3.14-18.16

This year Living Arts College had the opportunity to travel to San Francisco for GDC (Game Developers Conference)! Our Animation Professor, Kwame Hawkins attended with 3 of our animation students. This was the first time the students got a taste of the game industry and were able to network with professionals in their future field. When the students arrived back from their trip on Monday, they were glowing and filled with excitement! Below are brief statements about each of their experiences in their own words.

Kwame Hawkins, Animation Professor
This year’s GDC was an amazing opportunity for myself and my students. We got to experience the latest trends in the video game industry. We also got a chance to attend the IGF and Game Developers Choice award shows. The game “Her Story” won a lot of awards and the game is based looking at an interrogation video of a murder suspect. The game is unique and it has an engaging narrative. We also spent time talking to vendors, and industry professionals. The latest trend in the industry is VR (virtual reality). I also played “We expect you to die” which was an alpha build of the game and it was hosted at the Unity booth on the expo floor. All of the major game engines support it and its peripherals. Most of the time I spent playing in VR was using either the Oculus Rift or the Samsung VR gear. The experiences were immersive and the game play was engrossing. Overall, I think that the event was amazing and I had a great time. I know that myself and my students both learned a great deal.

LAC attends GDC (Game Developers Conference) in San Francisco!

Jonathan Pierce, Animation Student
GDC was an amazing experience. It not only exposed me to the industry, but allowed me to broaden my view of the tasks I need to do to get a job. The technological advances I saw were astounding. VR (virtual reality) was amazing, and the ability to immerse people completely in new and old worlds. Networking opportunities were vast at GDC. I highly recommend anyone wishing to enter any part of game development to attend at least one GDC; with plenty of business cards and a well-polished portfolio to show off.

Alberto B. Vazquez, Animation Student
There were a lot of things that were shown at the conference that where simply amazing. I enjoyed the mini-seminars that were scattered throughout the conference. You could just sit, watch, and learn on any number of topics such as texturing a character, or how to make your particles look better by showing tips and tricks. There was also many different companies from around the world that you could sit down with and talk to about what they’re doing as far as making new games and different styles of making them. I also met a lot of different people (developers, programmers, artists, modelers) from around the world: Argentina, Russia, Germany, Mexico, and the UK. After talking and sharing with them I got a lot of insight on how to do things, and what to expect.

Tucker Wolf, Animation Student
GDC was a great experience. My biggest takeaway from the conference was learning about the Train Jam. The Train Jam is similar to our local Game Jam but you travel by train to the Game Developers Conference and create games during the 52 hour train ride from Chicago to San Francisco! I plan on signing up for next year; it sounds like an amazing opportunity to connect with fellow game developers. The art talks were very informational and I especially learned a lot during the substance painter talk. The networking opportunities were incredible and I met so many interesting, talented people from around the world.

See photos below...

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