I had a blast at the GDC this year as an IGDA scholarship winner! I would recommend any game developer or enthusiast to pilgrimage to this event held yearly in San Francisco. The speakers are knowledgeable and some of the top names in the industry, and there is every chance to meet with them and others at the networking events. It’s THE conference to attend in this industry and I will be making every attempt possible to attend next year.

Here’s a breakdown of my experience:
I arrived Sunday and spent Monday being a tourist. My school kindly agreed to let me arrive a day early so that I could see some of the city, and get in on a few networking events. Monday night the scholars got together for sushi. There were way too many people to organize so I wouldn’t encourage future scholars to attempt this again. Just mingle and shake hands at the IGDA booth and meet up during the rest of the week.

Tuesday was a long and exciting day. We had an official scholars meet up with Jason Della Rocca and we met our mentors in person for the first time. My mentor was Brian Robbins and he was absolutely amazing and the best mentor I’ve ever had or likely to have, ever! Brian is the studio head of Fuel Games, a studio located in Denver, Colorado, which specializes in iphone games. I would meet Brian Wed-Thurs-Fri mornings to get advice on how to proceed for the day, and to see which networking events we were both attending. I made it my mission to earn the respect of my mentor by being reliable when meeting him and being mindful of his advice. And it was great advice.

Michelle and Brian Robbins

The scholars toured Three Rings Studio, the developers of Puzzle Pirates and Whirled on Tuesday afternoon. Daniel James, designer and CEO spent three hours with us going over the steps he took to make Three Rings a success. As an aspiring businesswoman myself, I found this valuable and inspirational information. The Three Rings studio has been turned into an amazing rendition of captain Nero’s ship from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. This includes a sea monster lounge area, a captain’s bar, and a secret room behind a bookshelf that adds to the inspirational feeling of the place.

Taking a tour through the Three Rings Studio

Tuesday night was a series of overlapping and wild networking events. I must be honest and say that my goal at the GDC was to network above all else. At this time I am starting a business and my partners and I are building up our Rolodex. One of my partners was at GDC as a speaker so we were able to tag-team through the events and meet lots of like-minded entrepreneurial people. I found it valuable to attend these events with a wingman that has your back and can recommend you or extract you from awkward situations. Tuesday was by far the busiest day and night of the week.

Steve and Michelle at the GDC Canada Party

Wednesday went by a little smoother and after a full day of lectures we attended the Women In Games International party where I bumped into fellow members from the Vancouver chapter. The event was full of oddball people and few actual women in games so we packed it in early.

Another full day of lectures Thursday, including a keynote by Metal Gear designer Hideo Kojima, followed by the World mixer, and after that the secretive speakers’ party. Both my mentor and my business partner insisted that I get in by whatever means possible, as many of the big names would be there. Brian introduced me around, I shook hands with some fantastic people, and I was walking on air.

The conference wound down to a close Friday, with the Expo halls shutting down early and little to no networking events scheduled as attendees dispersed. My business partner and I enjoyed a lovely patio dinner at the Cheesecake Factory on the top of Macys by Union square, went clubbing until 4 am, and caught our flight out at 7am. I can say that I lived my experience as an IGDA scholar and GDC attendee to the fullest!

Favorite Sessions:
•    GDC Microtalks - One Hour, Ten Speakers, Unlimited Ideas. Robin Hunicke, Clint Hocking, Frank Lantz, Jane McGonigal, Eric Zimmerman, N’Gai Croal, Richard Lemarchand, Tracy Fullerton, Jenova Chen, and John Sharp. It was amazing! Need I say more?

•    Experimental Gameplay Sessions. Mind-blowing experiments that showcase what is fresh and hot in the gaming industry. I found this session to be the most inspirational.

•    The Game Design Challenge: My First Time. Three designers compete to see who came up with the best game concept around the challenge theme. Attending a Game Design Challenge session was one of my life goals. Done!

•    From Bungie to Bootstrapping — Starting an Independent Developer Studio. Max Hoberman gave a solid talk about the challenges that small studios come across and how to overcome them. I scribbled notes furiously the whole session.

Practical Advice for Next Year’s Attendees:
•    The ribbons on your name badge are worth gold. Make sure you get your ribbons at time of registration and do what you can to get more. Print your own if you have to. I brought in extras from another conference that allowed you to customize your badge to your tastes, added them to my badge, and presto I had more than anyone else (besides my business partner Steve who got one as well) at the conference. The ribbons are an easy entry point in conversation and are often the first thing your partner will notice. (See the photo of Brian and myself for reference.)

•    Come prepared. I Googled and printed off anything that might be handy for the conference. I had maps, my schedule, and my fellow scholar’s information at hand. I would RSVP for events and had them marked them on my map, so then when someone would ask, “do you know where x party is?” I could say “yes! Follow me, I’m heading that way myself” or give accurate directions. This scenario repeated many times over the course of the week to my advantage.

•    My last piece of advice is to take care of your health. It’s quite easy with all the long days, parties, and germs floating around to burn out early. I found it necessary on Friday to skip some lectures and crash for a nap at my hotel and I’ve since then heard of others doing this on Wednesday as a midpoint break. Take care to eat right and drink lots of water, especially before attending one of the parties where the booze flows freely. And of course after meeting people all day, wash your hands!

Listen to a radio interview of Steve and myself chatting about the GDC experience, women in games, and what’s current in the industry in the previous post.

Michelle hanging with the N-Gage booth babes ☺