Artemiy Bulgakov GDC 2018

Post date: Apr 06, 2018 7:22:14 PM

My first time going to GDC was also my very first time leaving the state of Florida. It was one of the most memorable and chaotic experiences that I’ve witnessed in United States so far. Nothing quite sets the mood as strongly as getting stuck in North Carolina for 16 hours overnight. There were many red flags that went off throughout the beginning of this journey. One flag went off right after the other. Starting from an insane amount of people crammed in one place, getting separated in Tampa airport, getting our first flight delayed in 10 minute increments for approximately 3 hours to getting up on a plane and not being able to take off due to storms all over the Midwest. However our will was unwavering. We decided to power through. We fought everyone from customer service to flight attendants. We took off into the skies and charted our course for Charlotte. Our minds were clear, our will was cast from stone. We flew.

 There are moments in time when you sit down and start questioning your life choices. The longer the sitting session the more prominent the feeling becomes. This feeling crept into my thoughts when we were hovering over Charlotte above the eye of the storm and the pilot announced that he won’t be able to land us. Like shadow fingers it wrapped around my brain and grew stronger as we were informed that we were to circle around the the storm for the next 40 minutes until our plane would run out of fuel and if that were to happen we were to be landed in Columbus. After half an hour of circling around the storm the intercom announced: “Fuck it we’re going in. Strap your seat belts” Colonel Bill Kilgore ran past my seat with a boom box strapped to his back and that’s when Flight of Valkyries kicked in. We were going in. We were going to land because we knew that down there below the clouds, below lightning bolts and rain showers, a dozen of blue cots was awaiting us to sleep on in the abandoned and half derelict Charlotte airport.

 San Francisco met us with its fog and Toyota Priuses scattered around the streets. I want to leave special thanks to Pizza by the Slice. God bless their 24/7 work schedule and delicious pepperoni goodness. By the time GDC closed its doors a small group of people who were not afraid of showing up gross and sweaty to the convention floor broke through the main doors and grabbed their tickets. We were the trailblazers. We were the first to light the bonfires. Like modern conquistadors we spread around the convention floor in search of goods, connections and alcohol. Overall there was about an hour worth of time left until the floor would close so I made a quick pit-stop by the Ringling booth in order to announce my presence and stock up on valuable information. My interactions commenced at the Emporium arcade after party. The place was charming and had a nice atmosphere. Arcade tokens were free. The drinks were not. Nonetheless I was able to meet with a lot of people and have a lot of quick conversations. The place was mostly overrun by students from other colleges so I was able to connect with one environment artist from DigiPen, an animator from Full Sail and a game designer from Pima Community college. Now this is the moment where I absolutely have to tip my hat to Ringling. It is quite apparent that we are being held to a much higher standard than many other colleges across the U.S. and it is visible when portfolios are being compared. Content, satiated and tired we set off back to our hostel to hit the floor once again the next morning.

Thursday was my most successful day. The cherry on top. The golden bar found by the conquistadors amongst the GDC pyramids. It all started with a piñata. A mechanical piñata. A mechanical piñata rodeo that is. I was waiting in line to see how long I would be able to last on the rodeo floor but mainly I just wanted to have a snapchat of me riding the piñata. I struck a simple conversation with a guy standing next to me as it seemed like the line was taking forever and after exchanging some mediocre jokes related to the maximum speeds we would reach while flying through the air I learnt that the person I was speaking to is a community manager for SideFX and the Houdini engine. He seemed interested in expanding the reach of the company and asked a couple of questions about Ringling. Towards the end of the conversation I asked him if he would be willing to take a look at my portfolio after both of us were to hit the ground and count all the bones in our bodies. He inspected my portfolio, gave me his card and recommended to apply for an internship while using him as a referral. I later reached out to him after GDC and he forwarded my file to the hiring department with his recommendation. It was during the time when all my limbs were in the middle of the air and my mind was free of heavy thoughts I was enlightened. Right before the moment that my head collided with the floor I realized that the most important connections will be made in the most casual situations. Then I hit the floor and all remaining smart thoughts have quickly evaporated from my head.

Third day was a tough one. Everyone on the floor seemed to be tired from GDC so it was difficult to have meaningful conversations. I hung with a couple of programmers from DataDog at the beer stand, played a few rounds against a Wargaming Recruiter and was awarded with a hat and business card. It was nice seeing a game I’ve played many years ago still going strong and getting a visual overhaul from Intel and their new Core engine. The most memorable interaction was definitely hitting the Owl Tree bar overrun by developers and asking them questions about projects they shipped. Notably there was a lead sound designer from Bioware and a developer for Mutant Year Zero. They had quite contrasting world views. While the Bioware developer believed that students were the wave of the future the other gentleman was clearly annoyed that we were not a formal part of the industry. I was able to ask many questions about the production pipeline of Mass Effect Andromeda and the hell they had to go through in order to ship it. At the same time I was asked where I came from by the other developer. He produced to follow up with several crude remarks linking me to Trump administration and finished on a bombastic note that I am not needed in the United States and I should go back home. Which I did as the bar was closing anyway. We headed back to the hostel.

In a surreal blur of obscurity we helped our Computer Animation peer board his plane to Phoenix in 2 hours while making sure his bags were packed and his documents were intact. The morning came quickly. Rays of sunshine and happiness hit the streets of San Francisco while most of us were hit with a hangover. It did not stop us however from enjoying the last day in California. A quick trip to Chinatown and the Golden Gate Bridge wrapped up our final hours in the city and we set course to Miami in order to make it back to Ringling. From flying from a mechanical piñata and finding a common connection in that to driving to the Golden Gate Bridge for exactly 2 minutes the GDC trip was a meaningful experience that helped me connect with  multiple industry professionals and understand the value of critique as well as receive an array of truly unforgettable experiences. I am looking forward to visiting GDC next year and any other year after that.