[...] how the conference turns out this year. Since CMP, the lovely administrators of the GDC (and, oh, how I love the GDC) have taken over, it'll be interesting to see if the conference remains useful. CMP is already [...]

I had the opportunity to speak at the Indie MMO Game Development Conference (http://mmogamedev.info/) this last weekend. I spoke on the topic of "Taking Your Indie MMO International".
Overall, it was a really great conference. I was really glad to ...

GDC 2007 is over for this year. First place to proceed to is GamaSutra’s own GDC 2007 Live Coverage that lists stories and news about what happened at GDC. There are good notes like Future of Indie Games and others, so browse the list and check i...

The good thing about the GDC in San Jose: A long-haired, bearded guy wandering around without a pass is probably a game developer that didn't buy a badge.

The bad thing about the GDC in San Francisco: a long-haired, bearded guy wandering around without a pass is probably just a homeless guy.

Oh, and in case you didn't think pass prices were high enough, you can get "GDC Prime" for a mere $3100! Invitation only, please! :)

Yes. :P If you're just introverted you can deal with it. Asperger Syndrome can be dealt with, but most people think sufferers are a bit "strange" since they don't always react properly to or give off proper nonverbal cues. Sociopaths like yourself are beyond hope. ;)

Cameron Sorden wrote:
Anyone know what the daily hit requirements are on your press site to qualify for a press pass? The GDC site doesn't give a figure.

Just try applying. There's no cost, and the worst they can do is reject you.

Joe Ludwig wrote:
You still get rejection letters? I've submitted talks for 4 different years at this point and I only received a rejection letter for one of them. I always just assume that my talks have been silently rejected after they start taking pre-registration and I haven't heard anything.

They usually send them out late. They're easy to overlook because they're thin and look like other types of junk mail.

But, that's just an extension of my complain. I wish they would at least give some feedback so you could try to improve your submission. As I said, I think the reasons for being rejected are probably often petty, so revealing a real reason would make them look bad.

Meh. Hope to see people on Thursday.

I always come away from GDC with new ideas. It's happened every single time I've gone down there. 5 years ago it was debug info in pack/unpack methods for serialization. 2 years ago it was metric collection and APFs for AIs. Last year it was Test-Driven Development and some tool ideas. I would love to get a great new idea from each talk, but you're right to say that most of them are crap. But I always find one or two that make the trip worthwhile.

Networking is hard for me. I hate talking to strangers, and pretty much have to force myself to do it. Once I get over that and get to know people a bit (which gets easier every year because I know more people every year) it's usually pretty rewarding too. People tell you the real scoop over drinks; they say things they never say in talks. And it's those real hard-won experiences that I really learn from.

I like GDC. I'm kinda sad that I'm not going this year.

Sure, meeting people is great, but that's a ridiculous amount of money to do it for. At least, until you're making money from it, then you don't need the conference for it's meat anymore. Indie is such a paradox of game development. An introduction to indie games talk should start with "Don't spend $3000 to visit GDC". :P :D

P.S. Your interview will be online "soon"...