I probably won't be able to get much time off work to go check out the GDC this year (had to turn down my volunteer acceptance for the first time in 5 years)...
but I'm gonna see if I can work our company booth and find some time to check out any art-centric stuff on the expo floor!
I'll be there! I'm excited as hell to go and hoping I make the best use of my time to shake a lot of hands. Hope my knees don't get too sore.
Few friends and I are splitting a hotel and car rental so our TOTAL travel expenses including room is only $160 each, and we're only 5 blocks away from the convention center !
So far this thread has just been about who is going. Can we set up a Polycount meeting? Go to a few pubs and grab some drinks? If you get me a job I promise I will pay for your dinners for a year, as well as do any dirty work you need done.
Will be there from the 8th to the 14th. Pretty open on availability because I'm not sure what to do and when since I haven't gone before.
Can any San Fransiscans step up and recommend a place?
Edit: I'd imagine the best plan would to be up at the North building since enough people suggested that, but I'm not sure about where we could all go afterwards. Or when would work.
Ya, so, it turns out I'm not going to GDC (I failed to get in while it was cheap, so spending $250 to attend the expo for 1 day isn't terribly appealing)
Anyway, I'm still interested in the meetup. I concur that a bar would make a lot more sense (I chose a restaurant last time because only 15 peole were supposed to show up!)
Sadly, I don't know nightlife in the area very well, so Valias, I'll certainly accept your, or anyone else's help on choosing a spot. I could come up some evening to do a pre meet up tour to pick a spot if anyone else is interested? We could barhop to different places in the area.
Do we have a preference on day & time yet? Are we still saying Sat at 6:30?
Im going to be in San Fran Wed afternoon to Saturday evening.
Speak of portfolio, i do not own an iphone nor psp. So would it be the best if I were to print out shots of my assets and put it in a folder with plastic pages? I figure it'd look kinda lame if I were to walk around with my laptop.
Unfortunately I wont be at GDC this year but I work downtown so I got some recommendations from co-workers on bars near the convention center and some good options are Jillians, Thirsty Bear, or ROE.
Thirsty Bear is a brewery (with an awesome name), Roe is a cool lounge, and Jillians is a bar/billiards place.
All are within a block or two of the convention center.
Also the Thirsty Bear has an upstairs room that they often block off if requested.
For the bar hopping train there is a Gallery called 111 Minna 2 blocks away that has a full bar, and I think they do DJ/music on the second saturday of every month.
Fuck Jillians, that place is always crazy packed, especially when something's going on at the convention center.
Thirsty Bear seems awesome (both in name and space available) And it's only like a block from Moscone.
Do we want to try to reserve a private room? Seems like there would be some charges involved/minimum food/beverage purchases, which may be difficult with this crowd.
I asked about the charge for reserving a room and a friend said that she has reserved it before with no charge, but that was for a group of 20 something year old girls, the bartenders may have a different opinion in filling their bar with polycounters. Still, chances are if we are bringing in 30 people they will be happy to block of a spot for us just because we will be spending money.
BUT, meetups are always a tossup in who shows with meetings/presentations/company parties so it may not be worth reserving a room if only 10 people end up showing.
Then again last year Nick planned on 10 and we had 30 so I have no idea how many to expect. It may be best to just show up.
Alright, so far Saturday evening and Thursday afternoon have been suggested. I don't know if an afternoon meeting would work or not, it seems like a time people would be busy, I might be wrong though.
Meeting up at the North building and then going to thirsty bear (I love the name) sounds great Let's consider that to be what we're doing until someone suggests something better.
Looks like I'm going to be at GDC this year. Don't know how much free time I'll have as I'm going to be doing licensee sessions for UE3. Should be interesting though, it'll be my first time going to GDC.
Hey guys, I'm debating about going to GDC this year. It would be my first time and my primary reason for going would be to try to land a job. I'm just not sure if it's really beneficial for the amount of money I would be spending (likely in the 600-700 dollar range). BTW I'm currently jobless... so 600-700 is like two months rent for me.
I already feel like I know what I need to do to get a job (in terms of asset creation) from these boards, so I'm not sure how much help just talking to people would be outside of simply networking.
My friend in audio got a lot out of it last year, but a mentor of mine at WB games said it was probably not the most bang for your buck, although it was fun.
I am going to the GDC this year although probably only for a day or so. However since I live in the area I would be up for any kind of meetup so people can disagree with me in person ;-)
And as for victor (above) I'd suggest going to something closer to home like PAX. It'd be cheaper.
Hey I decided I'm going to go to GDC in San Fran. my buddy from L.A. was going so it cut costs down tremendously. I would definitely like to meet up with you all at some point too!
I'll be going this year. So far it looks like it will be a pretty laid back GDC this go-around.
It would be really cool to meet up with people again. Last year was great! Although whatever we do this year we should make sure Tumerboy doesn't get fucked over this time.
I can't believe its here again! Curse you time-goblins!
