You definitely get a skewed view of GDC from general media and social media. If you are a penniless indie dev, or just someone who hasn’t been to GDC, you might think it is an exciting wonderland full of product releases, wild parties, great deals being done, and venture capitalists throwing bags of cash at grateful developers. The truth is, its much more variable.
GDC Tweetage is generally “Just had an awesome meeting, so excited” and “So amazing to meet up with so many talented people again #GDC17” and so on. The non-tweeted thoughts are more like…
“Sat alone in hotel room eating crisps again.” “Can’t afford the pass to go to the cool talks :(”
The reality is a mix of the two. I’ve had some great times, met with nice people, and some kinda dull, boring, miserable times. All my real ‘biz’ stuff is done now, so its just the nice socializing with buddies stuff ahead of me, then the inevitable long flight home. At this point, I think I have enough data to provide some pseudocode to determine if you should attend 2018:
bool ShouldIAttendGDC()
{
float ValueOfGDC = 0
float relative_cost = CostOfAttending / IncomeFromGameDev;
if(relative_cost > 0.5f) return FUCK_NO;
if(relative_cost < 0.01f) return HELL_YEAH;
ValueOfGDC += (0.02f * NumFriendsAttending);
if(CanAffordBusinessClassSeats) ValueOfGDC *= 2.0f;
if(NeedFunding || LookingForFirstIndustryJob)
{
if(IsExtravert) ValueOfGDC += 0.2f;
else return FUCK_NO;
}
if(HasNeverAttendedGDC) ValueOfGDC += 0.20f;
if(AboutToReleaseGame) ValueOfGDC += 0.05f;
ValueOfGDC += (0.075f * NumConfirmedPartyInvites);
if(WorksForMiddlewareCompany) return WHO_CARES_BOSS_PAYS;
if(YouGetAFreePass) return LOL_YEAH;
if(ValueOfGDC >= 0.5f) return MIGHT_AS_WELL;
else return NAH_FUCK_IT;
}
I hope this is helpful.