Game Developer Conference 09 advice?

Games
1

Hey everyone,
This is my first year as a professional game developer, and I thought I’d hit it off right by doing GDC.

My employer has offered to put some money towards my ticket, but I don’t think I can afford the whole conference.

Firstly, I’m wondering, is this show worth flying to as a new Canadian game programmer/designer?

If so, should I go for the summit pass, the conference pass, or the expo pass? I’m interested in networking, learning (I’ve been enjoying previous GDC papers, especially this one on steering), being inspired, and having a good time.

Will any of you be there? Meetup?

Thanks

2

GDC is definitely worth going to once. If you’re going to fly out, you probably want at least a conference pass (or a summit pass if you’re interested in only a specific area). One thing we’ve been known to do at work is pass a conference pass around between people (but we’re local so we can drive up) if someone really wants to see only one specific session.

Out of the sessions I’ve been to, I tend to most like the “tech overview” ones. The one where the Eve team went over their entire server architecture a few years ago was a good example of an excellent session. Some of the very-crowded design overview sessions can be both hard to get into and boring.

GDC meetup sounds like a good idea to me.

3

Yes. Go. The tutorials and summit on Monday/Tuesday are kind of a prelude, and easily skippable, but don’t just get an expo pass, because the talks are the heart of GDC.

Oh, and drink plenty of water if you’re going to parties. Dehydration means sitting through talks with an awful hangover, and I don’t care what they’re saying, that’s not fun.

4

Here’s some general advice from the Qt3 archives:


The pass type that you get will depend a lot on what you want to see. In previous years there have been single-session passes available, although I’m not sure if they still do this. Some speakers and exhibitors may also be able to get you into specific sessions and/or the expo hall, although you probably have to know someone and/or arrange this in advance.

  • Alan
5

B’ah. They are overcrowded precisely because they are not boring. ;)

I went to GDC for the first time a couple years ago and thought it was great. Definitely recommended. I don’t remember what pass I had, but was there for 3 days. Mostly went to design-related stuff.

Over the course of about a day, I saw talks from Shiguru Miyamoto, Chris Taylor, Peter Molyneux and Alexey Pajitnov.

6

I’ve probably just had generally bad luck. I definitely enjoyed Will Wright’s talk a few years ago.

7

This will be my first GDC as well. I’m flying in for the whole week, so I’ll probably just end up getting the all-access pass.