I’m looking at my still-unpacked laptop bag.
Besides its namesake technology, it’s filled with all the typical contents of my purse, my written notes, stacks of business cards, and bits of swag I picked up today. Taking everything out is the last GDC ritual I have to perform.
I’m putting it off. The end of a conference is a lot of things but this year, if I had to use one word, raw seems like the best description.

Physically, I’ve been run ragged. I didn’t start my career in games journalism until later in life, and it’s been a while since then. I’m no longer young enough to run (sometimes literally) all over San Francisco to back-to-back meetings without my body yelling at me. But, despite the worn muscles, my post-GDC Covid test assures me I’m perfectly healthy.
Emotionally, I’m all over the place — hence the bag. I made it to the finish line and can now sleep however much I want. That’s something worth celebrating. But while GDC is such an intense week, it’s also one of the best. Catching up with people, sitting down with developers to play their games, rushing around to wildly cool events, feeling the palpable enthusiasm for games radiating in every place I go — I don’t want that to be over.

Finally, speaking of cool events, I spent a good portion of my last days with Raw Fury. The morning light shined into the publisher’s regular haunt as I reveled in an early demo. And a cold, hard breeze tugged at me as I was checked in for a late-night mixer brimming with indie devs in the same, though appropriately transformed, space. I hope you’re ready to hear about some awesome upcoming games, because I’m starting the avalanche of previews next week.
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