This week I’ve been at Develop 2009, the UK’s annual game developer’s conference, covering the event for Gamasutra. You can read my write ups of some of the sessions at the following links:

• Denki Urges Ban On ‘Casual’ Label
• Why The XBLA ‘Long Tail’ Disappoints
• Sony Home: First Term Report
• The Edge Panel: Architecture Has Much To Learn From Game Design
• Gameplay Not Everything, Says Too Human’s Dyack.
• Music Games 2.0: Masaya Matsuura On The Future Of Music Games

As with any conference of this size and scope, the content was mixed. I found the first day of the event, dubbed “Evolve”, the most exciting of the week. Its emphasis on the emerging platforms of Flash and iPhone, and on digital distribution channels was both timely and insightful.

Sadly, this day of the conference is often dismissed by traditional development studios who rarely bother turning up. But for those who did attend, the message was a vibrant and exciting one and there seemed to be a palpable sense of our being on the crest of a new wave of development opportunities that could alter the landscape of gaming in significant ways. In fact, with the stats being bandied around for daily plays of some Facebook games and free-to-play browser titles, it may already have changed, and no-one’s really noticed.

Charles Cecil, creator of Broken Sword, told me that the atmosphere surrounding Flash and iPhone developers right now reminds him of the mid-1980s, where the new avenues and platforms open to developers were yet to settle and there was a sense that anything might be possible. This feeling generally contrasted with the second two days of the conference, where the sessions, while often full of interesting ideas, analysis and conversation points, lacked the coiled spring energy of, say, casual game maker Playfish’s Kristian Segerstrale or iPhone publisher ngmoco’s Alan Yu’s presentations on day one.

That said, I learned a few things I didn’t know before, such as the revelation that Half-Life 2’s artists wrote three supporting pieces of fiction for every location on the game, one describing what happened there two days ago, one two weeks ago and another two years in the past. “This historical record (which ran longer than the entire story for the game) gave every location in the game a sense of place, history and verisimilitude,” said Viktor Antonov, the game’s art director, “something far more nuanced and rich than simply slapping some graffiti on a wall.”

Also, Half-Life 2 cost $50 million to make. Fifty!

It was good to see so many journalists in attendance this year, especially those from the mainstream consumer-facing press. The more often that press and developers get to meet each other in a casual and relaxed context (quite unlike that of a typical PR-led event), the better.

While at Develop I also carried out two 60-minute interviews with Revolution’s Charles Cecil and Zoonami’s Martin Hollis. As soon as they go live on the Internet I’ll link to them, as both men offered interesting insights into their journey into and through making games, before talking about their current successes and hopes for the future. Debrief and trailer complete. Now, to bed.