Darren Molony's GDC

Post date: Mar 14, 2017 2:49:16 AM

This being my first time in California as well as my first GDC experience, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I knew it would be be big, but how big? How crowded? Turns out, it’s bigger and busier than I imagined. So big that getting lost in the crowd is the easy option. Getting yourself noticed isn’t going to mean just showing up and looking good, although that might help. The Expo floor is a complete zoo. The room is massive, there are booths and people everywhere, and it’s pretty loud. If a company is actively hiring, you will be one of MANY looking to talk to them. If they aren’t advertising their openings, then it’s on you to make that connection.

For me, making those connections came easier off the Expo floor. I arrived late on Monday night and spent most of the day Tuesday just checking out the convention center. Around about 7pm I decided I would eat and head in early to get ready for the Expo on Wednesday. However, I decided to eat and have a couple drinks at one of the hotel bars close to the Moscone Center. An hour in and I’ve somehow struck up a conversation with a recruiter from Riot who is inviting me to multiple parties that night and throughout the week. Similarly, on Wednesday night waiting in line for the Epic party, I got introduced to a producer from Studio Wildcard. I guess you could chalk it up to being in the right place at the right time, but my point is to be accessible. Put yourself in a position to make those connections and when an opportunity presents itself, take it.

As for the Expo floor itself, I had heard that VR was the star of the show in 2016 but expected it to be dialed back a bit this year. I was wrong. Not only were about 90% of the playable demos in some form of VR, but the peripherals were popping up everywhere. Force feedback vests, guns, suits, gloves and more. Everything was VR. It seems to have gotten over the hill of “will it stick?” and is now into the territory of “how big will it be?” What this tells me is that as game artists, we need to get better at optimization. One of VR’s biggest bottlenecks currently is how much power it takes to run it which in turn falls onto the artist to make a more efficient environment.

Amazon’s presence was the next big takeaway from the Expo floor. Their booth rivaled Epic’s and Unity’s, and definitely drew a lot of attention. They are clearly sinking a lot into their engine and should be on the radar of anyone looking for a job in the industry. Their pre-alpha game Breakaway was available to play and was setup to mimic a full on lan tournament, complete with professional casters and all. When Amazon goes into something, they go big.

Finally, the Ringling playable demos drew a lot of attention. If I was to go back and redo thesis, I would 100% get it to a playable state and have it on the Expo floor. Screenshots and trailers are great but people like playing games and the demos that were set up drew crowds. The goal should be to get your work in front of as many eyes as you possibly can and, at least from what I saw at GDC, that means having a playable demo.