Dave Gilbert’s gamedev blog

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So, yes. I’m back from GDC. I wasn’t able to hop online every night and give you the play-by-play like I did last year, but to be honest there wasn’t much to say. As I said, it was much more laid back this year, at least in terms of partying and getting awards and meeting famous people. Still, much was done. Here are the highlights, in bullet-point format:

Monday
- Meeting with Big Fish
- Marketing meeting with Playfirst
- Telltale party at The Cellar, where I met Steve Purcell and Ron Gilbert again
- Having cake with the ladies of Writers Cabal, to celebrate their one-year anniversary.

Tuesday
- Mostly boring day, at least in terms of GDC stuff. I only had the Wed-Fri pass and there were no meetings today. It was going to be a tourist day, but it was pouring rain.
- Went to the Cartoon Art Museum
- Had lots of coffee and watched the rain
- Had thai food with Edmundo Ruiz and Dierdra Kiai
- Went to the IGDA party, which was mega crowded but fun.

Wednesday
- Free bagels at the conference center! This is why I spend $800 on a pass and flew all the way out here.
- Wandered around the career expo floor. Not that Janet or I needed a job, but it was interesting to see all the booths and collect all the free swag.
- Went to a session called “God of War: Deconstructing an Epic.” Thought it would be about creating epic stories for games, but it was just a straight post-portem. Mostly technical stuff, which didn’t interest me.
- On camera interview with Digital Trends. This had been stressing me, since I had never been interviewed on camera before. Turned out to be pretty easy.
- Interview with Adventure Gamers
- Interview with Gamezebo
- Funny how three interviews in a row totally wiped me out. Back to the hotel to nap until Janet was done going to sessions.
- Playfirst party at night. It was “sleep” themed, to go with their recent game “Dream Chronicles 2″. Beds and mattresses everywhere.
- Emergent technologies party. No idea who those people were, but they threw a good party

Thursday
- Wandered around the IGF expo room. Turned out that one of the IGF finalists was made with AGS.
- Had a nice long kick-off meeting with Playfirst. They brought in Thai food and we sat around a big boardroom table and discussed my game. It was a totally new experience for me, and I’m sure I had a deer-caught-in-headlights expression most of the time. The meeting went longer than expected, and so I had to race back to the conference center for…
- interview with an Indie Gamer podcast. Basically sat down and answered questions. Should be online in a few weeks
- Couldn’t get into the Eve Online/White Wolf party (which boasted Dominatrixes and whips and SnM rooms amongst all sorts of craziness) so we opted for a drink with the Arkadium folks instead. Edmundo sooned joined us, having also been unable to get into the party.

Friday
- Lots of sessions. Ernest Adams spoke about God Games. He’s always a great and interesting speaker, but this time I felt he was less so. He mostly discussed a God Game that he once tried to make but got cancelled, which wasn’t very interesting.
- Game Designers rant panel. There wasn’t much ranting. Each panelist stood up and began their spiel with “Everything is great, really!” One guy didn’t even say anything, he just threw dozens of balloons at the audience and we spent 5 minutes bouncing them around.
- Lunch with Deirdra Kiai. She always has kooky ideas for adventure games, and I insisted that she stay indie and don’t “go commercial like me,” since her ideas are so cool and out there. Hopefully there will be a market for funky games like the ones in her head.
- The line for the Portal post mortem was out the door and down the hall, so Janet and I opted for a panel discussion about startup game companies, where newbie CEOs talked about their experiences. I’m not sure if anything they said applied to me, but maybe one day it will.

Saturday
- Rain. Lots of rain. Janet and I walked to Coit Tower. Never said we were smart.
- Lots of wandering around and sitting in cafes.

So, yeah. That was pretty much it as far as GDC was concerned this year. Despite it’s laid-backness, it was just as inspiring and invigorating as it was last year. I’m definitely returning again!

For those interested, I have also created a little PHOTO JOURNAL OF THE TRIP.

Till next entry,