The Game Developers Conference 2019 is literally right around the corner. By the time this article will have published it will only be a few hours away. After all the waiting, emails, meetings, reservations, planning, and last-minute preparations it’s finally here. Over 28,000 people are predicted to be attending this year’s conference from March 18th – 22nd and Level Up is particularly excited to be counted among those this year at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California. I’ve checked my gear and then checked it again. Charged my phone, my camera, and laptop and packed them in my bag as neatly as possible. My clothes laid out, and lunch wrapped. I have my press badge waiting on the desk in anticipation for the busy week ahead.
Monday and Tuesday were scheduled to be a light(er) day in terms of appointments, with a focus on meeting people and getting my bearings. Monday there’s an afternoon talk by Amazon that looks interesting to attend and later in the evening an event held by Women in Games International. However, this being the Games Developer Conference some of the prime events are well, the game. I’m meeting with Warhammer: Vermintide Developer Fatshark before noon to, as they put it, “talk all things horned beast, [and] pointy weapons”. Later, at 3pm BillyGoat Entertainment is set to show off their awesomely named, new multiplayer kart racing game Supermarket Shriek. Tuesday has me meeting game studio Digital Uppercut Productions in the morning, and wearable haptic technology developer EXIII in the afternoon.
Now, Wednesday is when the Expo official opens and as such is when the schedule really takes off. Wednesday morning, I have the pleasure of trying out a neat shadow-based game called Into the Shadows by indie developer Play Bae, before a big meeting from 12:30-2:00pm. I barely have time catch my breath before I get to try out Flight School’s amazing VR game Falcon Age, where I get to as protagonist Ara, learn the skill of falcon hunting. Thursday is a bit of an international day. I have the pleasure of meeting two Brazilian Dev teams – BitCake Studio and GILP Studio – who’ll be demoing DeMagnete VR and Areia respectively. Later, I meet up with Thai developer Yggdrazil Group to try out Number 6 and SwissGames to try out their diverse selection of games. Friday is when the conference starts to wind down. There are a couple of talks that line my schedule before my meeting with (incredibly named) Blowfish Studios and Yoozoo Interactive to try out their selection of games.
There’s clearly a lot to see and do at GDC, and I look forward to not only meeting these passionate dev teams I’ve mentioned above but also discovering what others have to offer this year to the gaming world.
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