GDC Austin organizers are reminding 2008 Alumni that they can save up to 40% on All Access and Main Conference passes by registering by midnight on July 30th.

For those who previously attended the online gaming-centric event, the Main Conference pass is available at a major discount until midnight tonight.

GDC Austin, to be held September 15th-18th, 2009 at the Austin Convention Center in Texas, now includes six online-centric 'tracks' for the Main Conference, which takes place Wednesday 16th to Friday 18th. More than 120 sessions will be available covering online games, MMOs and social networking games, from business through technical to design and beyond.

In addition, access to the major GDC Austin Indie, iPhone, Writing, and Audio Summits -- which take place on Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th -- are also available for those alumni wanting to purchase All-Access passes or Summits & Tutorials passes.

More information on the overall 2009 GDC Austin event -- which recently added a Blizzard duo discussing World Of Warcraft as a keynote, and is still to announce a number of major lectures and roundtables -- is available on the official GDC Austin homepage.

Posted by Staff at 02:23 PM | Permalink

GDC Europe organizers, fresh from announcing David Cage's keynote, are reminding attendees that today (July 29th) is the last day for early registration (with a nearly 20% saving) for the major August 17-19th Cologne, Germany game development conference.

As well as revealing the Quantic Dream (Heavy Rain) founder's lecture on "Writing Interactive Narrative for a Mature Audience", the event also recently announced a lecture from Microsoft Game Studios' European creative director Peter Molyneux, alongside an 'Ask The Publishers' session featuring senior executives from Capcom, Disney, Namco Bandai.

Other recently announced keynotes for the major European event include Crytek's Avni Yerli on the future of game graphics, GameForge CEO Klaas Kersting on monetization models, Remedy's Matias Myllyrinne on creating IP, and CCP's Hilmar Petursson on EVE Online and the company's new project.

Overall, GDC Europe (part of Think Services, as is this website) will offer a schedule of forward-looking panels, lectures and keynotes on game development across five tracks: business management, game design, production, programming and visual arts.

GDC Europe will be held in conjunction with the European GamesCom industry event for consumers, publishers, and trade professionals, and will take place August 17-19 at the Cologne Congress East Center in Germany.

The event will host more than 70 sessions addressing the needs and opportunities for developers and business professionals throughout Europe, and registration is open now, with its early discount ending in a few hours.

Posted by Staff at 06:53 AM | Permalink

[Game Developers Conference Europe event director Frank Sliwka welcomes you to his regularly updated comments about the August 17-19 event taking place in Cologne, Germany.]

During the last week we received many registrations for GDC Europe. I would like to say "Thank You" to everyone who registered for our event. Every registration supports us in making GDC Europe the showcase for European development, products, and services.

Today, we are looking forward to see around 1,500 attendees from all over the world, 130 speakers, 40 exhibitors, and more than 160 media representatives. We will be welcomed at the Congress Center East in Cologne with high level publishers to developers. So if you are looking for new business opportunities or wish to learn more about new technologies, then you are at the right place - here at GDC Europe!

[Frank and his colleagues will be posting regular news updates from behind the scenes of GDC Europe, including content reveals and other helpful information. You can subscribe individually to the GDC News blog via its RSS feed.]

Posted by Frank Sliwka at 07:37 AM | Permalink

Quantic Dream founder and CEO David Cage will give a keynote at next month's 2009 Game Developers Conference Europe, say event organizers Think Services.

Cage, the Indigo Prophecy creator who's currently at work on the highly-anticipated Heavy Rain, will give a talk entitled "Writing Interactive Narrative for a Mature Audience." He'll focus on why mature games are necessary, what difficulties developers face in creating narrative-driven adult games, and will expose possible solutions and techniques in interactive storytelling.

"I am excited to participate at GDC Europe and to represent France in such a well-rounded European keynote roster," he said.

Providing a unified forum for the often-fragmented developer community in the different European countries is a large part of the goal of GDC Europe, says Frank Sliwka, vice president of European Business Development at Think Services' European Game Group. "This is our chance to show what happens in Europe, and what we have in development and services," he tells us.

The lion's share of major publishers have their seat in either North America or Asia, says Sliwka, so the European development community has its own slate of unique needs. "Europe is focused so we have a lot of companies that work in the online games field," he says. "So a lot of what we want to do is give them a showcase." Sliwka says he expects some 1,500 attendees to come to GDC Europe for education, networking and learning experiences.

