GDC 2011 Round-Up

By Jason MacIsaac

Another successful GDC is behind us. We’re all back home in Toronto, ready to get back to the serious business of fun. For those of us who unfortunately could not attend, prominent members of the Toronto game development community spoke tonight and tortured us—excuse me—enchanted us with tales of their experiences at GDC. The sessions, the talks, the parties, the swag, the people.

First up was Jim McGinley of Big Pants Games. Jim commented on the session he liked… and a few he didn't. He was impressed with the dev kits he saw, such as one by Qualcomm, which is meant to make augmented reality game design easier. Jim’s advice for people deciding which of the many sessions to attend? “Go to the design ones.” Jim says that the technical ones are usually too advanced or short to be really useful, but the design ones can be inspirational.

Next was Jamie Woo of Gamercamp. Jamie too discussed sessions and talks he liked in disliked. He was not thrilled with sessions that focused on more efficient ways to extract money from players of social games. He agrees with something Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata said during the keynote: “Engineering isn't as important as imagination.” Jamie was more into sessions that encouraged Media change, diversity and innovation. Jamie also said that the Toronto community has this potential, so score another one for T.O.

Even if you did attend GDC, it was hard not to be jealous of Billy Matjunis. Billy is one of the winners of the IGDA Scholarship. Not only did he get into the show for free, he and the other winners received tours of Double Fine Productions and LucasArts (where he saw Jar Jar Binks frozen in carbonite). The scholars also received private booth tours, including an early look at Epic Games’ Samaritan. Although the scholars received free software, engines and even an Xbox 360 bundle, Billy says the networking at the Career Pavilion and the mentorship are the most valuable. Billy was lucky enough to receive mentoring from Ubisoft’s Patrick Redding, who also spoke at the Round-Up.

Mark Rabo of Gamercamp presented the oddest report. Mark was required to go on an “Augmented Reality Situation,” (or, “a game” if you will) in order to get inducted into the Jejune Institute. It sounded a lot like being inducted into the Freemasons. He went on a real-life puzzle hunt through the Institute’s neighbourhood, never knowing what was real or just part of the game. Marks says his experiences could be augmented by an interactive experience, and vice versa.

Meanwhile, Craig Adams recommends the parties of GDC. He says after 10 seconds of boozing and schmoozing with the Capy Games people, they made a pact to work on a game together. He’s now working on Swords & Sorcery. He had seven recommendations for GDC attendees. These include going into the show with something cool you’ve made or done so you can talk about it (or be talked about). He also recommended staying up late and hanging out… but not too late. Finally, he also recommended chilling out at Yerba Buena Park if you need a break.

Finally, Patrick Redding of Ubisoft summed up the GDC experience neatly: “It’s like walking into the Louvre with a few hours to spare.” Patrick described some of the most esoteric sessions, such as Brenda Brathwaite’s game The Train, which has a nasty surprise at the end; or Clint Hocking taking up Chris Hecker’s challenge to answer the question of “How games mean.” He also told some amusing stories of player-driven experiences, such as the Fallout 3 player who decided to “liberate” all of the teddy bears in the game, no matter the cost. Patrick also recommended the Game Design Workshop, a back-to-basics session that has you designing board/tabletop games with pencils and paper. Patrick said it’s “Good for getting you to focus on game development itself.”

IGDA Toronto would like to thank all of our speakers, and the City of Toronto for providing the space and snacks.

The next IGDA Toronto session will be Open Mike Night. Anyone who is interested can mail a topic they want to rant about to toronto [at] igda.org. If we like your idea, we’ll give you five uncensored minutes to vent in front of the audience. Details to follow.