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GDC'07 Student Scholarship Reports

Each scholarship recipient was asked to compile a report of their adventure to GDC. Here are the submitted reports, which describe their favorite sessions and advice to others heading to GDC for the first time. Enjoy!

 

Student Report Index

 

Student Reports

Jason Raymond Anderson - Michigan Technological University

The GDC was, by far, the best conference I have ever attended. At the GDC you are able to attend sessions with talented members in the interactive entertainment industry, network with other students and developers, and be a part of the greatest conference the industry has to offer. I would like to thank the IGDA for making this scholarship opportunity available, Rudy (IGDA Community Manager) for all his hard work and sacrifice preparing us for the event and setting up all the scholarship activities, and Mike Mika (my mentor) for all his time and assistance throughout the week. If you are a student who is interested in being a part of this industry, don't hesitate to apply for the IGDA scholarship. Having a chance to go to the GDC as a student scholar is more than worth it!

Attending the GDC as a student scholar greatly enhances the experience. First of all, before you head out to the conference, you are already connected to 24 other students who are in the same boat as you. It was great to meet everyone and spend the week getting to know everyone, and see all of the interesting things they are working on or have completed. For future scholars, I highly recommend setting up a meeting before the GDC starts so you can get to know everyone. Also, you are given a mentor from the industry to talk to, answer questions, and share experiences with. My mentor was Mike Mika, Studio Head for Backbone Entertainment in Emeryville, CA. Personally, I think this is the best part of the scholarship. Having the opportunity to spend time with an industry mentor is an invaluable experience.

The sessions I attended at the GDC were all very interesting and educational. I didn't really follow a specific track of sessions; I just went to ones that were related to my interests. Here are the three that I liked the most:

Finally, there are several suggestions I have for future scholarship winners and students attending the GDC:

Thanks for taking the time to read through my GDC experience. I had a lot of fun, and it was the best thing I could have done to further my goal of working in the industry. I highly recommend attending the conference if you are a student interested in being a part of this industry. I can't stress enough how fun and helpful this event is. Hopefully I'll see you there next year!

Lars Augensen - Hedmark University College (Norway)

I forgot to wear flowers in my hair while being in San Francisco, but the people were very gentle nonetheless. In truth, I felt overwhelmed the entire time; the scope and size of the GDC is unlike anything I've ever experienced before. So many people – and they are all passionate about the same thing!

Before you arrive, be sure to remember the following:

  1. Have business cards ready, and keep them in a handy place. You don't want to fumble around in your pockets for them while the Vice President of Company X is waiting .
  2. Use the GDC Schedule Builder, available at the website. This handy tool will make it easy for you to plan what sessions you want to attend, with plenty of overlapping if something turns out to be different from what you expected.
  3. Be flexible. As Helmuth von Motlke famously said, “ No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.”

Once you remember all of this, you should be set.

This essay requires me to list three conference sessions I enjoyed, so here goes:

Number one is without a doubt “Game 3.0: Developing and Creating for the 3 rd Age of Video Games” with Phil Harrison, President of Sony Computer Entertainment.

In what I can only describe as one fell swoop, Mr. Harrison did something unexpected – he brought Sony back into the next-gen arena in terms of public perception.

Before the keynote, I had my doubts about the PS3's viability.

Afterwards, I felt electrified – buzzing with new ideas and the feeling that user-created content will be a big thing in the years to come.

I would like to put the “Interactive Storytelling Boot Camp” (with Hal Barwood, one of my heroes) in the 2 nd place, but unfortunately the Classic Pass didn't allow me entrance to the tutorials (a bit of an oversight, in my opinion), so start saving up for that Giga Pass before you apply. In place of that, however, is “ The Future of Storytelling In Next-Generation Game Development” by Warren Spector. It was a bit like getting an IV drip containing experience and insight about storytelling in games, both where the field is today and where it will be in the future.

In third place: The evening parties. While technically not “educational”, this is where you will interact and connect in the most meaningful way—at least I know I did.

Relax from the hustle and bustle of the GDC proper, get a drink and chat about games in a pleasant setting. I made lots of good contacts here, and possibly a few friends.

Remember that game developers, while possibly famous and sexy (OK, maybe not that last part) are also human.

Other bits of advice for future scholars:

I will definitely try to come back, but in the meanwhile I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to IGDA for giving me this opportunity, to Rudy for being an awesome coordinator and a great guy, and to my mentor, Ben Hoyt, for putting in the time and energy required. See you next year!

David Carrigg - Clarkson University

Wow. What an incredible week. I'll try to explain why you should be thrilled to attend GDC.

Someone said that GDC is like a giant high school reunion, and now I see exactly what they mean. GDC isn't just a place to attend seminars and lectures; it's also a place to see what others in the gaming industry are currently doing and working on. The latter, I believe, is more important. By seeing what others are doing, we can see where the industry is heading. I'd like to tell you the highlights of my week in hopes that it will help you understand what GDC was all about for me, and how I made the best of it.

The first highlight of my week was listening to Greg Costikyan accept his Maverick award at the Game Developers Choice Awards. Although I've only briefly met Greg in the past, hearing what he has to say is always fascinating. The idea behind the Game Developers Choice Awards and the Independent Games Festival is to not acknowledge the best-selling games, or the highest rated games on your favorite internet site, but to award games that other developers think deserve the awards. To me, this is a much higher honor then any other award in the industry, because it is given by your peers. The award show itself is an amazing part of GDC, which no one attending should miss. Greg's speech in particular was the best part of the night for me. If you have a chance to hear him talk about the future of the industry, do so.

Another highlight of the week for me was listening to Chris Hecker's lecture, “How To Animate a Character You've Never Seen Before”. Chris is currently working on the game Spore , which allows players to create their own characters. Due to this creative process, there is no way they can animate every possible character creation for the game. This brings me back to why everyone wants to attend GDC. Not only is it a place to meet and listen to the people you idolize (for me, Greg and Chris), but you see what they are currently working on.

One thing to mention about attending lectures and seminars is to try to avoid ones that are about either something you already know about or an advanced topic which is not in your area of interest. I ended up doing each of these at some point.

In the end, GDC was an unforgettable experience, and I'm sure to attend for years to come. The last bit of advice I would give to any attendee would be to try not to become overwhelmed by everything that is going on. Take a look at the schedule and mark what you really want to see. Make sure to attend those sessions. Spend the rest of your time meeting people, in the expo halls, or attending other sessions.

Jonatan Crafoord - Royal College of Music, Stockholm (Sweden)

I need a vacation

Although I've just spent a week in sunny California, talking about games all day and partying all night, my first thought now that I'm home is that I need a vacation. Traveling from Sweden to the States and back is tiresome, but spending an entire week constantly meeting new people and absorbing useful information is what really got to me. And this wasn't even all new to me, since it was actually my second visit to the conference.

My previous GDC experience was two years ago, when I blasted through a majority of the sessions about music and sound for games, including the now well-established Game Audio Boot Camp. Audio production for games is my field of interest, and to have a week full of sessions about this one area was a dream come true. This time, IGDA had awarded me a Classic Pass for my zealous persuit of knowledge, and I started examining the schedule for all of the different tracks to broaden my views and learn a thing or two about the other aspects of game making.

The first thing that really hit me when I tried to plan my week was the vast amount of interesting sessions to choose from. I found myself having to choose between three or more lectures and roundtables that I really wanted to attend. Koji Kondo or the MMO Panel with Blizzard, EA and Bioware? Or maybe the one about digital distribution featuring Valve, Bioware (again), and the guys who do Sam & Max episodes? Though I can't get past the feeling that I did all the wrong choices and constantly felt like I had missed out on where the good stuff was this year, picking out three really good sessions is hardly a problem.

Dolby Digital: The Hear And Now

This was one of the first sessions I went to, and easily the audio session that stood out as being the most informative and content rich among the ones I didn't manage to miss. Hiroaki Kondo had a number of suggestions on how to work with surround sound, from basic rules you might have known or missed, to ideas on how to create something out of the ordinary when designing your mix. John Griffin was a big help in making the session flow dynamically with the minor language issues, and though both the audience and the speakers were divided equally between Japanese and westerners, I think everyone got something good out of it.

Ten Games You Need To Play: The Digital Game Canon

Maybe not the most informative of all sessions, but still on this list for the sheer inspiration, this panel featured Warren Spector and a number of other high profile names. Discussing how and why our early games need to be preserved for future generations, the panel went on to name ten such games. The moderator said something to the effect that "We'll have time for questions afterwards, as we hardly expect a room full of game developers to silently accept our suggestions as the truth about the best games ever made.” I'm actually rather surprised that I didn't silently disagree with them more than I did; there were lots of good picks and great motivations as to what make these games really memorable.

Beyond Men In Tights: Exploring Next-Generation MMO Design

This was a true roundtable in the sense that people participated with ideas and feedback. Damion Schubert managed to skillfully lead the discussion through various interesting topics and questions. Trying to answer why we are always focusing on combat as the main game play mechanism in MMOs, and why all of them seem to end up in a fantasy setting, lots of fascinating suggestions were heard from an audience featuring everyone from the stray audio student (me) to people from major MMO developers. In hindsight, I would have gone to the other two roundtables on the same topic, as this was an excellent place to find inspiration and conversations with people who are certain to have something to say about game development.

