Top 10 things I learned at SF GDC 09
by Leba Lualdi · 04/02/2009 (10:07 am) · 16 comments
The Top 10 Things I Learned at SF GDC 09
1. Most people are cool. I loved meeting (or finally seeing in person) so many totally cool people. We are so lucky to be in an industry that we enjoy and allows us to be surrounded by people with the same interests. It’s just a really sweet feeling.
2. Austin GDC is like a little baby show for babies. I knew SF was going to be bigger, but HOLY COW. I never even got to see booths past the mid-point in the North Hall and I only saw the part of the West Hall handing out the LBP magnets. It was MASSIVE. Next time I hope to see the whole thing.
3. Booth Babes are real. I didn’t really believe it exactly until I saw the white spandex girls, and it’s a sight to behold. They ARE real, and they have a very compressed library, er I mean limited vocabulary. But they were really workin' it.
4. GarageGames has the best community. I have never seen such a diverse passionate group as the GG fans. So often last week when someone would have questions about the Green-Ear tech- once they heard Torque integrated, they were sold. Mind you, these are not people we know through the GG connection… Random folks just passing through!
5. The guys at Broke Ass Games rule. I’m sad we didn’t get to hangout more. But we will be pimpin’ out your Green-Ear game for years to come so I trust there will be other opportunities.
6. Probably the most exciting discovery for me is that Green-Ear really is a unique offering. We ran into several other people with a handful of semi-‘competitive’ products. But there wasn’t one that had me scared. What we do is just so different from what they do.
They are either:
a. way more expensive
b. have a way crappier codec
c. hence more lag, lower quality and higher propensity for sucking
d. they are not in game (which is a world unto itself mostly
resulting in fragmented communities)
e. they can’t integrate into Flash
f. they aren’t pre-integrated to Torque and other various engines
g. no voice morphing
h. no text to speech
i. no free sdk
j. they don’t provide source code to allow for developer
flexibility
k. all of the above
I could go on forever, but I won’t- those are the ones off the top of my head. And just for the record, those aren’t all technical terms or valid arguments normally made by adults. (ie. Crappier and sucking are not the most technical of terms- but since I am 8 years old- it all works out.) The point is it was really good to see that our market research/assumptions continue to be true.
7. Adrian and Justin- love those guys. Holla.
8. You should NOT wear high heeled shoes and stand up for a week and walk miles and miles. Turns out, that will mess up the nerves in your toes. Who knew? Most of you, I guess- since you weren’t wearing high heels.
9. You can buy really expensive really crappy food almost anywhere. I never knew that so many things came with squid ink.
10. GDC - food + Jӓger = disaster.
Here's a couple pictures:
Green-Ear Team
Even the toilet paper in the hotel was jumping on the GG wagon...
Toilet Paper Advanced 3D
Setting up the state of the art Green-Ear network
Ted, Green-Ear Engineer Extraordinaire
IGDA Party- Megan attacked me with her Bud Light...aka waste of a free drink ticket
Leba and Megan, Green-Ear
Look at him go!
Ari Rule, Broke Ass Games, is the Flash.
By the last day, people were feeling a little rough around the edges.
Mike Rojas, Green-Ear CEO and Jon Orantes, Broke Ass Games Development are SUPER enthused
Broke Ass Games and Green-Ear
Jon, Leba, Ari, Megan, Chris
Please add your own lessons learned. People helping people, that’s what it’s all about. ;) Many thanks to everyone for making GDC a rousing success.
THE END
Leba
About the author
#2
04/02/2009 (10:33 am)
I'll never tell. 
#3
04/02/2009 (10:35 am)
;) 
#4
04/02/2009 (11:43 am)
Great to hear that Green Ear had a successful show. d(^_^)b 
#5
04/02/2009 (12:39 pm)
Great to hear that you guys had a great show, just wish it wasn't so damn far to travel for us Brits as it'd have been great to see all the booths and buzz. 
#6
Great job on the feature list btw -- I was pleasantly _shocked_ to read what the green ear software can do for our game! (Voice morphing? text to speech? somebody pinch me already!)
See you at the next one!
04/02/2009 (1:48 pm)
Yow, a picture of me made it into a Green Ear girl's blog!! >8-) It was great getting to meet you all! Glad you all had a good time, wish we coulda hung out more! Great job on the feature list btw -- I was pleasantly _shocked_ to read what the green ear software can do for our game! (Voice morphing? text to speech? somebody pinch me already!)
See you at the next one!
