Apr 2021: GDC Showcase Highlights

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of watching the GDC Showcase, a mix of live Q&A sessions and classic talks, and I just wanted to take a moment to pick out a few of my personal favorites from the week. Mostly as a way to spread the love—but also for my own benefit in case I want to refer back to these talks at some point.

Fizzy Brushstrokes: The Art of Knights and Bikes
Rex Crowle, Foam Sword, 2018

I had sent our artist a link to this talk before it was even half-way over.

Crafting A Tiny Open World: A Short Hike Postmortem
Adam Robinson-Yu, 2020

I had to double-check that this one was actually only half an hour long because it seems to hit on pretty much every facet of crafting a game, and yet at no point does it get overwhelming,

Making Marketing Mistakes
Victoria Tran, Innersloth, 2021

As of this writing, GDC hasn’t posted the video to this one, but you can find some of the best quotes in this written recap. Her bit about turning your trash into compost kinda struck a chord within me… what else can I say?

I’ll make sure to update the post with a video link if and when one gets posted.

Dream Daddies and Fearful Fathers: How Indies Can Cope with Being Terminally Online
Leighton Gray, Game Grumps, 2019

I was actually at this talk in-person two years ago, and it was just as good the second time around. This talk comes with a companion article, “the internet is bad actually,” worth digging into.

Classic Game Postmortem: Ms. Pac-Man
Steve Golson, 2016

Admittedly this one spoke to me more as a lifelong gamer than as a game developer, but it’s still important and fascinating to learn about the roots of the art form.

Dealing with Scope Change in Heat Signature and Gunpoint
Tom Francis, Suspicious Developments, 2018

This one is one I want to watch again as we approach that magical day when The Day We Fought Space is actually done and we get to start working on the next game…

GDC Podcast Live!

As of this writing, the Live GDC Podcast episodes have not been posted, but I’d like to single out the episodes with Derek Yu and Justin Keenan in particular as live Q&A sessions I enjoyed.

There were tons of other great sessions — but at some point I need to draw the line and keep “highlights” from becoming “catalogue.” And this is that line.