Playkultur! Game Panel Discussion at Metro Comic Con 2010

So my family wanted to go Megamall for some family time and using my ultra robotic powers (yes, I am partly an evil robot bent on world domination…or not, up to you :3) I sneaked into the Metro Comic Con 2010 to check out what was up.

So I got there at around…11 or so and surprise, surprise (/sarcasm) there was no line at all. I just recently noticed this but the national cons seems a bit un loved (Asia Cosplay Meet for example) but it was not all a loss, the area was later packed before I went home anyway. I expect however, tomorrow will be JAM-packed as tomorrow will be the Cosplay Competition.

That aside, I would like to applaud Metro Comic Con’s set up of booths as it highlighted the artists rather than the merchandise. There were a lot of Filipino artists there including Sir Danny Acoña (whose face sketching I enjoyed very heartily), Don Santos (whose drawings I stared at for a full 5 minutes EACH), Red Espinosa, Dennis Crisostimo, Lui Antonio, and Mico Suayan to name a few. Horde upon horde of comics were being sold, some having as high as 20% discount (BLACKEST NIGHT *–*) and of course, buying from artists meant you could have them autograph it for you which would totally boost its price, of course, I’d doubt anyone would be willing to sell it any time soon ahaha.

Back to the Con. Well, it was cold and as always, Suspended Animation and Creative Voices were looking for anyone who would like to join their ranks. One thing that really intrigued me was the con was on schedule (well at least, in the morning, then the inquisitive dragged some of the panel discussions longer than expected). After a cool performance by a band named Wet Doggy (Ahaha, clever name) and some intros from the Joker himself, the panel discussions were set into motion.

The first panel discussion was from the Game Development Panel headed by GDAP or Game Developers Association of The Philippines, moderated by Ryan Sumo who is a freelance artist and the Manila coordinator for IGDA (International Game Developers Association). The panel was comprised of members of Anino Games, Gameloft, and GDAP’s Ranulf Goss (Who as far as I know is the president?). While they raised enthusiasm about games, they focused on the gaming Industry here in the Philippines. If I may quote Mr. Goss, “We are well recognized by the Government” and they are composed of 14 studios with more over or less than 800 employees, and looking for more as after this brief introduction, the panel started giving out points on what it was to work in the Gaming industry as artists, programmers and game designers (all of which were explained satisfactorily, including the standards needed to be met). While the discussion went on, it seemed like the audience (including myself) were entering a hivemind state in the manner that questioned:

“If the Industry sounds so good, why hasn’t the Philippines taken off as a major gaming country?”

Well for one thing, while the Gaming Industry of the Philippines is “recognized” by the Government, it doesn’t interfere in a manner that would suggest for aggressive expansion, unlike Korea which was used as an example. The Korean Government put up a sum of money to 20 game developers to fight each other and come up with a game that would blow Korean socks off, those who succeeded went on to Game Godhood while those who failed, believe it or not, got money by selling their games to countries like ours. Case in point, Gaming isn’t the focus for export for the Philippine Government (which I would have to agree for now even though my gamer blood cries). Funds are what drives a healthy Gaming Industry and why we haven’t developed games for consoles even though we have very talented artists and developers is because, quite frankly said, the systems to provide such application is just. too. expensive. which is why we’re sticking to iPHONE apps, Facebook Games and PSP and DS wares.

How to get money then? Attract more developers to buy in here but lets face it, Flips can pirate games like wtf right? Which leads to the second point in the discussion that some big time companies are afraid to sell to the Philippines as the Piracy risk here is very high. How does Piracy hurt the industry? When you buy a game through pirated means, it’s like, if I may paraphrase, “Wanting to enjoy it but not supporting it” hence decline and eventually, shut down. While some companies do not care for Piracy, prominent gaming companies do. Which is rather a shame as we have a lot of brilliant minds here (and to prove that point, did you know Filipinos worked on Dante’s Inferno and Uncharted 2?).

So let’s go with the happy turn, if ever it does take off, What is the chance that Philippines will be a game-core country? Well, as mentioned by the panel it is “In the Realm of Possibility” however, it was emphasized that a more feasible idea is that game companies, say EA and Blizzard for example, would set up studios in the Philippines instead (which IMO would totally rock too).

A more plausible action was also discussed and it was for a few Filipinos to set up a game, create, and release through the web and electronic means as it was easier to attract attention and gain revenue. Case in point, Ryan Sumo gave an example about a game that was created by two people and sold it for a price the consumer wanted to buy it for and after a few weeks or so, the two had one-hundred thousand dollars which for two people would be hefty enough to allow them to make games for a looooooooooooooong time.  The panel encouraged this to everyone who was present and emphasized on the “Power of Ideas” as some Filipinos had already done this and succeeded (I remember watching that in the news, the game was inspired by Typhoon Ondoy but I can’t remember the name of the game).We could all do it, we just have to push it.

Sadly, the Panel Discussion had to be wrapped up while there were still some questions to be answered but all in all, it can be gathered that the Philippines CAN become a game-core country with enough hard work, just not right now.

Hmm–BRB, Game Conceptualizing o:<!

Tags: Comic-con, Playkultur