GDC 2017

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    • Hey everyone! Hope everyone's new year is going well.
      I made this in General because it looks like I can't create threads in Events - probably to stop shilling or something.

      So I am seriously considering going to GDC this year, but I'm not quite sure what ticket to get. I definitely don't need a VRDC pass, so it really comes down to two things - will I want the Main Conference Sessions and will I want the Bootcamp sessions? I also see summits somewhere, but don't see an entry for that in the pass comparison list.

      Also, having never been before, it's not immediately clear what each of these different events even are. Some are obvious - vault access, gdc connect, game awards, career seminar, tutorials/bootcamps... but then others aren't. What are summits, the igf pavilion, the expo, advocacy tracks? I feel like this should all be on the site somewhere, but I didn't see it so please feel free to simply link me there if it's up somewhere.

      Finally - what are some of your recommendations for things I should do while there, given that I'm still rather new to this?

      Myrddyn
    • Well, it all depends on what you want to get out of GDC and what you generally want to do in the industry.

      Myrddyn wrote:


      So I am seriously considering going to GDC this year, but I'm not quite sure what ticket to get. I definitely don't need a VRDC pass, so it really comes down to two things - will I want the Main Conference Sessions and will I want the Bootcamp sessions? I also see summits somewhere, but don't see an entry for that in the pass comparison list.


      I've never been to any of the bootcamp sessions. My sense is that they're targeted towards beginners and generally pretty good. It's like a day-long class.

      By contrast, the main conference has dozens of talks on a variety of subjects. It's a lot more diverse, but you lose some of the in-depth material you get in bootcamps. They can also be more advanced. It's more like "here's how we did this interesting difficult thing on this game."

      What are summits,

      Summit are talks targeted to specific types of developers. For example, the AI summit is all about AI and run by the AI Game Programmer's Guild. As an AI specialist, I end up going to most of those talks and usually give a few. There's an indie summit for indie game developers, one for game narrative, one for education, and so on.

      the igf pavilion

      The IGF stands for Independent Game Festival. Indie developers submit their games to the IDF every year and the best of the best are shown at the IGF pavilion, which is usually in the expo hall. They're shown Wed - Fri.

      the expo

      The expo is where all the non-talk stuff usually is. Companies who are hiring will be there, people will be showing off their games, and companies will be trying to sell you things for your company. Most of the major players in the industry (Unity, Epic, Microsoft, Sony, etc.) have a large presence. This is the more typical convention area. In the last couple of years, they've split the career pavilion and the expo hall into two different areas, which makes it much easier to navigate.

      advocacy tracks?

      The main conference has different tracks so they can target content. There's programming, art, design, production, and so on. One of the tracks is advocacy, which about inclusiveness. You'll find talks on this track for subjects like LGBTQ content in games, women in games, and so on.


      I feel like this should all be on the site somewhere, but I didn't see it so please feel free to simply link me there if it's up somewhere.

      It probably is, but it was easier to just type from memory. ;)


      Finally - what are some of your recommendations for things I should do while there, given that I'm still rather new to this?


      That depends, what level would you consider yourself and what are your goals? Do you think you're ready to try and get a job? If so, I would definitely go with that in mind. Print out a bunch of resumes, have people look at them beforehand (I'm happy to do that), get your demo ready, and so on. Are you just coming to check out the game dev scene? Are you trying to do an indie game? Either way, networking should be a top priority. We're a pretty small industry and the more people you know, the better. Go to talks, meet the speaker after the session, exchange cards, etc.

      I'll be there as well if you want to meet up. I have an All Access Pass, so I'll be around all week regardless of which pass you end up getting.

      Finally, my generic recommendation to newcomers is to get the Main Conference pass unless you are specifically interested in enough of the material in the summits or bootcamps. As the name implies, the Main Conference is the core content and I'd say over half of GDC attendees only go to that portion of GDC. You'll meet more people and get more out of it. However, if you know for a fact that all you want to do is AI, or make an indie game, or work on narrative, or some other very specific thing that the summits/bootcamps cover, do that.

      Whatever you do, you should do it quickly. I think the early-bird discount ends soon.

      Hope that helps.

      -Rez
    • A bit late on this, so you may have already bought your ticket, but I went to GDC last year for my first time (unfortunately can't make it this year :-/). My $0.02 is: Get the expo pass. The networking is the real meat & potatoes of the conference. Last year, I bought a "Main Conference Pass", which got me into some talks (but no summits) and the expo.. But I found that I couldn't keep up with all the talks I wanted to see (there are A LOT of talks), and truthfully, some of them weren't very good. Some were pretty good, but overall, I feel like I overpaid.

      IMO, you'll get the best bang for your buck on the expo floor, and outside the talks. That's where you'll meet the most people and actually be able to talk to them, exchange business cards, find out where the parties/happy hours are.

      If you live near SF, or otherwise can hang out for all 5 days (even though you only have an expo pass), then go for it. Even if you're not sitting in on talks and what not, there will still be many many people to meet.
    • Another couple of side notes:
      • D'oh!! @Rez, I totally forgot to consider reaching out to you last year. This year's out, but maybe next year?
      • And @OP, one other thing: get business cards. Like, get lots of them, at least 250. I think you can get 250 cards printed at Staples or Office Depot for $10 or so. Seriously, consider getting 250 or 500. Make sure to put some contact info, at a minimum, your name and e-mail and social media (Twitter/Instagram/Facebook/Twitch/whatever). You'll exchange cards faster than you'll realize. When you get back home, you'll have a zillion cards that you collected from others. E-mail those folks, follow them on Twitter, etc.