Yeah I know…Everyone and their cats has been to GDC before, but I haven’t, partly due to distance, and partly because I prefer not to fly (for eco, not fear reasons), but it’s getting a bit ridiculous to not go any more.
The thing is I’m not really going for any specific promotional purpose this time. Democracy 3 is coming along nicely, but it’s not the sort of game that is easily shown off on a noisy show floor to a journalist who is distracted by booth babes and exploding airplanes. That isn’t to say I’ll never promote games of mine at shows, but as I’ve not been to GDC before, this is more of a social/checking it out trip than a promotional one.
There are a whole bunch of indies that I chat to online that I’ve never met, some of them might read this! and it will be cool to bump into some of them. I’m going to one big indie meetup thing on Monday night, and a meal on Tuesday night, and apart from that I’ll probably be dithering around on Monday/Tuesday wearing a gratuitous space battles t-shirt and trying to look like I fit in :D. If you see someone in a GSB t-shirt, you can probably assume it’s me.
I’m only going to be at the conference for Monday/Tuesday, I’m then heading off for five days of sightseeing somewhere with more trees and bears and less traffic. I think I’ll get the vibe of GDC in two days.
In the old days, indies would be clamoring for meetings with publishers, but in 95% of cases, they are now more trouble than they are worth. However if anyone has a good reason they want to meet up with me regarding press/pr or stuff like that, then I’ll be in San Francisco for two days, so best to contact me now if you are around.
I might even check my email daily while I’m there!