Brooke Olson GDC 2017

Post date: Mar 11, 2017 11:45:4 PM

GCD 2017 going in was much different than I was expecting, mostly because I went in already having accepting a job. So I didn't have the stress of having to search for a job but I did make use of my time there, and made lots of new connections for the future. I was also sure to meet up with friends I haven’t seen in a while, and check out all the new VR, as well as listen to booth talks. This being my second time attending GDC, I kind of knew going in what to expect and what to do, which started with me trying to find out what events to attend.

Since I flew in late on Tuesday (unfortunately missed the polycount meet-up), my GDC kicked off on Wednesday once I received my badge. I started off by stopping by the Ringling booth to say hi, after that I went to find Insomniac’s booth to catch up with everyone. It was nice to see everyone again and introduce some other Ringling friends to them as well. After talking to everyone for a while I moved on and went to check out the expo floor, stopped by Epic’s booth, sat listened to some of the talks for a while. Went to the Crystal Dynamics event which ended up with a bunch of people attending. I was able to get a quick word in with one of the Lead Environment Artists, who liked my work, he asked me a few questions, I asked a few about the programs they use and stuff, gave him my card, and mingled with others.  Also stopped by Amazon’s Lumberyard booth and learned a lot about the Lumberyard Engine, not sure I would switch over from UE4 though. After that I met with some of the Insomniac Interns I met over the summer. Wednesday night once the expo ended I made my way over to the Ringling Alum. event. Was able to catch up with a lot of old friends and see where they are now, was awesome to see everyone again, and met new people! Went to the Epic party after that, while in line we met some Studio Wildcard people and they told us they were hiring and to stop by the booth tomorrow.

Main takeaway from today:

-Keep your connections that you make

-Go to as many recruiting events as you can, and get the names of the people who review your work

-Attend Ringling's Alum event, lots of fellow Ringling's people are more than willing to help current students make connections and land a job. 

Thursday and Friday I started off by trying some VR games, I was told to try out Robo Recall, which I tried and it was awesome, the visuals were the best I have seen on VR and the game play was super fun. I would definitely recommend it to everyone, the oculus touch controls worked great with the game too! After that stopped by PlayStation's booth and tried out Horizon Zero Dawn, which looks awesome! GDC had a lot of VR this year, almost everything was VR, not too surprised though, it was to be expected. Stopped by the Substance booth to listen to a few talks, learned a few tips and tricks from that. Substance always has awesome artists doing talks, which is great to see. I also tried out the Paranormal Activity VR game which wasn’t horrible, I wasn’t a fan of the controls, I didn’t like that the walking was on the controller, personally it made me motion sick. While waiting in line for that game we got talking to an Amazon recruiter who was giving us a lot of good advice for making connections and breaking into the industry, he also talked about how important Linkedin is. Thursday night went to the Riot mixer/party thing, it was super cool, got to play games and connect with some awesome people.

Main takeaway from Thursday and Friday:

-VR is growing in the industry, should start experimenting with it at some point

-Substance designer and painter are both heavily used in the industry

-Use Linkedin as much as possible

Summary:

Overall GDC is a great place to make new friends and connections and it’s awesome cause I still have so many friends and connections from last year that have lasted. It’s so important to connect with people by email, Facebook, LinkedIn, and in person at events like GDC. Just reaching out to get feedback on your work, lands you a new connection and even job interest.

Now what:

-Connect on Linkedin with all my new connections

-Reach out to new connections made/ stay in contact with connections

-Keep making new art for your portfolio

3 Observations

1. What- VR is growing in the industry

    So what- It would be beneficial to make a small project involving VR, so you can have some experience with it. It's definitely going to grow more and more since it's just starting.

    Now what- Experiment with VR using unreal, maybe turn an old project into VR.

2. What- Linkedin is very beneficial to landing a job.

    So what- Keep up with your connections via Linkedin, reach out to people.

    Now what- Add everyone you met on Linkedin, I was sure to do this right away. I benefited from it instantly as well, one of my new connections messaged me asking if I was looking for a job. Now I will keep them in the loop for the future!

3. What- Substance is everywhere, and is being used by everyone. Both painter and designer.

    So what- With Substance becoming so popular in the industry it is smart to lean both painter and designer.

    Now what- Learn more about designer and painter, keep up with the videos that allegorithmic posts to learn from all the updates.