It’s good to be back in Illinois. GDC 2010 was a good trip, but it was both stressful and exhausting. I wouldn’t say there was a particular highlight of the trip, except for talking to all the old friends and meeting new people. The lowlight was definitely Red Faction Guerrilla not winning Best Technology at the Game Developer Choice awards.

I’ve had some trouble sleeping because of that, and I’ve been tempted to channel my frustration through the internet into an attention-grabbing rant supported with video, but in the spirit of remaining civilized, I’ll keep this short. I’m in a unique position because unlike the other talented people who worked directly on the game (especially Eric Arnold and Dave Baranec who are most deserving of awards for Geomod 2.0), I can say what I think without getting in trouble with my employer.

When the nominees were first announced, I half-jokingly told people at Volition that I’d rush the stage, Kanye-style, if RFG didn’t win Best Technology. I literally could have done it because we were seated so close, but I didn’t have the nerve, and really it would have done more damage than good, particularly for me since I could have been banned from GDC. I apologize to all of Volition for not living up to my word. Because of the game that did win, it’s obvious even the Choice Awards are a popularity contest.

I was much more pleased with the game that won the Independent Game Festival grand prize, Monaco. I actually got to play the game with its creator, Andy Schatz, a few hours before it won the prize. Not only is the game a lot of fun and quite unique, Andy is just a great guy and I’m happy to see him succeed so brilliantly. In fact, there were multiple great games in the IGF this year, and I’m happy to have played so many and met many of their creators.

I’m looking forward to wrapping up JoyJoy and starting on game #2. It’s been over a week since I’ve gotten to do work on anything real, and it’ll be refreshing to actually make games instead of just talking about it.