Giselle Valenzuela: GDC 2018

Post date: Apr 06, 2018 5:15:19 AM

My GDC adventure for me is best described as a life experience that needed to happen. All of my preparation before the trip and the convention did not benefit me for what I actually experienced at GDC. What I experienced was really valuable towards my remaining time here at Ringling. Unfortunately due to American Airlines, I was only able to attend two days of the convention, but was still able to make valuable observations in the short amount of time.  

                My first observation was the celebration of diversity that is finally rising in the video game industry. At GDC there were hosted panels throughout the three days of the convention known as Round-tables. Each round-table tackled a different culture, ethnicity, race and sexuality. I had the pleasure of attending a round-table dedicated to Latinos/Latinas in the gaming industry. Being a woman and also of Hispanic culture, I have always had the fear of not receiving the same respect and treatment in the industry as a white male also working in the same position as me. Being at the roundtable along with many other game developers that are just like me, made me feel more empowered and determined to burst into the industry and continue to create a more diverse environment for people to want to work in. Knowing that there are other people already working in the industry that are or were in my same position made me feel more confident that I too can be accepted with open arms in the gaming world.

                My second observation was that some of my peers, including myself, entered the convention at the wrong angle. What I mean by this is that we all were expecting to go to the convention and potentially leave with an internship or having shown our portfolio to a vast amount of people. Oh boy were we all extremely wrong. My first day at the convention, I came in with those exact thoughts and was having the worst time. I was roaming around each booth almost expecting people to come talk to me or there being lines of people waiting to show their portfolios to recruiters. Absolutely none of that happened and that put me in a bit of a rut for most of the day unfortunately. After sitting down in the Unreal booth, I was finally able to talk to other game developers and even some guys from Magic Leap. Making the decision not stress about getting an internship and focus more on actually talking to people and making an actual connection was more beneficial to my time at GDC. All in all, don’t go to GDC to only get a job/internship, go for the life experience and as an entryway to learn more about the business.

                My final observation is the difference between students from other schools compared to the students here at Ringling. It seems like students from other schools are even more generalists then the students here and have worked more with programs such as Unity whereas we have worked on Unreal Engine. However the quality of work and the way I saw other students present themselves don’t match the students that come out of Ringling. It feels like our education has allowed us to produce more finished products and have the ability to work with a smaller group of people to be able to produce award winning thesis projects. With business cards alone, Ringling students provide all sorts of information including different websites whereas I have received multiple cards from other students that only have an email, phone number and not much thought put into the card design itself. If there’s one thing that stood out to me from other schools, it’s the fact that their curriculum focuses on students to produce working games more than beautiful environments. There also seemed to be more acceptance of stylized games and game mechanics which was truly refreshing to see.

                Overall, with a better feel and understanding of what to expect coming to GDC, I am excited to go back again next year. I wish to Interact and make connections with more wonderful people and remember my love for video games.