:)
Wow. The Game Developers Conference was awesome! Let me start off by just saying that I’ve never been more proud to be able to be a part of this industry. The people I met were some of the most down-to-earth, talented, and passionate people I’ve ever met (not to mention incredibly funny, jesus). I’ve also never been more proud to be an independent developer. Of all the people there who cared about games, the indie guys cared the most.
I’ve always been drawn to games. What other creative medium combines visual art, sound, and technology so fully? In what other medium are the creator and the “viewer” so intimately connected? To me, a game is like a painting where the artist hangs a paintbrush and a bucket of paint under the frame and encourages people to paint on it. I love that. I love being able to sit back and watch someone play with something I’ve made. I like that instead of making them feel happy, sad, angry, or frightened, I can give them tools to create their own emotional experiences.
A year ago I didn’t think I was going to make games for a living. I’m not sure exactly why. Probably because I knew I couldn’t do it on my own. How many people were interested in games the way I was interested in them? Making a game is difficult, unglamorous work that not many people understand and even fewer have the kind of passion and know-how to make one happen. It can be extremely discouraging.
So yeah, thank God for Alec. It was obvious from the start that this was someone who had a similar vision and compatible talents. And, just as importantly, he had the kind of passion that you need to create something that can affect people. You can consider yourself lucky to meet even one person like that in your life, as far as I’m concerned. Despite my reservations about long-distance game development, I knew this was not an opportunity to be missed.
And as surprised as Alec and I were to find out that each other existed, imagine our surprise this week. After a year of working on our game in a vacuum, all of a sudden we were meeting, chatting, eating, and drinking with thousands of people who understood what the fuck we were talking about. People who had their own little game babies that they lovingly created. Our peers. And what an awesome group of people they were. So yeah, thank God for GDC, too.
Development on Aquaria has been a long and difficult rollercoaster with lots of ups and downs. I won’t lie, as high as you get during those moments when you realize you’ve made something good, there are some serious lows when things aren’t working the way you’ve hoped. When you wonder whether anyone’s going to appreciate what you’ve done and if you’re wasting your time.
But it was all worth it when I got to stand on stage with Alec and Jenna (our wonderful voice actress) in front of a few thousand of our compatriots (and more than a few of our childhood heroes, including Shigeru Miyamoto) and finally thank my folks the way I’ve always wanted!
March 10th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
i’m so happy for you derek. people who love what they do and are successful at it, give us all inspiration. congrats
March 10th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
YU…MET…MIYAMOTO…
O…M…F…GAWD!!!
HE IS LIKE HOT JAPANESE SHMEX IN A CARTRIDGE!
IM HAPPY YU GOT EVERYTING YOU WANT…LEAVING YOUR NUMERO UNO FANS BEHIND.
March 10th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
I remember a long time ago we had that Game Gods issue of PC Gamer, and we jokingly imagined ourselves on it.
Well shit man, if you keep this up, I think you just might pull that off! “The Faces of Indie Gaming…” or something like that.
What I mean to say is–congratulations!
See you later this month…
March 11th, 2007 at 4:07 am
Congratulations for a well deserved award!
A winner is Yu!
March 11th, 2007 at 8:22 am
That’s a great story!
Congradulations on your winning. GDC sounds awesome. I should go there at some point.
March 11th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
u won grand prize?!
March 11th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
I was rooting for you guys (it was ridiculously suspenseful up until the final award was presented). So many categories passed, but luckily not the one that mattered.
I hope to follow in your footsteps next year. Thanks for being an inspiration indie devs everywhere!
March 11th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Grand prize! I’m not surprised. Aquaria looks amazing!
March 11th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Your the Man Now Dog!
March 12th, 2007 at 6:16 am
Cheers man !
March 12th, 2007 at 7:56 am
Man what great times. I totally agree with you that most people don’t know what goes into making a game and how sometimes things don’t turn out how you planned them.
Thanks for making GDC 07 an amazing event and giving me the chance to see the passion that is almost completely faded from the retail market but is going stronger then ever in the indie community. I congratulate you for taking that passion and putting it into some that’s alive and breathing. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for you and Alec
March 13th, 2007 at 1:36 am
Jey-sus.
Kungra-stu-lah-.
..lashens..
Lashions?
Kongrahtsulazns on yur invisi
invisbl text holder!!!
U R a big kid now!!
Seriously.
March 13th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
I didn’t know Derek Yu was on the Aquaria team.
Congrats.
You know what happened to the boy who was given everything he always wanted?
March 17th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Dude, awesome. I’m in love with Eternal Daughter and that Aquaria trailer made me want to play the game SO BAD!
Keep up the good work. I’m a wanna-be game maker and I know it’s really hard. You do it really well so it’s really a good inspiration to all of us.
March 21st, 2007 at 12:25 am
Congrats. Very inspiring, pixels are in your blood.
March 22nd, 2007 at 2:15 pm
so if there are pixels in your blood, do you need to go on special raster-dialysis to get that shit out?
March 22nd, 2007 at 2:16 pm
sorry, that was a really stupid joke. It’s a slooooooooooow fucking day at the box office
March 26th, 2007 at 11:56 am
“A winner is Yu!”
lol, good job guys. Keep working hard for your dreams.
April 2nd, 2007 at 8:44 pm
Muy muy congrats!
In case anyone doesn’t know Derek the man himself can be seen accepting the award at http://www.igf.com/video/2007/index.htm
Go to Seumas McNally Grand Prize. xD
Once again way to go man, love your work
April 17th, 2007 at 12:01 am
So, what’s happening? So long no news! Same on the Aquaria page… busy spending all that cash, huh?
April 20th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
update your fucking page
April 21st, 2007 at 9:52 pm
hey derek, great to see you the other week…
aquaria looks beautiful, i can’t wait to play it… congratulations!
April 26th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
CONGLATURATION!!! YOU HAVE COMPLETED A GREAT GAME. AND PROOVED THE JUSTICE OF OUR CULTURE. NOW GO AND REST OUR HEROES!
May 25th, 2007 at 12:02 am
Gee I want to be a game developer also!
Congratulations for that award!
- Ron Reyes
http://www.ronreyes.co.nr
January 1st, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Congrats on making this amazing game, it has been both the best purchase and best game I played in 2008. I can’t wait to see what else you come up with.