Thanks to the Audio Mentoring Project and my mentor Jon Everist of Everist Sound, I was able to attend my first GDC this year! I received a conference + summits pass from the AMP scholarship program and was able to attend from Monday-Friday.
Even though it was my first time there, I ran into so many friends that it certainly didn't feel that way! Between the Materia Collective, friends I've made at GameSoundCon, two of my mentors (Ravi from VCFA and Jon from the AMP!), and many Capital Region devs I've met at Tech Valley Game Space, it seemed like I couldn't walk ten feet without running into a friend!
Here's a group of game industry professionals from the Capital Region of New York! This wasn't even all of us!
I spent most of the first day in the Indie Summit, and most of the second in the Audio Bootcamp. I saw a lot of interesting talks - I think my favorite from the Indie Summit was "Don't Break the Chain: Maintaining Productivity on your 19th Game" by Jason Rohrer. While he was discussing writing code rather than music, I still feel like everything he said applies to the work I do. Strict start and stop times, eliminating distractions, and limiting the hours of work in the day to promote higher productivity and increased work-life balance are all things I can get behind and really see helping me do better work!
As far as audio talks, my favorite was Elvira Bjorkman's "A Composer's Guide to the Galaxy." She had some interesting ideas about how to frame ideas and where to "show off" in a way that adds to rather than distracts from the gameplay. I really enjoyed all the talks and met some very interesting people before and after each one!
Once the Expo opened on Wednesday, I split my time between talks and checking out the expo floor.
One of the coolest things I got to experience was Catan in VR! It was the coolest VR experience I've ever had (in no small part because it didn't give me a headache or nausea...and also because I love Catan!) The graphics were great and it made me think of how I could feel like I'm in a room playing Catan with friends who live far away....I really think it would be the next-best thing to seeing them in person!
I got to play a lot of other great games as well, including Eastshade, A Tofu Tail, Racket Boy, Hookbots, Retimed, A Case of Distrust, and Voiceball, to name a few. Seven-year-old me would die of jealousy if she knew how many games I'd get to try out!
Outside of the Moscone, I got to stay in a nice AirBnB with three of my friends from the Materia Collective. We didn't get a group picture, but here's me with my roommate Tia!
I also went to several parties and meetups, including hanging out at the Deathstar with the Materia Collective almost every night. I attended the Women in Games International party with my friend Amanda Kirk, a level designer from the Capital Region. We also went to the IGDA party and the Prototype and Playtest Night (where I got to play a cute VR game called Cat Cart made by RIT students!) There were a few events I couldn't attend; the Bring Your Own Indie party had a line that wrapped around the building, and on occasion I had folks in my group who were underage so some bar meetups were out. That did, however, end up being a good thing on the last night as we decided to hang out in the Marriott and ran into an awesome group of folks we hadn't hung out with yet! It ended up being one of my favorite nights!
I did take a little time on Friday for some sightseeing in Japantown with several Materians. Tia, Fabian, and I even went to a cat cafe called KitTea.
Tia snapped this pic of me with some of the babies!
I also ate a ton of DELICIOUS food!
My first real ramen at Ippudo!
With these fine Materians! From left to right: Brian Diamond and Tia Maxfield (both my roommates!), Michael Hoffman, Jay Kim, and me!
We also grabbed some ramen in Japantown:
I normally don't like eggs at all, but that egg was so delicious that I'm planning to make my own soon!
GDC was an incredible experience! I can't wait to go again next year. Here are some takeaways that I hope will make next year even better:
- Don't overdo it. Tuesday I spent so much time in talks and networking that I barely slowed down to eat, and it really took a lot out of me and stressed me out. I'm an introvert, so I need a bit of time to just breathe and space out a few times a day. I made a point of doing so the rest of the week and felt much, much better!
- It's easier to have conversations with people before/after talks than on the expo floor. Getting to talks early gave me time to chat with the people around me, and it was much quieter and less chaotic than trying to talk to people showing or playing games at the Expo. The best conversations I had were in quieter, calmer environments such as these.
- Plan ahead but stay flexible. I didn't plan much regarding which talks I wanted to hear or which parties I planned to attend, but when I did take a moment to figure it out I didn't insist on sticking to my schedule. Sometimes I'd skip a talk because I was in the middle of a conversation, and sometimes I attended one I hadn't thought of because a friend was going. Next year I'll plan farther ahead but I won't get too attached to my plans!
- Make more time to follow up after. Immediately upon getting home (as soon as I walked in the door) I got a call to sub for a choir teacher for the entire week; I don't regret doing it as she really needed someone who could teach music to be there for the kids but it certainly put me behind on my follow ups. Next year I'll make sure to keep my schedule open for at least a couple of days after so I can get things done in a timely manner!
I had such an amazing time at GDC - thanks again to the AMP, Jon Everist, Materia, and everyone else who made it happen and made it such a great week!