GDC Diary Day 2

Emerging from our warm duvets and having been fuelled with caffeine it was time to embark to the Moscone centre to get our passes for the week and start attending some talks.

Due to a bit of a balls up with our weeks passes we missed the first event of the independent gaming seminar and had to squeeze into the back for the next talk.

Every talk was really informative. I'd never attended GDC before so really didn't know what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. There are some fantastic write ups and most speakers have put their presentations online which I highly recommend checking out. Indie gamer has a list of online copies of the talks given.

Two of the most inspiring talks were made by Cactus, the man who churns out a game a minute and Petri Purho who created Crayon Physics Deluxe and runs Klooni Games. Cactus should get a prize for the most entertaining presentation, armed with Graphics and sound effects like I'd never seen before, he gave great insight into his thought process and the way he works. Petri on the other hand gave a very honest talk about his work on Crayon Physics and the problems he faced and how winning the previous years IGF grand prize had affected him. I left both talks very inspired and itching to create something exciting.

Feeling a hundred times more human than I had the day before I finally managed to chat coherently with some fellow indie developers during the coffee breaks. Erik Svedang, the creator of Blueberry Garden turned out to have the best hair I've seen adopted by a game developer and Jens Bergensten, the programmer behind Harvest Massive encounter, became a firm friend and helpfully introduced me to a lot of people I wasn't brave enough to approach at first.

Alex May and Rudolf Kremer's were also internet friends whom I'd never actually met. The interview I conducted with them a while back was all done over msn messenger. Just as I was about to leave I bumped into Rudolf and instantly it was agreed that alcohol should be consumed and the Cletus Clay and Dyson teams should meet properly. Alex and Anthony had returned to the apartment so that they could work on getting our Cletus Clay demo all set for Wednesday so I went to find Andy and a good pub.

Deciding that food would be a good idea before beer consumption Andy and I found a pizza place and indulged in some lovely cheesy pizza. The concept of getting something 'boxed to go' is still a bit alien to me but having only managed half my pizza I loved the fact they could wack it in a box and I could tuck it in my handbag for snacking on later.

Flagging down a cab we then made our way to a bar called Brick which was right next to where Brian, the musician from Dyson, was staying. A couple of beers later and we were all wittering away like we'd known each other for years. Eventually it was time to head home so Andy and I started wandering the streets looking for a handy taxi. Whilst hunting for our lift home we came across what seemed to be a pretty authentic all-American bar and decided one more beer wouldn't hurt.

This was a mistake.

Andy and I still aren't entirely sure what dirty dealings were going down in that bar but we have a feeling that the older lady playing pool wasn't slipping the young gentlemen next to her money for beer. This is when we decided to call it quits and make a hasty exit.