Why don't I go to the GDC?

Published on February 24, 2008 By Draginol In GalCiv Journals

Every year it's the same thing. I get emails asking me if I'm going to have time at GDC to meet with them about some game, industry partnership, licensing opportunity, etc. And each year I respond "Sorry, I won't be at the GDC" (Game Developer's Conference).

They're almost universally shocked that I don't attend. It's not that I'm boycotting it. I think the GDC is a great conference. I just don't see what particular benefit it would be to go.

From a social aspect, I'm only in contact with two game developers outside Stardock who would attend (Soren Johnson who's working on Spore these days and Adel Chaveleh at Timegate, makers of Kohan and other great games). That's it. And even that's only a few times a year. I have some friends who work at Microsoft and Ensemble and Blizzard but they're not likely to attend either.

When I have gone, I always feel like a total outsider. Like there's a club that I don't know how to join. It's pretty much the same feeling I get about the "Association of Shareware producers" (there's a whole shareware industry thing too).

Whenever I stick my foot in the water, I just get that "it's a private club" feeling. Not an exclusionary one necessarily just one that I'm not part of.

Of course, the PC game industry itself is kind of a club, one which Stardock in general and myself in particular aren't really part of. We're about as unconnected as you can get.

It generally doesn't have much impact on our actual business. We miss some industry awards and some glory as as a result. TotalGaming.net, for instance, is probably the 2nd or possibly 3rd most popular digital distribution system out there but if there's a round up of them in the media, we'll manage to be ignored because we're not on the radar of those in the industry. The millions we make are never measured or counted by anyone in the industry. Our alternative to DRM (SSD - Secure Software Deliver) never gets much mention even though I suspect that the future is going to be some combination of the two anyway. The guys from Starforce are more likely to get on a panel discussing dealing with piracy than any of us are.

I wish GDC wasn't held this time of year. If it were held in May (for instance), when the industry is in its slower mode, then it would be easier to go. But with 3 major game titles due out by the end of June (Sins is already out, GalCiv II: Twilight of the Arnor is due in about a month and The Political Machine 2008 is due in June) it's hard to justify the time to go.

So anyway, that's why I don't go.

-Brad Wardell (Frogboy/Draginol)

Comments (Page 1)

Sir_On_The_Edge

on Feb 25, 2008

I think there would be less of a comunity feel if stardock was more connected.

By "community feel" I mean how I feel that you actualy listen to the little peoples.

octaviusviii

on Feb 25, 2008

Don't feel bad. A lot of people in the industry don't actually go at best they send one or two of their guys. Unless things have changed over the years... it's useful to some but pointless to most.

octaviusviii

on Feb 25, 2008

Hey...you mentioned Timegate... are their games coming to your distribution system? That would be awesome.

Lord KiRon

on Feb 26, 2008

About Totalgaming distribution ...
There is a game http://www.sfcaptains.com/ that feels "right" to TGN distribution, it still buggy like hell and need a lot of work to get it fixed but the idea is right basically it's HoMM 3 in space

Look very nice, the company behind is very small and the game is very buggy but I think you might check with them , if they fix the bugs and add few more tweaks that could be major hit.

MrVegetable

on Feb 26, 2008

This shows that not all brilliant games are part of the big PC Game Industry Network. It companies such as Stardock that I admire and will (hopefully) work for in the future once I'm through University. Companies whose employees spend more time communicating with their customers and fans than the big cheeses who get suggestion after suggestion and either ignore them or make a half-hearted attempt at implementing them.

Just keep up the good work. You may not be as big as other companies, but you sure are one of the best.

MyViewsAndMuse

on Feb 26, 2008

Our alternative to DRM (SSD - Secure Software Deliver) never gets much mention even though I suspect that the future is going to be some combination of the two anyway.

Would I be reading too much into this by stating that this sounds like the current model you employ will gravitate towards implementing some form of DRM into stardock central?

Thanks

chrisKrueger

on Feb 26, 2008

for me you are the best games developer company, don't stop the good work.

starriderOU

on Feb 26, 2008

Being an outsider can be a good thing. Too many industries and companies suffer from "groupthink", and the gaming industry is no exception. Whether it be copy protection or ignoring low-end hardware, or sticking to old development models, people get caught up in "that's the way it has always been done" and never think outside the box.

