Last year I missed an opportunity to attend the GDC. This year I am going to do anything I can to be able to go. This would be such an amazing opportunity to be able to go to the GDC and meet so many industry representatives and be able to attend the sessions that are available. As of today I am finishing up my five essays for a scholarship put on by the IGDA which would allow me to attend the GDC free of charge. I’ll have to come up with the money to get there and pay for a hotel though. Though, it’s worth it even if I only meet a few people.

(Update) I finished writing my essays and submitted them to the IGDA.  Won’t find anything out till January 16th, 2008.  Which just means I have plenty of time to worry whether I was selected or not…

Wish me the best of luck!

Last night I made the drive to Klamath Falls from Salem. It was quite boring until the snow picked up and caused me to pay more attention to the road. Luckily I made it to Klamath Falls without a scratch and was able to see my wonderful girlfriend.

A couple weeks ago my CSET department faculty asked me to come down to K-falls to talk to the new upcoming students. I have been extremely busy, but decided I’d come anyways. They also offered to take me and Christina (my gf) to dinner.

I came down to K-falls and met a number of students considering OIT and sold a number of them on the CSET department at OIT doing software or computer engineering. Also a number of students decided to take a gander at our new embedded systems degree. It’s quite exciting to see what is happening next at OIT. We had around fifty students and their parents show up to see what the CSET department at OIT is all about, so I earned my free dinner along with getting my gas paid.

I’m quite glad I was able to make it down for this event and look forward to November when I’ll be making it down to the career fair to tell students about Garmin AT and try to get some qualified students some resumes.

So, if that’s you, let me know and I’ll pass the word on!

J!

This last week I had another awesome opportunity to attend a game developer’s conference.  The conference I attended was IndieGamesCon 2007, put on by GarageGames geared towards the indie game developer community.

There were a number of discussions at the event about the latest and greatest engines being developed by GarageGames along with a few roundtables on how to get your game idea listened to and how to get funded. 

When the main discussion weren’t going on there were a number of computers available to play some of the projects being showcased by the developers.  The games were then voted upon and the top picks were announced on the second and last day.

Unfortunately I was only able to stay the first day, however I had an awesome time while I was there and met some great people.  I also had my ass handed to me during a Wii-Tennis tournament by a couple GarageGames employees!

 For a ton of info on what exactly went on, go here.

Who’s all going to PAX?!  I am! 

 It’s going to be a great time with my girlfriend and a few others.  C and me are getting a hotel with a couple friends for Friday night, and then Saturday night we’re staying at C’s friend’s place.  It’s going to be a great time to get away and see some new games.  I’m really looking forward to meeting some developers at the expo as well. 

 I’ll write an update on how it all goes after I’m back!

I had the great opportunity this last Sunday/Monday to go to Microsoft GameFest in Seattle, Washington, for free! ($450-650 reg price). 

Our school, OIT, received a grant this summer for 20 xbox 360s, 20 developer licenses, and $10k to put on a few classes.  That’s pretty much how I got to go, but this just is exciting.  Our school is finally getting involved in game development, and it’s about time.  This will also be great for the club (OTGD)!

GameFest was more of a current developers in the game industry event, but having an avid interest in game development, I was able to get the opportunity to go and meet many people in the industry from programmers to researchers.  It was a blast.  There was free food, some great prizes, good information, and a great way to meet some new people and get my name out as an interested student in game development.  Don’t know for sure whether I’ll hear from people I gave my business card to, but oh well, I had a great time meeting them and hearing about all the different things going on.

I got there on Sunday for the reception, and met a few interested people there who had started up a company about a year and some ago.  We stayed at a friend’s place (free) and then had some free breakfast at the event.  Key speaker was there who announced the winners of the dream.build.play contest that Microsoft put on.  Went to a bunch of lectures, had some free lunch, met people in the expo area, and then went to some more lectures.  It ended that day at 6 or so, then at 6:30 was the after party.  That was a blast.  Free food, pool tables, Foosball, Xbox 360s with Guitar Hero 2 and a bunch of old arcade machines.  I also met a bunch more people while I was there towards the end, sadly we had to leave early since my friend had to work the next day.

I had a great time and wish I could have stayed for the next day, but oh well…there’s always next year!