GDC Blew My Mind

Last week was my first time attending the Game Developers Conference (GDC)!

It was my third time out in San Francisco, CA and it was quite a jolly good show. I had made the last minute decision to attend after seeing how cheap the Expo Passes were. I still hurt my bank a bit on the flight out there...
Thanks be to the most amaze sensei ever, John Garcia, 3D Artist at Kixeye and SCAD alum, for his supreme level of hospitality: blessed me with an air mattress, tours around the city, and some of the best advice for a young whippersnapper like me! :3

Tiny Excel version of my schedule (click to read)

My favorite batch of sessions was the 3 Day Indie Minority RoundTable. It was very enlightening and encouraging to see other other minority indie devs from around the world (Still need to go through my list of business cards to connect with everyone I met).
Speaking of business cards, they are the new swag, apparently. I had to get some from VistaPrint last minute to make sure I could commune with my fellow devs

I actually have a card design from last semester that I forgot about, so I think I'll get this printed out after doing some slight redesigns.

Bonus Points if you know the acronyms

 My next favorite talks were the Ask The Expert Programmers Panel featuring Mike Acton of Insomniac Games, Sven Bergstrom of Celsius Game Studios/underscorediscovery, Brett Douville: Indie, Anna Kipnis of Double Fine Productions, and Jeff Ward of Willowtree Apps. They had a balance of Indie, 2 Engine Programmers and 2 Gameplay Programmers and I really enjoyed all the wisdom they had for the largely student crowd.

I also gained more confidence in my future aspirations and had many questions about my present-future career choices answered for me. I don't believe I want anything to do with AAA, except maybe Bungie if I could be so fortunate; I want to go Indie (work with a team/studio or later start my own) eventually; I can get a tech related job ( Entry Level Developer or QA) and still develop my games/skills on the side; Atlanta may very well be my destination since I'm not too sure about life in CA; and lastly "Keep Calm and Make Games".

Now to shout out the Amaze exhibits/demos: Sulon Technologies "Cortex" is my favorite from the lineup of VR tech. It incorporates AR tech so it allows you to bring your games to you and seems like a more viable path to immersion than a fully VR system since your whole body is involved, sans smell.

Pretty Headset

Group Play

One of my favorite announcements came from Unreal with UE4. I'm already working on improving my skills with C++ so I'm definitely interested in possibly catching up with the new stuff in Unreal; haven't really messed with it or learned it beyond UT3 Editor and the more basic differences in UDK.

I think that about wraps up my experiences and feels from last week. Hopefully, I'll be able to go next year, meet more people and have more lasting connections!

Check out this album for more pictures from the trip: XD