Today, I'm going to geek out a bit about GDC (Game Developers Conference) I spent a week out in San Fransisco. I got an Expo Pass and made the whole trip under a grand, travel included. I stayed at the San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf Hostel which ran about $25 a night. I shared a room with 7 other men in a large dorm-like setting. Many were from out of the country with one local. When he learned about the conference, he asked where it was being held. I said that it was at the Moscone Building He proceeded to ask which one, since there are 3 different buildings. I told him that I thought it was all of them. His eyes widened and told me that it must be a huge conference. I said yeah, thinking 1,000 or 2,000 people was a lot. I came to realize later that GDC 2017 had a record breaking 26,000 + Developers.
I had to arrive a day before the conference because I was volunteering for the IGDA. By volunteering for the IGDA, I earned a free Expo pass. I had to attend a training session and try to navigate downtown San Fransisco.
All of the talks and all of the people where intimidating. It was strange because people asked what you did as a gauge to further a short conversation. It was all extremely surface level interactions unless you happened to know someone personally or professionally. There were so many people you had to make your impression short and then move on. With this many people, I was way out of my comfort zone.
I found it hard to just get up and talk to people. Even after 5 days I still don't think I had it down comfortably. All the talks where interesting, however most of the talks I wanted to see weren't available with an Expo Pass. On the first day someone from a small indie company chatting inside a Starbucks gave me helpful advice, telling me not be nervous. In retrospect, I wish I was less intimidated by everything, but feeling intimidated was where I was at.
Volunteering for the IGDA was great and I really enjoyed it. It got me my Expo Pass for free and I made some friends and possible business connections. I'm in the back far left.
The talks were interesting. I would have to say the Microsoft Mixed Reality talk, Keynote from Google, and Epic Games Special Announcement left the biggest impact for me.
The swag is real! in the Microsoft Mixed Reality talk Microsoft was talking about their new VR headset which I arrived a little late for and one of the people was a little weird about letting me in. I got inside and they where talking about the specs of their new headset. Overall it was very technical with no real talk about implementation. Except about halfway through the presentation the person next to me must have thought it was kinda boring too, because he got up and left. They stopped abruptly and totally had a Oprah moment. I didn't get a brand new car but I did get a free Microsoft Mixed Reality Dev Kit.
I'm still awaiting it in the mail. VR is coming in a big way. VRDC was hosted this year at GDC, That meant about half of the booths where VR. Next year they will be attempting to split off for their own conference.
The things I specifically got to try included the Intel Booth which they gave me a four GB hard drive with this video on it. The wide angle lens isn't doing me any favors. The point of this demonstration was to show how game developers can build things in 3d space using VR. There was a point when someone said I break stuff. the camera and the VR headset became misaligned. I then skewered a cat.
That first day I tried Insomniac Games' "The Unspoken," demo. It was a lot of what I've seen previously. It was pretty intuitive, I did mess up in a couple of spots and someone had to tell me what to do for the sake of moving onto the next person more quickly. It was fun and kept you facing a cardinal direction. Which I'm finding to be pretty important with VR.
The next game I tried was Star Trek Bridge Crew. I had a hard time with this one, because the Graphics where not that great. I had a hard time with the headset and being able to see, although I will chalk this one up user error. It was flipping switched and whatnot which I would like to see more on screen indicators that you are doing something. and not just staring at a panel. The game felt like Star Trek so I think die hard fans will love this.
I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what talks I could attend and where exactly I could go and where I couldn't. I would have hit up more parties, but I left my business cards in Phoenix, and it took close to 3 days to get those reordered and printed due to some major issues with Staples. The parties I did hit up were the International Mobile Gaming Awards, which I thought was the Polycount Meetup Party. I even asked someone in line if I was at the right place. He told me that he don't know which to most people would have been a indicator that I might not be in the right place.
I met a couple of developers from Brazil with Long Hat House Games, who were makers of the company's most recent title, "Dandara," that could be labeled as a 2d portal game. They were very cool and super excited to launch on the Nintendo Switch.
I then met up with one of my friends from the Art Institute and he showed me around the Polycount Meetup once I made it to the correct party.
The Epic Games Special announcement basically told the gaming world that they were throwing their hat into the ring for Visual Effects by working with car companies.
All of the talks and all of the people where intimidating. It was strange because people asked what you did as a gauge to further a short conversation. It was all extremely surface level interactions unless you happened to know someone personally or professionally. There were so many people you had to make your impression short and then move on. With this many people, I was way out of my comfort zone.
I found it hard to just get up and talk to people. Even after 5 days I still don't think I had it down comfortably. All the talks where interesting, however most of the talks I wanted to see weren't available with an Expo Pass. On the first day someone from a small indie company chatting inside a Starbucks gave me helpful advice, telling me not be nervous. In retrospect, I wish I was less intimidated by everything, but feeling intimidated was where I was at.
Volunteering for the IGDA was great and I really enjoyed it. It got me my Expo Pass for free and I made some friends and possible business connections. I'm in the back far left.
The talks were interesting. I would have to say the Microsoft Mixed Reality talk, Keynote from Google, and Epic Games Special Announcement left the biggest impact for me.
The swag is real! in the Microsoft Mixed Reality talk Microsoft was talking about their new VR headset which I arrived a little late for and one of the people was a little weird about letting me in. I got inside and they where talking about the specs of their new headset. Overall it was very technical with no real talk about implementation. Except about halfway through the presentation the person next to me must have thought it was kinda boring too, because he got up and left. They stopped abruptly and totally had a Oprah moment. I didn't get a brand new car but I did get a free Microsoft Mixed Reality Dev Kit.
I'm still awaiting it in the mail. VR is coming in a big way. VRDC was hosted this year at GDC, That meant about half of the booths where VR. Next year they will be attempting to split off for their own conference.
The things I specifically got to try included the Intel Booth which they gave me a four GB hard drive with this video on it. The wide angle lens isn't doing me any favors. The point of this demonstration was to show how game developers can build things in 3d space using VR. There was a point when someone said I break stuff. the camera and the VR headset became misaligned. I then skewered a cat.
The next game I tried was Star Trek Bridge Crew. I had a hard time with this one, because the Graphics where not that great. I had a hard time with the headset and being able to see, although I will chalk this one up user error. It was flipping switched and whatnot which I would like to see more on screen indicators that you are doing something. and not just staring at a panel. The game felt like Star Trek so I think die hard fans will love this.
I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what talks I could attend and where exactly I could go and where I couldn't. I would have hit up more parties, but I left my business cards in Phoenix, and it took close to 3 days to get those reordered and printed due to some major issues with Staples. The parties I did hit up were the International Mobile Gaming Awards, which I thought was the Polycount Meetup Party. I even asked someone in line if I was at the right place. He told me that he don't know which to most people would have been a indicator that I might not be in the right place.
I met a couple of developers from Brazil with Long Hat House Games, who were makers of the company's most recent title, "Dandara," that could be labeled as a 2d portal game. They were very cool and super excited to launch on the Nintendo Switch.
The Epic Games Special announcement basically told the gaming world that they were throwing their hat into the ring for Visual Effects by working with car companies.
If you listen to the talk, you can hear me sitting quietly in the audience.
All told, I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to GDC 2017. I met lots of new people. If you have the time, money, and portfolio, I would recommend going.
All told, I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to GDC 2017. I met lots of new people. If you have the time, money, and portfolio, I would recommend going.
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