Hello everyone,
I’m a senior in college studying Computer Science and Rigging and I’ll be heading to GDC this year for the first time with a few animation friends from school.
There are a lot of great talks and roundtables that I’d love to go to, but I could only afford an Expo Pass, so my options at the conference are pretty limited. I’d greatly appreciate any advice about where to go and what to do at GDC.
Thanks.
-Jonathan
Try to find someone to give you a full conference pass for part of the day, or go halves with your friends and wear it at different points during the conference.
Try to go to the parties and meet people.
There are usually some open sessions for Expo pass holders, check the GDC schedule.
Otherwise, your learning opportunities are somewhat limited… I’d suggest volunteering next year!
Thanks for the advice.
There are some open sessions about career development and using python in Maya that I’ll definitely have to hit up.
I submitted an application to volunteer this year, but never heard anything back… I hope to have better luck next year.
Thanks again!
Doesn’t help you this year, but the IGDA also has scholarships for students to attend GDC (as well as a couple of other conferences). If you graduate before you get to use this information, pass it on. I’m always surprised how few students know about this. Let your teachers know so that they can recommend applying to their students next year.
http://www.igda.org/scholarships
If you’re from out of town, do a little research into the game studios in San Fran. There are a lot, and some of them may be willing to allow you and your classmates in for a tour. You won’t know until you ask! And if you do get to take a tour, bring your portfolio/resume with you just in case. If no one gives you an opening, ask if there’s someone who would be willing to review your portfolio for you. Even if there aren’t any current open positions for someone with your skill level, it’s a great way to make your first contacts in the industry. Someone will then know/remember you, and may be more likely to either champion you for a job, recommend you to someone else, or pass on information about open positions as they come up.
And if you’re in town, do this anyway – but it doesn’t have to be during GDC week.
Thanks, I’ll be sure to pass that IGDA scholarship on to my classmates.
And that’s a great idea about researching studios. I wish I’d have thought of that when I was studying abroad in Mainz. I could have taken a train up to Frankfurt and visited Crytek.
Speaking of IDGA you should defiantly check out the idga party. its on Tuesday night. its a lot of fun they serve drinks, there are party games and everyone is fun to talk to. The only requirement is that you be a IDGA member and a student membership is 30$. the other thing is that they do some preregistration but i’ve never heard of them turning people away. Login to Meetup | Meetup
the other thing is the IDGA, I think has there round-tables open to all passes, I know last year the student one was. If you go to the idga both they should be able to tell you. last year i know they had people from blizzard and EA.
also a lot of the major panel speakers go to a bar after their talks. Everyone from the tech artist round table did that last year, though i don’t know if or where it would be this year.
Thanks for the advice. I’ll be coming into San Francisco Tuesday evening, so that IGDA party is perfect.
Speaking of bars, I actually asked some editors over at IGN.com for some advice about GDC and they mentioned that the XYZ Bar in the W hotel is a great place to go.
Thanks again for telling me about that IGDA party, I wouldn’t have known about it if you hadn’t posted it.