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Once again it\u2019s time for GDC<\/a>, the Game Developers Conference<\/a>. This annual kickstart to my computational creativity is held in the Moscone Center<\/a> in San Francisco, CA and attracts roughly twenty thousand developers from all over the world.<\/p>\n I\u2019m interested primarily in artificial intelligence for computer games\u2013 \u201cGame AI<\/a>\u201d \u2013 and in the past few years they\u2019ve had an AI Summit<\/a> where game AI programmers can get together to hear neat talks about progress in the field.<\/p>\n Coming from an Academic AI background, what I like about Game AI is that it can\u2019t not work. The AI for a game must work, come hell or high water. It doesn\u2019t need to be principled. It doesn\u2019t need to be real. It can be a random number generator. But it needs to appear to work\u2014it has to affect gameplay, and users have to notice it.<\/p>\n That having been said, there are an enormous number of things getting standard in game artificial intelligence \u2013 agents and their properties, actions and decision algorithms, pathfinding and visibility, multiple agent interactions, animation and intent communication, and so forth \u2013 and they\u2019re getting better all the time.<\/p>\n I know this is what I\u2019m interested in, so I go to the AI Summit on Monday and Tuesday, some subset of the AI Roundtables, other programming, animation, and tooling talks, and if I can make it, the AI Programmer\u2019s Dinner on Friday night. But if game AI isn\u2019t your bag, what should you do? What should you see?<\/p>\n If you haven\u2019t been before, GDC can be overwhelming. Obviously, try to go to talks that you like, but how do you navigate this enormous complex in downtown San Francisco? I\u2019ve blogged about this before<\/a>, but it\u2019s worth a refresher. Here are a few tips that I\u2019ve found improve my experience.<\/p>\n Get your stuff done before you arrive.<\/b> There is a LOT to see at GDC, and every year it seems that a last minute videoconference bleeds over into some talk that I want to see, or some programming task bumps the timeslot I set aside for a blogpost, or a writing task that does the same. Try to get this stuff done before you arrive.<\/p>\n Build a schedule before the conference.<\/b> You\u2019ll change your mind the day of, but GDC has a great schedule builder<\/a> that lets you quickly and easily find candidate talks. Use it, email yourself a copy, print one out, save a PDF, whatever. It will help you know where you need to go.<\/p>\n Get a nearby hotel.<\/b> The 5th and Minna Garage<\/a> near GDC is very convenient, but driving there, even just in the City, is a pain. GDC hotels<\/a> are done several months in advance, but if you hunt on Expedia or your favorite aggregator you might find something. Read the reviews carefully and doublecheck with Yelp so you don\u2019t get bedbugs or mugged.<\/p>\n Check in the day before.<\/b> Stuff starts really early, so if you want to get to early talks, don\u2019t even bother to fly in the same day. I know this seems obvious, but this isn\u2019t a conference that starts at 5pm on the first day with a reception. The first content-filled talks start at 10am on Monday. Challenge mode: you can check in Sunday<\/a> if you arrive early enough.<\/p>\n Leave early, find breakfast.<\/b> Some people don\u2019t care about food, and there\u2019s snacks onsite. Grab a crossaint and cola, or banana and coffee, or whatever. But if you power-up via a good hot breakfast, there are a number of great places to eat nearby \u2013 the splendiferous Mo\u2019z Caf\u00e9<\/a> and the greasy spoon Mel\u2019s<\/a> leap to mind, but hey, Yelp<\/a>. A sea of GDC people will be there, and you\u2019ll have the opportunity to network, peoplewatch, and go through your schedule again, even if you don\u2019t find someone to strike up a conversation with.<\/p>\n Ask people who\u2019ve been before what they recommend.<\/b> This post got started when I left early, got breakfast at Mo\u2019z, and then let some random dude sit down on the table opposite me because the place was too crowded. He didn\u2019t want to disturb my reading, but we talked anyway, and he admitted: \u201cI\u2019ve never been before? What do I do?<\/i>\u201d Well, I gave him some advice \u2026 and then packaged it up into this blogpost. (And this one<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Network, network, network.<\/b> Bring business cards. (I am so bad<\/i> at this!) Take business cards. Introduce yourself to people (but don\u2019t be pushy). Ask what they\u2019re up to. Even if you are looking for a job, you\u2019re not looking for a job: you want people to get to know you first before you stick your hand out. Even if you\u2019re not really looking for a job, you are really looking for a job, three, five or ten years later. I got hired into the Search Engine that Starts with a G from GDC \u2026 and I wasn\u2019t even looking.<\/p>\n Learn, learn, learn.<\/b> Find talks that look like they may answer questions related to problems that you have in your job. Find talks that look directly related to your job. Find talks that look vaguely related to your job. Comb the Expo floor looking for booths that have information even remotely related to your job. Scour the GDC Bookstore for books on anything interesting \u2013 but while you\u2019re here: learn, learn, learn.<\/p>\n Leave early if you want lunch or dinner.<\/b> If you don\u2019t care about a quiet lunch, or you\u2019ve got a group of friends you want to hang with, or colleagues you need to meet with, or have found some people you want to talk to, go with the flow, and feel comfortable using your 30 minute wait to network. But if you\u2019re a harried, slightly antisocial writer with not enough hours in the day needing to work on his or her writing projects aaa aaa they\u2019re chasing me<\/i>, then leave about 10 minutes before the lunch or dinner rush to find dinner. Nearby places just off the beaten path like the enormous Chevy\u2019s<\/a> or the slightly farther \u2019wichcraft<\/a> are your friends.<\/p>\n Find groups or parties or events to go to.<\/b> I usually have an already booked schedule, but there are many evening parties. Roundtables break up with people heading to lunch or dinner. There may be guilds or groups or clubs or societies relating to your particular area; find them, and find out where they meet or dine or party or booze. And then network.<\/p>\n Hit Roundtables in person; hit the GDC Vault for conflicts.<\/b> There are too many talks to go. Really. You\u2019ll have to make sacrifices. Postmortems on classic games<\/a> are great talks to go to, but pro tip: the GDC Roundtables<\/a>, where seasoned pros jam with novices trying to answer their questions, are not generally recorded. All other talks usually end up on the GDC Vault<\/a>, a collection of online recordings of all past sessions, which is expensive unless you\u2026<\/p>\n Get an All Access Pass.<\/b> Yes, it is expensive<\/a>. Maybe your company will pay for it; maybe it won\u2019t. But if you really are interested in game development, it\u2019s totally worth it. Bonus: if you come back from year to year, you can get an Alumni discount if you order early. Double bonus: it comes with a GDC Vault subscription.<\/p>\n![\"gdc2013aisummit.png\"](\"http:\/\/www.dresan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/gdc2013aisummit.png\")
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