All week long, Kim is covering GDC for the Circle. This is Part Three of her coverage there. All included photos are by Kimari Rennis.

By Kimari Rennis

Day 2 – Mar 19

10:20 AM PST

Tuesday was the day I was most excited about because the game production workshops prime on my agenda. I imagine a lot of my fellow producers shared the same sentiment as the first workshop was at capacity when I arrived! 

To heal my broken heart and wait for the next production workshop, I attended the game design workshop two doors down. With a group of four other people, we did refreshing game design exercises as we tried to create a paper version of Plants vs. Zombies, which happens to be one of my favorite games.

The first exercise focused on the importance of recognizing the feeling games want to evoke in us and what aspects of a game work toward that goal. For my group, the main feeling we identified in Plants vs. Zombies is the feeling of being strategic.

For the second exercise we assigned a game master to simulate a playthrough through a narrative and emotional perspective. We made an assortment of cards that had actions on them such as ‘’plant a plant” and “dig up plant” so we could react to the simulation and start gathering ideas of what we wanted our paper prototype to be.

1:20 PM PST

Now it was time for the main event – the second part of the production workshop that I swore I would attend.  Before the next session even started, I made it my mission to learn something. I met a narrative designer and a lead producer discussing the exercise they worked on in the previous session. They talked about the role of the producer if the budget of your team gets cut and how you would likely manage your limited time on the project with financial constraints. 

I joined the conversation and we all shared the sentiment that producers may be put in precarious situations where they need to make difficult decisions and balance the growth and wellness of the team while enforcing important deadlines. I’m living for this conversation!

The second workshop started with a panel that discussed the role of producers, strategies, and desirable traits n engaging iand partnering with others, overcoming and anticipating challenges, and how the expectations and role of the producer have evolved over the years. One of the panelists was my professor, Mitu Khandaker! I took out my notebook and hung onto every word.

3:00 PM PST

I finished off my day by attending Saga’s Multiverse Release and Mixer. With a focus on web3 and blockchain gaming, the company announced Saga Multiverse, a publishing branch looking to advance the web3 gaming space by building a portfolio of innovative and high-quality web3 games to set a high standard people should strive toward.

As a game designer and producer, I was thoroughly intrigued by this endeavor because its success would finally bring order to the web3 gaming sphere – which I had always been rightfully critical of. I had a lovely conversation with Saga’s CEO, Rebecca Liao, about the prospects of quality control and the publishing process of web3 creators pitching games to them in the future. Saga Origins, like a traditional game publisher, would provide marketing support and funding for games that fit their high criteria and had a tangible product.

This announcement was followed up by a panel of game creators sharing their hopes for the technology and what the future of web3 looks like. The panelists generally put forth a rosy picture and they looked forward to the time when the technology is accessible to web2 gamers (current players). But time, effort – and quality game making – will tell the full story.

Senior Intern Kimari Rennis, who has been with the NYVGCC for many years, is a senior at the NYU Game Center.

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