#7
and PS there are SO many things that Green-Ear can do for games... you can see a pretty detailed list at www.green-ear.com/features.aspx.
Although it does not yet have the 2.1 features which will be available any day now- the SDKs are done some just need to be posted. But that will add Mac and iPhone SDKs (available next week at green-ear.com) as well as new features in the Torque SDK like Voice Commands and PSTN Connectivity (out-of-game calling to a landline or mobile phone).
Pricing on out of game calling is still up in the air but it will likely be like a calling card or a branch of the voice slots, purchased in chunks.
04/02/2009 (2:03 pm)
Chris, I love it when you pretend I'm famous! and PS there are SO many things that Green-Ear can do for games... you can see a pretty detailed list at www.green-ear.com/features.aspx.
Although it does not yet have the 2.1 features which will be available any day now- the SDKs are done some just need to be posted. But that will add Mac and iPhone SDKs (available next week at green-ear.com) as well as new features in the Torque SDK like Voice Commands and PSTN Connectivity (out-of-game calling to a landline or mobile phone).
Pricing on out of game calling is still up in the air but it will likely be like a calling card or a branch of the voice slots, purchased in chunks.
#8
Some people are NOT cool. Like the pervy person who hacked into all my stuff, the person who I MET AT GDC.
A message to that guy: Dude, I know your IP and I’m coming for you.
04/02/2009 (2:14 pm)
And oh yeah here is one other bonus thing I learned at GDC... Some people are NOT cool. Like the pervy person who hacked into all my stuff, the person who I MET AT GDC.
A message to that guy: Dude, I know your IP and I’m coming for you.
#9
Good blog Leba. I wish I had taken more pictures, or gotten in a few :(
04/02/2009 (3:44 pm)
Sorry about the hacking...couldn't help myself =)Good blog Leba. I wish I had taken more pictures, or gotten in a few :(
#10
PS I never read/replied to the GG blogs on my blackberry before-but it's not half bad. Good job web team. Usually Blackberrys lame browser ruins everything, but this is functional! Sweet.
04/02/2009 (3:56 pm)
Mich, you hacker, you are goin down.;) I KNOW!! I could not believe how few pictures I had and NONE of our long awaited reunion. We'll find a way-somehow.PS I never read/replied to the GG blogs on my blackberry before-but it's not half bad. Good job web team. Usually Blackberrys lame browser ruins everything, but this is functional! Sweet.
#11
But what I know for sure - Green Ear are soo cool, so I would love to get a Green-Ear t-shirt if its possible, hehe :)
04/02/2009 (4:52 pm)
sad I wasnt able to be there... too far to travel: Moscow and SF are too far away from each other.But what I know for sure - Green Ear are soo cool, so I would love to get a Green-Ear t-shirt if its possible, hehe :)
#12
@Leba
Couldn't agree more! You gotta watch out for things on the internet that suck.
Thanks for all the Awesomeness! (2.1 sounds secksay!)
Jondo
04/02/2009 (5:19 pm)
Quote:c. hence more lag, lower quality and higher propensity for sucking
@Leba
Couldn't agree more! You gotta watch out for things on the internet that suck.
Thanks for all the Awesomeness! (2.1 sounds secksay!)
Jondo
#14
We noticed the same thing!
04/03/2009 (9:48 am)
Quote:Even the toilet paper in the hotel was jumping on the GG wagon...
We noticed the same thing!
#15
04/03/2009 (12:03 pm)
I JUST noticed today that our paper towels are also Tork. Tork Universal. I had to go all the way to San Francisco to learn about Tork's line of Advanced 3d paper products. 
#16
For indie its okay if you need 10 or 50 players, above that it begins to cost too much compared to max overall sale price of the game.
Remember, the more games you sell, the more slots you need to buy, so thats where a good deal of your sale money goes :)
With GDC my guess is you are starting to move out of indie market, atleast for large scale projects.
Its cool though, other awesome SDKs out there, though you need to host your self.
04/06/2009 (8:17 am)
This is good, but way too expensive if you need alot of slots (since after 15 feb).For indie its okay if you need 10 or 50 players, above that it begins to cost too much compared to max overall sale price of the game.
Remember, the more games you sell, the more slots you need to buy, so thats where a good deal of your sale money goes :)
With GDC my guess is you are starting to move out of indie market, atleast for large scale projects.
Its cool though, other awesome SDKs out there, though you need to host your self.
Associate Orion Elenzil
Real Life Plus
lol, is that some sort of green-ear-ism ?