In the next few months I will be attending my sixth Develop
Conference, sixth! It feels like only yesterday when I went to my first one
back in 2010 just after having finished University, with a prototype of Q.U.B.E.
to show around. I left the event hugely inspired and ready to embark on a
journey as an indie developer, not knowing what the future would hold but
immensely confident that I would turn the prototype into a full game, whatever
the cost. And for the record, I did just that.
There are many positive takeaways to get from conferences and
yes, you may leave feeling a bit worse for wear and would have taken time out
of game development but it’s so worth it. For one, you get to mingle with other
like-minded developers and compare notes on game dev, funding, PR, time
management and many other things. That in itself is valuable as there’s no
default way to make games so it’s nice to find out how others work and apply
new techniques to your own workflow.
The lectures are a great way to learn about broader topics and
gain insights into how other developers handle things, what worked for them and
what didn't. Talks can be majorly inspiring and motivational. You can learn
about all sorts of things from level design, game art, development best
practices and how to fund and market your game.
If you’re looking to secure new business or even land a job,
conferences are great for making new connections. I've done several deals in
the past from purely being at a conference and meeting people. If you’re a
skilled graduate looking for your first job, an employer is more likely to
choose a familiar face that they bonded with over a drink at a conference than
CV 524 that came in via email.
Another thing a lot of conferences offer is the opportunity to
showcase your latest game and enter it into an awards ceremony. Not only is
this great exposure for your game and studio, it’s also a good way to get
constructive feedback on the title from established game developers.
One of the best parts of going to conferences is that you get
to travel a great deal and a lot of the time, travel abroad to some of the most
prestigious industry events such as GDC: San Francisco.
It’s not all pure business either. Many fun activities happen
outside of conference hours such as poker tournaments, football matches,
networking (aka not-working) and hanging out on the beach.
And once you've become comfortable with the above and gained
sufficient experience, you can start giving your own talks at these conferences
as a way to give back to the developer community and generally get your name
out there.
If you’re heading to Develop Conference this year, come along
to my talk where I look back on five years of being an indie developer and
observe how much has changed since I started out. And if you’re not going, why
not!? I look forward to meeting some of you there.
Dan Da Rocha
Director at Fiddlesticks/Toxic Games
@DanDaRocha