For other students and newbies attending the conference for the first time, my biggest piece of advice, aside from attending a roundtable or two, would be to go with the flow and don't freak out about how to make the most of the week. If you just go to the sessions and are open to talking to people, you're bound to have a worthwhile stay. Remember, don't panic. As for what to do in the evenings, the parties tend to come to you rather than you having to look for them. If you still find yourself without plans for the night, just ask others what they're doing. Everyone is there to meet people and have a good time, so you'll most likely get invitations. If you don't feel like staying out, hey, nothing wrong with getting a good night's sleep and staying focused for the sessions, there is lots to learn.

The best way of meeting people is through other people, so if you're going to the conference alone try to hook up with others through forums or the networking service available on the GDC website. Having a few numbers to call when you find the random networking to be slow can really help. I even got to hook up with some japanese sound designers just by putting my profile up on GD Connect and expressing my interests in creating audio and studying japanese. Finding people to split hotel room with is an even better idea, as they can provide a base of familiar faces to get back to and discuss what to see, where to go and who to meet. One of my many mistakes this year was to not stay at a hotel in town. Though I had a great time with my aunt and uncle in Concord, the BART stations close at 12:30 am, meaning any late partying was bound to get REALLY late. Next time I'll be sure to follow my own advice.

Albert Dang - Parsons The New School of Design

Attending the Game Developers Conference (GDC) as a scholarship recipient is an experience that I will never forget.  Not only did I get an opportunity to see prominent figures in game development speak, but I also got a much better feel for the game industry as a whole.  Coming from New York, which has a burgeoning presence for casual gaming, I was looking forward to learning more about the console market and the West Coast scene.  GDC exceeded all my expectations and I hope to make it back to the conference in the future.


The most valuable experience of my week as a GDC Scholar was the mentor-mentee relationship that was provided by the International Game Developers Association (IGDA).  I was paired with Chris Charla of Foundation 9 Entertainment.  He, along with David Chen of Foundation 9 and Mike Mika of Backbone Entertainment, eased my introduction to GDC and the console game development process.  Before the conference began, they gave several students from Michigan Technology Institute (MTI) and me a tour of their studios in Emeryville, CA.  During the visit, they answered all my questions regarding the development process and showed us several different projects that were in different stages of development.  Not entirely unexpected, but they also had a sweet collection of retro arcade games in their game room.
       
The team from MTI also presented two games that they had planned to show at GDC to David and Mike.  The two veterans offered feedback on game mechanics and narrative.  Most importantly, however, they provided tips on how to best pitch their ideas and how to approach developing a concept from a business perspective.  I found the informal session invaluable.  Also, for David and Mike to take so much time out of their busy schedules was generous and demonstrated the camaraderie that exists within the gaming community to share and foster a common passion for creating great games.

The three sessions I enjoyed most were Experimental Game Play , The Game Design Challenge: The Needle and Thread Interface , and Reflections of Zelda .  In the first half of the Experimental Game Play session, different approaches to game mechanics were addressed.  One example is the use of sound or auditory input to drive game play.  The visualization of sound is something that interests me, and the intersection of games and art as presented by speakers of the GAMMA festival in Montreal was fascinating.  I am not sure if they intend to use sound input as the criteria for next years festival, but I am definitely interested in submitting an entry this fall.

The Game Design Challenge: The Needle and Thread Interface was moderated by respected New York-based game designer Eric Zimmerman and featured three star designers: David Jaffe, the creator of God of War ; Alexey Pajitnov, the creator of Tetris ; and Harvey Smith, creator of Deus Ex and defending champion of the previous Game Design Challenge .  It was interesting to see the different approaches each designer took to solving the challenge.  David created a paper airplane interface that encouraged the user to generate both the interface to the game as well as the course and obstacles that would provide the in-game challenges.  Alexey took a mathematical approach that focused on core game mechanics.  Harvey applied the stitching technique into various aspects of a RPG with a narrative that mirrors many actual current events.

Reflections of Zelda was not just an opportunity to revisit one of my all-time favorite gaming franchises, but it was also a chance to examine the design considerations that go into expanding upon a game that is already successful.  Eiji Aonuma, the director of Zelda , discussed how E3 was used as a testing ground for the Wii release of Zelda .  Because users had a difficult time, he, under Shigeru Miyamotos encouragement, redesigned the interactivity to make the game more intuitive to users.

As a game design student, it was refreshing to see how dedicated a big company, such as Nintendo, is to creating the best user experience.  A common thread throughout Nintendos sessions was the goal of not only making games more accessible, but also making them so fun that those who were watching them played would also want to play them.  Eiji provided an anecdote of this spirit when he described his wife, who did not play games, picking up The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess to keep their young son from crying when he could not get past a certain part of the game.

On the whole, GDC is a whirlwind experience that is exhilarating, intense, inspiring, and fun.  My advice to future scholarship winners and attendees would be to create a game plan for the sessions of most interest, but also be open to change once the conference starts.  Often times, an unannounced title will be shown at a particular session or an aspect of game development that is otherwise unfamiliar to you may catch your fancy.  Do not be shy about approaching people because everyone in attendance is passionate about games.  Also, check out the winners of the student and the independent game competitions.  Many of them use open-source technology and the finalists could provide insights to your own work.  Most importantly, have fun.  By the end of the week, you will be exhausted, but it will have all been worth it.  I cannot thank Rudy Geronimo and the rest of the IGDA enough for this opportunity.

Camille Dodson - University of Colorado at Boulder

GDC 2007 was my first visit to the conference, and I've got one word that grandly sums up my thoughts – inspiration! I hadn't realized how passionate people are about making video games, how serious they take their business, and how much they actually listen to their audience's excitement and complaints. The other IGDA scholarship winners were especially driven to put their energies into game making and it was wonderful to start the week off by getting to meet them all, on Monday night's gathering and on Tuesday's official scholars kick-off. I feel so privileged to have been a part of that amazing group and I'm definitely going to keep in touch!

At GDC there was a piece of game-making that stood to me that, as a student, I hadn't put much thought into before – people are actually making a living off of making games. That perspective was wonderful to hear about, to see how money affects creativity, how it changes the goals of a project, and how, when put in the right directions, money can become a powerful ally in making huge projects for the global market.

Miyamoto gave a great keynote speech with an emphasis on getting women to play games. It was surprising to hear that even he, the god of game design, had trouble getting his wife to touch video games. I've committed to memory all the girl-successful games he mentioned, like Nintendogs , the Sims , Animal Harvest , and Wii-Sports , as I aspire to create more gender neutral classics in my career.

One special event I attended was the gathering of LGBT developers (members of IGDA). While I was the only girl to be at the group, I appreciated that people were putting energy towards defending our rights. I learned there are lots of ways to help companies understand the reward in giving equal benefits to same-sex couples. The group's activities were right up my alley, so I told them about the side-scroller game I made to deal with LGBT acceptance (my lesbian hero shoots rainbows and rescues the princess). They were very overjoyed :)

The career expo, while not too helpful in my landing a job, was great for connecting me and my friends to the big guys. All the companies had booths and were giving out goodies and flyers, so I went around asking them to help out my school's Game Developers Club by giving free toys and shwag. To my surprise, they were quite generous. I came back with t-shirts, cups, squishy balls, buttons, pizza-cutters, demo CDs, and more from the companies like EA, Activision, Midway, Disney, and Wizards of the Coast. We've been handing things out at our club (our members, of course, love it).

The awards ceremony night was amazing. Besides the wonderful ceremony, me and some of the other scholars got to be VIP helpers. We led our idols to their reserved tables up front. We got to be up close to all the indie-award winners, and creators from Bethesda, Rare, Capcom, Sony, and Nintendo. It was nice to put faces to the developers of my beloved games, and it was just plain thrilling to be seated near them!

Three Talks I Enjoyed the Most

At the start of the week, I got to go to the Serious Games Summit, because I had received funding from my Engineering department - thanks EEF! So my very first session was a talk by some Square-Enix developers. The company has recently created a group for making educational games and they showed us a demo for a DS game that teaches how to make games. I've worked on serious games myself and it was nice to hear their perspective on using games as a teaching tool. Ichiro Otobe (Square-Enix's Chief Strategist) stressed that edu-tainment should not be about sugar coating the bitter act of learning with fun game play, but instead developers ought to find the fun in learning and bring that to the forefront. Exploring a new topic and understanding how things work can be fun and interesting, so figure that out and magnify it!

The Independent Games Summit offered a passionate, personal look at game making. In “Innovation in Indie Games” I listened to Steve Swink, Jon Blow, Jenova Chen, Kyle Gabler, and Jon Mak, the stars of the independent games arena, talk about their ideas on what innovation is, how indie games can shine, and what direction games are taking these days. Jon Mak, creator of Everyday Shooter , particularly emphasized the importance of embracing ideas from games that you enjoyed and making something you want to play. His was a nice, heart-felt approach to creating games. Jenova Chen also made a deep impression of me, sharing his idea that creating emotion and feelings in games is of the greatest importance. Movie genres are based on human feelings like romance, horror, drama, and comedy, and we ought to embrace these emotions at the core of our games.

