GDC is where the shroud of secrecy is broken.

It’s an event where developers from around the world come together to celebrate their love of making games. Want to know how BioWare tackled cinematics in Mass Effect 2? Go check out Armando’s talk. Interested in the latest AI developments, there’s a WHOLE summit just for Artificial Intelligence.

Every time I go to GDC (I think this will be my 8th time), I’m amazed at how open and candid the other developers are. These are trade secrets, their companies competitive advantage, that they are sharing.

While it’s true that some of the sessions are pretty light and filled with marketing and PR buzzwords, but if you have ever been at a Clint Hocking GDC presentation, you will leave that room with a better understanding of how to design better games, if it doesn’t all go over your head.

And the candor doesn’t end in the presentations. If you want to know more, chances are that a deeper discussion into the topic at hand is only a few beers away.

On top of this assault of information, there is the added bonus of a little thing called ‘Friendship’. While some people will degrade the term by calling it ‘networking’, GDC is a place where I can meet up with past co-workers who have drifted to all corners of the globe, as well as meet new friends.

This year also marks my first trip to the Flash Gaming Summit (which, after being a HUGE success last year, I’m surprised isn’t a part of the official GDC this year) and it will be great to see what the big movers and shakers in my newly adopted Flash world are thinking 2010 has in store.

I’ll be posting pics and stories from GDC on my Twitter @shaneneville .

And if you are going to be at GDC, and you don’t know me, please come up and say hi (I’ll be the guy in the NinjaRobotDinosaur shirt) or hit me on Twitter to meet up.

A lot of people just don’t get it.

Flash Tactics is a series of blog posts outlining why I believe that Flash is not only a great game platform, but how I believe developers can find success on a platform that is dismissed by so many developers.

Flash Tactics Part 1: The Most Accessible Gaming Platform in the World.

For me, it’s as simple as this – no other gaming platform in the world has the install base, accessibility and reach that Flash has.

As a developer, my goal has always been to get my games in front of as many people as possible. With this goal in mind, Flash became the only real option when I decided to go out on my own.

The Flash Player install base is huge – in most markets, it’s north of 98%, meaning that for almost every player there are no barriers preventing them from playing your game. They simply have to go to a webpage and play the game.

No trips to a store, no logging in, no credit cards, no download or installs – just go to a site and play.

This sort of access is unheard of on all other platforms and it multiplies your audience by a tremendous margin.

Consider that a ‘hit’ PC game will sell 1 million units in the first year of release, before it’s removed from the shelves. Through the long tail of digital download services like Steam and D2D, you can probably tack on another 500K units sold at extreme discounts through the lifetime of the game. In addition, it’ll probably be pirated an additional 2 million times. So if you make a hit PC game, you’ll hit 3-4 million people. Not bad.

Compare that to a good Flash game, which can get 1 Million plays in its first week. A hit Flash game can get close to 1 million plays/day. It’s not unheard of for a hit Flash game to have 50-80 Million plays in a year. And these numbers don’t fade in the way that traditional games do.

A twitter search for ‘Flash Game’ will reveal mentions of ‘classic’ flash games like Desktop Tower Defense and Fancy Pants Adventures alongside 2009 hits like Canabalt and Crush the Castle. People are still discovering these games for the first time and they are sharing them with their friends.

When most games have faded from peoples memories and sales dwindle, Flash games are still out there, building an audience for your game.

Flash is free, Flash is everywhere and new people are discovering Flash games every day.

As a game developer, this is simply too tempting an audience to pass up, and that’s why I chose Flash.

In upcoming Flash Tactics posts I will answer the second most common question I get: “How do you make money giving your game away for free?” (and I’ll try not to quote Chris Anderson’s book on the subject too much…)

Ray Ardent: Science Ninja is an episodic 2D action-platformer where you run, jump, slide and dive your way through dangers that only a man who is a scientist AND a ninja can survive.

Doctor Ray Ardent is a man of adventure, a man of the world, but most importantly, he is a man of Science. When the world is threatened by weird and mysterious threats too dangerous for traditional forces, Ray Ardent is the only man who can save the day.

Dr. Ardent charges into battle wearing his Science Gi, the most technologically advanced piece of clothing on the planet, and fights with the support of his elite squad of Science Scouts.

You can follow Ray Ardent on Twitter @RayArdent.

Become a fan of Ninja Robot Dinosaur on Facebook

Ray Ardent: Science Ninja is built using the free Flixel game development libraries.

And now – Screenshots:

Dude is awesome!

It’s been over 6 years since I last made t-shirts and since my closet has more t-shirts than socks, I’m uber-excited to revive my love of silk-screen on cotton.

That's my 'psyched face'

We’re rocking three designs:

I [Heart] NRD proves that pixel love is true love

Pixel love is forever.

The NinjaRobotDinosaur logo in two different colors – Slate grey and Purple (American Apparel calls it ‘Eggplant’). And you can also get the NinjaRobotDinosaur in a hoodies, which is insanely comfortable (see photo at the top, where I am seriously psyched on how comfy my hoodie is)

Slate with a hint of minty green.

Purple (or 'Eggplant' if you are one of those people)

Lesean Thomas (Boondocks, Superman/Batman Public Enemies) walks us through the tools he uses for drawing.

My stance is simple – I believe games can be art, but I just want to make games. If people want to call it art – that’s up to them. I just want to make the games I want to make and hopefully enough people enjoy what I make that I can keep making them.

The gloriously wonderful Amanda Palmer sums it up in this little song:

Amanda Palmer rules beyond ruling.

Link courtesy: Infinite Ammo

In the past 30 days I have:

- Sent my family across Canada
- Hit two major milestones as the producer on two unannounced titles
- Left my job and home for the past two years
- Joined my family on the other side of Canada
- Roasted a turkey for Christmas dinner
- Read three books on Actionscript/Flex/Flash games
- Completed over 20 Flash Game tutorials
- Watched Avatar (only once, despite my deep desire to watch it at least 5 times in the theater)
- Filled 35 pages in my sketchbook (with actual drawings)
- Enjoyed many ‘catch-up’ lunches, coffees, dinners and evenings with old and new friends

And now I find myself suddenly in 2010. The year I’ll finally be rockin’ out flash games, making t-shirts and doing the things I’ve spent the last four years talking about doing.

2010 is not a year for resolutions for me. It is a year for action.

Today, I am saying good bye to my home for the past two years – the gentle island of Prince Edward Island.

Top 3 things I will miss about PEI:

The Beaches

In the past two years, I have spent more time on the beach than in the entirety of my life before moving to PEI. There are so many reasons:
- Being alone at 10AM on a gigantic beach was a regular occurrence.
- PEI is home to the warmest swimming ocean water in Canada.
- Quite simply, the beaches are unmatched in there beauty and serenity.

The People

Canada is well known for being friendly and PEI has to be the friendliest place in Canada (I hear rumors that Newfoundland is nicer – but I have my doubts) I also had a tremendous opportunity to work in super-duper awesome people at Longtail Studios. I have made a great many friends on this little island and I will miss them all.

10 Thanksgiving deserts blended together!

The Sunsets

Coming from Saskatchewan, I love the open sky and the sky on PEI is amazing. Even on a frosty winter evening, the sunsets can warm you up. Cheesy? Sure – but so awesome.

It’s surprisingly hard to say goodbye. Thanks for everything you gentle little island.