Exciting news; as of last month I have a new niece! Kaylin Lang Daly. This summer Amanda and I are planning on taking a trip out to Shanghai to see her, which I’m excited about.

She already understands cooties! – they grow up so fast

San Francisco

Also, I recently took a trip to San Francisco with Amanda. It was pretty awesome. We spent a few days walking around the city and saw lots of neat stuff. I’ve updated my Vacation Gallery with a bunch of pictures. Cool stuff we did in San Francisco includes but is not limited to:

• Eating tasty Dim Sum
• Get a personal explanation of how Trolleys work from an operator
• Walk around Fisherman’s Wharf, including seeing the legendary boat "Bojangles", clam chowder, and some sea lions
• See an old penny arcade machine collection. The "Opium Den" was a highlight
• Dining in the French Quarter
• Drive over the Golden Gate Bridge
• Hike through Muir Woods
• The California Academy of Sciences, which had a nice aquarium, indoor rainforest, and planetarium
• Drive through the Mission District and eat at the Taqueria
• Walk though Golden Gate Park, including a Japanese Tea Garden
• Visit Japan Town and eat mochi ice cream and an adorable crepe
• Visit a Tiki Bar
• Spend some quality time at the King George Hotel
• Eat some delicious deep dish pizza at Little Star
• Eat at the fancy House of Prime Rib
• Ride around on the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit)
• Some clothes shopping

This picture isn’t the most representative of San Francisco, but I can get very excited about dinosaurs

GDC

Another reason that I was in San Francisco was to attend the 2011 Game Developers Conference. I think this might have been the first time (out of maybe 4?) that I went there entirely for education – I didn’t have to help run a booth, give demos, or do sales support! I went to a lot of really good sessions and learned a lot of stuff. Some of the stuff I learned about there:

• Creating Game Trailers
• Sony’s Next Generation Portable
• How not to fail
• Player Driven Story
• Encouraging Cooperation in Co-op Games
• Minimizing Exposition in Games
• Understing Cognitive Biases
• Networking in Halo Reach
• Automated LOD in Halo Reach
• Halo Reach Effects Tech
• Crytek and Epic tech demos
• Played the 3DS a little

I could tell you all about the stuff I learned in more detail but my notes were 15 pages so it’s a bit much for a post here. If you are super curious you can just e-mail me. Anyway, that’s it until next time!