It occurred to me recently that I've been GEEKING OUT about EVERYTHING video game creation (that my brain allows comprehension of) for almost 20 years now. In late '23 or '24, it will have been 20 years since I made my very first mod, a texture (or a "skin" as we called it) for the sniper rifle in Halo PC. And I forget sometimes that folks around me aren't as jazzed for ALL THIS STUFF, as they don't know what to look for. Or don't care. Y'all have dedicated yourselves to other things. Silly things like making sure buildings don't fall or pretty explosions or self hatred on how french you are, or something. ;D

I read stuff like this for the Unreal 5 Tech Demo (which officially launched a few days ago on the 5th), and there brings a nagging part of me saying that maybe I'm wasting time posting stuff like this here. I mean at least I knew Kahzgul understood. Maybe Vortech... though I don't recall you making any mods so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

The point of this preamble is, if you don't understand something, and I may be able to fill in some gaps. Please don't hesitate to ask.

Which brings me to why I'm making this post. Apparently GDC has posted some of their stuff from THIS YEARS GDC. Generally, I like to wait for Bungies stuff to be posted on the GDC youtube before posting it here, as with out the presenter, some of these power point presentations can be very sparse unless you know what to look for. And it's often rare that Video is presented for free so early. Thank you reddit for bringing these to my attention.

First things first to look at is;

From Box Products to Live Service: How 'Destiny 2' Transformed Bungie by Justin Truman | General Manager

https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1027599/From-Box-Products-to-Live

This one is a powerpoint, but unlike most power points, Mr.Truman here put captions in his power point, a fantastic touch. Thus it reads much like posts do, but smarter and far more concise (as it's only 84 "pages" ;D). It is a fantastic read on the "heart beat" of not only Destiny the Game, but of the Humans who make it. Those whom often have no chance to speak the truth they wish to say.

If you have to choose, read this one.

Bringing Players Together: Building Cross Play for 'Destiny 2' by Jon Chu | Senior Technical Program Manager

https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1027726/Bringing-Players-Together-Building-Cross

This one is a Video! Not sure how many of us would be interesting in the "process" Bungie took in making sure cross play was as seamless as it was, but if you are curious to it, here's their thinking!

Building cross-platform play for a game presents many intricacies for developers. Cross Play for Destiny 2 required standing up many new systems that affected many fundamental parts of the game. From new core matchmaking and networking tech to building out a completely new social graph to supporting cross-platform friends and invites, all the inter-dependencies required the close collaboration of many teams at Bungie. This talk is a case study of the experience the team went through in bringing their players together across seven platforms. We'll discuss the goals which the team set out to accomplish, the approaches and decisions that needed to be made along the way, and how Cross Play was released and maintained in the live game. Lessons and reflections will be shared from what it took to unite players in a single Destiny Universe.

1000 Hours of Difficulty: How 'Destiny' Builds Systemic Challenge by Alan Blaine | Principal Technical Designer

https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1027550/1000-Hours-of-Difficulty-How

This one is your standard powerpoint. But the bullet point in are are numerous and simple enough that something may be gleamed from it. I will say I find it VERY interesting, considering what I say in my little "bit" of madness, that there is so much mentioned about Build Crafting. Even with the little we can gleam from this, the presentation may be worth chatting about.

Design Sandbox: Analog vs Digital Systems by Gregory Peng | Principal Sandbox Designer & Weapons Feature Lead

https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1027580/Design-Sandbox-Analog-vs-Digital

The possibly the most technical of them all. Powerpoint format. Perhaps someone here would find this interesting.

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And that's that. I'm going to throw in a few more GDC things that I think may be interesting despite it not being Bungie related...

... and that's what I got. Cheers!