Greetings from the Chicago 'burbs. I got to check out what's happening at John Popadiuk's Zidware studio this afternoon. Nice guy, really driven and focused on innovation and goodness.
Coincidentally, it turns out I could literally walk over to his studio from my house. It'd be a bit of a stroll, but it's like all of two miles away.
Got to see what the cabinet looks like that they're using for Magic Girl (MG) and BHZA. I was pleased to see that they're come up with their own, cool spin on that part of the platform. I could say more but even tho I signed it, I still haven't read the NDA so I'll keep my mouth shut for now.
If you watched some or all of his presentation from the NW show, you heard his message about the shifting landscape which is game development. He was saying essentially the same thing to me today. No more designing in a vacuum, all by yourself. Embrace the team and RAD methodologies. Solicit feedback from the community/customer.
For my part I'm skeptical, which is healthy, but willing to play the role he has intended for us customers (skim his site, or watch the vid for details).
Suffice it to say he's in a good work-space, has got a team, and they're definitely building stuff. There were a couple wired white-woods, one-off assemblies, and other junk I couldn't recognize in plain sight. As far as MG goes, I really have no idea what it all represents because I'm not in on that.
But regarding BHZA, suffice it to say, I'm gonna have fun in the coming months dropping in and hopefully contributing in some small way (if to nothing else, than at least to my own game.)
~mr.bill