All of the event's keynotes are European; the lineup includes Gameforge CEO Klaas Kersting, Remedy's Matias Myllyrinne, CCP's Hilmar Petursson and Crytek's Cevat Yerli. The latest addition to the lineup, Quantic Dream's Cage, discusses the values behind his keynote: "With the game audience maturing, we feel it's important to share visions and ideas to define how our industry should now evolve," he says. "I am convinced more than ever that the most important next gen feature is emotion. How to trigger more complex emotions is our biggest challenge in the coming years." Adds Sliwka: "I think it's safe to say that all GDC Europe attendees can expect an inspiring and thought provoking keynote on a topic not often addressed."

GDC Europe is set for August 17-19 at the Cologne Congress East Center in Cologne, Germany, in conjunction with the GamesCom event. Early registration is now open and closes July 29. Interested parties can find further information at the event's official site.

Posted by Staff at 08:55 PM | Permalink

GDC Austin organizers have confirmed the first of the Sept. 15-18 event's keynotes, with Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce and World Of Warcraft production director J. Allen Brack discussing operating challenges and lessons in "The Universe Of World Of Warcraft".

In the joint keynote, Pearce, executive vice president of product development and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, and J. Allen Brack, the production director on Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, will talk about the ongoing challenges involved with operating one of the world's most popular subscription-based MMORPGs.

After more than four years in development, World of Warcraft was released in 2004 and since that time has grown into a global phenomenon, in addition to garnering critical praise from reviewers and gamers worldwide.

Pearce is well-placed to discuss the game, being one of the original co-founders of Blizzard in 1991, and having worked on classic Blizzard Entertainment titles including Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, Diablo, StarCraft, Diablo II and Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. He's also overseeing Starcraft II's production.

Brack is responsible "for coordinating the efforts of the game's development team as it creates new content to keep the experience fresh and exciting for the global audience of World of Warcraft players, and previously worked at Sony Online on Star Wars Galaxies and at Origin on the Wing Commander franchise. At Blizzard, he helped created WoW expansion pack The Burning Crusade, and currently manages the production of patches and expansions from their initial conception through their release.

Pearce and Brack's joint keynote address will "specifically discuss the steps taken to create this online world, and the hard work and team coordination necessary to keep that world engaging and rewarding over its lifetime."

"World of Warcraft continues to attract more and more subscribers year after year and has changed perceptions of what online gaming can achieve," says Izora De Lillard, event director at Think Services Game Group. "An exploration of Blizzard Entertainment's enduring success in the online gaming space offers important lessons for all connected game developers interested in developing the next great MMO, casual game, or virtual world."

Presented by Think Services (also owner of Gamasutra), GDC Austin returns with three days of main conference content focused on connected games, including online games, virtual worlds, and social networking game play; and four two-day summits, including the Game Writers, Game Audio, iPhone Games and Independent Games Summits.

The event takes place at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas September 15-18, 2009, and early registration deadlines end soon - more information is available on the official GDC Austin website.

Posted by Staff at 09:55 AM | Permalink

The call for submissions for the 2010 Game Developers Conference has opened and will be available through August 14th, for those game developers and businesspeople wanting to submit simple abstracts.

The pre-eminent annual conference dedicated to the art, science and business of games -- presented by Think Services, a division of United Business Media -- returns to San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center March 9th - 13th, 2010. Session proposals can be submitted via the official GDC 2010 Call For Papers website.

This year, the GDC is continuing its successful three-phase submission system, introduced in 2008, easing the initial entry process and thereby allowing the submitter to have ample time to expand on their session proposal if selected to advance to phase two.

The simplified first-phase of the call for submissions reduces the entry form to session focus and attendee takeaway, along with basics such as biographical information and speaking experience.

The GDC advisory board - consisting of industry-leading figures - will review phase one submissions and determine who will proceed to phase two, at which point submitters will be asked to prepare a complete presentation plan.

In the third phase of the process, the advisory board will review the presentation plans and make the final cut. To read more regarding the submission phases, visit the official submission site. Guidelines for submissions can be found at the submission FAQ site.

Tracks at GDC 2010 include Audio, Business and Management, Game Design, Production, Programming and Visual Arts. Session formats this year include 20- and 60-minute lectures, panels, roundtables, one- or two-day tutorials and poster sessions.

For further information and to begin the submission process, please visit the official GDC 2010 Call For Papers website.

[UPDATE: GDC organizers have also announced the addition of Ubisoft Creative Director Clint Hocking and Epic Games President Michael Capps to the Game Developers Conference advisory board, which guides the direction of the show, rates GDC lecture submissions and coaches prospective speakers.

Hocking, during his eight year tenure at Ubisoft, has worked as level designer, game designer, script writer and creative director on top titles including the original Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Far Cry 2. Capps is president of Epic Games, makers of the hit titles Unreal and the Gears of War franchise.

