We just got back from San Francisco after attending the Game Developer’s Conference 2015. Being filmmakers in a videogame developer’s environment was interesting to say the least and what we came away with was some nice convention swag bags and ideas for the future. On display were not only tech demos but also software and hardware solutions for game developers and 3D artists in general. The most popular subject at the show was virtual reality with nearly every booth having a VR helmet of some kind with various accompanying demos. The coolest one we saw was a “Star Wars” demo where you deflected laser blasts with dual lightsabers.

Overall interactive content and realism seemed to be the main focus of the show and game development is literally about to explode with nearly every major game engine going the free licensing route, albeit with some exceptions in terms of royalties on a per project basis or, in the case of Cryengine, a minimal monthly subscription fee. The game engines themselves looked remarkably impressive with fantastic hyper realistic visuals and mind boggling complexity in terms of how many objects could be on screen all at once and how many of them could be interacted with in real-time with little to no performance hit. Surprisingly, the tools themselves seemed quite approachable despite being radically different from our current tools in 3D animation.

But, of course, the best part of the trip was to visit the city of San Francisco and take in all the sights and sounds of the inspiration-packed city itself. Much has changed over the years with Union Square seeing many of those changes. Even while we were there they had almost finished tearing down one building that we had known for decades and had an entire street blocked off and torn out with construction being done underneath the square itself. But it’s easy to see why the Game Developer’s Conference is held in San Francisco. Much like the state of the videogames industry, the city is constantly changing and evolving to accommodate new and different ideas to inspire individuals of all kinds.

In summary, our first GDC Expo was quite a lot of fun and, surprisingly, not so different from other conventions we’ve visited. If we’re around in the area for next year’s show, maybe we’ll have to check in and see what’s new.