A little backstory

The last Game Developers Conference I attended was in 1996.  Back then I was working at Apple and leading the development team for the Game Technology Group.  Some of you may not remember the Apple of the ‘90s.  Imagine John Hodgman (aka PC Guy) trying to play the role of the Mac in the PC vs. Mac commercials.  Decidedly not cool.

We were making an effort to get games on the Mac (cool).  Apple funded the Game Technology Group whose charter was to produce a Mac game platform (Game Sprockets) and help developers port their games using it.  The trouble was the ROI didn't make sense for developers (not cool).  A publisher could make more money on less investment by localizing a game to FIGS or Japanese than doing a Mac port.  It didn't help that Microsoft was doing a great job evangelizing DirectX, a Windows-only platform.   Apple imploded in '97 and the Game Technology Group was no more (not cool).

EXT. SAN FRANCISCO - PRESENT DAY

I went to GDC '07 wondering how it would be different from my last visit.  I'd heard that it had "been commercialized," so I was imagining lots of sessions "brought to you by..."  Perhaps some presentations heavy on flash and light on content.  People at the lunch tables divided into Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo camps.

After some initial stumbling around Moscone South and North I finally found West, which hadn't existed last time I was there and which happened to contain the registration tables.  A $3 bottle of water and $2.50 bagel later I was ready for my first session-- "Controlling the Entire Theater of War: The Development of Supreme Commander".

I'm not a fan of RTS in general (I'm one of the few gamers I know who never really liked "Age of Empires"), but I enjoyed the epic mayhem that was "Total Annihilation" (Chris's first RTS).  Trailers for "Supreme Commander" had impressed me enough that I am considering a return to the genre.  Rumor has it I might get a copy for my birthday from my former TA-sparring buddies.  I was looking forward to getting the inside scoop on its development.

Turns out I didn't get that.  Chris Taylor is an interesting guy and he spins a good, colorful yarn.  But the session was a lot less about "Supreme Commander" than it was about his personal journey to make it on his own terms.  The most memorable take-away from the talk was an admonition to have a life.  Don't let the industry suck up every waking moment.  Don't pay for the success (or more likely, failure) of your product with your marriage, family, health, or friends.

I can pretty much guarantee that no one was saying anything like that in GDC '96.  It was a message I wholeheartedly believe in, and I left the session having forgotten all about my initial concerns about the commercialization of GDC.

I skipped CliffyB's presentation on "Gears," opting instead to listen to another industry titan (and Microsoft employee), Peter Molyneux give a talk on yes, the dog from "Fable 2."  I don't think I could do justice to the topic.  I was skeptical.  I was rolling my eyes.  Peter knew I was skeptical.  He knew everyone in the audience was rolling their eyes, but he also knew something we didn't-- that it works.  It really, really works.  As Peter portrayed it, there are three levels of character interaction:

1. The AI character responds to you
2. The AI character cares about you
3. The AI character wants you to care about them

Peter passionately and desperately wants to make you cry when you play his game.  As a huge fan of story and character-based games, I laud this ambition and I hope he can pull it off.  I've never played "Fable."  Haven't heard good thing about it, to be honest.  But you can be sure I'm going to check out "Fable 2."

After poking my head in on the work that Chris Hecker was showing off for character animations in "Spore" (more awesome stuff-- you haven't lived 'till you've seen the all-Spore chorus line dancing to Britney), I went on to Shigeru Miyamoto's keynote.

Did I say I went to it?  What I meant to say was that I left Moscone West and headed to South with the intent to go to the keynote, but instead I queued up in a line.  I wasn't really sure at the time what the line was for.  I thought it might have been for the keynote, but that wasn't for 45 minutes and it seemed a bit extreme.  Still it was a big line and I figured I'd be better off just getting in it and waiting to see what happened.

It was the line to get into Miyamoto's keynote and it wrapped AROUND THE ENTIRE BUILDING.  MORE THAN ONCE.  Susan and I tried to figure out our relative positions in line over cell phones.  Good thing our bosses weren't there to listen in on the conversation.  How many developers does it take...?  if you know what I mean.  For the record I was about 500 people ahead of her.

Miyamoto gave a great talk.  Again, more of a story about his lifelong goal to drive up the wife-o-meter (you had to be there) than a "Nintendo" is so wonderful pitch.  He also delivered the message that you have to have a life and that you have to get the job done with the resources you have.  "Too bad" he said, if you need more devs/artists/etc.  Just do the best you can and hope your best is enough.

One interesting tidbit that you wouldn't know if you weren't there is that Miyamoto doesn't speak much English.  So he would talk while an interpreter would translate into English.  I've never seen such an effective setup like that.  The interpreter was able to capture (and deliver) slight nuances and humor in Miyamoto's speech.  It was almost as if Miyamoto was speaking himself.  What an interlocutor!

Why I love GDC

By the end of the keynote I had captured it.  The thing that makes me love GDC and want to keep coming back.  You can't put it to use in any direct way.  You can't capture it in a trip report or get it from reading the proceedings (or anyone's blog, including mine).  It's like we live our game developer lives of schedules and features and risks and deliverables far off in some remote land where we plug into a tiny current of "community."  But when we go to GDC, we're plugging directly into the source of that current.  Pure, powerful, and eye-opening.

It's not about whether some sessions, technology, or tutorials are incredibly relevant to the work we do.  It's about living and breathing the best of what the industry has to offer.  We're among the titans of our industry and the as-yet-unknown future titans.  We're at the center of the universe.  For those who love games and love game development there is no substitute.