GDC Online 2011 In Four Words: Graeme Devine is Right
Monday, October 17th, 2011
One thing that I do quite a bit of for TouchArcade is attend various conferences. We always hit the big ones like E3 in Los Angeles, along with both WWDC and GDC in San Francisco as well as several smaller conventions throughout the year that often don't amount to a lot of coverage-- But where it's still great to meet people and have a presence at them. These events (even the mega-corporate ones like E3) have a vibe about them that's really difficult to describe unless you've been to one.
I think the best way to label the feeling would be "inspirational." You're surrounded by game developers who have all travelled from the farthest corners of the Earth with goals to both promote their existing games, as well as improve their future titles. I've seen amazing things come out of game jams, partnerships spring up over coffee, and game ideas being refined via a form of incredibly open peer review over beer and pizza. The whole process is great, and leaves you feeling lucky that you even had the chance to play your small role in witnessing it.
Attendees of these various get-togethers likely know exactly what I'm talking about, and this is wholly the reason why I always encourage developers to attend conventions whenever possible. Sure, they can often times seem like an unnecessary business expense, but can you really put a price on the value of one piece of random feedback that takes your entire project to a whole new level?
Anyway, not having attended GDC Online since 2009 (It was GDC Austin then) I was beyond stoked to take part in the conference. Not very many developers that I've worked with in the past were going, but that was OK-- the best part about conventions is meeting new people and being absolutely awestruck when they show you what they're working on.
