San Francisco

This week, I'm back in San Francisco, CA. To be more specific, I'm actually in Burlingame, which is within spitting distance of the San Francisco airport.

I'm here this week to attend an industry conference called the IGDA Leadership Forum.

The IGDA is a global organization of independent game developers. However, it also includes people from the largest companies in the game industry. They hold a small, two-day conference for "leaders" in the industry to share ideas about making games and running studios & teams. This was a last-minute decision to attend, as I'm trying to figure out if I still have the skill-set to produce games, like I did almost 6 years ago. Much has changed - in both the industry and the technology - so we'll see what happens.

The conference takes place at the SF Airport Marriott. This hotel (with several others), is located right on the water of the SF Bay. There is a really great pathway that runs for several miles along the water, for biking, walking or running.

If you enlarge, you'll see the San Mateo Bridge in the background

From this location, you can actually watch planes taking off and landing at the airport. I ran outside on a break - and I would love to spend more time just watching all the aircraft.

Two aircraft taking off from parallel runways

I have to remember to make this opportunity available for my two-year-old...soon. Talk about cool "guy" bonding moment!

Side note - there are several very large men walking around the hotel. I've since discovered that this is where the Chicago Bears are staying. They're playing the SF 49ers at Candlestick Park this evening ; ) There are now signs up at the hotel - "No Autographs, Please".

The conference is interesting…so far. Lots of networking (which I'm not always a fan of) and some decent presentations from folks inside the industry:

Keynote

Break-out session

One session provided some interesting insight from an industry veteran. He talked about a game he had made, way back in the "Atari" days. If you don't know what that is - you're too young and I'm now mad at you. Anyway...a fan of the game told him about how that game had brought him and his grandfather together, in a way that nothing else had done. This really touched the game designer. He wanted to remind all of us that games have the opportunity to touch lives - in a positive way. He wanted us to remember that we all have that chance....and should take that responsibility seriously. I totally agree...

The conference continues tomorrow, and then I'm back home for a few days. I'm looking forward to it ; )