The main conference started on Wednesday and suddenly the Moscone Center was bursting with people. Developers from the hit games were often the ones giving talks on what their creation philosophies are. These were great and I got a lot of pointers, but surprisingly the talk that hit me the most was “Writing Great Design Documents”. I thought it sounded useful yet boring, but when I got into this session (which was filled to max-capacity) I realized where my passion lies and how design documents are the most important element in the development process. Damion Schubert stressed the value in having clear communication to your programmers, artists, designers, and story-writers through this single document.

For You

My invaluable advice I can pass on to future GDC attendees and scholarship winners is – figure out what you want most, and do it. For me, that was pushing myself to meet developers and hand out lots of business cards (always nice), taking time out to have fun, getting enough sleep each night so I could function during the day, and talking to the speakers I enjoyed. You may be more of a partier and enjoy going to all the night events, or maybe you hate talking to people and just want to absorb the wisdom in sessions and panels. Whoever you are, if you're interested in being a part of the game industry, there's something for you at the Game Developers Conference. Be prepared and enjoy the ride!

Carla Engelbrecht - Teachers College, Columbia University

I've come to think of GDC as Katamari Damacy . I rolled all over the conference picking up everything that I could, from freebies in the exhibition hall to fantastic discussions on development to all sorts of industry contacts. Individually, it was a hodge-podge of nuggets of information. Together, it made a pot full of gold.

And with that, I promise to end my metaphorical description. :-)

In all seriousness, GDC was an incredible wealth of information. Beyond the fantastic sessions, I found the opportunities to chat with other developers in between sessions and in the evening incredibly motivating. It's especially fun to hear about the other people's projects and ideas, and I found it useful for recharging my creative batteries.

Additionally, some individual sessions that I found particularly inspiring or enjoyable were:

“Experimental Gameplay Session” – This was the session that made me consider ditching the rest of the conference and running back home to hide and make games. It was a little bit of everything from the experimental audio-based concepts to the mind-bending 2D/3D games to the wacky big games festival in New York. It was an inspiring session that reminded me that you don't need a massive team of artists, writers, and programmers to play with ideas and make games. ( http://www.experimental-gameplay.org/ )

“The Four Most Important Emotions of Game Design” and “Can You Make Them Cry Without Tearing Your Hair Out? Emotional Characters” – I've been thinking more and more about emotional design and creating environments that foster emotional reactions, and happily, both of these talks focused on integrating emotion into gameplay. Both offered ways to think about emotion as more than just a reward or an element that is addressed in cut scenes. Engaged properly, whether through laughter, sadness, or even a feeling of contentedness, it becomes a powerful tool for immersing the player in the story and provides an innovative player experience.

“The Game Studies Download: Top 10 Research Findings” – Tons of information in a very digestible format. And for an academic geek like me, it's fantastic to see how research can help influence game design. In lieu of my own bumbling interpretation, I'll point you to the slides and summary at http://avantgame.com/top10.htm.

My advice to future attendees and scholarship recipients:

Thanks to IGDA for making it possible for me to attend GDC, and a special thanks to Rudy for coordinating the program and setting me up with a wonderful and insightful mentor!

Alexander Gordon - Champlain College

Attending the Montreal Game Summit in '06 brought the gaming industry down to Earth for me. I gained first-hand insights into the industry that enabled me to see beyond all of the eye-catching propaganda and ESRB graffiti. I experienced the “human factor” behind gaming and development. GDC, as a far larger industry resource, a central hub for networking opportunities – not to mention a “schwag goldmine” - was my cannon ball into the industry pool into which I had previously only stuck my toes.

How does one prepare to make the best of the GDC experience?

1) Create a Flexible Itinerary

The itinerary that I had finely tuned prior to attending the conference was completely scrapped to be replaced by freshly developed networking opportunities. Instead of attending that 12:00 roundtable that looked so appealing on day one, I opted to stay after a previous session and chat with the speaker. Rather than crawling around the show floor on day 2, I pushed it to day 3 so I could spend the day shadowing some of the industry's most gracious professionals. Sticking to a strict schedule might lead to a missed opportunity that could completely make or break your stay!

2) Throw "Timidness" to the Wind

Being shy, unable or unwilling to throw "timidness" to the wind, will only damage your opportunity seeking. While at GDC, it feels as though everyone – those that have worked in the field for 20 years and those that are still pupils of it – have cast off all ego to enjoy the gathering to its fullest. Be assertive! Take advantage of this opportunity while there! It's rare to see so many high-profile and/or experienced artists and developers in the same place at the same time; it's more uncommon that they're almost all willing to chat it up with just about anyone (it never hurts to bring a sacrificial beer either).

3) Self-marketing

I can't stress this enough. You will undoubtedly need some way to represent yourself and make sure those you meet will actually remember you. Make yourself stand out. While mingling within a group of 13,000 other people, most of whom are in the same boat, your biggest challenge will be making sure people actually give a crap. I'm not necessarily suggesting you dye your hair blue or tattoo your email address to your forehead. Having business cards ready to hand out will be infinitely useful. Most potential employers won't ask you for a portfolio, but having some contact info handy shows initiative. If you're an artist, make it appoint to do some sketching while waiting for a lecture to begin – you never know who might be watching!

With these three keys under your belt, what can you expect to unlock from within GDC? As cliché as it sounds, it will open up a door of endless opportunity to explore this budding industry. You'll have to throw yourself into the open to make it yet, while this is a competition-driven arena, there's still an enormous amount of room for new blood. It's entirely up to you, an individual within a vast, virtual sea, to sink or swim. It's never too early to start preparing.

Oh, and bring an extra suitcase…you'll quickly understand why.

Michael Hawker - McGill University (Canada)

GDC is amazing! And so is San Francisco. For me it was also my first big traveling experience, so that made the whole adventure twice as important. I've been to a couple of other conferences before, but nothing on this scale. It was incredible at how many people were just wandering about and at any moment you felt like you could approach someone and start a conversation. The great part about it was that everyone loves games. It is definitely an opportunity that I'm glad to have had. I just have to figure out how I'm going to get there again next year...

Burning Mad: Game Publishers Rant

This session was a diverse crowd of publishers with a lot to say. It covered everything from Vista compatibility to weaknesses of the Wii to Leadership problems to general education. Though I have to say that Nichol Bradford was the strongest of the bunch, giving a powerful moving plea to further the education and exposure of young minds that games aren't just for fun but can be something to learn with too. I wanted to cry afterwards, it's true. Already, a movement has begun to get members of the IGDA to be speakers for the purpose of furthering the benefits of gaming as a learning platform. As a memorable summary, it shouldn't be “Michael stop playing that game and go do your math homework”, it should be “Michael go do your math homework so you can make that game!”

The Metagame: A Battle of Videogame Smarts

While not your conventional session, it was quite interesting nonetheless. It was a strange hybrid of game similar to “Card Sharks” (old reference I know) and “You don't know Jack.” The latter of which was one of the first to be discussed. Each team had a token to move on the game grid to select different games. Then there was a linking phrase to connect the two games which had to be true to continue. At some points the phrase was challenged and the audience voted to settle the dispute, much to the chagrin of one of the teams... But it was fun and exposed phrases such as “You don't know Jack is more social than World of Warcraft” and “Street Fighter II is sexier than Everquest.”

Future of Storytelling

Warren Spector spoke at this session. I've been to another talk of his and was also quite intrigued. With the amazing power we have today, we still are lacking in some areas. He broke down the issue of storytelling in the industry into three grades. First was the general story plots: B-, second the Character graphics: B+, and Interaction: C+. He also broke down the types of stories we have siting examples such as Linear (Half-life), Retold (Puzzle), User/Player (Sims), and Shared Authorship (GTA3). Among some of his points, he stated that we need “worlds” and not “sets” and shorter, deeper games. With a shorter game, maybe we can have an unhappy ending, but the player won't be mad that they just spent 40 hours playing it.

Final Notes

All in all, I had a wonderful time. I was fortunate to have a great mentor to help me pick out sessions, as there are too many to attend. You'll have to take a guess and go to one and see what happens, if anything you might meet someone interesting in the audience. Don't be afraid to talk to people, I didn't get brushed away once. Lunch is also a great opportunity to sit down with a bunch of people and have a great conversation. I also volunteered to usher for the award night:

William Hayward - DigiPen Institute of Technology

The GDC and student scholars are a match made in heaven. As a gung ho neophyte in the games industry, you have an amazing array of opportunities at this conference to learn, share, network, and make friends with peers who are just like you. It really has plenty of something for everyone if you get the Classic Pass (or higher), like the one you are awarded as a scholarship winner. Between the polished speakers at the sessions, the formal and informal gatherings with fellow scholars and the studio visit, my constant visits to the expo and career booths in between sessions, and my talks with my mentor, Wolfgang Engel from Rockstar San Diego, I felt like I sampled it all, but will probably never feel like I got enough.

