I’ve been away from home for the past two weeks. Now I’m back and looking forward to getting back into game development!

I attended the Independent Games Summit, which was held as part of GDC 2009. It was a really interesting, inspiring and worthwhile 2 days. There where plenty of highlights and some great sessions. The talk by Ron Carmel (from 2D Boy, creators of World of Goo) titled “Everything you wanted to know about indie game development but were afraid to ask” was excellent – there was loads of good advice. Petri Purho’s presentation about the value of prototyping was thought provoking. It was also great to meet some of guys from the XNA and XBLCG teams.

Last week I spent some time sightseeing. One of the places I went was Disneyland. Something I that really struck me was the attention to detail, and I think there are lessons here for game developers – attention to small details is important.

Disneyland is about fantasy, as in dropping into a fantasy world, be it a from a Pixar film or a cartoon series. From the moment you walk up to the gates to get in, no detail is overlooked to enforce the fanasty of being in a world of entertainment. An example is the construction sites inside the park. As parts of the park are overhauled or new attractions built, sections are fenced off – not with any old scrap wood or wire, but with themed painted wood sheeting, complete with posters that are themed to match the new attraction. They essentially say ‘under constructions, sorry for the inconvience”, but using wording, fonts and colors that fits with the new attraction being built. There is nothing generic anywhere in the park – everything you see or hear continues to re-enforce that you are not in the real world, but in a world of fantasy that the parks creators have built.

The top tier developers also do this. Whether it’s themed installers or error message boxes, creating a game that is a complete experience is something that the best developers get right. It takes time and effort, and it’s a lot harder than it looks, but I think that small details that are missing can easily overshadow or detract from the rest of the effort put into the game.