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TheGame Developers Conferencehas always seemed like the cool gaming convention to me.
Sure, in its heyday,E3was The Important One.
Now,Summer Games Festis The Important One.Gamescomis The Big One, with over335,000 visitors attending the 2024 show.
That’s roughly triple the attendees at 2023’sPAX EastorPAX West- shows that are primarily for the fans.
All these conventions have a special niche.
As the name implies, GDC caters to game developers, first and foremost.
It’s better to approach a long RPG like a TV show than like a movie.
“We need to remember that people are not machines.
In the end it was too much for some planners to even look at the reports anymore.”
So, Atlus implemented a different strategy, using internal live streams instead of written reports.
All they had to do was set up a webcam that simultaneously showed the game and the player.
“Productivity among our team rose significantly because they could watch the live streams while they did other work.
Just the process of reading reports takes up a lot of time,” Goto said.
Goto gave the example of a player easily completing a fight against an enemy.
But, if the developer wanted that encounter tochallengethe player, them breezing through was a problem worth addressing.
During the talk, I realized that this would be a major before and after moment for Atlus.
It’s innovation, just as much as a game introducing a cool new mechanic is.
But, for players, it’s completely unseen.
If Atlus didn’t talk about the change, we wouldn’t know about it.
We play the final product.
We can compare it to the developer’s previously shipped titles.
If we’re bold, we might even speculate about perceived problems with the design or execution.
I’m glad I got a chance to see beneath the surface even if it was just a glimpse.
This is exactly why I’m holding out on Metaphor: ReFantazio.
