Although there’s about a month left for the next Game Developers Conference (March 18-22 2019, Moscone Center, San Francisco), we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to share a few useful tips for indie developers who are participating in this event for the first time.

These tips are based on our experience attending the fair on 3 occasions, searching for publishers, partners, and business opportunities for the ongoing projects of our indie team, Niebla Games.

Without further ado, here are some tips: 

1. Organize the logistics of your travels in advance.

One of the biggest obstacles in attending the GDC are the costs of the plane tickets, the expo passes, and the accommodations. This is why we recommend dealing with these logistical aspects as early as possible.

Plane Tickets: there are many ways to find low priced tickets. In our case, we chose to use Hopper: an app that searches for the lowest prices in various airlines. This app keeps track of the prices and lets you know the best moment to purchase. If you’re in maximum savings mode and want to avoid paying the small commision that this app charges, you can identify the cheapest airlines with the app and then head over to the website of the cheapest one and purchase there.

GDC Passes: There are a few alternatives regarding the passes, and your personal objectives determine which one is the most convenient. If your goals are purely business, we suggest you get the Expo Pass or the Expo Pass Plus, since these are the cheapest and grant you access to the business area and the company showcase. The Expo Pass Plus also grants you access to the matchmaking system. The details of each type of pass can be found here. 

Accommodations: This is one the most critical aspects, since the city fills up during the GDC, and the prices skyrocket during those dates.

• If you’re undecided on the dates of your trip, we recommend you make a really early reservation that offers free adjusting and cancelling. This way, you can save a spot and then make adjustments if needed. For this, we simply use Booking.
  
  
• If you’re in maximum savings mode, sharing a room is your best bet. We recommend coordinating with other developers you know that might be in a similar state.
  
  
• Pay close attention  the reviews regarding the location of your accommodations. Some areas of the city are pretty dangerous, even during the day while going around in a group. Some places we recommend you avoid are Tenderloin and Soma.

Mobile Internet: this varies between countries, but we recommend you check with your phone company if your phones are enabled for international use. If so, you can buy a SIM card with mobile internet (and minutes for phone calls if you think you’ll need them) once you arrive at San Francisco. This is very useful to check your meeting agenda, to coordinate, and to make last-minute adjustments. We don’t recommend relying on the wi fi at the expo floor, since it’s easily overwhelmed.

2. To reduce expenses, check for national and international support.

Without a doubt, the costs of attending the GDC weigh heavily on an indie developer’s wallet. We recommend you check if there are national or international sources that may help you partially or completely cover the costs.

At an international level, there are various organizations, institutions, and relevant actors that offer opportunities to access tickets or travel expenses, generally looking to promote diversity and inclusion to the Conference. Depending on the organization, applications are closed around october/november of each year, which is why it’s recommended to be aware of their postings at the GDC website. 

At a nation level, it’s worth checking if there are specific organizations that offer support in attending this type of business and growth events.

In the specific case of Chile, there's a government agency called ProChile, which is charged with the advancement of Chilean exports to the world. Aside from their annual Services Contest, this agency has an activity calendar which considers various fairs and commercial missions regarding the videogame sector. For the GDC, ProChile holds a contest each year during the months of January/February in which companies can gain access to plane tickets and passes for the fair.

It’s interesting that there are benefits even for companies that aren’t chosen in this public contest. For example, ProChile sets up a stand in the business area, so that chilean developers that attend on their own means can access “free” passes to the business area and the matchmaking system, the meeting tables, screens, and other visibility opportunities at the stand. We recommend checking for this kind of opportunities in your country. 

3. While you prepare and make your trip, coordinate with other developers.

Although the needs of each indie company or team can be very different, in our experience, a great part of the opportunities regarding industry events come up while speaking and coordinating with other devs. If you keep in touch with others, there’s no doubt that you’ll make the most of this instance.

Because of this, besides coordinating in the logistic aspect, we really recommend you set up a Whatsapp group chat to share all kind of facts and tips.

