GDC2011: A Fabulous Drift, Part 1

March 8, 2011 2:05 am Sir Haxington Game Development, Games for Fun, Gaming, Life

The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is one of those events in life I look forward to every year. When people ask me “What is GDC?” I always tell them the same thing:

“GDC is a lot like college. You pay a bunch of money to learn a bunch of stuff, you meet a bunch of awesome people, then you go to parties at night.”

My love for thinking and talking about games, meeting other people in the games industry and having a good time with them afterward has no bounds.

After GDC, I make sure to spend time exploring the city. San Fran is a fabulous place with so much to offer and so many great adventures to partake in. For me, GDC and enjoying SF go hand in hand. My advice to all would be game developers (and everyone, really) is something you’ll hear often, and not just from me: Don’t draw the inspiration for your craft only within your craft itself. Why? Because your medium becomes derivative and lacks innovation. People need to inject creativity and be inspired from outside sources to keep things fresh.

My solution? Go create your own real life adventures! Have fun. Put your self in places and situations you wouldn’t normally go into. Go people watching and explore all the city has to offer. Study the world at large and at the very least, you’ll have a good time and see something new.

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I left Tuesday morning from Seattle on Virgin airlines. I try to fly Virgin whenever I can as the slight addition to the cost of the flight is worth the comfort factor over other airlines. Virgin flights all have touch screen panels on the seat in front of you with shows and movies, music and so fourth, but best of all, in flight wi-fi. What a world we live in where humans can fly in metal boxes tens of thousands of feet above the planet and simultaneously complain on Facebook about how we’re not getting enough in-flight snacks to all their friends and family across the globe.

Seattle was rainy and the weather had been gray for some time. There were remnants of snow around my house. I was ready to get back to Cali and see some sun. Then the pilot comes over the comm:

“We’re expecting stormy conditions in San Fransisco. This won’t delay flight times, but be prepared for some rain.”

Oh good. Well, at least I’m used to this.

The flight was great as usual. I ended up playing a ton of Zombies!!! which is a board game converted to Window Live for mobile. Great game. Everyone should try it.

My arrival at SFO was surprisingly… sunny. Maybe he meant the storm was coming later. No complaints here. I’ll take it.

This year GDC is an out of pocket expense for me, so I decided to cut some costs where I could. Instead of the $40 plus cab ride from the airport to the hotel, I’d be taking the BART, which is the light rail / subway system of San Fransisco. I’ve heard some great things about the BART, and having lived in Portland for a while and using the MAX, I’ve always been a fan of light rails.

Getting on and using the BART was straight forward. Sure, at times it sounded like the train was being swallowed by a dementor, but the $8.10 price tag on a trip from the airport to three blocks from my hotel couldn’t be beat. The trip took the same amount of time as a cab ride and was about as clean, plus I’m did some good for the environment. Win. I’m a BART convert, and will use the light rail from now on when I’m in town.

Coming out of  the Powell street station exit, I’m greeted with a picturesque view of San Fransisco.

So pretty.

I make it to the Marriott Grand Marquis around 2-3pm. I get settled in, but most people I know are already off attending the conference. With some time to kill, I decide to do things a bit differently this year. Where as at previous GDCs I might have went to the bar or simply took a nap, this time (after running down to get my badge) I hit the treadmill in order to keep up with my running regimen. The boost of energy I received from a 4 miler proved to be valuable the rest of the day.

Treadmills are the worst though. I can’t help but watch the numbers slowly go up. It’s demoralizing. 4 miles on a treadmill feels like 13.1 around my neighborhood.

I relax a bit and being to access the possibilities for shenanigans that night. I start hitting up my connections and find out about a few parties going on. I settle on going to the Battlefield 3 preview party with a few folks I know and some new friends, including one of the level designers working on Bioshock Infinite and GDC speaker this year, Forrest Dowling. Forrest and I end up having some good conversations about level and mission design throughout the night. Great guy.

The Battlefield 3 party takes place at the Temple Lounge, just a short few blocks from the Moscone center. A group of us head down there when we find that the event is mainly reserved for media types. Luckily, we know the right people and are able to get in. While we’re waiting, one of those surreal moments in life happens.

I recognize Adam Sessler of G4TV standing out in front of Temple, waiting to go in. He’s alone, and I ask one of the people in our group if that’s actually him.

“Yeah, you want to meet him?”

Sure, why not.

So I’m introduced as someone who works for 343 Industries as is the creator of Nazi Zombies. He seems more excited to meet me! We chat for a bit and I realize, just like most people involved in the industry, is that he’s a really cool, down to Earth guy. When he found out NZ was a side project, something I was working on under the radar, he gets excited. “Do you know how often that happens? The best stuff seems to come from people in their spare time… garage projects! I need to write a book or do a documentary about that.” So look out for that.

He eventually asks me, “So, did you think Nazi Zombies was going to be a big as it was? I mean, when they first showed it to us it was like ‘Okay, here is Nazi Zombies, now here is MP, and here is the campaign…’ like they had no idea how popular it would be!”

