Independent Games Conference East
by Drew Sikora

Northeastern University campus where the conference was held. Click for full gallery

The Conference

IGC East was a conference I had been looking forward to attending since last year for two reasons - 1) Boston is just an awesome city and 2) it's a conference focused on indie games. What's not to like? Last year the conference unfortunately did not happen, but this year I was able to finally make the 4.5 hour trip north to attend. Oh don't get me started on the drive there (and back). Let's just say that I-95 (The New England Thruway) isn't a road I should travel on. There is no center median, no shoulder, and thus nowhere for cops to really sit and stake out the road. And everyone on there knows this. I'm afraid I can't disclose the top speed at which I chased after an Acura Integra or that R8 in case the cops Google this article looking for me.

But I digress. Back to the conference. So it was a two-day affair, which is normal for events of this size, and held on the Northeastern University campus. I stayed with an industry friend and not at a hotel, so I can't comment on ease of travel in that regard, although there is a light rail stop right down the road. Since I had my car I drove us in both days, and the campus had a nice parking garage within 5 minute walking distance of the conference buildings that only charged $20 for the day. NEU has a really nice campus, with plenty of open space and buildings with lots of windows to really let the light in. Sessions were held in two seperate buildings, but within eyesight of one another and and easy walk to and fro. Luckily the weather really held out for us and was in fact quite lovely for Boston at this time of year. It was probably nicer out than it was back home a ways south for me!

Although the conference did not include lunch, there were plenty of on-campus options that didn't take long to walk to. I ended up going with my friends for burritos both days from Boloco. As usual dinner was an open-ended affair, although on Thursday night a local game developer meetup happened to be going on at a local bar down the street, so my friends and I ate there and then hung out at the bar afterwards. Always be sure to look into the local scene when you're out at conferences, because they usually try to schedule something around the same time.

Internet, courtesy of NEU, was fabulous. If nothing else, I hope the conference returns to NEU just so I can have such wonderful wireless service again. Seriously. At GDC, you'll be lucky to get a blasted cell phone signal, let alone a wifi one. I was just at LOGIN more recently (which is an online gaming cnference) and ironically enough they didn't even have wireless (more on that this Wednesday when I summarize that event). At NEU they had a guest access point you could pick up anywhere - a simple click on their gateway page and you were online. I used it in both session buildings and even out on the campus lawn one afternoon, reclining in one of the many lawn chairs they have spread randomly about. Awesome.

There was also a smallish "expo" outside the main lecture hall, consisting of 3-4 tables of companies showing off some products. Given the trouble GDC had with its expo this year, it was no surprise to see a small showing at IGC East. Even aforementioned LOGIN was lacking this year. I hear some companies are already pulling out of E3. It's a tough time for this aspect of game conferences.

Darius Kazemi (Orbus Gameworks) and Chris Oltyan (Zeitgeist Games) talk about focus testing. Click for full gallery

The Sessions

IGC East had a two-track format of business and technology, with a keynote speaker each morning. There were 3 sessions in the morning (including keynote) and 3 sessions in the afternoon after 1 hour lunch break. The only real gripe I had with the schedule is that it was crammed. And by that I mean each session was bumped up right against the next one. So you'd have the keynote at 9:30 for an hour, then the next session at 10:30 for an hour and then the final morning session at 11:30 for an hour. This is a format that only 2-day conferences can get away with. It's very tiring to hit session after session, and even worse if you're jumping between tracks since you have to leave a bit early to get to the other building. However it does allow for the day to end early and have a worthy amount of content in it. So yea, it's a tradeoff. I'd still like 15 minute breaks at least.

Almost all the sessions I attended were great. One or two where fine, just not containing the content I imagined so I didn't take away much from them, and I have to admit that Dallas Snell's keynote was a bit wonky for me. It's not that it was a bad keynote, however the way it was delivered was, to me, ineffective. After almost 30 minutes of him rambling on about his personal life I had pretty much zoned out, so that by the time he came back around to the game dev aspect of the lecture, I had forgotten what he was supposed to be talking about. He was a very entertaining speaker though.

The business track sessions were held in an amphitheater underneath West Village F, and it had stadium seating with comfy chairs and a huuuuge projection screen. Or two side-by-side screens, which were used on day two. Being partially deaf, I had no trouble sitting way up towards the top of the room and hearing the speakers just fine. The technology track was held in a room about 2 minutes walk away at the Egan Research Center. It wasn't a lecture hall, but did the job just fine for presentations.

Scott Macmillan from Macguffin Games shows off his demo. Click for full gallery

Game Demo Night

I'm all for demo nights. They're a great way of letting developers show off their games to potential clients and players. The format I'm most familiar with is where each developer gets 30-60 minutes to give either a live demo or lecture on their game (or a mix of both), but the alternative is to have it set up as more of an exposition, with all the developers set up at tables running demoes. Game Demo Night chose the expo route, and about 10 companies had their games set up around the room. The room itself was a bit smallish, but perhaps that was either the best one that could be booked (don't forget we're at a University here with classes in session) or the organizers weren't expecting as much of a turnout. The Demo Night ran for a good two hours at least, and the room was packed pretty much the whole time, with people spilling out into the halls for conversation. I would have to go out the door on one side and back in via the door on the other side - it was easier than jostling through the crowd. But I know the developers demoing their games weren't complaining!

Conductor Yohei Sato leads the group through pieces from Chrono Trigger, God of War, Mario Bros, Halo, and more. Click for full gallery

Video Games Orchestra

The conference ended with a concert by the Video Games Orchestra, not to be confused with Video Games Live. While the orchestra usually performs with a full compliment of instruments, this show was put on by a smaller chamber group as the venue wasn't large enough to hold the whole contingent. I've played Alto and Tenor Saxophone in concert, jazz and marching bands throughout school so I love a good orchestrated concert whenever I can get to one. VGO put on a flawless performance and the musicians were all very talented and professional (and most were probably younger than me. Gah!). The entire concert was filmed and I'm waiting to hear from the organizers what's being done with it. When I know I'll update here and in my journal.

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