Stardock's strengths lie not in doing what everyone else does, but seeing the opportunities in being different and unique. I still can run Galciv2 on a 5 year old laptop, but can't play some games a year old on my gaming machine. Stardock treats its customers with respect and going the extra mile. Cari spent a long time helping me last year when I was still a student, allowing me to interview her and answering every question I had.

I've never been part of the "in-crowd", and now that I am older, I realize that being true to yourself is more important that being "well-connected."

I always recommend Stardock games and software to others and point to it as an example of how a company should be run. Corporate culture starts at the top, and I'm glad to be a customer.

Ted Goodridge
starrider on IRC

DeicidE

on Feb 26, 2008

Draginol,

Industry praise means nothing compared to the praise your customers can give you.

I suspect you'd find it difficult to please both sides. Stick to writing great games for gamers by gamers

and not games to please the industry by gamers.

ahem anyway, get back to work on TA

Dont suppose you'd release galciv2 to open source (or some of it) and let the community code in some mods after TA (or you could do a 3rd expansion).. that would really put the cat among the pigeons with the industry folks

Feud

on Feb 26, 2008

The guys from Starforce are more likely to get on a panel discussing dealing with piracy than any of us are.

The first question for the panel, "what was going through your mind when you decided to promote the piracy of Galactic Civilizations 2?"

LOLCHRIST

on Feb 26, 2008

You guys certainly don't seem to be outsiders when it comes to the main online review sites, who have all been giving out the Stardock love.

I guess the intended benefits of such conferences would be to exchange ideas, learn about new techniques and new tools, possibly do some scouting for recruits or partners. But, if its not serving your needs, then leave it. Alternatively the whole thing might just be one big love-in funded by marketting dollars. Who knows, I've never been.

Archonsod

on Feb 27, 2008

Release a couple of decent selling games and suddenly you can turn all elitist

Nah, not much point in turning up. Assuming you have no intention of selling up and looking to be employed elsewhere there's little benefit to the networking. The talks, panels and similar waffle might be interesting, but the way I see it anyone who knew anything about succeeding in the industry would be busy sunning themselves on their personal tropical island rather than turning up to these things. That only leaves the free tat and goodie bags worth turning up for.

Jythier

on Feb 27, 2008

I think everyone's just stunned that you produce code that works on a majority of computers, while they produce stuff that doesn't work at all. Then you release more patches than them, while they barely support their stuff that doesn't work at all. Delivering an actual product to the consumer is darn near blasphemy in this industry!

Frogboy

on Feb 27, 2008

Would I be reading too much into this by stating that this sounds like the current model you employ will gravitate towards implementing some form of DRM into stardock central?

Not for our games. But down the line, we hope to see Stardock Central (and its successor, Impulse) support whatever developers want in there as long as consumers are made aware (though we'd never allow any sort of DRM that affects the user's system, no developer has the right to alter someone's system).

The #1 reason TG.net has fewer games than some of the other services is our stance on copy protection.

I think what will happen down the line is that it won't be about copy protection per se but about distribution protection which is a very fine distinction. Right now, in SDC, you can download the game then never touch SDC again. But I could see a future where some game publisher might insist that we protect their game and so we download the game into a virtual container that simply requires the game be run via SDC as opposed the Start menu. That's not something we're likely to do with our own games but if it is the difference between getting major games onto our system and not, we'd have to do it.

I suspect though that what will happen is that Microsoft will implement something like that into Games Explorer. Even now, we're forced to have our games run from the Microsoft Games Explorer (MGE) on Vista. All that's left is putting protection on that so that the games are encrypted under it. Then you could instal lthe game to as many PCs as you want but you wouldn't be able to distribute them via torrents or whatever very easily since the actual "thing" is an encrypted blob that requires MGE to descrypt and run.

But that's a different topic entirely.

DivineWrath

on Feb 27, 2008

...I think the GDC is a great conference. I just don't see what particular benefit it would be to go.

it's hard to justify the time to go.

Here is an evil idea.

Are you still sick with your cold? If so, you could visit GDC and spread it around. You might be able to cripple the competition for a while. Be certain to introduce yourself to as many people as you can.

Is that justification enough to go?

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