A group of 6 people standing around a PAX East Condor theater sign. Blonde haired man is holding a buster blade in front of the group.

Four people sitting at a clothed table on a stage in front of a red PAX East background. Woman on right is talking into a microphone.

Five people are sitting on a stage behind a clothed table. Blonde woman in middle is speaking into a microphone.

Three women are smiling and looking at the camera. Middle woman is holding a peace sign.

Another PAX East has come and gone with so many amazing memories.
This year I brought Psychology of The Elder Scrolls to East and it was one of most well attended panels I was on. To share in the joy of the Elder Scrolls with others will always warm my heart.

It was so great to see you! Hope we can catch up more at East!

I found a lot of benefit and great connections though so this was a worthwhile cost for me.

But please consider your finances and options before doing the same. And happy to chat if you’re still on the fence.

Now for the finances.

This trip was about $2000 for me. Between hotel and the academic badge (which is still very expensive) is not feasible for a lot of people.

And honestly, I’m going to be looking into sponsorship for next year through my new graduate school and also through grants/scholarships

All in all, this lit a fire under my ass about what I want to work on right now.

Talking to other devs, seeing their passion reignited my desire to build stuff.

Especially after being stuck in classes with younger students who really just don’t give a shit about quality work. This was fresh air.

If you’re interested in mixers etc be sure to check out the GDC Parties website. Many events are free but require RSVPs

There are a lot of night club style events which are a bit of a sensory nightmare and not great for people like me who really need a quieter space to meet.

The event is spread out between 3 buildings of the Moscone center which for accessibility ended up being really really rough on me.

I didn’t pack my cane so I spent a good chunk of each day having to sit and rest.

If you’re an ambulatory cane/waker/wheelchair user please plan to need it!

I attended solo, and found myself solo a bit of the time.

While I consider myself an extrovert, I think having a friend or my partner attend with me next year will truly enhance the experience.

Lessons learned for next year!

Meetups

I attended the students at GDC meetup and found it incredibly overwhelming.

There were way too many people let in and it made it tough to talk to anyone.

I also didn’t find really any value in this as an older student but if you’re much younger it seemed like a boon to others.

The future seems to be trending dramatically towards more AI.

There were AI world building tools, 3D modeling, and so much more.

Nothing was a full replacement for a full team. And many of the AI ‘build a full game with AI’ did not replace what our industry can do well enough to use

Each of the large game/publisher booths had talent acquisition. So if you were looking to chat with recruiters or company reps at places like Tencent, Xbox/Microsoft, etc they were there and often had positions listed and people to talk to about them.

The Expo Floor Experience:

I loved that there were plenty of seating areas, meeting spaces and food available right when you entered.

The floor itself is a good size but there was some commonality between the booths.

AI was a huge forefront here with almost every booth utilizing it in some way.

The talks I did attend were solid. The Writers Q+A was a great look at asking what current narrative and game writing folks were doing and how to get into that side of the industry.

I’m looking forward to watching the talks I missed that were interests of mine later though!

I only attended a few talks on Monday and Tuesday. Many of the panels I was interested in lined up 2-3 hours ahead of time and the lines filled by the time I got there an hour ahead of time.

This ended up making me realize I cared more about the connections than the talks I could watch later

Not every person I met is a connection I’ll keep, but I found a paid externship, a potential project, and some great opportunities for mentorship.

And my lesson here was being more than 100 business cards. Because I went through all my cards on day 2.

The expo floor doesn’t open until Wednesday so I utilized Monday and Tuesday to get up and personal with people.

GDC offered several speed networking sessions and I attended 5, hour long sessions.

Every 5 minutes you meet a new person.

I met artists, publishers, studios, students and more!

GDC was such a cool experience.

While I fly home this evening I’m left really thinking about everything I’ve absorbed in the 3 days I attended.

This is a thread from my experiences as a first time attendee and some takeaways

🧵

It has been incredibly difficult to find games in Steam Next Fest that have accessibility tags. Devs PLEASE if you have a demo, and you might have some accessibility options, ADD ACCESSIBILITY TAGS!

For now though AbleToPlay has a great curated list below of accessible demos to try.

We’re only a little over 2 weeks until @officialgdc.bsky.social

This will be my first time attending. Any industry vets or GDC vets have tips for first time visitors?

I’m definitely looking at some great panels. But I’d love tips on networking events or gatherings and where to find them!

Screenshot of a website that says Congratulations, Lisa! With DePaul University logo in the top left and view acceptance letter as a blue button with white text under “Lisa”

I officially got my admissions decision for my MFA in Game Design!

Excited to delve further into my narrative and psychology course work here!

For the first time in this past academic year I actually enjoy the two projects I’m working on and my contributions to them.

Freshening up on my Ren’Py programming for a horror comedy visual novel on one team.

Game writing and narrative design for a dystopian rpg narrative game. I feel good!

This could be a market for a small scale show that grows with interest.

I’d love to be a part of the planning process for putting something like this together.

Lining up my upcoming next 6+ months and there is a lot to look forward to.

GDC - March (my first time!)
PAX East - March (fav con)
May - Graduation!

And 🤞🏻 starting my MFA in Game Design in August!

Excited to continue working on games and learning so much more!

Imagine being angry an AI voiced shooter didn’t get GOTY over a cinematic masterpiece.

I don’t know why they thought this was news worthy.

PressAnyKeyToBite by Lisa C | Crev A fast-paced reaction game where you bite invading human. However, you must spare the orcs who’ve come to help you!

I’m so proud of myself this week.

In three days I built a game solo for my school’s game jam.

I was able to utilize free assets and learn so much.

If you feel like checking it out you can find it here!

crevlm.itch.io/pressanykeyt...

Right? And this is not even their first issue. Razer has been problematic for years

New #razer ad since they wanted to hide it. It’s 2025, don’t you want your content to be seen? What’s wrong? Are you not proud of it anymore? An incel made this. lmao. #feminism #misogyny TikTok video by gabbie

Razer pushing out a hella sexist and misogynistic ad just proves why having women in this gaming space is so important.

I’m so sick of y’all’s little boys clubs.

www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMmSPvux/

Found out today I’m showcasing a vertical slice of two of my games at our college booth at Chicago Toy and Game Fest next month.

I sense a lot of mental breakdowns in the next few weeks.

Or grey boxing rather

Does anyone have any good recommendations/resources for those brand new to maya?

I need to use it for environment blueprinting and this is so above my level lol.

#gamedev