Mountain Air, Brilliant Minds and Optimism

Cam and I just spent a week at Interactive Screen 0.8 in Banff. We arrived with an amorphous blob we were calling our project. Everyone else was calling it "Girl Games with Cam and Owen." No wonder people didn't really know what to make of us.

Our first day was a gathering of the 12 projects and their creators. 12 unique ideas that dealt with a variety of issues that fell under the topic heading of "sustain." We spent two meetings, one before lunch, one after. Before lunch we were asked to get more of the story out. Who is our character? Why do we care about her? What is the plot?

So, we went to work. After lunch we presented our ideas that we were able to figure out. Our character would be Ani. Ani is 15, she is into science but isn't afraid to be both a science geek and a fashionista. We developed more than that, but what came next made our heads spin a little.

Our mentors seemed less interested in the story and now wanted to know how the game worked. Finally, one of our mentors said, "what do you hope to accomplish this week." I said, "we want to have a completed first demo of the game idea." It was ambitious, but we wanted to make some serious headway on our idea. We had nothing to lose.

Next was our week of intense brainwork to develop our idea. We pitched constantly. We pitched to each other. We pitched to anyone who would listen. We networked. Most of all, we stayed open minded to any and every form of feedback or criticism. As we connected with others, we discovered the rich tapestry of what our game could be.

By the end of the week, we had it. A demo of our game that demonstrated the rules of the world, a sense of how the content would be presented and how our audience would connect with our character. It was rough, funny looking, but we had something concrete we could show, discuss, improve, and show again.

What I think I will value most of this past week was the inclusiveness of everyone. We were privileged to walk among so many talented and brilliant minds. I personally made some new friends this week and look forward to the next opportunity we get to spend time together sharing, debating, informing, mentoring and growing.