But beware! This doesn’t mean that you should stay completely glued to your friends and contacts during the fair. It’s actually recommended to get out of your comfort zone and make and effort to meet new people. That’s what GDC is all about! :)

4. Schedule your meetings and activities in advance.

GDC is the biggest international event for video game developers. A large part of the industry’s representatives meet up in San Francisco. To be able to access publishers, platforms, and press, it’s critical to get ahead and request your meetings ahead of time since all of the attendees and relevant contact’s agendas are quickly filled up. We recommend you start this task up to 3 months before the event itself. To do this, where are a few routes:

• GDC’s Matchmaking System: once you’ve acquired your passes, you’ll get the credentials to access the GDC’s meeting agending system. These last few years, the system has been changing, and its quality in each edition has varied. Either way, it’s recommended to make use of this system, fill out your profile, check the profiles of other attendees, and request the meetings that suit your interests.
  
  
• Meet to Match: A good complement to the GDC’s matchmaking system is the meeting tool offered by Meet to Match. This service has a good value price and has a bunch of useful features such as being able to define predetermined location for the meetings, even outside of the Moscone Center. 
  
  
• Game Connection America: For devs that have a bigger budget, this is a great event to complement your visit to the GDC. Game Connection America is focused purely on business, and has a really good matchmaking system. The event will take place during March 18 and 19, and in previous years has offered a convenient and free transfer system that every 10 or 15 minutes translates attendees between the Moscone Center (where the GDC is held) and the AT&T Park. 
  
  
• Schedule meetings via email and LinkedIn: regardless of the fact that the meeting agending systems are pretty thorough, it’s still recommended to contact those you’re interested in directly via email and/or LinkedIn. If you haven’t done it before, it could be good chance to use the 1 month free trial of LinkedIn Premium, since this service allows you to send direct messages to users outside your contact network.
  
  
• Meetings and Contacts during the event itself: despite the fact that most your efforts to schedule meetings should be done in the months leading up to the event, we recommend to be prepared to make all the contacts you can during the event. For this, give yourself some time to visit the stands, attend the free talks, converse with people at networking events, etc. Most professionals that assist the event have a good disposition and understand that networking is an essential part of it, which is why the event is conducive to making new contacts.
   
  • “Free” Talks (sponsored): Your time is very valuable during the GDC, which is we recommend you only attend the free talks that are really interesting to you. The GDC offers an online tool to look up all the talks, organize them in your agenda, and check the types of passes needed to attend.
    
    
  • Networking Events: All around the GDC, there are many parties and networking events. The scope of the events is very broad: they range from small meetups for indie devs, up to parties held by large companies looking to promote their services. Many of these events offer free food and drinks! We recommend you chose the events that may be of interest to gain business contacts. To get the most of them, it’s essential that you organize them in your agenda and your personal map (for this, we used Google Calendar), since many of these events clash in their timetables, or are located far from each other. Don’t forget to take your credentials and business cards (since they’re often required to enter). You can check out the available events using Eventbrite (be sure to make your reservations, since they quickly fill up) and above all, joining the GDC, E3 & gamescom Party Schedule and the  The Fellowship of Game Developers Parties groups on Facebook. 

5. Don’t forget to prepare your promotional and corporate material. 

To get the most of the event, it’s essential to count of the appropriate promotional and corporate material. It heavily depends on the state of your projects and your objectives, but here are some things that we find to be necessary:

• Attractive Business Cards with contact information. On its back, you could include your company’s logo, or some art or logo of your main project. We recommend you take at least 300 business cards to share with contacts you make.
  
  
• Video Reel or Trailer as support material for your meetings - in our opinion, it's more reliable and convenient than a playable demo. It’s important that you can clearly see the gameplay of your game(s).
  
  
• Project Pitch/Presentation to send before and/or after the meetings. We recommend you use your videos for support during the meetings, and leave this detailed written material available for your contact via email.

6. Enjoy the Event!

All the preparations for the GDC are overwhelming, without a doubt, but above all we ask you all that you take care of yourself, learn from, and enjoy the experience. Best of luck!

We thank you for reading this article, and hope it was useful to you. For more useful tips and updates on our project ‘Causa, Voices of the Dusk’, we invite you to subscribe to your newsletter  and follow us on our social networks: 

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