Posted on March 25, 2014

Jase writes about his his fourth day in San Francisco which includes: our pitch, the Moscone Centre and the Games Developer Conference (GDC).

I had a bit of a lie-in today. I didnt get up until about 4:30. How lazy am I getting!?

Dan was already beavering away downstairs on our pitch that we were delivering this afternoon. I'm starting to wonder if starting work at 4am might be a good way forward. We seem to be getting so much done.

A very large group of school kids arrived in the hotel yesterday... I couldn't figure out which ones were the teachers. I must be getting old. Anyway, after another paper plated breakfast (no more... please!!), and before the kids engulfed the breakfast area, we packed up with our completed pitch polished and our schpeel perfected.

To tick another San Francisco tourist box. I had planned todays commute on the famous San Francisco cable car system. (Not to be confused by the slightly more modern streetcars, these are the older trains that get pulled along by underground cables). Conveniently one of the three main lines started and ended just a couple of blocks away from our hotel... and went all the way down to Market Street leaving a short walk through the busy streets to the Moscone.



I had promised myself that I would hang precariously off the end of the trolley as it navigated its way through the streets… as you would. However, it was way to early for those type of shenanigans and seeing as it was only Dan and I and maybe one or two other eager tourists... it would have looked a little odd. So I didnit.

The trolley was slowly and noisily pulled by the underground cables (manually pushed around the corners) all the way down the Powell-Mason line all the way to Market Street with its bell ringing constantly (note to self... don't sit next to the big bell next time).

Box ticked! Only $6 too.

I'm not a big fan of these conference events. I like to wander around stands, looking at the gadgets etc, not be pounced upon by salesmen and be pitched at every few minutes.



There were some big names here today (at least in the gaming world) like Sony, Microsoft, Unity, Havok etc and many many smaller companies all flexing their techy muscles... but the result was just one big bombardment of music, sound fx and large tvs showing off how realistic each company can do water and trees in games... and clouds.

Lots of 3D water, 3D trees and 3D clouds.

Oh, and the nerds and geeks. The hall was full of bad examples of male grooming. Nobody likes a ginger beard... especially one with braids in. Welcome to the 'Grooming Disasters Conference'.

After doing a few laps of the hall, and meeting a few of the exhibitors, we left the hall to grab ourselves a bite to eat. We had other things on our mind at this point. Our prep work this week was focused mainly on one meeting today. That said however, my focus was briefly shifted on the immediate task ahead..the huge size of the sandwich that was put in front of me. Seriously!

Having failed miserably with my culinary challenge, our minds shifted back to the slightly more important meeting ahead. We quickly went through some points and made our way back to the hall. Our meeting was back at the Welsh Government section of the UKTI stand. A large area of small meeting tables populated by UK based games developers.



It couldn't have gone any better. We put out ideas across the way we wanted them and it has given us a platform to build on and an invitation of further discussions when we get back. Perfect.

Relieved, drained, but very happy, we made our way back to the hotel to crash for a couple of hours. This time, using the old streetcar system. These are larger colourful trains that run on rails but draw power from 2 electrical overhead wires (not to be confused with similar trolley coaches that run using the overhead wires but have normal tyres!) and only $2.



This evening was a drinks reception in the foyer at the British Consulate. A night of free food, free drink and all consumed to the soundtrack of 'The Best of The Beatles'... obviously... we're British!

Our full photoset of the trip can be found at our Flickr pages.