My Day at Insomniac: A Brief Summary
Written By T3mpr1x 
Behold, my poster! The flash doesn't hide any signatures
So, just last Friday Insomniac hosted their very first Community Day. So, what was it like at the geniuses’ studio where classic PlayStation franchises are born? Read on to find out.
My day began…at college, as it usually does. I have classes from 9 AM until 3 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and one class Tuesday and Thursday mornings, you see. As I finally got out of my second of three classes, I realized that I had left my camera and swag to be signed on my bed! So sadly, I was also unable to take extra pictures at the event. The tour we took, which would have had the most interesting footage, was a camera-free zone anyway, so really this only hurt me as I couldn’t get a picture taken with the team…Next time!
So I was able to make it to Insomniac’s place by about 11 AM, managing to only skip out on a Calculus lecture. I came in for the last ten minutes of the panel discussion, which yes means that I was unable to ask the questions that were asked by Michael. Sorry! As it turns out, this day would have most if not all of its focus on Resistance 2, and this day turned out to be more of a launch party, great nonetheless!
After that, lunch began. I ended up eating some good pizza at a table with nothing but Insomniacs, in this case the Quality Assurance game testers. They were cracking jokes and generally having a good time, all the while asking me questions such as where I went to college, what I thought about Resistance 2, etc. As I looked around, I saw Ted Price and other key team members mingling in the crowd and line of people waiting for food. They ate the same food we were eating, and wore modest, modern clothing and really didn’t stand out from the crowd.
Once lunch was over with, we headed back into the theater for a behind-the-scenes look at various aspects of Resistance 2, from artwork, to audio, level, and gameplay design and testing. We even got to take an exclusive look at how they made some of the game’s more interesting/gruesome sound effects, to hilarious effect. I would love to see that video made public!
This originally did not say STOP, that was only a white sticker!
After the behind-the-scenes, the fun started. We were split up into groups and made a short walk to the studio. I was in the blue group and got to go on one of the first tours around the studio. There we saw every department of the team, with a few people still on computers working on other projects despite it being a Friday and a Community Day! Just shows you their undying devotion to make great games. This was the part of the day that did not allow cameras, so I didn’t feel as bad for leaving mine on my bed.
Insomniac Games has the entire fifth floor to themselves, and they use every square inch of the place. This also includes a bunch of LCDs that you may have seen in this PS Blog post. Although the office technically had cubicles, they had wavy lines and nice, cool-colored walls with various game characters plastered everywhere. A certain companion cube also made an appearance on someone’s wall, in plush form! Nary a gray, boring wall to be found in these quarters!
Off to the side were some more traditional offices, where meetings no doubt take place. Today though, these two rooms would be used for the autograph signing, my next destination. I picked a poster out of four choices in total, and it was passed around the table. People from every department left their john hancock, a few with whimsical phrases included as well.
Finally, with swag in hand, I went up to an LCD and began playing Resistance 2. Much of that QA team was here, playing from their desks in the same game us fans were. I was surprised with how well I fared compared to these seasoned vets, but given that I had some experience thanks to the beta I was pleased to see that the practice had paid off.
What I walked away with from this day is that Insomniac is a very down-to-earth, casual company that creates amazing games because every single member of that team is a gamer, first and foremost. I felt as though I knew these people already, despite having just met them a few hours prior. There is a very warm, receptive atmosphere about the place, and I cannot wait to see what more comes out of such a wonderful studio. I hope they do host more of these events in the future, as very few studios do things such as this.
XL, so it would never fit me
No Responses to “My Day at Insomniac: A Brief Summary”
You lucky bastard !
Amazing man, you should be happy as a kitten right now. (I would…)
Yeah, living in SoCal does have its perks, especially if you’re a gamer. Sure, the air quality can be poor at times, the traffic is atrocious, and Winter is all of one month long if you’re lucky (It’s supposed to be in the upper 80′s tomorr…later today!), but soo much of the gaming industry is located down here.
I hope they have a community day when they move here to NC. I’ll be going to that.Great info btw! I need a shirt like that.
Amazing. I don’t live anywhere near CA, so there’s no chance of me making the trip. Once they open the NC studios and[hopefully] have a community day there I could make the trip as I have some family I could crash with sprinkled throughout NC.
You are lucky, I bet they made you to sign a NDA for that project. By the way, do you need that poster?
Yes, actually, they did make me sign an NDA, most likely for that studio tour portion as it technically contains “trade secrets” that I may have seen…Not sure what, but I suppose they have to protect their assets. If I could have taken more than one poster, I would have and then given it away here, but as it stands I’d like to keep this single poster. Hope you understand.
yes I manage to be there too, and I have to say that INSOMNIACS are awesome. They showed great hospitality, and all of them were very friendly. My favorite part was right at the beginning, before the event started. I was there waiting with two of my friends, when all of the sudden, wham!! there’s TED PRICE, the heart of INSOMNIAC!!!. HE greeted us very kindly, offered us donuts, explained us what the purpose of this event was for, and just for the heck of it, simply chatted with us as if he was just another INSOMNIAC fan. Thats the best thing about them, they don’t show off, they treat you very nice.
I was so lucky to get my Ratchet and Clank:FTOD, Resistance 1 and 2 autographed by their creators, Ted even asked me where did I wanted him to sign!!!. The food was great as there was more than just pizza(Cesar salad, lasagna, pasta, meatballs, subs, and plenty of drinks).
The tour was awesome, it really shows how well organized the team is, co-op devs in one section, campaign in another, and competitive too. They explained us that this helped the teams concentrate more on what they were working on, oh the animators and designers chill in the same spot too. I really hope INSOMNIAC can host another one of this events, it really is awesome getting to be part of that community Ted was telling us about.
*sigh* I’m jealous. I want that poster so bad lol. They never do stuff like this in Texas haha.
Yeah, Ted Price is probably the nicest guy on gaming.