This week, I had the chance to attend my second GDC (Game Developers Conference) — virtually. I was invited in person this year, but San Francisco is a bit far from Miami, FL. I did have the chance to book some virtual meetings and chats with a few game developers, students and some future meetups with other cool people from all over the globe.

Having both in-person and remote guests this year made the event a little closer to what it used to be. Last year, I was able to attend pretty much every presentation, since they were all done remotely. This year, many of the presentations were done in-person and not live streamed. Still, most of them will be available to watch online at some point. I plan to watch some when they are available.

What is GDC?

GDC is a conference created for game developers and those in the industry. I was lucky enough to talk to a few developers about what they’ve been working on, but I hope to learn more about how games are made in the future to be able to properly cover an event like GDC.

Something I learned this year is that GDC is also a networking event, mainly for students who are working towards a career in game development. I jumped into one of the virtual networking events one morning and ended up meeting a few students currently getting their degree. Some were already working in the industry while in school.

Awards & Recognition

GDC is also home to some competitions and awards shows. I wanted to include the IGF (Independent Games Festival Awards) finalists, since I’ve covered a few of these games on my site over the past two years. I interviewed some of these teams, and enjoyed and reviewed a couple of these games. Games like Loop Hero, Mini Motorways, Sable, Death’s Door and many more.

What’s Next?

Over the past two years since creating myVGBC, I’ve learned a lot about the games industry. My main takeaway has been that most people (at least in the indie scene*) have been very welcoming and open to talk about their work.

*I specifically mentioned the indie scene because I haven’t really dealt with the AAA game scene all that much.

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Starting next week, I’ll be posting some of what I learned in my GDC meetings and chats. Some of which is Top Secret — or will make more sense in the coming weeks.