[It’s been almost a week, time to wrap up some thoughts on GameSoundCon, because isn’t that… what people do? On brand? Predictable? I dunno, but whatever it is, it was a good time and worth the ticket. Mostly. We’ll get to that. Was that a good tease? You’re still reading so, probably! Or not, I’ll check the bounce rates. Curse you Tony Robbins of audio Akash Thakkar! Anyway, highlights are easy to pick out. Not a bad talk among ’em, so let’s dive right in.

• Becky Allen’s honest and empathetic keynote, which had ups, downs, some more downs, a few more downs, and some great insight on making your own opportunities. Inspirational doesn’t cover the half of it.
• On a lighter note, “Reel Talk Live!” with Kevin Regamey and Matt Marteinsson was a positive look at putting together your reel, unlike uh… somebody’s article… If you aren’t watching ‘Reel Talk’ on Twitch, you’re missing out.
• Aaron Mcleran from Epic gave a very, very, quick overview of clever audio tricks in Unreal Blueprints. If you haven’t used Unreal’s new audio system, this is a great starting point. There’s also a ton of new content coming from the team at Epic and I can’t wait for the new audio system to fully launch.
• Michael Csurics’ talk was a complete shit show due to technical problems and still kinda good? Do more preproduction.
• The Unity VR prototyping talk with Daniel Perry should be required viewing for anyone working in VR audio. There are a lot of wheels, stop reinventing or spinning them. And hey, levers!

And now the bad. Let me be clear; Brian Schmidt does an amazing job putting on the conference. The speakers are great. The tracks are relevant to my interests. The amenities are on point. The conference rooms? Rococo. the tea service? Top notch. But the WiFi? Holy heck was it bad. Also, hotel bar doesn’t open until 4. It’s heartbreaking.]]>