The three spots Walrus of game artisan's have suggested for THURSDAY are the Thirsty Bear (bar with supposedly great beer), a chinese seafood joint that's walking distance but far away enough to be a bit more personal for us game artsits, and chevy's (cheap mexican). All places have drinks but the thirsty bear is gonna be one of the go-to party spots for GDC. Can't help but think we'll end up planning on the Thristy Bear because it's one of the GDC spots to be and closest.
Plenty of room for more meetups. A Thursday meetup and Saturday meetup would make the most sense, we can crash their thursday meetup, they can crash the saturday meetup everyone here seems interested in.
If you go back a bit- you'll see thirsty bear mentioned here too. So we'll do that. I like the idea of thurs/sat, that way the people that can't make thurs can go saturday and vica versa. And hell, I know if I had the chance, I'd go to both
Hey guys,i am flying all the way from India for the GDC and i am most pleased for a polycount meet up and it will be an honor to meet you all.Will be there through out the week.I am up to the meet on any day during the week.
Might sound a bit early, but GDC will be out by then and it beats sitting in a hotel room.
I was going to say, "sitting in a hotel room?! In SAN FRANSISCO!?" but then I realized it looks like you already live in CA. I went to GDC a while back for the one day student pass and man, even things like those sparkling sidewalks, they blew my mind, I can't wait to spend more than a day there.
I'll be there from Sunday 7th to Sunday 14th. So I'm good to catch up with who ever at any point in time, be it for drinks, food, sight seeing, sketch session, finding a skatepark, going to a show/gig. Bring it!
Haha, Organized Chaos, you make a good point, some people might want to take the time to explore some of san fran in the hours before the night life. I just figure all the "legit" company parties and what have you will all be schedules for later and it'll be easiest for everyone who wants to show up to get together at 5ish, or later even, i wouldn't imagine this meetup would die too soon. This way was we can have our "polycount/ game artisan shindig" and still make it to whatever stuff we're scheduled for later through GDC.
Who knows maybe we can help steer each other to some great GDC gatherings after the meetup, or if things are going really well, we can just ping pong in the group from bar to bar. The best experience I had at the Austin GDC was just walkin the city streets, finding cheap drinks with a group of 15ish other artists.
Since I just found out the date and time of my talks, and it's not on the official schedule, posting here:
Thursday March 11th , 2:00 - 3:00pm
W hotel Great Room
1181 3rd Street
San Francisco CA, 94103
Thursday night is the IGDA dinner, plus another private dinner I'm headed to, so I could possibly head to a polycount thing early, but would have to bail around 8.
Thanks for the heads up poop I'll definitely try to make it
Bummer you won't be there killingpeople and Renaud- but great news you will Nick
Emil- my roomate and I are getting there monday night and I think we might run around and explore for most of tues/wed (i'm not sure if anything goes on those days?)
Does anyone have any suggestions of places to go? I'm planning to visit fishermans wharf, museemechanique, the chocolate place, I think she wants to go see the Wicked show but I don't know much about that, someone told me about some weird road worth looking at too.
On Thursday after the show, the TIGSource crowd is planning on having an "Art-Jam" at the Denny's that's close to the convention center. I love me some casual doodling, so I was planning on heading over there after the show. (I also love me some breakfast for dinner)
You must visit fisherman's wharf at some point. The seafood they have there is fanstastic.
how have i missed this thread?!
bummed we wont get to see you killing, it was awesome last year!
ill be there from sunday to sunday as a CA, bright green shirts this year
im down for thursday, but saturday night CAs have the closing meeting where they toss out schwag and shenanigans are had. i cant find the exact time for it though
either way excited to meet some new faces!
Poop, a lot of us have student badges, is your talk open to everyone?
Holy crap, i need to head to kinkos soon and get my stuff in a portfolio Can't wait to meet you sob's!
Edit: Discussions are still going for the meeting time and location, this one's in game artisan's hands. We should keep an eye on their thread and update this one as soon as more difinitive information is available: http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/showthread.php?p=196253&posted=1#post196253
I'll try as best I can to keep this thread up to date, not tired just yet.
Replies
Would be cool to meet up with some of you pros!
but I'm gonna see if I can work our company booth and find some time to check out any art-centric stuff on the expo floor!
next year I'll definitely be there.
Few friends and I are splitting a hotel and car rental so our TOTAL travel expenses including room is only $160 each, and we're only 5 blocks away from the convention center
So far this thread has just been about who is going. Can we set up a Polycount meeting? Go to a few pubs and grab some drinks? If you get me a job I promise I will pay for your dinners for a year, as well as do any dirty work you need done.
Will be there from the 8th to the 14th. Pretty open on availability because I'm not sure what to do and when since I haven't gone before.
Edit: I'd imagine the best plan would to be up at the North building since enough people suggested that, but I'm not sure about where we could all go afterwards. Or when would work.
Anyway, I'm still interested in the meetup. I concur that a bar would make a lot more sense (I chose a restaurant last time because only 15 peole were supposed to show up!)
