SXSW Interactive: March 13-17, 2009

It has come to our attention that a company called Expo Guide is sending out misleading mailings. SXSW is in no way affiliated with Expo Guide, nor with Fair Guide, who engages in similar practices. Please read all incoming mailings asking for your data update in exhibitor listings/directories/fair or expo guides etc. very carefully, the small print in particular! Without realizing, you may be entering into an contract in which you agree to annual fees or other charges in exchange for a listing in the guide.

StopECG has published basic advice here:
www.stopecg.org/expo-guide.htm

Introduced at last year's SXSW Interactive Festival, Core Conversations allow registrants to discuss relevant new media-related topics in a smaller, more intimate setting than the traditional panel format. Click here to see the current lineup of these sessions for the 2009 event -- and, remember that even more of these Core Conversations will be added to this page in the next few days. In terms of reflecting the current mindset of the online world, our favorite recent addition to the schedule is "Are Virtual Worlds a Refuge from the Recession?" discussion, to be led by Lauren Bigelow of weeworld.com.

And we just live in it. Celebrating the creative and dynamic industries that come together at SXSW, SXSWorld Magazine covers what's happening in the Interactive, Film and Music worlds.

Filled with compelling stories, profiles and news, SXSWorld is also an ideal advertising vehicle by getting your brand out before, during and after the festival to the thousands of key influences who attend SXSW. The next issue is set to drop in early February - reserve your space today by contacting Katie King.

Branding. It's how Bernie Burns (2006 SXSW Interactive Keynote Speaker) was able to sell T-shirts to keep Red vs. Blue afloat, and why Twitter and Facebook focused less on making money in the short term. Before treading uncharted waters in search of a workable business model, online companies are realizing the value of creating a brand in the new economy of free. Right now, staying relevant to your users' lives is gold. Saul Colt (pictured right) of FreshBooks will be talking about just that at SXSW Interactive in March, while giving advice on new Web 2.0 tools you or your business can use to get noticed with a "zing." Instant buckage might not be in the cards, but learning to capitalize on your brand might be the biggest investment you'll make right now.

Paul Tozour, Design Lead for Intel’s Project Offset, sat down to discuss design ideas in our second installment of inspirational interviews for the ScreenBurn at SXSW’s Game Design Competition. To submit your idea, click here, the deadline for entries is this Friday, December 5.

SXSW: What games have you previously worked on?
Paul Tozour: I've worked on Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Thief: Deadly Shadows, Deus Ex: Invisible War, MechWarrior 4: Vengeance, Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna, and WarBreeds. I'm currently the Design Lead on Project Offset at Intel.

SXSW: What do you use for inspiration?
PT: Inspiration can come from anywhere -- for me, I usually find I'm overwhelmed with ideas just as I'm trying to get to sleep, and I end up jumping out of bed and running to the kitchen to find something to write it down on so I can give it a try when I go in to work the next day. [Note from Michael T: this is why I sleep with a digital recorder on my nightstand]

My biggest problem is usually not in coming up with ideas in the first place but picking the best out of all the ideas and piecing them together into a coherent and unified whole. 90% of my best ideas have never made it into any of the games I've worked on -- not because there was anything wrong with those ideas, but because they didn't fit with the game we were making at the time, or they weren't technically feasible, or they would require us to redesign something else, or because there wasn't enough time in the schedule to make them happen.

Game development is much more about changing, molding, combining, and very often discarding ideas to create a single well-crafted experience than trying to find any one magical idea.

SXSW: Any suggestions for up and coming game designers and / or programmers?
PT: Stay humble and learn as much as you can. Force yourself to play a lot of games you wouldn't normally play. Read Joseph Campbell's A Hero With a Thousand Faces and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow and the proceedings of past Game Developers’ Conferences.

Remember that a skilled team is a million times more important than any individual. You will never succeed on your own.It's important to play games, but it's even more important to analyze them:

What makes them fun? Talk to your friends about the games you play, and when you find that you disagree about a particular game, drill down and find out why you disagree.

Did you play the game differently and end up with different experiences, or did you have different reactions to the same experience? If you had different reactions to similar experiences, why did one of you find it entertaining and the other not have the same reaction?

When you get an idea you think is good, build lots of prototypes, and be ready to be surprised when it works out differently in your prototype than it does in your imagination.

Don't try too hard to force a game to match the perfect idea you have in your mind -- games are a medium where the canvas doesn't just fight you, it sometimes starts to take on a life of its own, outside of anyone's control.

Be prepared for that, and be ready to throw away your preconceived notions of what it is you're building and listen to what the game is telling you it wants to be.

"So....? Did you enter?"

The student looks confused, "Enter what?"

"The game idea you told us about in our last session. Did you enter it into the 2009 ScreenBurn at SXSW Game Design Competition?"

"Oh that! Nah, I think I missed the deadline. I probably wouldn't win anything, anyway."

"Are you really going to give up that easily? You still have time. The entry deadline isn't until the end of this week. We all thought it was a great idea, didn't we?"

The class chatters enthusiastically. "YES! It was great!"

"See! This is too easy not to try. You've already done most of the work. You're idea is well organized and fully fleshed-out. Now all you have to do is write a description in 200 words or less, then go to the website and fill out the simple online application form. On Friday, January 16th 10 semi-finalists will be announced in each category. You know you're idea is strong enough to get at least that far, don't you?"

"Well, yeah, I do."

"And all semi-finalists who send in a final slideshow presentation that graphically illustrates their idea will be give a FREE 2009 SXSW Interactive registration. That's all the great Interactive festival panels, keynotes, book readings, parties, networking and fun, plus access to all ScreenBurn at SXSW activities, for FREE if your idea is chosen as semi-finalist. I think that's worth entering, don't you?"

"You know what? It is! I'd be crazy not to give it shot."

"That's what I like to hear."

In honor of the day in which we are allowed to eat as much as we want without the judgment of others, we here at SXSW would like to wish you a happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy spending time with your friends and family, watching football (even if the Seahawks, Lions and Eagles are a combined 7-23-1), and giving thanks for all the things that make your life great. We'll be back next week with new announcements about programming and our new Accelerator showcase, and we'll be quickly approaching entry deadlines for the both the Screenburn Game Design Competition and the Web Awards.