This is something I think about often, but no one has bothered to ask me before. I suppose he’s naturally good at asking the right questions. My answer was essentially that I knew it was awesome and fun, but I had no idea it would be so popular that it would be turned into an iPhone game at some point and make Activision all the money it did. It sounds like they didn’t know either. I don’t think many game designers ever realize how big something might get, they’re just doing what they love.

We chat a bit more, and I find out Adam is trying to grind through Dragon Age II for a review. I find out that Mr. Sessler is a legit reviewer: He actually finishes games before reviewing them, even epicly long RPGs. How awesome is that?

Eventually he gets called inside but it was awesome to meet him in person and find out he’s a cool guy.

We wait a bit more and are finally let through the door. Onto the free drinks and appetizers. I go easy on drinks at first because I hadn’t eaten since about 9am, so I take as many crab cakes and sliders as they’ll let me ingest.

Eventually we see the Battlefield 3 preview. Awesome! The game looks amazing, but it’s also running in a high end PC so I pretty much expect that. Their new animation system, which is apparently based on the same system they use for the Madden games seems like a good tech change. The game seems pretty good by all accounts, even if the scripting looks and feels like a lot of games I’ve seen lately.

I end up running into my old Creative Director at Treyarch as he now works for Danger Close on Medal of Honor. We catch up and he introduces me to some of his crew. We chat about the state of things and the good ol’ days. Turns out he’s trying to lose some weight too, and he’s been motivated by my running and weight-loss to get back in shape. Awesome!

After an hour or two, we decide to leave the free drink situation. Some people want some real food, so we head over the the Burger Bar in Union Square where we no have to pay for drinks! At GDC?  Unheard of!

I end up sitting, chatting and generally having a good time with some other media folks from EGM and who used to work at 1-up. One guy tries the spiciest burger they make and the Burger Bar waitress claims he’ll need to sign a waiver. They never bring it out. The burger nearly kills him, but I’m able to eat a portion of it without blinking. I foresee a spicy food challenge in my future now.

I find out we’re only killing time before going to another party, a house party, in the Mission District on the other side of time. Hosted by Area 5, a new media group made up of mostly ex 1-up folks, I have no idea what to expect. They’re asking $20 upon entry to cover some of the expenses. Fine. We’re in.

Once again, I run into Adam Sessler. We’re both like “Hi, and isn’t that weird!” but we don’t spend a lot of time talking since we’ve only just met. Plus, there’s a bunch of other people here I want to meet.

Out on the balcony, I meet with a games industry agent (which I didn’t even know existed) and who happens to be part of the company representing some fairly famous people who have worked on some pretty big games. I have a bunch of questions about how they operate, and it turns out they really only represent studios and not individuals. Damn. Having an agent had a nice ring to it.

I end up talking to people I know, people I don’t know, stuff about Fable III, in-game tutorials, indie games, stuff about life and wooooo boy the vodka tonics are catching up quick. I end up in in the bedroom of one of the party hosts with a few folks I know and some new Area 5 friends, and we end up designing a brand new game which sounds incredible in our inebriated state. I begin to realize I’m turning into a some sort of modern wandering design drifter.

Once that’s over the guy DJing the event comes upstairs. He’s talking to the host, when I over hear he’s the DJ.

“So you’re the DJ?”

“Yeah.”

“So how is there music playing downstairs?”

“Oh I just threw on Girl Talk, no one will notice.”

Haha! So we start talking about Girl Talk. He asked me if I had tickets to his show, and I explain that I’m up in Seattle and tried to get tickets but they were sold out, but I’m working on getting some from someone I know.

Somehow, the conversation turns to running and I explain to him my awesome tactic of drinking then going running. He thinks this is awesome and crazy, and wants to try it. He’s a bit out of shape but also happens to be training for a 5k so we end up spending like 20 minutes just talking about running techniques. Yes, running is becoming a common conversation piece it seems in my life.

I also end up bumping into an old Treyarch producer whom I worked with on World at War and has just shipped Black Ops. More catching up and agreeing to disagree about life and the state of the industry takes place.

Eventually, it’s time to go. I still have my wits about me, as I always do, but it’s late and I’ve had more than a few too many.

Our cabbie is awfully quiet at first. Myself and a fellow designer are also quiet. I’m still in a talking kind of mood, and the cabbie obliges. I find out he used to race motocross, and one of the guys he used to race with became some sort of pro. We get to chatting more about his short motocross career, including a depressing part about how he was the only Hispanic racing when he grew up and how became the constant victim of racism. At one point he whips out his iPhone and digs up videos of this guy. So we’re sitting out in front of the Marriott, my buddy is annoyed and wants to leave, but I feel bad for the guy telling me his life story and showing me videos of all of this.

I watch a bit of it then we’re on our way, but I can’t help but wonder if he’s making it all up or if it’s all very real and this is some sort of therapy for him- talking to drunk folks with a willing and sympathetic ear.

Back to the Marriott where life is a little quieter. It’s already 2 or 3 am and I need to be up for Mr. Iwata at 9am.

Tomorrow will be a long day, but one of the best days I’ve had in a long time.

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Part 2 finally awoke.