Sadly, I don't know nightlife in the area very well, so Valias, I'll certainly accept your, or anyone else's help on choosing a spot. I could come up some evening to do a pre meet up tour to pick a spot if anyone else is interested? We could barhop to different places in the area.
Do we have a preference on day & time yet? Are we still saying Sat at 6:30?
Speak of portfolio, i do not own an iphone nor psp. So would it be the best if I were to print out shots of my assets and put it in a folder with plastic pages? I figure it'd look kinda lame if I were to walk around with my laptop.
Thirsty Bear is a brewery (with an awesome name), Roe is a cool lounge, and Jillians is a bar/billiards place.
http://www.thirstybear.com/
http://www.roe-sf.com/index.php
http://sanfrancisco.jbcent.com/
All are within a block or two of the convention center.
Also the Thirsty Bear has an upstairs room that they often block off if requested.
For the bar hopping train there is a Gallery called 111 Minna 2 blocks away that has a full bar, and I think they do DJ/music on the second saturday of every month.
http://www.111minnagallery.com/
someday. *looks toward the setting sun*
Thirsty Bear seems awesome (both in name and space available) And it's only like a block from Moscone.
Do we want to try to reserve a private room? Seems like there would be some charges involved/minimum food/beverage purchases, which may be difficult with this crowd.
Thanks for the suggestions Pseudo!
BUT, meetups are always a tossup in who shows with meetings/presentations/company parties so it may not be worth reserving a room if only 10 people end up showing.
Then again last year Nick planned on 10 and we had 30 so I have no idea how many to expect. It may be best to just show up.
Meeting up at the North building and then going to thirsty bear (I love the name) sounds great
Now... to settle on a date and time...
I already feel like I know what I need to do to get a job (in terms of asset creation) from these boards, so I'm not sure how much help just talking to people would be outside of simply networking.
My friend in audio got a lot out of it last year, but a mentor of mine at WB games said it was probably not the most bang for your buck, although it was fun.
And as for victor (above) I'd suggest going to something closer to home like PAX. It'd be cheaper.
I'll be there as well.
I say screw goin ta bars and just go on over to the the Gold Club and hang.
HA! :P
Looking forward to meetin some of you guys there!
It would be really cool to meet up with people again. Last year was great! Although whatever we do this year we should make sure Tumerboy doesn't get fucked over this time.
I can't believe its here again! Curse you time-goblins!
http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=70410
its my first time, do i haev to like reserve my spot at these talks? or can i just go and sit down if there is room? i have a main conference pass.
Plenty of room for more meetups. A Thursday meetup and Saturday meetup would make the most sense, we can crash their thursday meetup, they can crash the saturday meetup everyone here seems interested in.
http://sf.funcheap.com/organic-beer-tasting-workshop-thirsty-bear-financial-dist/
Should we set an official time? Maybe like 7? I don't know what a good time would be for everyone.
Also - I wanted to bring attention to this thread
http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=69922
Might sound a bit early, but GDC will be out by then and it beats sitting in a hotel room.
I was going to say, "sitting in a hotel room?! In SAN FRANSISCO!?" but then I realized it looks like you already live in CA. I went to GDC a while back for the one day student pass and man, even things like those sparkling sidewalks, they blew my mind, I can't wait to spend more than a day there.
5ish doesnt sound too bad though-
Who knows maybe we can help steer each other to some great GDC gatherings after the meetup, or if things are going really well, we can just ping pong in the group from bar to bar. The best experience I had at the Austin GDC was just walkin the city streets, finding cheap drinks with a group of 15ish other artists.
Thursday March 11th , 2:00 - 3:00pm
W hotel Great Room
1181 3rd Street
San Francisco CA, 94103
Thursday night is the IGDA dinner, plus another private dinner I'm headed to, so I could possibly head to a polycount thing early, but would have to bail around 8.
Bummer you won't be there killingpeople and Renaud- but great news you will Nick
Emil- my roomate and I are getting there monday night and I think we might run around and explore for most of tues/wed (i'm not sure if anything goes on those days?)
Does anyone have any suggestions of places to go? I'm planning to visit fishermans wharf, museemechanique, the chocolate place, I think she wants to go see the Wicked show but I don't know much about that, someone told me about some weird road worth looking at too.
You must visit fisherman's wharf at some point. The seafood they have there is fanstastic.
bummed we wont get to see you killing, it was awesome last year!
ill be there from sunday to sunday as a CA, bright green shirts this year
im down for thursday, but saturday night CAs have the closing meeting where they toss out schwag and shenanigans are had. i cant find the exact time for it though
either way excited to meet some new faces!
Poop, a lot of us have student badges, is your talk open to everyone?
Holy crap, i need to head to kinkos soon and get my stuff in a portfolio
Edit: Discussions are still going for the meeting time and location, this one's in game artisan's hands. We should keep an eye on their thread and update this one as soon as more difinitive information is available:
http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/showthread.php?p=196253&posted=1#post196253
I'll try as best I can to keep this thread up to date, not tired just yet.