Game Developers Conference 2005

Well, I'm a bit weary, but I think my plans for this year are so far going quite well, with two months down.

Firstly, I did that little talk at Game Loading a while back, and despite a few hurdles, I think it went okay. I was a bit distracted because my mother woke me up early that morning by phoning to tell me that she was in hospital (don't worry, she's fine, and back at home now). Being interstate, I felt a bit useless.

Then I spilled coffee all over myself just before I was due to start speaking. Plus I didn't really have enough time to organise a fancy AV sort of thing, and had to make do with some hastily put-together text slides and a bit of improvisation. Somehow, the audience stayed interested, and I actually got to field quite a few questions as well, which is usually a good sign. Oh, and I almost forgot - there were also "technical difficulties" at the start, and the slides wouldn't start at all, so I had to go genuinely off the cuff and without a safety net for the first ten minutes or so.

Secondly, I've submitted an article for that magazine I may have mentioned here earlier. I'm not sure I'm that happy with it, to be honest, but it's a start. For one thing, the topic of the article was at the suggestion of one of the people responsible for getting the project started, so I felt like I had to do it, even though I might have been better suited to something else. The article is meant to be "funny", basically, and I'm not entirely sure I can bring the funny. I can usually get a laugh in person, but I tend to think that's largely due to my appearance. Funny on paper is tricky to do. Damned tricky. So I've kept it short and dry. Some people might miss it completely, but I'm hoping someone gets a giggle out of it. We'll see.

They mightn't even publish the thing - I haven't the faintest idea what they're looking for, to be honest. Actually, to be even more honest, I'm not sure the organisational side of things is quite there. The draft and final deadlines passed without me receiving even a single word of feedback, so I haven't had a chance to alter it to suit what they're doing with the rest of the magazine. So I've just got to trust that the editors will get their shit together nearer the publishing deadline and edit it a bit themselves. Or just throw it in the bin. Meh.

Thirdly, I'm off on a business trip as of this weekend. Next week I'll be at GDC in San Francisco, and then I'll be in Phoenix sitting in some boring meetings for a couple of days. I'm thoroughly excited about going to the conference, though - it's an important step for me, I reckon.

Then, when I get back from the US, the missus and I are taking a break together for a few days down the coast. Which is what I'm looking forward to most of all. I could use the rest.

In the meanwhile, my second best mate Effie is coming to stay. Which should be fun. I've also got a shitload to do at work this week, before I go away - wish me luck.

So, basically, I think I've done alright. Talk done, article submitted, and big important conference on the horizon. And before I go away for a little while, it's not a bad time to take stock. Where I've let myself down a bit is in two areas:

1. Money. It just seems to keep slipping away, despite my best efforts. I ought to be making better progress than this.

2. Writing. Well, there's just never the time. All this other stuff isn't necessarily more important, per se, but all of it is at least more urgent. Which trumps important every time, sadly. I actually had quite a neat idea for a story the other day while on the crapper, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to spin it out into something readable. I'm going to have to make the effort, though, otherwise it'll never happen.

Something of general interest and not quite so self-indulgent next time. I promise.