For as much of a programmer as I am, I couldn't help going to many of the design-oriented sessions. They're filled with creative ideas from very creative people. When it came down to a choice between a tech talk and a design rant, I figured: I could go read about that technology on the web if I wanted to, but there's nothing like the inspiration you get while listening to a visionary. Here's a taste of some of my favorite ones:

Exploration: From Systems to Spaces to Self : I laughed, I learned, it was better than Cats ! Clint Hocking is a fantastic speaker. If you find him presenting a topic you're interested in, you don't want to miss it. We learned numerous practical techniques for encouraging exploration in your game, like the cycle where player exploration results in rewards, which enhance their abilities, which encourages them to explore more, and so on. Add to that the idea of self-exploration in a game, challenging us to work that into the design using Ultima IV as an example, with expertly crafted slides, and you've got one fantastic session!

Microsoft Game Developers Hands On Workshop : I hope they do this again next year. These hands on workshops were so well done. I attended the one on XNA Game Studio Express. Each of us sat down at a Windows Vista-based computer with a Xbox 360 attached. In a two hour session, we went through step by step, writing, deploying, and playing a simple game for the Xbox 360. This was such a nice change of pace. After doing so much listening and talking, my programmer fingers were thrilled to do some coding. I highly recommend everyone seek out and check out these workshops. They had something for everyone, but you really need to get there early to find out what is scheduled for when. I lucked out when I stopped by mid-morning and got the last seat for a workshop that afternoon!

Are Serious Games Worth Taking Seriously : I'd been meaning to read about “serious games”, but hadn't taken the time to look into them before this conference. This is another great thing about the GDC sessions. You're already there, so go ahead and spend a little time on a topic you're curious about. You know you won't when you get back home. You just might learn something fresh and exciting, like I did from Noah Falstein about the “5 C's” of this side of the industry: it's Creative, redefining games with a fresh approach; it's Challenging, with new and interesting problems to solve; it's Commercial, not tied to the hectic Christmas schedule; it's Compassionate, often about helping people; and it's Consequential, about social change and how you can make a difference!

And finally, for those brave souls still reading. (Hey, you didn't skip ahead did you?!) Words to the wise:

That's it! Thank you so much Rudy, IGDA, and all the volunteers. You made this one special conference we'll never forget!

Whitney Hills - St. Olaf College

I was considerably disappointed when I returned home from GDC '07 and found that no, I couldn't just walk up to anyone and start rambling about pipelines or narrative in games or the intricacies of my Night Elf build order-- they'd look at me as if I had a second head. In the Real World, it's a minority that cares about such things, but GDC is a five-day utopia brimming with fun, talented people who all possess a zeal for games. I had a blast talking to everyone I met, from my fellow scholars to Shigeru Miyamoto himself, and I'm very grateful to the IGDA for granting me such a great opportunity.

Three of the most valuable/memorable sessions I attended:

Some advice for future scholars:

Every moment of my GDC experience was utterly inspiring, and I will definitely be back in '08.

Cheryl Ann Johnson - Art Institute of California - San Francisco

When reading through the old scholar essays, I kept hearing that GDC was so awesome, that people learned so much, and that it was an experience that they'd never forget. I knew that this was true, but I didn't actually realize how true it was until I experienced it for myself. Going to GDC makes one remember why they're in the industry, and what attracted them to it in the first place. The people there are fun, enthusiastic, love what they do, and they are good at it. It's the perfect place to meet people whom one would actually want to work with, people whom one can look up to and admire, and whom one can simply get to know by discussing something that they love, anything that they love, not just games. There are so many different kinds of people there; it truly is amazing how diverse everyone's interests are, and most people seemed open to just about anyone.

If there is one thing that I could stress about GDC, however, aside from the general having business cards, research on your mentor and the company you'll be touring, and having an elevator speech prepared, it'd be to hit the Career Pavilion early, if you ever intend to go at all. Firstly, they seem to have different swag every day, so every day that you're not there, you miss out on awesome swag, which, coincidentally, can make great free gifts for friends and family. Secondly, if you go the first day, you'll meet all of the employers when both you, and they, are fresh. They won't have looked at thousands of applicants, so they'll care more about you, as a person, and as an employee. Likewise, conventions take a toll on people over time, so if one goes in the beginning, they won't be bogged down by the running around, trying to make seminar times, and just general every-day convention stuff, and they should be at their peak enthusiasm point, which, ultimately, is something that employers care about greatly. Also, if you meet people that you are really interested in working for on the first day, that gives you the rest of the time to informally chat with them throughout the week; the more face time you have with them, and the more they see you and get to know you, the more likely it is that they'll remember you afterwards. Also, if you're specifically looking for a job, have an online site, and bring lots of copies of your demo reel and resume, as every booth wants something different, and you never know what they're going to ask for.

As far as the sessions go, the main three that stood out for me were, in no particular order, mind you, “If You're Scared That Others Will Find Out You Don't Know How To Be a Manager”, “It's More Than Making Coffee: Interns - How to Grow Your Team From the Ground Up”, and “Art Department Confidential”.

Have a great time at the GDC everyone; I wish you the best! ^_^

Christopher Kossa - Bloomfield College

I am very grateful for the IGDA Scholarship program for giving me the ability to go to the 2007 GDC. It was definitely a great experience which allowed me to see how the industry works and thinks. The meeting of other students who are excited about game development was a great way to start off the show. It was interesting to see how other students were working on projects and ideas that they came up with. While there are still very few schools that offer degrees in the games field, it was great to see how the students, from all over, were transforming their computer science classes to game programming classes. Some students even started up a game development group just because to the passion they have for video games.

Walking around the expo floors was also a great experience. Just to walk around and see mobs of people interesting in the same things as you and to see all these products geared just for your interests is quiet a neat thing to see. Not only are they handing out all sorts of cool toys and junk, they are also showing off things that could make your life easier. From new designs in controllers, to source code editors that practically read you mind, all of them are there for you to check out.

While at the conference I tried to get a mix of things, not just lectures related to my major of Game Programming. While on my flight over, I took time to go over a printout of all the lectures and tried to select several that interested me in each topic. I also made sure that I had a few backup seminars that I wanted to go to, just in case I was burned out of listening about one topic or another.

I went to a couple sponsored lectures, the first of which was just a way to hype the company's product and did not offer any exciting insight into it. It was basically an ad for a game which they could not specify the title or what it's about, but it uses some really cool technology that everyone and their mother should use. This taught me the lesson that if one of the presentations is starting to get boring or if it is not going to be useful to you, leave and go to something else since there is always something going on there that's bound to be something more useful. However, one of the sponsored lecture that I went to was the Next-Generation Cross Platform Audio Technology with OpenAL . The lecture helped to explain the inner workings of OpenAL and how they intend to improve upon the product. They also explained the differences between the platforms and ways to best utilize OpenAL on them. Since I have little experience in sound programming, it was interesting to see a useful product that offered a solution that can be used on practically any system someone could develop on.

Another interesting lecture was SPORE's Magic Crayon . It was interesting to hear about the approach they took to help create an interface for the game simple yet so powerful. Once you get used to working with technology, it can often be difficult to try and relate technical aspects to everybody. The same can hold true for video games. While working on SPORE, they tried to make the interface of a 3D character creator easy enough to have someone's grandmother be able to understand it. Seeing how much effort and planning went into the design of one part of the game, makes me glad that I was able to pick up some of these tips without having to learning it the hard way.

A great lecture was the Breaking In-Game/Out-of-game Barrier . It was an insightful look on how game designers can help to make their game extend beyond the digital universe they have created and make it come to life in the real world. To make the player's experience continue while they are not actually playing the game can help build interest in the game. It could be something like sharing the players' stats on a web site, or making content that can be downloaded. Adding website with ranking and tournaments can help engage players to play the games more. While it may be too much for a game developer to work on setting up website to handle tournaments or handle constant updating of site for a game, it can often be handled by companies that specialize in that type of content. The extra effort of including these type of benefits to a game can help keep players interested in the game long enough to want a sequel.

One tip for other scholars would be to try and coordinate some of the seminars with others. There are so many different seminars, most of the time there will be two or more that you really want to see all scheduled for the same time. If you can find someone going to one of the seminars you are going to miss, try meeting up with them later and to discuss. You may not get the whole seminar, but at least you can take away some key points.

The Game Developers Conference is a great way to network and meet people in the industry. Keeping in touch with some people you meet will definitely boost your career.

Michael Lee - Georgia Institute of Technology

Overall:

I may have been an outlier among the IGDA scholars as this Game Developers Conference was actually not my first experience with the insanity that is GDC. However, with the support group of 20+ other scholars, mentors, and other friendly people from the IGDA, this was by far the best GDC I have ever experienced. And it wasn't even the sessions or keynotes that made this true. While other years have probably had more exciting sessions, the fact that this year I had a large and diverse group of people to hang out with added greatly to GDC. GDC isn't just about listening to lectures, it's also about meeting new people (or catching up with others), discussing all sorts of things, and having a great time.

