I was lucky enough last week to skip our release days and instead spend the time listening and learning at XPDay in London (and, on Thursday evening, drinking myself somewhat silly).
They chose an interesting format this year – only a few presentations were pre-approved, and most of the presentation space was opened to proposals during the conference. An interesting idea, but my feeling is it went a little awry. Many sessions ended up being a discussion around a problem someone was having – these are all very interesting and often important, but there failed to be the balance between such impromptu debate and the more formal presentations.
Some highlights -
- The spirited lightning talk on “The sword of integration”.
- The [ex-]EA test manager who said “Some people were complaining about being able to shoot through walls. Who gives a cock?”. And we wonder why EA games are known for their quality.
- People turning up en-masse to my & John’s talk, and not throwing rotten fruit! Much appreciated.
- The people – I met some very interesting souls and that alone made the trip worthwhile.
As for the content, Gojko has some excellent write-ups (as always), so I won’t reinvent the wheel.