The duo join existing GDC Advisory Board members which include major game industry notables such as Maxis' Chris Hecker, Blizzard's Rob Pardo, Warner Bros' Laura Fryer, Bungie's Chris Butcher, Cerny Games' Mark Cerny, and Eidos' Julien Merceron.]

Posted by Staff at 07:12 AM | Permalink

The organizers of GDC Europe 2009 have confirmed a lecture from Microsoft Game Studios' European creative director Peter Molyneux, alongside several other new announcements for August 17-19th's major Cologne-based event.

Lionhead co-founder Molyneux will lecture on 'Choice: The Ultimate Game Mechanic', with the Black & White and Fable franchise creator showing "how choice can be a compelling game mechanic so long as player decisions have tangible effects on the game world."

In another notable lecture, former Half-Life 2 art director Viktor Antonov will speak about 'Creating Visual Identity for Games', and the production designer will "analyze the elements and tools that designers use to enhance storytelling and gameplay: space, architecture, light, color and stylization."

Another major just-announced panel is simply called 'Ask the Decision Makers: Find Out What Publishers Want And How To Get What You Want', and features senior executives from Capcom, Bruckheimer Games, Microsoft, Disney, Namco Bandai, Foundation9, and Paramount discussing how developers can stand out from the crowd, get meetings and secure deals.

Overall, GDC Europe will offer a schedule of forward-looking panels, lectures and keynotes on game development across five tracks: business management, game design, production, programming and visual arts.

Other recently announced keynotes for the major European event include Crytek's Avni Yerli on the future of game graphics, GameForge CEO Klaas Kersting on monetization models, Remedy's Matias Myllyrinne on creating IP, and CCP's Hilmar Petursson on EVE Online and the company's new project.

"We're very proud to have such high level executives and veteran developers speaking on a wide variety of topics and trends that are vital to game developers in Europe," said Frank Sliwka, Vice President European Business Development of Think Services Game Group.

GDC Europe will be held in conjunction with the European GamesCom industry event for consumers, publishers, and trade professionals, and will take place August 17-19 at the Cologne Congress East Center in Germany.

The event will host more than 80 sessions addressing the needs and opportunities for developers and business professionals throughout Europe, and registration is open now, with its early discount ending at midnight on July 29th.

Posted by Staff at 07:07 AM | Permalink

[While submissions have just opened for the main IGF, we're pleased to announce that we've also created an IGF China event, starting this year - all Asian entrants should check out the IGF China site (Chinese-language version) for more info.]

Think Services, organizer of the Game Developers Conference events, has announced the first annual Independent Games Festival China. The event is to be held in conjunction with the 2009 Game Developers Conference China, which returns to the Shanghai International Convention Center, October 11-13 of this year.

After 11 years of the main Independent Games Festival competition being held at GDC in San Francisco, the Independent Games Festival will present itself to Shanghai, China for the first time in 2009, in a competition specifically designed to encourage innovation and showcase standout games from smaller companies in the Asia-Pacific region.

The first-ever IGF China encompasses three main components. First, an Independent Games Summit event held on the opening day of GDC China will feature multiple sessions with smaller entrepreneurial Chinese and Asian firms showcasing their work.

Secondly, the IGF Pavilion will showcase all finalists' games on October 11 and 12, the second and third days of GDC China, with the third major component, the Independent Games Festival Awards ceremony being held on the evening of Monday, October 12.

The categories for IGF China include:

- Best Game, RMB20,000 prize ($2,900)
- Excellence In Art Direction, RMB5,000 prize ($730)
- Excellence In Audio, RMB5,000 prize
- Technical Excellence, RMB5,000 prize
- IGF Best Student Game, RMB5,000 prize, 1 Winner
- IGF Student Excellence Winner, RMB2,000 prize, 3 Winners ($290)

Key dates for IGF China include:

June 22nd, 2009 - Submissions are open
September 7th, 2009 - Submission deadline
September 21st, 2009 - Finalists announced
October 11th-13th, 2009 - Game Developers Conference China 2009
October 11th-12th, 2009 - IGF Pavilion, IGF Awards Ceremony, and Independent Games Summit

"Introducing the IGF to China is something uniquely GDC," said GDC China event director Meggan Scavio. "We are excited to be a part of a movement that both corrals and celebrates independent game development to such a burgeoning group while at the same time actually making history in defining what is considered 'independent' game creation in Asia."

For more English-language information on the submission guidelines for IGF China and the 2009 GDC China conference, please visit the official IGF China website on the GDC China webpage. (Chinese-language information is also available.)

