D-Pad Studio has a long history with GDC. In fact we were nominated for the IGF award back in 2010 for Visual Excellence, and have tried to make it a point to attend every year if possible.

This year though, we’re knee deep in Owlboy’s development and had no time for a booth. So… we still found a way to send both Simon and Julie over to say hi to people and get a feel for this year’s community. (Hint, everyone had something to say about VR.)

Well, when we say we didn’t have a booth, that was only partially true.



The awesome people at Norway’s Hamar Game Collective had snuck in Owlboy at their promotional booth at the Nordic Indie Game pavilion. (Simon had no idea.)

This year also allowed for a chance meeting.

Just so happens both Joakim Sandberg (Konjak) developer of Iconoclasts, and Alonso Martin, working on Heart Forth Alicia were around at the same time. All of us have been working on 2D exploration games for roughly 8 years in parallel. That’s one photo off the bucket list. (check out their stuff. It’s good, we promise)

We also got the chance to connect with some old pixel art friends at the pixel jam. Held in the most bizarrely amazing warehouse imaginable. (This is during the Nidhogg tournament. Simon got bronze and is still all too proud of it.)

To finish this off here is your obligatory tourist photo:

And a video game reference:

Until next time!