Should I get the summit passes for GDC?

zachagreg

So I'm going to be attending GDC for the first time this year and was wondering about the different levels of the passes. So far I'm looking at getting the Expo Plus Pass in order to attend the entire expo for all days and see a lot of the big events and be able to talk with a lot of the companies that will be present. I'm wondering if anyone has experience with summit passes and would like a little bit more information on if I should look at going to the summits as well or if that is better left for another year? I am a Senior currently in uni if that changes anything on opinions.

Here is a link to the pass page of GDC as well just for reference.
http://www.gdconf.com/attend/passes.html

Brian "Panda" Choi

Try going for free

http://polycount.com/discussion/192549/go-to-gdc-for-free-gdc-conference-associate-program-2018-application#latest

zachagreg

Oh cool thanks for the heads up. How long do they usually take to get back to you on a decision? I'm sure before Jan.31 right?

EarthQuake

You should look into which talks you would want to see, if there are a number of them, maybe consider getting one of the more expensive passes. Otherwise, just get an expo pass. It's my experience that the interesting talks tend to be more geared engineering and design, and what is available for art tends to be pretty minimal, so anything more expensive than the expo pass usually isn't worth it.

Brian "Panda" Choi

As someone who's done the conference for 8 years, a lot of the talks will be posted onto GDC Vault for later viewing.  One of the few times you'd want to actually be there for it would be to talk to the presenters directly, but they tend to be pretty open to other developers in regards to email questions, etc. (They'll frequently post their contact information in the talk).

One of the few non-recorded sessions include items like Tutorials or Round Tables, where more often than not, you'll have very intimate time to talk and interact with other conference attendees instead of just staring forward  at a lecture.  That would be something you may want to specifically get tickets for.

But as Joe emphasizes, you're paying a pretty penny outside of the Expo passes. I almost hesitate to even say paying for anything higher would be for sure worth it.  A lot of networking can happen outside at the evening festivities.