Sessions:

Casual Games Roundtable (all three days): Brian Robbins (one of my fellow IGDA scholar's mentor) and Wade Tinney hosted a great series of roundtables spread out over all three days of the main GDC conference. As a person who has just recently become interested in the casual gamespace, the roundtables were great for introducing me to both information I didn't know and other developers (and people) involved with casual games. The setup of the roundtables also worked pretty well, the chance to listen to multiple people give their own two cents and even contribute myself added to the liveliness of the session.

Game Design in Agile Development: As a programmer I'm also interested in what new development methodologies are being used to create better development cycles and ultimately better games. Thus this blending of Agile with both game development and game design intrigued me. While the session had to condense the general ideas of using Agile for game development into a short time span, I was ultimately impressed with the general implications that using Agile (and Scrum) could lead to better games by increasing both communication and knowledge of the overall goals for a game project.

Game Criticisms: Opportunities and Approaches: Ian Bogost's roundtable on the problems with game criticisms (and the tangent on problems with journalism) was by far the most boisterous roundtable I attended. People were not shy about being critical and definitely not shy about expressing their opinions regardless of whatever it was. And while I'm not sure there was much progress made into solving the questions revolving around current game criticism, I definitely left knowing many people were aware of some problem and that a variety of solutions were being bandied about with varying levels of success.

Advice:

Network, network, network! Don't be shy about talking to people and definitely don't be shy about exchanging business cards even if you didn't talk too long. One thing I learned over the course of the week is that at GDC there's never an opportunity where you cannot meet a person. Talk to the people sitting next to you before and after sessions, talk to people in line with you for that bagel, talk to people who happen to be watching the same game demo at the expo; these are just a few of the opportunities where you can network with people at GDC. It depends on what you want out of GDC, but I came in with the explicit goal to meet as many new people as possible. To achieve this I made over 100 business cards and made it a secondary goal to give them all away by the end of GDC. I came up short, but even coming up short allowed me to meet tons of new people.

The final piece of advice I have ties into the previous one about networking: I learned quickly that it was better than not to have your schedule open. There were a few sessions I planned far in advance (the keynotes, Koji Kondo), but overall I found it actually worked a lot better if you left your schedule relatively open. But leaving your schedule open doesn't mean don't attend a lot of sessions, in fact it's quite often the opposite. By leaving my schedule open I was able to attend sessions with people who I met at GDC. You never know when you'll meet someone interesting, but they need to run because of a session they want to hit. Instead of just letting them go, I found it worked pretty well to join their planned session. This way, not only can you continue any interesting conversation, but you dramatically expand the kinds of lectures you would attend. And this in turns gives you the opportunity to meet people who you may have never met otherwise.

Elizabeth Lehtonen - University of Art and Design Helsinki (Finland)

My time spent at GDC went by way too fast. Everyday was so busy and I was so tired by even Thursday, that I found myself almost wincing at an invite to the Microsoft party - almost :P My expectations were basically blown out of the water. I spent 5 wonderful days rubbing shoulders and getting advice from the best of the best. I had a great mentor in Don Daglow. He gave me excellent advice on both my thesis and goals for my future employment.

My main interests were the production and business/management tracks. I attended some amazing sessions and wished I could have attended 50 more. The three sessions I either enjoyed the most or learned the most in were:

My advice to future scholars:

I wanted to give a special thank you to IGDA, Rudy Geronimo, the scholar selection group and all of our mentors for making this one of the most memorable weeks of my life.

David McDonough - Savannah College of Art & Design

GDC is an incredible experience, and it'll hit you like a tidal wave. I was about as well prepared as I could be, and I was overwhelmed several times. You don't have to go in knowing everything about the industry, though it helps to be well-informed. A more prudent use of your time would be to make sure you know everything about yourself. That may sound silly, but consider: if you can articulate to anyone who you are, what drives you, what gets you out of bed in the morning, and what you want to have to show for your effort in forty years, your experience will be defined by confidence, self-assurance, and maturity that is going to impress the pants off people.

No matter how introverted or shy you are, you only need one good conversation to break the spell and get your networking in gear. Waiting in line to take a survey, I engaged the person behind me in conversation, and he turned out to be a former senior artist from Maxis. He was a great guy, and we talked about all sorts of things, many of them completely unrelated to games. This kind of conversation is the norm at GDC. People will talk shop for a while, but ultimately it's just a big lawn party, and people are there to relax, catch up with their friends, and meet interesting strangers. All my fears about networking were dispelled, and I was able to relax and go with the flow for the rest of the trip.

When I met up with my mentor, Vic, everything changed. I had but to follow him around, listen, and learn, and I was on an inside track to meeting influential people and getting my name circulated. That evening we went behind the scenes at the studios for Secret Level thanks to Vic's friends, and I got to meet some of the artists in person and give them my portfolio. I met literally dozens of people who have made serious contributions to the games I admire and chatted with them about virtually everything under the sun—all thanks to Vic's network. I even met American McGee, creative visionary behind Alice, one of my favorite games of all time. GDC was defined by these sudden, incredible encounters, and Vic's help made it ten times more amazing and valuable.

I did spend a couple hours in the Career Pavilion on Thursday, talking to recruiters and handing out portfolios, but I didn't linger long. The Pavilion is a pretty brutal environment—packed wall to wall with hopefuls jostling for a chance to make their pitch to a recruiter who knows that 90% of the resumes he gets are going to be garbage. It was still worth my time to check out my favorite companies, but I was content to let GDC be a networking event and reserve the real job search for later. I think this was a wise survival tactic as well as good job-hunting sense. Definitely visit the CP, but don't stress about it. It's not your one and only chance to break in. Being a scholar sets you apart, your mentor's contacts and advice will get you going, and ultimately all you need to do is work hard and keep at it. If you're truly passionate about making games, that'll be no trouble at all.

After three days of this frenetic schedule, it was suddenly done. Around noon on Friday, the fatigue was setting in on everyone, and I heard the phrase, “GDC's been fun, but now I just want to go home and get back to work,” from plenty of people. I think that's when I really knew I was in the right place. On several occasions I was overwhelmed and questioned my decision to pursue a career in this industry, but inevitably I was reminded that GDC is the exception, not the rule. It is New Year's in Times Square to the game industry, when the day-to-day reality is very much like my life right now: hard work… but work that you love, on a project that inspires you, in a casual, friendly atmosphere. It helped me gain perspective on what the industry is like, how it compares to my personal priorities, and what kind of path I will take through it. It helped me know where I want to end up, and how to get there. And more than anything, it left me inspired to go home and just get back to work J .

Some sessions I especially enjoyed:

The Next-Gen Grads roundtable, about building ties between game companies and universities, and strengthening the programs and internship opportunities so that students are prepared to start their careers as contributing members. As a student, this is an important thing to do. The roundtable was mostly professors trying to figure out how they can get someone to give their kids a chance. That chance is the same one I've been working for, so I consider it very important to do what I can to ensure that more chances like it exist for the students who come after me.

The Experimental Gameplay Sessions: a collection of short presentations about all kinds of wacky, cutting-edge games, from the indie jams to the full productions. No matter what your field is, this is worth looking at. Big names like flOw and Katamari Damacy first showed up here in previous years, and I promise you'll leave with some pretty nifty ideas brewing. Don't miss it!

The Shigeru Miyamoto keynote: colossal celebrity aside, Miyamoto is a charming speaker. He comes across as a kindly uncle or next-door neighbor: just a regular guy who's very friendly and generous. Listening to him talk will make you forget all about the money-hungry frenzy for next-gen graphics and ultra-realistic planet-spanning storylines. His games are the epitome of simplicity, and they have defined our industry since it was born. It was a perspective-realigning moment for me: it helped me understand why I want to do this, what I want to get out of the experience—the kind of games I want to make. You don't have to make games like his, or mine, but you should do something like this, something that forces you to seriously examine your priorities. How else can you know if they're any good?

Brandon Mechtley - Arizona State University

Being a part of the IGDA Scholarship program for GDC 2007 was an amazing experience. Not only were we provided with classic passes to attend sessions and take part in the conference, but we were also given a tour around Perpetual Entertainment, were given some great presentations by the people there, and were paired up with amazing mentors in fields similar to our own interests. I was completely unprepared for the dedication given to supporting us.

The GDC itself was a blast, and I had the opportunity to hear a lot of very intelligent and inspiring people speak. Some of my highlights include the Experimental Gameplay Sessions, Eiji Aonuma's “Reflections of Zelda,” and Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago's “Autobiography of flOw.”

The first part of the Experimental Gameplay Sessions, the Indie Game Jam and GAMMA festival, was right up my alley: innovative ways to use sound for gameplay. Chris Hecker, Heather Kelley, Phil Fish, and Damien Di Fede presented wonderfully inspiring ways that sound can not only be used as a way to augment a user's experience, but can also be used as a primary game mechanic.

In Eiji Aonuma's talk, he demonstrated several of the design challenges Nintendo had to face when developing Zelda for a new controller. Mr. Aonuma gave a great overview of how the team worked together to overcome these various challenges and what bridges they had to cross to reach their final decisions.

thatgamecompany's postmortem of flOw, headed up by Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago, was a great sessions for me to attend as a student, as they presented a lot of the lessons learned and hardships of starting up a brand new studio and developing for a next generation game system. It was very inspiring to see such success from a young group who keeps gameplay innovation at heart.

