Podcast – Everything you need to know about the Game Developers Conference
The Future Leaders Delegation and Screen Australia Games team share their takeaways and advice from the 2024 Game Developers Conference.
The Future Leaders Delegation (L-R): Jarrod Farquhar-Nicol, Jessica Lyon, Jojo Zhou, Emma Losin and Jae Stuart
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There's a thousand ways to successfully navigate the Game Developers Conference (GDC) was the resounding message of the Screen Australia delegation to this year's event.
Every March, over 30,000 programmers, designers, artists, producers and game makers descend on San Francisco for five days of tutorials, lectures, roundtables, and expos. Home to the Independent Games Festival and the Game Develops Choice Awards the conference is a hub of international knowledge-sharing for game makers and businesses, and with so many events happening simultaneously in a jam-packed schedule of creativity and commerce, it's important to have clear goals before you arrive, says Screen Australia's Head of Online and Games Lee Naimo. "Set your own goals and dive into the schedule of the conference to find what really resonates for you."
Creative Director of Anecdote Games - and member of the Future Leaders Delegation - Jarrod Farquhar-Nicol agrees, saying that by setting values and goals you'll avoid the curse of "FOMO, even if you go."
"There's so much going on, so many things clashing together. You can't go to everything and you need to take some breaks for yourself as well. So setting those goals, setting those values, setting what you really want to get out of it […]" was the best advice, he adds. "[GDC is] a marathon, not a sprint. And just know that there will be, some FOMO no matter what you're doing."
On this episode of the Screen Australia Podcast, we hear from Screen Australia's delegation to this year's GDC. Joining Naimo from Screen Australia is Games Investment Manager Amelia Laughlan to discuss their insights into the games industry, the significance of GDC for the global community, and the key takeaways from this year's conference. They also introduce the Future Leaders Delegation - a new program from Screen Australia to support underrepresented early-mid career game makers get the most out of their GDC experience.
The delegation included Cult of the Lamb writer Jojo Zhou (Massive Monster); game designer and project manager Emma Losin who has worked on space epics Phantom Galaxies and Star Trek Lower Decks; co-founder of new indie studio Fat Alien Cat and game artist Jessica Lyon; Jae Stuart who is lead programmer on the recent Screen Australia Emerging Gamemakers Fund project King Tidal; and creative director of Anecdote Games Jarrod Farquhar-Nicol. They share their experience at GDC as first-time attendees and their advice for Australian game makers interested in attending.
To find out more about Screen Australia's game funding, including details of the Future Leaders Delegation, click here.
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