Accruing Interest at GDC Austin

Austin GDC was off to a rocky start with travel and the usual Murphy's Laws running interference, but I was able to get to the conference center relatively unmolested and begin meeting, greeting, and learning. I sprung for the cool kids' pass and got to attend sessions this year, and some of the knowledge that entered my skull was pretty good stuff. Whether it was Dave Mark outlining some of the things I've been feeling about AI in MMOs or Raph Koster showing us how to use math to think outside the box, the sessions were really good presentations by equally knowledgable professionals.

The Expo floor- and the conference in general- was quite a bit smaller than I expected, so I didn't have the hurried feel that GDC San Francisco gave me. It didn't leave me catatonic, like GDC SF did, either, thank God. But the smaller size let people network a little more deeply, so the quality made up for some of the lacking quality (kind of like the feel of IMGDC in Vegas this year, except without my ranting about MMOs).

Some other highlights were meetings that I can only say left a big smile on my face, and a relatively smooth porting of the gameplay scripts to T3D. Sure, there were a few exceptions to that smoothness, but Derek and Michael Perry actually stepped up and helped me out in time for a very important appointment. Thanks, guys! I also have to mention Deborah, Bret, Ross, Russel Fincher, the Perfect Dork Studios crew, and a number of other GG employees and community members who I cannot recall yet am grateful to see. Everyone in the booth was just top-notch, as was evidenced by the fact that the GG booth had as many or more people at it than any of the other booths.

All in all, it was a great time, and I was able to do some recruiting for Epic Frontiers as well as getting in a Podcast and some face time with people interested in the project. This has the effect of accruing interest for Epic Frontiers in the same way that an IRA accrues interest for a sum of money: You get the interest, roll it into the sum, and then use that to gain more interest to make it grow. If you're working on an MMO and you think you can get by with just your fantastic idea, then I can tell you that you're dead wrong: Closed mouths don't get fed, and unless you put yourself out there and tell the world about what you're working on and weather the criticisms and accept the accolades with equal professionalism, you simply won't make it.

Those of you hiding your game design ideas for fear of them getting stolen just haven't gone to a conference where ideas fly through the air like flocks of pigeons with dementia, morphing and breeding in a creative atmosphere of hundreds or thousands of developers trading knowledge and helping each other out.

But that's enough preaching- I think I'll end the blog with the fact that we are still looking for character/creature modelers and animators, and anyone who is interested and can do low-poly work should contact us with samples. You must be willing to sign Work For Hire (deferred payment/sweat equity) and NDA contracts.

And now for some eye-candy while the credits roll...

Ris'Hebbik at sunrise:


Ris'Hebbik at sunset: