The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. Last month, I invented my first board game which I have Alpha and Beta tested among family. I don’t have any immediate plans to release it, but this experience has made me confident in calling myself a “game developer”, and after watching some past speeches from the conference, I daydreamed and was inspired to write my own speech as if I would be onstage sometime in the near future. Here it goes..
I was first exposed to GDC from watching the key note speeches from gaming legends Mr. Shigeru Miyamoto and President Satoru Iwata in 2019, the first year I began my game development career with my first board game, Runaway Train.
Even though I was a fan of Nintendo and avid gamer all my life, I actually knew very little about these two great men. Mr. Iwata, I only knew from his quirky Nintendo Directs, and for Miyamoto, I heard a claim that he designed the mechanics first and applied art later, which I thought was brilliant, as I am only a writer and not visually gifted. I mistook him for a programmer and was shocked to discover he entered the industry as a cartoonist.
It was actually Mr. Iwata that was the genius programmer, and it warms my heart that his signature is embedded in the code of my favorite Nintendo titles, Pokémon Gold and Smash Bros. Melee, specifically.
Nintendo and Iwata’s company Hal Laboratory worked very closely, and through this partnership Iwata was also able to see first hand that there was magic outside of the coding terminal and also on the drawing board with the work of Mr. Miyamoto.
Now you may ask, why am I electing to preface my speech with the history of these men? When they had their turn at GDC, surely they spoke about themselves and their contributions. Well, that’s because they entered the industry at a unique position, the position being that without them there would BE no industry!
So where does that leave me?
There is a 1976 Martial Arts film classic titled Full Moon Scimitar. A great swordsman who’s beaten everyone around goes to track down a previous legend.
This legendary man questions the young man’s intent, wondering why he wants to fight a retired master who has not held a sword in 20 years, as his sword currently resides at the bottom of a lake. The young man says it is because the name and title of the legend still persists.
The legend goes on to explain that even though the youth has reached the highest level of skill, he may never know who is the best as previous fighters before his time have died and departed. But the master assures him that the true highest level is achieved only when you can outlive the sword; when your name can exist even if you never raise a sword again.
He then accosts the young swordsman that he was a slave to his sword, because without the sword, he was nothing.
But the legend’s speech was not without praise. The young man had to break new ground to even achieve a meeting with the master. And despite the youth’s intentions, the legend praised the young man for fighting using his heart. This was the best way to use Kung fu; from the heart.
So, regarding the two legends of gaming I spoke of earlier, there was a time where I also considered what my place in history could be. If I could compete against them. But Iwata has departed, and Miyamoto has outlived the sword.
So what does that leave me with?
Simple. It leaves me with my heart.
During his cartooning days, Miyamoto wished he was incapacitated so that he could have a proper excuse to draw all day. Iwata programmed a baseball game on a calculator with no graphics.
These two men didn’t care about legacy. They paved the way to the modern game industry only with their hearts.
Young developers, it should be easy to look upon the past and improve on what has come before. The industry is much bigger now as well, and it’s also easy for us to see each other as competitors and rivals.
Surely, I won’t take this away from you. But there becomes a point where to become a legend, you must not be a slave to your sword, and you must outlive it. The only true way to live and to create games, and even play games, is from the heart, with no exceptions. Only then will you attain the highest level.
These two great men followed their hearts. When they were here on stage at GDC, they demo’d new games to spread that love to the people in attendance. I’m sure that would be really awesome for me to do for you all here.
But I’m going to try something else. When I watched their speeches, 10, even 20 years later, it was a bit silly to see the now outdated games and technology, and I was only left to imagine the audience’s excitement for it back then.
So what I want to do instead, is not think about my legacy, or the games that I have today, but consider the experience of a boy or girl who would also be in the same position I was back in 2019.
If that aspiring developer looks at my speech 10 or 20 years later, what would they learn about me, and where may I inspire them to go? It is not just my heart I am trying to achieve, but your hearts, and their hearts as well. Today, and tomorrow.
Looking back at Iwata’s achievements, many people mourned him greatly on how his talent is irreplaceable. Some have also began to feel the same way about Miyamoto, already hardening their hearts for the greatest loss gaming will ever have when he too must go on to the next level.
We can not mourn the legends and speak as if the loss will never be recoverable. Instead, we must focus on maturing in their place, thanking them for what they have graciously offered and have taught us, and continue the work, planting the seeds for those that will come after us.
Yes, follow your heart, and don’t focus on legacy, but what we also must do is provide some security, a life insurance for those that will miss us, and the generations to come.
Good leaders seek to be needed, but Great leaders seek to be replaced.
The soul of gaming doesn’t belong to any of us. It was born before us, and will continue after us. It calls us, we serve, and then we lead.
We must use our hearts to direct our minds to contribute to the collective soul.
If you truly mourn the legends, you must raise their banner and march forward to pass on what they have given you.
Mr. Satoru Iwata, the heart of the gamer, you don’t ever have to die, as your heart also lives in mine.
Arigato Gozaimasu.
And to the game developers here today, and the young boy and girl sitting at home with sketches and notes for their own games lying around somewhere, I say to you Good Luck, Gannbatte, which you’re going to need, no matter what age you see me, because I will still wish to see you out on the battlefield.
In my hands, I am a gamer. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a warrior, and my sword will never be at the bottom of the lake, son.
[Audience laughs]
Remember that gaming is greater than all of us. So, forget about the legacy. Just follow your heart, every single day, and let’s go out and make some great video games! Thank you!
END.
