N'Gai Croal
|
Feb 18, 2008 05:18 AM
GDC's Jamil Moledina
In the run-up to last year's Game Developers Conference, we published a wide-ranging three-part exchange with GDC executive director
Jamil Moledina, covering everything from our concerns about the
approach of console manufacturers to the GDC keynotes to the
controversy swirling around the Slamdance Film Festival over the game
Super Columbine Massacre RPG! Moledina graciously agreed to return to
the Level Up hot seat ahead of this year's show--which kicks off today
in San Francisco--for a Q&A that we'll be publishing in two parts.
In today's Part I, we discuss the amount of time and planning that goes
into GDC; whether product casualization or audience stratification best
describes a recent trend in videogames; and the commercial prospects
for short session game developers. Read on.
After
a conference is finished, how soon do you start planning the next one?
Do you get a little break, or do you roll right into sketching out the
next conference the following Monday?
I roll right into it six
months before. The GDC has about an 18-month product cycle. So at this
point in time, we are deep into GDC '09. even though we're just three
weeks away from GDC '08. And although I do take a few days off after
GDC there's so much preparation that needs to go into this show. I
mean, it's a multi-million dollar, 16,000 person live, five-day show.
And there's a sense of responsibility that we all have to deliver the
largest professional-only industry show that there is. So there's a lot
riding on it--there's so many moving pieces involved that we need to
have a lot of work done way, way, way in advance.
What are the key components to making something like GDC work?
There
are several key disciplines involved. The core of it is the conference
itself. So we put a lot of energy into developing an experience that
fits the core values of the show: learning, inspiration, and
networking. That's the central foundation, and everything that we put
into the GDC has to reflect one or more of those components, so we
build the show from there.
Now, there's a lot of nuts and bolts
involved as well, given the scale of it. We have 400 sessions, 25
concurrent tracks--meaning 25 rooms running at the same time with
different content all the way through the three days of the main GDC.
The Monday and Tuesday content is very specialized, drilled down
summits and tutorials.
The first thing we need to do is make
sure that all of our content is locked in, accurate and feels right.
That's a combination of having an open call for submissions from the
industry; having an advisory board composed of industry veterans, as
well as those with their sleeves rolled up digging through--and
making--the best games of our time so that we have a sense of judgment
that is accurate. Because internally we have an editorial perspective,
but essentially the GDC is built as something by developers for
developers, and has to be reflective of those interests and concerns
and values.
As best as you can tell, what two or three things
characterize the major concerns--the collective concerns--of developers
in 2008?
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