GDC2006: All fun and games

Mar-27-06, 2:49 pm by Hanford
File under: Adobe, Macromedia, Google, consoles, Video games

I just got back from Game Developer's Conference (it was along drive from San Jose to Mountain View) and boy are my legs tired. I've been going to GDC for about 6 or 7 years now, and I mainly go to meet up with video game friends old and new (from both LucasArts and from the Indie Game scene).

I'm going to post a quick list of highlights:

Having a near miss with Richard 'Lord British' Garriott (of Ultima fame) while living it up in the VIP pre-party for the IGF awards. Had I known he was there, I would have geeked out a bit. Perhaps next year ...
Playing the new Nintendo 2d Super Mario bros. game. It's like the old-school NES Super Mario Bros game on steroids. Check out this teaser video.
Meeting up with the Adobe Shockwave/Director guys, including Tom Higgins, The Habbo Hotel guys, and Darrel Plant who has a bunch of GDC posts himself.
Meeting all the indie and casual (their term, not mine) game developers at the Minna Mingle. It's nice to know that there's people out there who know about and care about my games.
Seeing the recently-aquired-by-Google SketchUp in action. It works in the same way I think about objects in 3d space, and it's gotten me excited about 3d world building again.
There are only two major chapters in a person's life: Before seeing Bob Saget in person, and after seeing Bob Saget in person. As of Thursday night in the lobby of the San Jose Fairmont, my girlfriend and I are now in that second chapter. Strange, I don't feel any different.

... and so much more stuff that I can't even list ehre. Every year the GDC re-energizes me and gets me excited about games again. This year was no different. I can't wait for next year!

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