Outside the conference, I was paired up with a wonderful mentor, Kurt Larson, Audio Director at Slipgate Ironworks, who gave me a great deal of advice on getting involved with the audio in the game industry and a great picture of the current issues facing game audio. I am very pleased to have been paired with a mentor who could answer so many of my questions relating to audio.

I am very grateful to Rudy Geronimo, the scholarship mentors, Darius Kazemi, and the people at Perpetual for helping make this scholarship what it was. I would also really like to thank all the people at CMP and the CA program for all their efforts in making the GDC so wonderful and run so smoothly.

Cliff Mitchell - Sheridan College

The 2007 Game Developers Conference (GDC) was my introduction to the diversity of the gaming community. It was an amazing experience that I feel absolutely proud to have been a part of, and I will be trying my hardest to return next year and every year after. There were sessions covering a huge array of game development topics, sessions that were hosted by inspiring, professional speakers. Even more interesting than the sessions were all of the other attendees at the conference. I have never seen that many people together who are entirely dedicated and passionate about games.

The GDC is an experience that cannot be missed by someone who is truly interested in creating games. The sessions covered every area and facet of the industry. I am coming into the game development industry from the art (specifically animation) side of things. I really enjoyed what I was seeing at the GDC as far as where the artists and teams' heads are at. Most of the talks I attended were not about just pushing advancements in graphics, but about how to use new graphic developments to improve game play or to better tell stories through more believable characters. One thing that I was truly impressed by was that almost every talk that I went to the speakers brought up the idea of the “uncanny valley” or the “zombie line”. This is the notion that the closer a character comes to being photo-realistic the more likely it is to come across as corpse or zombie like. I was impressed by how the industry is trying to achieve photo-realism instead of stylization. I also tried to attend sessions that are out of my field, which opened my eyes to how many aspects there are to creating games. It was amazing to meet and listen to the people who are out there in those areas.

“How to Make Players Cry (Without Pulling Your Hair Out)” was my last and favorite session of the conference. The talk started off with character design, about the idea of the “uncanny valley” mentioned earlier, and then moving on to maintaining continuity of NPC emotions and reactions, and how to avoid strange lapses of continuity. The talk then dove into why you would want to elicit these types of emotional responses from the players and how other genres of games could be developed. Examples of truly effective games or characters for eliciting emotional responses were given (eg, Aries' death from Final Fantasy 7 , Nintendogs , LocoRoco ). It was a very interesting subject, if you are interested in learning more, go to www.friendlymedia.org.

I attended some of the sponsored sessions, a few of which were focused on animation and were sponsored by Discreet. I was not sure of what to expect going into these sessions. While I found them very informative on the specifics of some of the animation techniques offered in some of Discreet's programs, they also felt as if they were trying to sell us on their product. None of the other sessions had this feeling, so I would only consider attending sponsored sessions if I really had an interest in the product that they are using during the presentation.

Another session I attended was “Dual-Quaternion Skinning” by Ladislav Kavan. I had not planned on attending this session, it was in the programming track and I have very little experience in programming. However, I took the advice of someone I had met at lunch and attended it anyways, to help gain a better understanding of what it was all about. I was lucky that I did because little did I know that the following week it would save my bacon. So I went to the session, sat down ready to take notes. The talk was full of equations and math that I had no idea even existed, so it is safe to say almost the entire session shot over my head. However, the week after GDC, when I had returned home and was back to work on my short film. I was troubleshooting a muscle system for one of my rigs, and for the life of me I could not figure out how to fix it. Then I remembered this talk, so I pulled out my notes, ripped through them, went to Ladislav's website ( www.cgg.cvut.cz/~kavan/), and it clicked. The talk made perfect sense to me and I had my answer. It is worth going out of your area of expertise because you never know how it is going to help you down the line.

I am so glad to have had the chance to attend GDC through the IGDA. It was an experience that anyone trying to get into the industry or interested in furthering their knowledge base cannot do without. I had the opportunity to show my demo reel to dozens of companies and speak with their reps and recruiters and make a ton of contacts. Also, as an IGDA scholar we were invited to tour Perpetual Entertainment, where we were treated to an in-depth talk about various aspects of their studio. It was great to see how a typical studio works and feels.

My advice to anyone attending the GDC is to have a good idea of what you want to get out of the show beforehand, but be flexible. I thought that I was going there to go to the sessions, but most of my time was spent talking with individuals. You will be surprised how much you will learn from the people you meet. If you are fortunate enough to get a chance to attend GDC, I guarantee it will be an experience you will love.

Eve Powell - University of North Carolina at Charlotte

The GDC was an incredible experience for me. Out of all the conferences that I've attended, this conference was the first non-academic conference that I've had the opportunity to attend. The difference between this conference and all others was bigger than I anticipated.

What made the GDC different and special to me was the chance to meet so many others that share the same dream as I do. The people at the GDC were there to learn, just like attendees of all other conferences, but they were also there because they love games. For people that really love games, the GDC can be more like a family reunion. Regardless of your particular interests in games, there is always someone that is interested in what you are doing. There is always someone that can offer advice or direction toward your career goals. There is always someone that you can help or keep in touch with. More than anything, I believe this is what keeps people coming back to the GDC. Everyone wants to keep in contact with their family, right?

I was especially impressed with my mentor, Michael John, President of Method Games. Initially, the GDC was a bit overwhelming, there were so many people that knew so much more than I do and I felt a bit out of place. Besides that, there were so many panels and discussions to attend that I had no idea where to start. Michael was very patient with helping me decide where to go and directing me towards sessions that would be most beneficial to me. He also made sure to introduce me to everyone he could. Most importantly, Michael reminded me of the value of self-reflection and evaluation. He encouraged me to look at the goals and direction I've set for myself and ensure that they are really leading me where I want to go. As a person with many goals and not much direction, just answering those questions for myself helped make navigating the GDC and the next few years of my life just a bit easier. I am very grateful to him for all of his time and consideration.

Out of all the conference sessions that I attended, here are three of my favorites:

The Miyamoto Talk – This session was the most inspiring presentation that I attended. Shigeru Miyamoto reminded game designers everywhere of the importance of perseverance and dedication. More than anyone else, a game designer must believe in his/her ability to make something new and exciting, even if current tools or games don't support his/her vision. As a designer, if you have an idea or a vision that you can't leave alone, maybe you shouldn't leave it alone.

Final Fantasy XII Post Mortem - I've always wanted to know the secrets of SquareEnix and their amazing Final Fantasy series. In this post mortem they discussed the tools they use in developing art assets and how these tools helped to seriously maximize development time. This session gave me some insight on the development process and introduced me to the procedure of creating production solutions for large and complex games. Besides that, I absolutely love the FF series, and so I was really excited to see how some of it comes together.

Game Design Challenge - This session took three talented game designers, gave them a tricky design problem and had each of them present a solution after a few weeks to consider the problem. The game design challenge was a lot of fun and I would recommend it to any and all game designers. While this session was relaxed and less educational than some of the other sessions, I took away a lot from the three game pitches and presentations. I feel like this year's game design challenge brought to my attention the importance of self confidence. It seemed to me that there was a direct correlation between confidences that the designer showed in his idea and how well the audience received that idea. I also had fun participating in the challenge while watching the presentation. The whole time I was writing my own ideas down for the challenge. (I think I would have won had I been a competitor… ah well).

To future scholarship winners, I suggest that you talk to as many people as you can. Some people talk about the networking at the GDC as a chore but it really isn't all that hard. Everyone there has something in common with you. They all love games just as much and want to talk to people that share their same interests. So don't be afraid to talk just because you're new, or less experienced, or shy. Everyone is there to learn, everyone is more than happy to teach, and the sharing and passing on of knowledge is what makes the GDC. And more than anything else, you should have fun! That's what games are all about! Don't get sidetracked with all of the learning going on!

Christian Schlager - University of Magdeburg (Germany)

The GDC 2007 was a perfect opportunity for me to get to know the industry overseas.

I had a blast at the GDC 2007! Let me begin by telling you a bit about my schedule: We scholarship winners already met up on Monday, for introducing ourselves, showing some demos and exchanging business cards. If you have never done any networking, it's a great way to practice your business card draw , so it looks really cool and sophisticated.

Thanks to the IGDA, Tuesday proved to be very entertaining as well. Lunch was enlightening since networking specialist Darius Kazemi gave tips and we got to meet our mentors.

Later on that afternoon, we gained some insight into the work of Perpetual Entertainment, a San Francisco-based developer of MMOs. While their game Gods & Heroes reminded me a lot of World of Warcraft at first sight, I was probably way too excited about their upcoming MMO Star Trek Online and outed myself as a total nerd. ;)

My very first session on Monday morning was One Laptop Per Child: Gaming Platform for the Developing World? held by Samuel Klein. The association produces a laptop for the Developing World that costs only $100. The session was particularly satisfying since I entered the OLPC Game Design Challenge and was one of four finalists. It was very refreshing to be designing The Village of Zamé , a build & construct game with a target audience of children in the Developing World.

With a wide array of supported environments for developing games, such as Squeak, Python, Javascript and more, the OLPC laptop is definitely something to look out for in the future and I hope to see many games being developed with it.
I have to admit I was a bit surprised how young Samuel Klein is, but after talking to him and seeing how extremely enthusiastic he works for his mission I really believe that their laptop can make a difference.

My favourite session on Thursday was Exploration: From Systems to Spaces to Self . Clint Hocking, the creative brain behind Splinter Cell , proposed that every game is a game of exploration. It's either exploration of the system, that is figuring out how the game works or spatial exploration where the player discovers content. Ideally the player has to do both while rewards urge him to go on.

That is a quite convincing approach, even if in my opinion he did not give a lot of practical advice on how to put the third kind of exploration into a game. However, as an example he analyzed Spiderman 2 . “ With great power comes great responsibility ” is Peter Parker's credo, and if you make a game about Spiderman you put a lot of power into the player's hands, but if you leave out the responsibility, you just have a game about a badass in a mask. The lively and straightforward way in which Clint Hocking presented his idea made for a very entertaining and informative session.

I don't know why everyone thinks I'm psychotic,
I'm not psychotic, I just have a *passion* for my job.

The session Pitch your game idea was the one I was most excited about even before the conference started. Let me tell you, it takes a lot of nerve to stand up and present a game idea to a room full of eager listeners. But the payoff was incredible! I made them laugh and cry and wet their pants! And in the end they cheered for more!

But seriously, when you present your idea in an entertaining, enthusiastic and passionate way, people, especially in the game industry, really respond to you. I had people coming up to me and asking for MY business cards! It is definitely something everybody should do, not so much for the advice from industry professionals on how to improve your game, but to see how people respond to your presentation. The experience you can collect in such sessions will help you in the future to improve your performance in game pitches and job interviews.

Never have people shown more of their ingenuity than in the games they created.
In general, it's always the most ingenious ones who invent games and always the dumbest ones who are best at playing them.

I was really lucky to be paired up with Tim Longo as my mentor. He is a great guy! At LucasArts he worked on almost every Star Wars game I ever played and is now Creative Director for Crystal Dynamics. We visited several sessions together and discussed the content, the industry in general and many games in between sessions and during lunch and dinner. That was by far the best experience I am taking home from the GDC 2007! Definitely try to get to know your mentor as best as you can. Look for sessions you are both interested in. If possible, try to arrange a visit to his or her studio before or after the conference.

If you doubt your powers,
you give power to your doubts.

If you are trying to apply for the scholarship, you should create a web resumé and link it in your application. Try to get the judges on your side. Also, when writing the application essays, do not chop your sentences to pieces just so you stay under the word limit. You are not in some third-rate teen slasher movie, eight to ten words over the limit will not hurt anyone.

My fourth advice concerns your business cards. If you do not have some by the time the conference starts, you are an idiot!

Additionally, if you cannot think of a better title use IGDA Scholarship Recipient . It impresses people you talk to immediately and most have heard of the IGDA. A generic title such as game designer or game programmer is a waste of space, especially since as a student you probably have not worked on a major release, which makes for a pretty empty title.

Since it has been my first time in the States I booked two whole weeks. I really enjoyed my stay at the USA Hostel, they have clean beds and put a lot of effort into welcoming people to San Francisco. If you choose to sleep in a dorm, it is totally affordable as well.

If you can tell me where I got my quotes from, write me an email via my profile. You can win a funny picture of me in San Francisco!

Joshua Seaver - Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center

Overall Impressions

I have been to quite a few conferences in the last decade, including a couple of visits to SIGGRAPH, but have never attended GDC before getting this scholarship. I had high expectations, and I wasn't disappointed. I would have to say this was the most valuable and enjoyable conference I have ever attended. This is mainly due to the wealth of PRACITICAL as opposed to theoretical information presented. Adjectives that come to mind to describe my GDC experience are: friendly, overwhelming, intimidating, and inspiring. I found most everyone at the conference to be very sociable and willing to share his or her knowledge and stories. There really was a genuine atmosphere of goodwill, of helping each other figure out the best way to make games. A conference of this size is overwhelming just because of the sheer amount of information and scale, both literally and intellectually. It can also be intimidating for the fledgling game developer since there seems to be so much that's expected of you just to get into the game of making games. But at the same time, it's also inspiring to see all the great work that's being done by genuinely creative and generally humble people, and it was great to actually put flesh-and-blood faces to the names in the credits.

Finally, I'm sure this has been said time and again, but meeting the other IGDA scholars was probably one of the greatest parts of the conference. This, along with the opportunity to be guided through the experience by a personal mentor, really made the conference. My mentor in particular went above and beyond, and we had several meals together in addition to attending several sessions together, despite it being crunch time at his company. Beyond all the professional aspects of meeting these individuals, I made personal connections with the scholars and my mentor that I hope will last for years to come.

Enjoyable Sessions

While I really enjoyed the Wednesday keynote which announced and showed off an excellent demo of the forthcoming Playstation 3 title LittleBigWorld, my favorite session of the day was If You're Scared That Others Will Find Out That You Don't Know How To Be a Manager by Mark Horstman. Mark was an extremely engaging speaker who was not afraid to tell it like it is: that everyone in the audience, as well as most managers “suck at management!” Mark offered a lot of really practical managing advice, advice that really also applies to peer relationships in the workplace. Mark's presentation was abbreviated but substantial, covering all-important topics of management and ways to be effective at delegating, meetings, feedback, and reviews. Most people will find themselves in a position of management at some point in their careers, and Mark's genuine enthusiasm and concern for people in the industry getting it right was an inspiration. I already recommended a friend going into leadership to Mark's free podcasts at manager-tools.com based on the presentation.

Thursday's highlight for me was definitely Shigeru Miyamoto's keynote, where he explained his progression as a game designer around the “wife-o-meter”, his personal gauge for success in making games for everyone. It was interesting to see how his gauge of success is influenced by his spouse, who was very slow to warm to games, but is now an avid gamer. His wife only got involved when platforms and game design matured to make intuitive interaction, with the Wii being the pivotal combination. Miyamoto's presentation never came off as a promotion for the company, however, but it was great to see that he was using the Wii to do his presentation. The real takeaway that will last beyond anything else in the keynote was Miyamoto's description of how he designs, not with particular characters, game play, or aesthetics in mind, but “with the player's smile in his mind” as he goes through the process of developing a game. Miyamoto seemed like a game designer who genuinely enjoys what he does. His work ethic, coupled with his genuine smile, is inspiring for the aspiring or seasoned game developer.

It's a hard decision, since I had many good experiences on Friday, but what I found most memorable was a documentary screening in the afternoon entitled 8 Bit: A Documentary About Art and Video Games by Justin Strawhand and Marcin Ramocki. It was fascinating to see how music composition and performance as well as fine art has been influenced by video game technology really reinforces how influential the medium is to not just western, but global culture. Whether recycling a handful of Gameboys and programming and amplifying them for a live musical performance, or modding Unreal to abstractly reflect on a childhood trauma with fire, artists are doing unique and genuinely entertaining things with games as the foundation. This, along with the 8 Bit exhibition of art prints on display in the North Hall of the conference, was a welcome change of pace to the many other practical sessions I attended.

Advice

Above all, my advice to my future self (who will be attending GDC again!) as well as anyone else who may be planning on going for the first time is to be kind to yourself! Take breaks. Eat. Leave the parties while you're still having fun and go get a good night's rest for the next day of the conference. Know there's no way you can see it all, so don't stress out about it. It can be very tiring to introduce yourself over and over again, but you never know who will be the person you really connect with, so just keep at it with a smile on your face. Finally, I'd recommend investing in a quality, mini notebook-like a Moleskine, to take notes during sessions so that you refer back to the technical aspects of your notes and things that inspired you throughout the year.

For anyone who may be considering applying for an IGDA student scholarship, I say DO IT! For me, it will be remembered as a pivotal experience in my game design career.

Scott Jon Siegel - Bard College

Attending the Game Developers Conference is an obvious dream for many aspiring game developers. As a fledgling game designer with my own aspirations, I decided a year before the conference that I would be there, one way or another. I jumped on the student scholarship opportunity the moment it was made available, and was amazed and honored to have been accepted.

Having only attended smaller conferences in the past, I was entirely unprepared for the sheer scope of GDC. With that in mind, the conference was very well managed, and I never felt lost in a sea of people, as I had feared in the weeks leading up to my attendance.

The sessions I attended were all valuable, and I feel that I made intelligent choices as to what to attend, but got lucky in some cases as well. When there's so much going on at a given time, you're always choosing one session over another. Here are some of the best choices I made:

Exploration: From Systems to Spaces to Self - Ubisoft's Clint Hocking talked about notions of exploration, and how they pertain to game design. Not only was his talk exhaustively researched, but it was also incredibly well-constructed, funny, and invaluable to my work. The exploration and discovery of a system by a player is one of my favorite aspects of digital game design, and hearing Clint focus on it with such enthusiasm really made me feel confident in my approach.

