GEE DEE CEE. We came, we saw, we conquered. Well, not so much conquered as just walked around a lot for a week and met some really cool people and saw some really cool games. When we were deciding whether to go or not, we were torn about it - and in the end after getting discounted passes we decided to go. So is it worth it for an indie developer, particularly if that expo pass is going to be a decent chunk of your development change jar - and you have to book a flight and/or hotel?
First off, lets understand the potential costs. I will use mine as an example.
-
-1 week of development time
-
$350 for a summits and tutorials pass
-
$130 for a round trip plane ticket
-
$FREE accommodations on Brian’s couch
-
$120 for food / drinks / transport / misc.
So, not accounting for the value of one week of development time, that’s about $600 out of the penny jar. Not much for someone with a steady stream of income but for a lot of indie developers that can be a serious chunk of the rent / groceries / development budget. We were even lucky enough to get our summit and tutorial passes for half off through a promotion for developers who entered the IGF, which was a huge savings for us. So what did $600 get me?
- A bit of knowledge. The IGS, along with chatting with other developers provided me with some insights. Here are just a few tidbits: Indie developers are hilarious. You should be prototyping every minute of the day, even while sleeping. Some interesting sales stats for different platforms, promotions are GOOD. If you don’t mind paperwork then you should move to Canada becuase they have entire branches of government devoted to showering you with money.
- Some perspective. Meeting with a bunch of other developers, whether in similar situations as us or not provided me with some useful perspective on our own situation - and some other things that perhaps we should be considering.
- Great company. It is quite an awakening for an indie dev who probably sits alone in their house every day banging away at a game to go somewhere and be surrounded by other like minded people. It is reassuring and energizing to realize there are a lot of other people who share some chunk of your passion for making games, and that many of them are going through the same experience as yourself. Meeting and being surrounded by all these people was probably the most valuable part of the expo for me.
So were those things worth $600? I would whole heartedly say yes, especially as someone who had never been to GDC. Even if I don’t make it every year, I am pretty sure I will make an effort to go every few years if just to keep in touch with so many awesome developers, and I would recommend the same to any indie developer who can afford it. Hopefully in the future there will be some sort of special pass for the IGS as the current price for the general summits and tutorials pass is a bit prohibitive for indies - and I am pretty sure I could not have afforded it if not for the discount.
Anyone else go to GDC this year? Do you think it is worth it?
