Back From GDC

I just got back from the Game Developer's Conference. As usual, I'll try to put down some thoughts on what I thought of the conference. However, I wanted to point to this link. Honestly, I have never seen such a misstatement of what was actually said at GDC. Many of the quotes were taken so out of context that it boggles my mind, especially the rundown of the rant by Chris Header. His rant, in particular, was that there are four areas of a game's code: AI, Gameplay, Graphics and Physics. Graphics and Physics programs are very linear and are generally very ordered. AI and gameplay code are usually filled with exceptions (such as if statements, like "IF the monster is within X distance of the player AND the player isn't behind a solid object AND the player isn't hidden THEN the monster should attack the player) and are thus less linear.

The crux of this talk is that the next generation consoles run ordered code, like physics and graphics code, very well. However, they won't run the sloppy, non-linear code of gameplay and AI. Since gameplay and AI are where the fun is in games, the next generation machines will be prettier, but not more fun.

Anyway, I'll post my thoughts as soon as I have them typed up.