Flat Earth meets the masters of gaming

Well, I’m down in Melbourne right now alongside luminaries Tim Schafer and Warren Spector for the opening of Game Masters, an exhibition at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image which honours the greatest minds and biggest movers and shakers of our humble craft.

There are countless panel discussions, workshops and more happening down here. We kinda wish we could be at all or more of them, but being as we’re working on our game up in Sydney, it wouldn’t behoove us to take too long a break in spite of the knowledgey goodness being down here amongst this stuff will bring. Also, it’s really only one of us who’s made it down. The rest of the team is hard at work in Sydney making me feel bad while I console myself with Lord of the Fries (the only burger joint you ever need in your life ever).

So what’s on offer? Aside from Warren Spector giving an amazing talk on how he hasn’t written a line of code, drawn a picture or designed a level since 1992 (seriously), and Rob Murray from Firemint being the only one of the keynote speakers to admit he’s more of a businessman than a game designer, there are 130+ games here to play. There’s Defender, Rip Off, Braid, Child of Eden, The Sims and a whole buttload of mega-inspirational titles which in some way, shape or form, have changed gaming forever.

It’s a load of fun, and I do heartily recommend the exhibition (and just the ACMI in general) for any gamers down in Melbourne who get passionate about the culture and the minds behind what we all know and love.

Now, back to work! There’s drinking to be done down here in sunny ol’ Melbourne!