One Life Left back at GDC

Last year, sometime in the middle of March, I was lying on my sofa wrapped in blankets, shivering and considering the notion of regret. I was suffering from the notorious post-GDC flu. Luckily so were others, so we sympathised, compared symptoms and slept it off in our various corners of the world. I don’t know what strain the virus was or why our bodies felt so attacked, but I have a feeling it was our immune systems scolding us for having too much fun. That was how my first GDC ended, and if this year ends in the same way I won’t mind. It will absolutely be worth it.

One Life Left is returning to GDC for the second (and hopefully first flu free) year to present a series of shows with Gamasutra. We are very excited. We will be recording two shows a day from Wednesday to Friday, and talking to, well, everyone. We have some really great guests lined up already, and we'll be grabbing anyone foolish enough to walk past us. You can keep up with what we're doing on our Twitter account (@onelifeleft). Our aim is to provide a taste of what's going on that day, with interesting interviews, brilliant guests and some overly noisy GDC atmosphere in the background. The daytime shows from last year will give you an idea of what to expect. 

I should probably introduce you to One Life Left. Right now it's a bit like I’ve cornered you at a party and you’re still trying to read my name badge without making it look like you’re staring at my chest. That's ok, I get it. One Life Left is presented by Ste Curran (@steishere), Simon Byron (@byronicman) and I (@scanters). We've been going for about seven years now, and our mission statement has remained the same: we want to teach people who don't play games that they can be interesting and creative and fun and silly and relevant and sometimes serious. We want to show that they can be every bit as human as a book or a piece of music or a film or a really good conversation. We want to challenge people who do play games to try a different kind of game, to look for a different experience. We want to have fun, drink cocktails, listen to pop music, cause mischief, have adventures and apologize a lot. We want everyone who listens and everyone who is on the show to be a part of this.

That's not a very concise mission statement. We'll work on for next year, promise. 

We are very lucky to be able to have this mission statement and choose our own agenda, and we are only able to do that because we are entirely independent. We don't get paid to do this, so our content is driven by what we think is interesting and what we think people would like to hear. We do this because it is fun and, honestly, because we get to come to stuff like GDC and have a great time. We broadcast on Resonance 104.4FM, a London based arts radio station, which is itself independent. Resonance is a really important cultural outlet and without them we wouldn't be able to do what we do. You should really check them out.

The three of us do very different things as our day jobs. Ste has just announced his new game, Way of the Dogg. That’s right – Dogg with a double G. Find him, buy him drinks and let him tell you all the stories that come from working with Snoop. Maybe we’ll get Snoop on the show. Maybe. Simon is Head of Games at Premier PR and won't be joining us at GDC this year because he’s getting married. Who thought getting married was more important than going to GDC? Well, he’s made his bed and he’ll have to lay in it. With his new wife. Unbelievable. I don’t work in videogames. I am an Audio Producer at the Royal National Institute of Blind People where I record audiobooks.

It's not just the three of us that make up the show. Pretty early on we realised that the only way to make us better was to surround ourselves with talented people and take credit for their good ideas. And we'll be doing that at GDC too. As well as a representative from Gamasutra (it's almost like they think we need supervision) we'll be joined by two very special guest presenters. How incredible to say that we will be broadcasting with the voice of Super Hexagon, Jenn Frank. Also on the show will be Michael Frederickson. We met Michael at GDC last year, and how we met him is one of my favourite stories and pretty much sums up why I think GDC is brilliant. Michael came to GDC one day to promote his game, Kanye Zone. Someone told him to look out for a female journalist with red hair. It is very unlikely that he was supposed to be looking for me, but there I was and I appeared to fit the bill, so he came over and asked if he could talk about his game. "Sure!", we said, so he came on and was smart and funny and talked about Kanye Zone in an engaging way. We decided that anyone who makes a game based on the question 'what would happen if Kanye did get in his zone?" (think Kanye's rap in Ni**as in Paris, "don't let me get in my zone") is a pretty good person, so we hung out, did karaoke and decided to become BFFs.

Yep. That's why GDC is good and why we are so excited to be back this year. Because everyone wants to talk - to talk and drink and high five and laugh and kiss. Maybe not kiss. We’ll leave any kissing to your discretion. But people definitely want to interact and have the best time. So if you see us around, say "hi!", come and talk to us. And if we all go home with flu, it won't matter. It will absolutely have been worth it.