I have been back for about a week since coming back from GDC. Time to recap and reflect on some of the things I learned.

What Went Right

  In general GDC went really smooth. It was fun, I learned a lot. I met a lot of interesting game industry people from all over the globe. I attribute this to the fact that I got really good advice. I listened to what my friends who had gone to GDC before said. All those years of reading tips about going to GDC actually paid off. There was very few surprises, I knew what to expect. I had tons of business cards. I went to the parties. I got to meet a lot of people I wouldn’t have otherwise. I asked exhibitors all sorts of technical and business-related questions and learned a lot.

What Went Wrong

  What a surprise! Other game developers want to know what you are working on! I had planned to have a build of the game I’m working on with me, but those plans didn’t pan out. I didn’t have any fallbacks. I did not plan to have a pitch at the very least and that was a mistake. Some people I talked to seemed downright disappointed when I didn’t have a quick breakdown of what I am working on and what’s interesting about it. I’ll work towards having a pitch, video and demo ready when I go to GDC or any other events like this in the future.

  I just formed a game company, but I didn’t put it on my badge. It seemed like the protocol for talking to one another at GDC started with people looking at each other’s badges. I had my full-time non-game related job listed as a company on my GDC badge. This caused way more confusion than I would of thought. I didn’t know the company listed on my GDC profile would be printed on the badge. Whoops.

Conclusion

  If the opportunity comes up again, I would like to go to GDC 2016! But I would have to do Train Jam, I feel like I missed out on that this year.