Drafted 3/23/24
Greetings community,
GDC 2024 took place on Monday 18th- Friday 22nd of March. To those who are unaware, this is where the entire industry gathers in San Francisco California, to network share, party and educate. This is usually seen as the pinnacle of the industry, and this is where everyone from the heads of platforms to CEOs, to investors, to new students etc. etc. Anyone on the spectrum of games from indie to AA to AAA come and enjoy the rich legacy of our industry.
If you've been before, I need not explain why it's a good investment. To those who have never been, it's a great way to connect with your peers in the games industry, as well as the informed public. Yes, it's expensive, from ticket price, to hotel to transportation, etc. etc. it's a high cost. This event can literally make careers in this industry, so it's worth it.
It can act as a beacon for your dev team and provide a reason to meet up in person, as well as be a reason to set external deadlines.
So, I'm going to summarize my personal experience with GDC, so you can see an example of how far passion can take us all.
in 2017, me and Fandore (our former creative art director) were able to get the highest-level tickets, from the owner of Gamedev.net. Commie dog, would also get a ticket in 2018. We networked like crazy, and we were able to get Tiberium secrets seen by many in the industry, back then, we were all still just modders.
we formally transitioned to indie later 2017, with the formation of our company, yet it would take a few years for us to formally transition, and close Tiberium Secrets.
We ignorantly started production of 3 separate projects, under the leadership of Fandore, Jfod, and Commiedog. Back then, each time, we underestimated the amount of work it would take to complete and produce each project. Fandore led and designed an SCP inspired project called Aither Mall, a horror puzzle exploration game, set in the Secure Contain protect universe. Jfod (former narrative director) lead our 1st attempt at translating all we did with Tiberium Secrets into its own indie game. And Commie dog lead Vultures. The project you see before you here. In December of 2021 Both Fandore and Jfod Decided to leave with their respective Intellectual property, due to a variety of reasons. As the last project standing, Commiedog led Vultures production.
Jump forward to this GDC, we prepared a release candidate 4 for public testing for A party hosted by the San Francisco Game development meetup. This was our 1st public playtest, and we gained valuable feedback as to how Vultures played, as well as expectations of our players. There were many suggestions and key take aways I documented, and I thought that would be it. Demoing for a few hours, at the SF Wednesday venue.
We also got our steam store page up, just in time:
But Surprise surprise, it did not end there. A publishing contact I made at a past GDC reached out, and wanted to see what we had. I had previously sent an early build for their review in the end of January. They gave a bit of feedback, and I thought that was that. But then they invited me to a party they were hosting at the end of the week, and I got to show this publisher our progress. Obviously, nothing major happened yet, as I would have led this article entry differently, yet, they basically said they wanted to see more, and that Vultures was exactly in the genre they usually like to publish. They didn't have too many notes, as it was a busy event. There were at least 5 other demos at this Friday party. I actually almost didn't get in, as I arrived half an hour after the start. By that time, they had been already packed. I told the door guard who invited me, and that I was specifically invited to this party, and they let me in. Ya I know, I know. More feedback was given, and that was that.
I was also invited to parties all days except the 1st day. All of this networking has gotten us a lot of visibility we wouldn't have otherwise gotten, if we had not worked so hard for the past decade or so under the primary fuel of passion.
I am so humbled that I've been able to live this dream, and able to take Honor Games to where it is now. I'm sad that Fandore and Jfod are no longer with us, yet I'm confident God has another plan for them.
Thank you to both Intense! head of our platform, and Khawk, head of gamnedev.net, we would not be here if you both didn't do what you've done. And if I can help and be of service to any of you in the community, and would like my advice on your journey, wherever you may be, let me know.
Also, I was able to make some headway on my separate mental health initiatives, but we shall see where that goes.
And to the rest of this community?
To the end and beyond!
To the end and beyond!
To the End and Beyond!
If your interested in joining our journey, send me a message:
