GDC09 Days 1-2-3: BrokeAssGames, Leveling Up
by Rex · 03/28/2009 (6:22 pm) · 4 comments
GDC Day1: Hobbling in from the East Bay.
I live only about 19 miles from the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, CA where GDC09 was held in all 3 of the halls. Day1 started with me at the Dr's office getting my hip evaluated, I then hobbled my way to the BART and got to the GG booth as 'fast' as I could, and made it right on cue to meet the rest of the BrokeAssGames Team. I'm a journeyman stagehand and have never missed a cue yet, ;)!Quick introductions were passed, and the gang[contestTicket winners] were soon all acquainted and off to lunch with some GG representatives. I wish I had some pictures of the enormous amount of food that was ordered at Tu Lan, a local Vietnamese restaurant I frequent when working downtown SF. I guess I 'should' have warned everyone to perhaps not order two separate dishes...my single plate[crash cymbal] was huge, but I didn't want to be all bossy....
The rest of Day1 was spent trying to absorb all the sensory overload the Expo Hall was filled with. There it was, all assembled together in one location: all the coolest, cutting edge tech for the World Wide Gaming Industry to pick and choose from....you want motion capture? What kind? There were at least 4 that I managed gawk at. Just about any type of '3rd Party' material/tools/education were presented.
That was 'surprising' aspect; how many 'higher education' booths there were dedicated to this seemingly expanding Industry. The US Army had their very large booth on the opposite side of aisle 6400. Several entire countries had Expo type booths, Germany, Scotland[opposite GG booth] and other National interests had booths promoting their countries contributions and potential for the Industry.
The end of Day1 took us to some of the hospitality suites, common at these events, and I must give former GG employee, Jay Moore high marks on his new venture's suite! Also some local Pubs were challenged to supply the thirsty dev appetite for over21 beverages....all succeeded admirably.
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GDC Day2: BrokeAssGames Levels Up.
Day2 began at the BrokeAssGames hotel, where I found Chris Calef busy making sure the Demos for our pitches were all in working order.
...while Ari and Jondo guarded outside against any corporate ninjas.
We stopped by the GG booth with some padding before our live airtime, so we headed out to meet/greet the Green-Ear buddies[w/Ross of SickHead].
Where an immediate 'hugFest' occurred, one of many over the course of the 3 days of GDC09. Jondo looks back approvingly with his 'Producer's Eye'....at this new type of 'Booth Babe'....more from him on the subject...images included!Back at the GG booth, things were were spinning up with foot traffic. And this was another observation I made: the booth never seemed to NOT be full of developers, shouldered together to peer at what Garage Games brand of products had to offer in an array of platforms.
About the author
Rex does all his 3D graphics through BrokeAssGames and is currently working on DSQTweaker, Ecstasy Motion, and other interesting projects yet to be revealed. Just ask him about anything DTS/DSQ related, he's happy to help.
#2
Thanks for the concern, hip looks 'good'/no replacement needed, just some nasty bursitis...pills now, perhaps shot/removal after some eval...it got a bit difficult at times, with all the booth 'crawling'/hobbling in my case. Our final 'pitch' meeting took place upstairs in a nice quiet sit down area with large tables and numerous chairs. Made the end of Day2 a nice touch down, wish you could have been there. Perhaps next year, we certainly plan on future attendance.
Cheers, everyone, more images and stories on the way....
03/28/2009 (7:22 pm)
North,South,West...all THREE halls were filled with gamers, game developers, vendors from over the globe.....more to follow, I'll edit up the bloq, if I can, Day2[w/camera!] had 76 photos, Day3 had me attending to more 'newHome' duties, so it was more of a wrapUp/hugFest and get the other guys back on their way home North.Thanks for the concern, hip looks 'good'/no replacement needed, just some nasty bursitis...pills now, perhaps shot/removal after some eval...it got a bit difficult at times, with all the booth 'crawling'/hobbling in my case. Our final 'pitch' meeting took place upstairs in a nice quiet sit down area with large tables and numerous chairs. Made the end of Day2 a nice touch down, wish you could have been there. Perhaps next year, we certainly plan on future attendance.
Cheers, everyone, more images and stories on the way....
#3
03/30/2009 (5:36 am)
The GG booth was in the North hall. West was full of the Career Pavilion, I never got around to hitting the South. I think the awards and stuff were in the South hall. I live in Sacramento and went to GDC, it was definitely a blast. 
#4
04/01/2009 (4:52 pm)
Hahah. Hug Fest. You bet. I have some pictures of the "hugfest" as well....I'm still making my way through all the blogs I missed. More in a bit.
Torque Owner Mike Rowley
It sounds like everyone had a great time. :-) Hopefully next year I can attend.
Hope your hip is ok.