Well I made it there and back again, and am still amazed that I had the opportunity to attend GDC. I know in the past when I've attended conferences I've tried to note every session and major thoughts about key note speakers, but right now I'm not really sure I can really go into adequate depth about GDC. It was an amazing experience on many levels, and I had the opportunity to meet some incredible people in the industry, and being able to put a face behind their games was just so cool.
I think what struck me the most was feeling so apart of everything that was going on at GDC, I didn't feel like I was an outside observer but a professional talking to other professionals about the industry that we're in. Without sounding too much like a poster boy from Champlain College, I really have to give a lot of credit to my education. A few years ago I would have just been another fan boy at a conference like this, even if I made it in to listen in on sessions I wouldn't have really understood what most speakers were talking about. Instead this experience was quite the opposite, it was like we were all speaking the same language... a language that I've learned in the past few years. It was truly exciting sitting in on sessions and actually understanding the art pipeline from games like Gears of War 2, and not be shocked or amazed in how they were doing it. It's not often that I'm surrounded by people that all speak the same sort of industry lingo, and to be in a place surrounded by others who not only speak the same lingo but also run into the same crunch times, frustrated feelings, and tensions with co-workers that we've all felt in a production cycle... and learned to laugh about later. I'm still in college, granted not for much longer, but to be able to understand and relate to these people is just amazing. Thank you Champlain, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't feel as prepared for the industry as I do now.
Although I'm keeping this post vague for now, with the intentions of trying to elaborate more on thing later I do have to mention that I was really inspired by a talk I had with a guy by the name of David Hellman. If you don't know who he is, he was the artist who worked on Braid. Since then I've been thinking a lot about some different areas of the industry that I might be interested in going into, that perhaps I wasn't before. Although I still don't have a clear idea of where exactly I'd love to end up, my goal is to get my foot in the door somewhere, or work on something substantial with someone, and from there I will figure things out. Although there are still many unknowns for me, I'm much more confident now about being able to find my place in this industry.
Sorry for the short post, I'll try to post some more detailed thoughts later... but for now I must really get back into school work!! AGH! One month left!!
(ps these guys weren't the same Army guys I worked with earlier, and I thought they were. It was sort of awkward at one point when I asked them if they had Canyon loaded up on this system and they didn't have a clue what I was talking about... haha)
No comments:
Post a Comment