Who was there: "The Great Gamification Debate" at this year's Game Developers Conference featured two teams. On the pro-gamification side was Jane McGonigal (Social Chocolate), Margaret Robertson (Hide & Seek), and Jesse Schell (Schell Games). On the other side of the table sat Eric Marcoullier (OneTrueFan), Ross Smith (Microsoft), Ian Bogost (The Georgia Institute of Technology), and Margaret Wallace (Playmatics).

What they talked about: The panel began with members offering their own definitions of gamification. For most, gamification was summed up best by Schell, who said that "gamification is taking things that aren't games and trying to make them...

Who was there: Andy Schatz, founder and owner of Pocketwatch Games.

What they talked about: Last year, the big winner at the Independent Games Festival was Monaco, a top-down, four-player cooperative stealth-action shooter. The game won not only the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, but also the Excellence in Design award. Its developer was Pocketwatch Games, an indie studio founded by Schatz in 2005. Since then, the studio has developed several titles, including Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa and Venture Arctic.

Schatz himself was the only programmer, designer, and producer on both titles. He also flew solo while...

Who was there: It's next to impossible to take a step at this year's Game Developers Conference without overhearing someone talking about social gaming. In a session titled "Are Social Games Legitimate?" Margaret Robertson (Hide & Seek) leads a panel consisting of Ian Bogost (The Georgia Institute of Technology), Daniel James (Three Rings), Nabeel Hyatt (Zynga), and Curt Bererton (ZipZapPlay) to debate whether this phenomenon is a good thing.

What they talked about: Robertson led the debate by restating the name of the panel, swapping out the word "legitimate" with "evil," saying that fundamentally this is a philosophical disagreement...

Who was there: The "From AAA to Indie: Three Start-Up Stories" panel at this year's Game Developers Conference featured Jake Kazdal of Haunted Temple Studios, Spry Fox's Daniel Cook, and Ichiro Lambe from Dejobaan Games.

What they talked about: The panel began with Kazdal, who titled his portion of the talk "AAA to aaa." Kazdal first offered a look at his history, saying that he got his start in 1989 working in a Nintendo call center. From there, he progressed to Irem, Enix, Boss Game Studios, Sega, EA, and Zombie Studios (in that order), before landing at his current gig at Haunted Temple.

Kazdal said that he and his...