Week 9: GDC and XO Soul

This was a really fun and interesting week, as most of the team was in San Francisco for the Game Developers Conference (GDC). GDC is where hundreds of gaming industry professionals come together to share their games and new tech and discuss the current and future state of the gaming industry.

The conference is a great time for us to learn more about our specific fields from veteran professionals. We went to several talks ranging from AI Innovations for Gaming Experiences presented by Microsoft to Game Narrative Summits about Black-Centered Stories for Everyone. GDC has something for every creator and more.

Along with interesting talks, we also saw cool haptics technology and motion capture suits. On the GDC Expo floor, there are many cool and interesting games looking for publishers and companies looking for clients. As students, this is a great opportunity for us to see what resources are out there for developers like us and how we should market our games to interested sponsors.

Our department, Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center, had a booth at the GDC, and we got to showcase some of our department’s recent projects. Sharing our games with alumni and other game lovers lets us bring our hard work and joy to the rest of the industry.

Overall, meeting our idols, learning about new games, and having fun with our friends made for a wonderful GDC. We hope to go again next year and continue our career in games.

XO Soul

Even though most of the team was at GDC networking and absorbing information, we were still able to make some progress on our next character, XO Soul. XO Soul is an axolotl Jazz Rap artist. We’re still developing his personality, but he’s quiet forgetful and loses his tail often, but he always remembers to stay true to his Mexican roots even if he can’t speak Spanish. With a cocky and “know it all personality”, he has made creative chill raps that earned him the title of Rhyme Rider.

Next Steps:

In the week to come, we will be preparing for Playtest Day and our playtest with Westinghouse Academy. This means moving forward with integrating the movement and rap book mechanics. Stay tuned!