I’m starting off my last year as an undergrad in IMGD today, and things will be good. The videogame world has changed since I started here three years ago, and I’ve already lived through some times both exciting and dark.
This year, we will be working on completing Chambara as part of the USC Advanced Games Program here at USC for a console release sometime next year. We spent the summer rebuilding the game to be easier to edit for new team members, did tons of business and legal work to incorporate a company, and prototyped and sketched a lot of creative and silly modes and features. You can find some stories from our Summer sprint on Esteban’s Storify. We face a compressed production schedule like no other because the process of console certification is both demanding and time-consuming. But with an incredible team of over twenty diverse folks from USC and other places in Los Angeles, I’m confident that we will do incredible things and create a truly Super Chambara.
We also exhibited at another indie games festival this week. This was one was called Bit Bash and was located in Chicago. We were not present at the festival in-person, but all the pictures we’ve seen from it look SO INCREDIBLY FUN. The festival was accompanied by an art exhibition, where we had a piece by our art director Catherine Fox shown and purchasable.
Super proud to have curated the #ArtBash portion of @BitBashChicago — come check it out and hang with us today pic.twitter.com/AwJOPjLk9z
— vgagallery (@vgagallery) August 22, 2015
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#Chambara at @BitBashChicago WHAT VIDEO GAMES BEING PLAYED OUTSIDE? The bible warned us of these crazy things! pic.twitter.com/FKxbQ3g5KL
— Aaron J. Amendola (@ImAaronJ) August 23, 2015
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And this Sunday, I’ll also be speaking at PAX Prime in Seattle as part of the panel “Level Up! From Game Player to Game Maker” with a bunch of wonderful friends from the division. The point of the panel is to discuss and meditate on game schools with a bunch of wonderful high schoolers. Unfortunately, I’ll be missing an orientation session with the new Chambara team, but I’m sure we will do some good with this panel.
KEVIN JAMES WONG 