A while back Jay posted about a conference in Maryland called “How to get into the gaming Industry” Well since I am trying to do just that I decided to attend.
I arrived in Bethesda Maryland last night I had just enough time to get my portfolio together and caught about 5hrs of sleep.
I got to the conference a little early this morning, and walked around talking to people. The range of aspirations and Ideas there was amazing. From home brew demo’s to pen and paper sketches it was just great to be surrounded by so much creativity.
The morning activities consisted of an Industry Overview then “How to get in on the ground floor”. The panel was a great mix of artists, CEO’s and programmers.
I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there are other “In’s” rather than starting as a play tester or an office assitant. They drove the point home that you need to let your work speak for you, and no one can just walk into the industry “At least not anymore”.
A bulk of the good information came from the following Q&A sessions, here people could ask questions for both thier benefit and those in the audience. If anything as a result I now know what wlll make a good Art portfolio, and how to get it out to people.
The highlight of the conference for me was having the opportunity to have my work looked over by Michael Cosner (Senior Artist of Cinematic Design at Red Storm Entertainment). I had asked “Do you have 2 miniuets to look at some models I have built” That 2 minuets turned into 45, we talked about physical human makeup, consideration of what the player is seeing and level of detail. As a result I know some areas I need to work on, and way to make my art more “efficient”. Having your stuff critiqued by an Industry Designer is so cool to me………yup I’m a geek,
All in all I am glad I came to this conference, before leaving I had no idea of the direction I wanted to head in. This afternoon I recived some much needed guidance. I can not wait to get back home and get back to building. I am flat out Fired up!

Have a Good Weekend All.