I'm a solo independent game developer from the Netherlands, working on my first game. To give you an idea of progress, I'm hoping to have something rough but playable within a month. I'm living off savings, so my budget is close to zero.

Now it came to my attention that there is a European chapter of the GDC, mid-August in Cologne. Since I'm technically still enrolled in a university by then, I can probably get in for the student price of € 180, and with early booking of a train ticket and a cheap hostel I can probably visit GDC Europe for a total of about € 400.

I might have something playable by then that I could show to people (movies only for now, because my laptop is too crappy to run the game...). This might help generate some buzz to drive sales when I get round to releasing the game. It would also be fun to get to know other indie developers from my area. Disregarding those whose blogs I read, I do not really know any others anywhere, let alone in Europe, let alone in my own country!

Obviously, I would love to go; this is not the question. But I'm wondering: is it worth the time and money, from a business perspective? Has anyone in a similar situation been to GDC Europe, and how did they experience it? Anything else I need to consider?

Thanks, there's some good info in that FAQ.

Please don't be put off by the exact "is it worth it" wording -- there are more questions in my post. I didn't mean to ask people to make a decision for me. Obviously, the final decision whether it's "worth it" is mine alone; but I need information to base this decision on!

So, to rephrase: Has anyone here been to GDC Europe? What value did it have to them? What's their background (so I can judge whether it will have similar value to me)? And -- yes, I'm interested in this too -- did you find it worthwhile or not? For what reasons?

Any answer will be much appreciated!

Ah, must've overlooked that subforum. That's more appropriate indeed, thank you.

Quote: Original post by thomastc
Now it came to my attention that there is a European chapter of the GDC, mid-August in Cologne. Since I'm technically still enrolled in a university by then, I can probably get in for the student price of € 180, and with early booking of a train ticket and a cheap hostel I can probably visit GDC Europe for a total of about € 400.

Not sure how GDC Europe compares to GDC in SF, but for that cheap I'd say definitely go. It's a blast, you meet a lot of awesome people and learn a lot of great things.