Play and Story at Austin
Author of this post: Drew McGee | About Blog Authors »
The Austin Game Developers Conference unofficially began on Sunday night, September 14th, as many attendees met with specialized groups in various bars around downtown Austin. If you have ever wondered how to go about networking yourself with industry professionals, this is it. More than likely, you will not find a more relaxed environment to introduce yourself and voice your opinions on the current state of the industry. And, if you miss the opening night, fear not. The following three nights proved to be just as open to mingling and card-swapping as the first.
Throughout the three days of the conference, hour long panels covered 6 major disciplines of video games: Audio, Business & Marketing, Game Design, Social Networking & Community, Technology & Services, and Writing Games. Keynote speeches by Lane Merrifield of Disney’s Club Penguin, Bruce Sterling and SCEE’s Jason Page covered the topics of putting your players first, games 35 years in the future and next gen audio, respectively.
Though the concept of “the customer is always right” seems like common sense, it was interesting to hear Lane Merrifield touch on the subject of listening to customers when their average age is eight. “These kids send us email telling us what would be cool and what would suck. So, what we did was – and this may come as a surprise – we did what they said would be cool and we didn’t do what they said would suck.”
Bruce Sterling’s attempt at a humorous look at the industry today from someone 35 years in the future was not only confusing, but unfocused and somewhat insulting. When he said, “Currently, you’re all towel designers,” I could not help but feel affronted for those developers, writers, artists and programmers on the cutting edge of the video game industry. Apparently, that is not good enough in 2043.
The obvious theme for the conference was the future: the future of technology, of gameplay and of story. Though speakers, like Andrew Walsh and Kevin Shortt, seemed focused on this theme, there was definite dissidence from certain attendees who chose to belittle the industry’s progress and focus on the past or successes of other media. Entertaining? Yes. Helpful? Maybe in a better format.
The expo floor did not base itself around displaying the latest or upcoming games from any company, but rather a casual environment for those looking to enter or move around in the industry. Big guns like Bioware and Valve had booths along with smaller names like Garage Games. Resumes and VCs were welcome almost everywhere with special rooms to conduct interviews for a lucky few. Due to a hectic schedule, I was unable to attend the Game Career Seminar or the Worlds in Motion Summit, but topics ranged from pitching game ideas to the future of the metaverse.
The Austin GDC was incredibly eventful and inspiring; a chance for old friends to reunite and newbies to be welcomed in to the fray in a less-than-chaotic environment. I definitely recommend attending next year and look forward to meeting you at the IGDA Writers’ SIG booth.
