GDC Blues

So I went to the GDC. It was two days of rather dull meeting people and one day (wed) of complete insanity. It wasn't that the people I met were dull, it was just so laid back Monday and Tuesday.

Anyway, I went to the IGF Awards and the Minna Mingle and met a lot of really cool people!

Of course, I got nothing done on the book in that time :(

BUT... on track, IGF AWARDS...

I wont give everyone a summary of stuff they already know. Instead I will relate the following story:

Of all the speeches given at the awards ceremony for BOTH the IGF and the GDC, including the Darwinia team dropping the F bomb on stage, I found it incredibly ironic that the best was given by a man who created a game about dropping anvils on rabbits.

Oh, yes, Jake and his Dodge that Anvil game gave a speech along the following lines:
"When I set out to create Dodge that Anvil it was my goal to create the best anvil dodging simulation ever made. I don't know if I achieved that goal, but this award tells me I am on the right track."

Oh, so awesome it gets a link in my blog. www.rabidlab.com to play Dodge that Anvil!

And now- back to editing.

The Best Advice

In the book there is a demur sentence that can easily be passed over in the great gobs of other sentences which are demanding your attention. Someone e-mailed me recently and asked a question that this sentence (actually its more like three sentences) covers.

The question was "What tricks do you have for SEO?"

The answer: "NONE." Look- I don't care if you hire me to do SEO work, honestly I don't. The important thing to know is that anyone who claims to have some mythical SEO "trick" should not be trusted. In the BEST case the trick works for a few months before the search engines change their system and your page drops off the charts (Forcing you to hire someone else OR if you haven't figured it out yet- the same person). In the WORST case the trick is so bad that the search engines blacklist your site, which may take months or longer to get fixed.

The book sums it up as follows:
"The first and most important rule of SEO is not to use tricks or secret methods that the snake oil salesmen of the Internet will try to sell you. Even if it temporarily works, the end result could be getting black listed from search engines! Instead, you should focus on using the methods that are recommended by reputable sources and do not seem too sneaky."

PS: Book final edit is coming along (33% done). Cover art is coming along as well. I hope to post a sketch of the cover soon!