Clint even posted the slides and transcript from his talk! What a guy!

http://clicknothing.typepad.com/Design/hockingc_GDC07_Exploration.zip

Writing Great Design Documents - It was the last session of the conference, but that didn't stop Damion Schubert from giving a great talk to a FULL audience (they were actually turning people away at the door!). Possibly the most practical talk I attended all week, Damion emphasized the importance of design documents, and reminded all the designers who they were writing their docs for (hint: the coders), and to keep that in mind when deciding which details to include.

And he posted his slides, too! How awesome's that?

http://www.zenofdesign.com/Writing_Great_Design_Docs.ppt

Small Changes, Big Results: Redefining a PC Franchise for Nintendo Wii - Probably the hardest choice I made during the conference, as this talk was held at the same time as Goichi Suda's Punk's Not Dead , Chaim Gingold's SPORE's Magic Crayons , and the Pitch your Game Idea session. Nevertheless, Robin Hunicke's breakdown of how to properly adapt a franchise for a new console was fantastic. Robin all but ignores the Wii Remote as she discusses how best to fit a familiar franchise to a new console and a new market, keeping a keen eye on the smallest details while never losing sight of the big picture.

Sadly, no slides from Robin. :(

Of course, there were also many other sessions that were incredible. Especially worth noting were the Experimental Gameplay Sessions , Burning Mad: Game Publisher's Rant , and Frank Lantz and Eric Zimmerman's The Metagame: A Battle of Videogame Smarts .

I can't think of much advice I could give future student attendees that hasn't already been said a hundred times. The best piece of advice I can think to give is to apply for the IGDA Student Scholarship. It's probably the best reason to be a student at GDC: you get phenomenal networking tips from people like Darius Kazemi, pairing with an industry mentor, and it's a wonderful honor that sets you apart from other attendees (and standing out is definitely a plus). Here's some advice for future applicants:

Be passionate - If there was one thing that my fellow student scholars all had in common, it was passion. None of us were "thinking about" breaking into the industry; we were all going to break into the industry, come hell or high-water. If you're applying for the scholarship, you're telling the judges that this is your dream job, and you should make it clear that scholarship or no scholarship, you're going to pursue that dream. If you're passionate, you should also be able to show other ways in which you're preparing to enter the industry. Make them know you want it.

Have something to show - It's helpful to have a website to reference in your application, which can direct the judges to examples of your work. If you're a sound person, you should have audio files. If you're a designer or programmer, you should have games. If you're an artist, you should have artwork. Your portfolio doesn't have to be perfect (see below); the important thing is to show that you're working. If you don't have anything to show them, GDC 2008 is a little less than a year away. Get started.

Discuss what you can learn - Nobody's infallible, and as important as it is to come off as confident in your application, it's also important to let the judges know what you can learn at GDC that would be unavailable to you elsewhere. Once the sessions are announced for the conference, find ones that match your interests, and don't be afriad to reference them in your application. Show that you've done the research, and that GDC will assist you in developing and broadening your skills.

Be honest - It's important enough that I'll mention it twice. If you have shortcomings in your field, don't hide them. Talk about them, and discuss how certain sessions will help you overcome those weaknesses. The student scholarship is meant for people who still have a lot to learn, and the judges will want to know that GDC will be a growing experience for you.

Some Photos of the Event:

And more photos can be found in my Flickr set:

Erik Wesslen - Purdue University

The Game Developers' Conference was an incredible experience and a fantastic networking opportunity. One word that sums up the conference is ‘busy.' From Tuesday through Friday, it was non-stop meeting people, going to sessions, playing awesome upcoming games at the Intel booth, visiting studios, and partying.

One of the greatest parts of being one of the scholarship recipients is being paired with a mentor. Jeff (my mentor from Secret Level) was a huge help in meeting people as well as providing a ton of insight into the industry. Getting to actually spend time at Secret Level and talking to a slew of artists, designers, and the like was an awesome eye-opening experience into the world of game development.

In addition to spending time at Secret Level and Perpetual Entertainment, the bread and butter of the week were the conference and the tons of sessions to attend. One of the most interesting sessions was Peter Molyneux's presentation on Innovations in Fable 2 and the introduction of the dog. At first I didn't think I would be impressed by the dog and thought of it as kind of silly and not very important, but after seeing the game being played, it started to evoke some emotion from the audience. They can't finish that game soon enough in my opinion.

Another session I thoroughly enjoyed was Haden Blackman's presentation on the Force Unleashed and the use of Euphoria and Digital Molecular Matter in next-gen games. The technologies they demoed were very cool and kicking ass with the force has never seemed so cool.

The most influential session of the conference would have to have been Damion Schubert's talk on how to write great design documents. It was incredibly informative and has forever changed how I write design documents for the better. It was the last session of the conference, but definitely the best.

Some advice for future recipients would have to be: bring a ton of business cards. They're pretty much networking currency and it is kind of hard to network without them. Also, don't be afraid to strike up a conversation with someone you don't know. Everyone at the conference was especially nice and more than willing to give a few minutes of their time to an aspiring developer.

Kate Yu - Guildhall at SMU

GDC 2007 was the first GDC I attended because of the generous IGDA Scholarship. I arrived with great anticipation like a child arriving at Disney World for the first time. My experience at the GDC exceeded my expectations. As a game artist, GDC not only strengthened my passion for games, it inspired me to push myself to new limits.

The most inspiring of all was the keynote by Shigeru Miyamoto. His topic was of a great vision he embraces for the future of game development. He emphasized games that bring an experience that put smiles on gamers' faces, and ones that all people will enjoy playing. I love hardcore CG art in games but I was moved by his vision and his reasons for creating Wii style of games.

Visiting Perpetual Entertainment: This year the scholars had the grand opportunity to tour Perpetual Entertainment. The folks at Perpetual guided us with great enthusiasm and even prepared presentations of their fruitful experiences as game developers.

Expo floor: The Expo area was truly an inspiring place for a newbie like me. The Expo gave independent developers the opportunity to present their work. I had the privilege to present my senior team project alongside my school, the Guildhall at SMU. Besides the team projects there were also various interesting product presentations.

Special exhibitions: These exhibitions include cutting-edge tutorials given for top CG software such as 3DS Max and Maya, Unreal 3 engine showcase, new tech entertainment experiment, Motion Capture technology, games showcase from different game studios, and much more. I had a tremendous knowledge overload that took me several visits to process them all, which was great.

Career pavilion: I went to the career pavilion to experience the traffic that I heard so much about and discovered it to be very true. This career pavilion is definitely the place to be for talented future game developers to try their hands at breaking into the industry. Of course I also enjoyed the freebies available at every single booth.

Mentor: My mentor was Greg Foertsch whom I had a grand time speaking with, which marked one of the highlights of my GDC experience. We discussed the future of game development. I told him my concerns and he offered advice derived from his years of experience as a veteran. He was also very passionate about bringing creativity to the industry and developing games for the sake of innovation and fun. I was very inspired by his beliefs and suggestions.

This brings us to the sessions which were the cream of the crop:

Interactive Cinematography : This session explored the use of interactive cinematography to aid player control in games. This is not about trying to be like Hollywood or interrupting game-play, but putting the player-driven experience first. The technique suggests using control, framing, composition and transitions to make it easier for players to fully experience games.

Re-thinking the visual pipeline for next-gen games : This session presented a very insightful technique to create the most visually sharp graphics using software such as 3DS Max. Instead of using large maps to create textures or shaders that can still be pixilated up close, the pipeline used various smaller maps that enhance textures to be sharp even for the close up. This session included a script written in Max that increases efficiency in normal map creation.

A LocoRoco Postmortem: Making happiness into game-play : This session explained the passion behind making the innovative PSP hit game. I particularly enjoyed the authors' initiative for making his concept into reality which is to bring relaxing fun to players of all ages. I was inspired to hear that the idea didn't receive the green light right away but it took time to polish and a determined mind. Through firm belief, hard work, and striving to be innovative, one can create true entertainment.

Some things I particularly suggest for future scholarship winners:

Plan ahead : I had the firsthand experience of crunching my schedule too tight which resulted in a little bit of a rush for my first day. Though I made up lost time with wonderful events the rest of the week, I will remember to schedule a bit of room in between events for next time.

Research : I attended the sessions that I researched to be of my particular interests before I arrived at the GDC. All the sessions are wonderful and informative but one can only attend so many and due to the time slot overlap you will just have to choose one. Research sessions, speakers, and topics that fascinate you most. If you have time after attending specific sessions, then go out and sightsee or pop into other booths or events and simply have fun chatting with people.

Join in on the parties : Attend the parties. You typically receive invitations by networking with people. There is also the IGDA Members Only Party, but be sure to be there at least an hour earlier to avoid the long line. From here just have fun and don't burn yourself out.

Walk around : The week of GDC, I took the liberty of walking outdoors from my hotel to the conference center. The subway train is cheap transportation, but I had a grand time exploring a bit of the San Francisco culture by just taking short strolls.