Got back from France the other day. Not sure who invented jet-lag, and I'm sure it had it's purpose at one point, but I think it's time to move on. We're in a more global world these days, and I think jet-lag needs to get with the times. The world is a fast moving place, and jet-lag needs to evolve or become irrelevant. On my next over-seas trip, I am going to have to think hard about getting jet-lag, it just doesn't seem worth it. Oh sure, I'm a suckers for a good marketing campaign, and will probably opt-in at the last minute, but I'd like to feel good about the choice, not feel like I'm just doing it because everyone else is, or because I did it last time.

While in Paris, I had a chance to meet up with Vincent Hamm, one of the founders of the SCUMMVM project. We talked about SCUMM and games, then caught a showing of Jim Jarmusch's film Broken Flowers. I really liked the movie a lot. Fans of Jim Jarmusch have accused him of selling out with this commercial film, but without spoiling the movie, I can think of several things that will keep it from being a success in the U.S., so fear not. Oddly enough, they were the things that I liked most about the film. My favorite Jim Jarmusch film has to be Dead Man with Johnny Depp. If you haven't seen this movie, add it to your must see list.

I apologize for not putting together a Paris meet-up like I did in London and Amsterdam. I was not sure how much time I'd have, and those things take some planning. I might be back in Paris in a few months, and I will set something up then.

And just to squelch any rumors, I was not meeting with a publisher about the Adventure/RPG game I'm designing, this was for another project that Clayton and I are working on.

With any luck the Adventure/RPG game will be funded with private investors, allowing me full control over the strange little game. I'm not opposed to a main-stream publisher funding it, but they would have to understand where I am coming from with the game and allow me to retain the IP, which is unlikely. But you never know. Someone gets a little too drunk, embarrassing photos are taken and bingo, I have a deal.

Due to my trip to Paris, I missed the Video Game Investor Conference held in San Francisco early this week. Dean Takahashi of the Mercury News gave a speech on Why Is It So *&@#$% Hard To Finance Video Games that really hits home.

One of the biggest problems keeping the Indie Game scene from becoming more than just Amateur Games is the lack of any kind of funding model. Venture Capitalists are not interested in funding games, they want to fund companies that will IPO or be bought for many times what they put into it. Unlike the Indie movie scene, there is no network of individuals or small investors willing to put up money for points in a game. Games also lack the sexy and star struck appeal of movies.

You'd think with all the money made in the business of technology and the Internet, there would be some rich geeks that wanted to help fund interesting games.