As we did with the gamelab 2010 we are not going to write a full review about the Ideame 2010. Again, this is a personal compilation of those things that were important to us, but the entire festival was great. We are so glad we could go there.

On the first class Alex Neuse from Gaijin Games talked us about the character design, how to make a good one and how to recognize it. Something he said: “We don’t use the imagination like before. In other time, creators used imagination much more, and so did players too” It was very interesting, and we showed him our star character Rocco from More Zombies. Thanks to him our artist has learnt some tips to continue making good characters.

Later, Ivan Fernandez Lobo came to talk us about Miyamoto. Who doesn’t know Shigeru Miyamoto and his work. But what he and other people are trying to do from some years ago, is to give him the Prince of Asturias Award. We admire their effort because it would be a boost for the industry in our contry and because Miyamoto deserves the award of course.

On another class, Tyrone Augusto Rodríguez from Nicalis talked us about making videogames with the spirit of 80′s. It was really interesting for us. We have enjoyed the games from spectrum, master system, NES, the first Game Boy and so many others to the newest PS3, XBox360, Wii etc. But we miss games like before. We felt nostalgia on his conference.  He said something shocking but true, today, a lot of games use the great graphics and music to hide a bad design, bad gameplay.

We’d like to show two trailers, two examples of how games without ultrarealistic graphics can be so funny.

Cave Story from Nicalis & Pixel for WiiWare

Bit Trip Runner from Gaijin Games for WiiWare (and coming to iPhone and iPad!)

There was also a conference by Shu Takumi, creator of the Phoenix Wright series and the new Ghost Trick for Nintendo DS. He explained the process to create the first Phoenix Wright. He liked a genre but it was presented in a boring way. He thought about a new design, a new gameplay, and a way to show something seemingly difficult and too serious, (judgments) with a funny and easy look.

We would like to repeat that there were more content and really interesting. You can check the complete schedule on the website.

http://www.ideame.es/

Finally, at the bus station, checking the platform number, we could take this image. Yes, Spain is different

Zoom Net  July 5th 2010

Thanks to rtve.es

Edit: now uploaded from youtube

Gamelab 2010 is one of the most important festivals of Games in Europe. Three days of lectures, symposia, presentations, workshops, exhibitions, competitions, networking activities and meetings. It has taken place from June 30th to July 2nd, at Gijón, Asturias, Spain.

This is not a full review of the festival, but a personal compilation of those things were important to us.

Neurosky

Would you like to use your mind as an input for games as well as the buttons of a controller? The first time we saw this technology was at Tokyo Game Show 2008. We were surprised to see it here again. This biosensor technology has been evolved pretty much.
David Westendorf, VP of Business Development & Partnership, explained us about the technology. Really interesting.

Doodle Jump

This game has been one of the most successful games on the app store. Igor Pusejak, Director of LimaSky talked us about the keys to success. One of them: talk to your players. In this industry, we are really busy people, but we should interact more with our players. It is difficult but also here in Tanoku we will try to do.

Mariscal

Javier Mariscal is a Spanish artist and designer creator of Cobi, the mascot of 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He came to present us his new work “Chico & Rita”, an animated feature film about a Cuban jazz pianist and a singer in the late 40s. It was a shame the bad projector could not show the quality of the title with smooth animations and vivid colors. The music is also great, directed by Fernando Trueba.

Mariscal’s words, character, the work shown (made by lot of people behind), the film’s music, the animation….an amazing conference that moved Israel, the artist. For him, Mariscal is one of the best artists. Sure, we are going to watch the film this Autumn in the best cinema we find in Barcelona.

Big games from spain

Do you know Invizimals for PSP? Are you waiting for Castlevania: lords of shadow for PS3 or X360? Did you know both are developed in Spain? The games industry is growing up also in our country and games like these are a proof of it. We’d like to be on E3 someday with one of our games like they have been.

PlayEnglish

Our first projects 4 years ago were learning games. With not so much success, we changed the kind of games we develop. But we are glad to see others continue with our dream. Sometimes learning is boring for the way you do. We’d like to see people having fun learning with games. PlayEnglish for PSP is a great example about a game that looks like a game (with characters, story, music, gameplay, etc) but can help you to learn English. It is made to spanish people but imagine you one day playing “PlayMaths” or “PlayScience”.

Awards

We were nominated to the best indie game category but finally Rotor’scope for XBLIG won. For us, just being nominated was a door to talk with other people. We will continue working hard to be awarded in this or other contest one day.

Networking dinner

There was a networking dinner the first day in one of the best restaurants in Gijón. The dinner is an opportunity to further expand and deepen your circle of professional and personal relationships.

We sat in the same table with two of the creators of Singstar from London’s studio, two responsible for Sony, one for XS-Software and other 3 people from two spanish production companies.

We have been this week in Gijon for the Gamelab 2010. Coming here made us to think about so many things…

Now, waiting for the flight I decided to write this, but when back to Barcelona, I am going to write some conclusions about the event.