face off against your pet-peeves. I’d love to kick the stuffing out of slow walkers, bad drivers, and nail biters. Virtually, of course.

Melanie Genereux (Game Design, 2007 | Longtail Studios): I want to play some funky-but-realistic-and-mature RPG where the protagonist is long-boarding and hitchhiking across the Americas. The player would build relationships and acquire various skills as they travel and meet new characters.

Jordan Fehr (Sound Design for Visual Media, 2008 | Independent): Some great ideas have been floating around about trying to make a game about photojournalism, especially as it pertains to war. I also would love to see something new created about maps and map-making. I have no idea how a game like that would even work, but since maps are such a central thing in video games, but only used as a tool, I would love to see where someone could go with trying to make the game actually about maps.

CASUAL GAMING VS AAA TITLES

Annie: Casual games have created experiences that a broader audience can enjoy, but there will always be gamers who demand AAA titles.

Bruce: I don’t see why their respective existences need to remain mutually exclusive, because if anything the gap between “casual” and AAA is shrinking. As far as winners and losers go, I can’t imagine the success of one being bad for the other. Casual gaming will arguably become the dominant form, but that kind of success will mean exposing more and more people to our culture, inevitably bringing new gamers into the fold; today’s casual gamer could be tomorrow’s hardcore gamer. It’s win/win as far as I’m concerned.

McElroy: I don’t think casual or AAA will die. I think we`ll see the line blur, and it’s already started. I think tablets will be the most common tool for delivering hardcore games and at that point there will have been a lot of lessons learned in the casual space to bridge the gap between core and casual.

Grayson: The key is finding innovation. I think casual games have the edge there, as they typically have more freedom and smaller production cycles. The next step is to take that innovation, create a title around it, and give it the polish it deserves to become a AAA title. Neither side will win or lose – the industry needs both.

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