Posted by Staff at 04:35 PM | Permalink

Organizers of this September's iPhone Games Summit at GDC Austin have announced first speakers, with the developers of titles like Enigmo and Flower Garden join Looking Glass alum Randy Smith to discuss the business and tech behind working on Apple's device.

Initial information about the September 15th-16th Summit, a separate part of the wider, 'connected game'-focused Austin-based event, is available on the GDC Austin website.

The two-day iPhone Summit is divided in half, with one day dealing with the business and marketing realities behind making games for Apple's phone, and the other going in-depth on technical hurdles and tips for iPhone developers.

Other Summits taking place at GDC Austin this year -- also available to access for those with an Austin GDC Summits Pass or All-Access Pass -- include a brand-new Independent Games Summit and the notable, long-running Writing and Audio Summits.

Details on the iPhone Games Summit at GDC Austin include specifics on the first lectures and panels for the first-ever Austin edition of the popular main GDC event, and the highlights include:

- In 'Pangea’s Road To Success: Launching & Marketing an iPhone App', the local Austin company's founder Brian Greenstone (Enigmo, Bugdom 2) explains why "the hardest part about being an iPhone app developer is figuring out how to get your app seen by the consumer", suggesting concrete solutions from a successful practitioner.

- Snappy Touch (Flower Garden for iPhone) founder and Game Developer magazine programming columnist Noel Llopis will present 'Squeezing Every Drop Of Performance Out Of The iPhone', which will "describe the iPhone performance optimization lessons learned through many hours of tuning", with lots of practical tips and tricks.

- In 'From AAA to iPhone: Tiger Style and the making of Spider', Looking Glass and EA LA veteran Randy Smith is joining colleague David Kalina to discuss their move from high-budget console to iPhone games, promising a look at the business and design behind making an iPhone game, and "how it all impacted the quality of the product and the sales numbers."

- Presenting a more technical lecture, Elecorn's Michael Smith will speak on 'iPort: How To Bring Any C++ Game To The iPhone', which presents techniques used to faithfully port a 3rd person shooter to iPhone, and discusses "general platform porting methods and principles", as well as game play and user interface design differences to consider.

- Finally, in 'Bringing Game Brands to the iPhone: A Business Approach', PlayFirst's Chris Williams (Diner Dash, asks an interesting question: "What do you do when Diner Dash proves to be a Top 100 Paid Application for over 9 months? You make 49 more ports… Or maybe you don’t." Approaches and lessons learned will be covered, with quandaries such as balancing the promise of an increase in sales with the cost of adding iPhone-specific features to existing games.

With more lectures to be announced in the near future, further information on 2009's iPhone Games Summit at Austin GDC, including registration details and other specifics, is available at the official Summit @ Austin GDCs website.

Posted by Staff at 07:13 AM | Permalink

Think Services, organizer of the industry-leading Game Developers Conference (GDC) events, is pleased to announce that submissions are now open for the 2010 Independent Games Festival. Entries to the 12th annual festival are due in both Main and Student Showcase categories by November 2009, with Main Competition finalists to be announced January 4, 2010.

Games selected as finalists will be available in playable form on the GDC show floor and will compete for nearly $50,000 in prizes, including awards for Excellence in Design, Art, the Audience Award and the coveted $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

Winners will be announced on stage at the prestigious Independent Games Festival Awards on Thursday, March 11, 2010, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

The Independent Games Festival Awards are held alongside the Game Developers Choice Awards and both award shows are part of the 2010 Game Developers Conference. GDC 2010 also includes the 2010 Independent Games Summit, which is entering its fourth year and offers two days of inspiration and practical lectures and rants from the top minds in the independent games world.

Over the years, the Independent Games Festival has recognized the best and brightest indie game developers and their games. As the indie game mindshare continues to grow, thanks to the rise of digital distribution and a compelling aesthetic, the Independent Games Festival has played a key role in putting a well-deserved spotlight on these games. Notable former IGF winners include Everyday Shooter, Audiosurf, World of Goo, Blueberry Garden, Darwinia, Castle Crashers, and many more.

Notable evolutions to this year's Festival include a substantial increase in the number of hand-picked IGF judges - chosen, as always, from notables practicing both mainstream and indie game development, as well as discerning indie-minded games journalists.

The judging pool has more than doubled over last year's event, allowing each individual game entry to be played in much greater depth. The IGF is also adding compulsory (previously optional) written judge feedback alongside scores, an important part of deriving value and takeaway from entering the Festival, even for non-finalists.

Simon Carless, Chairman of the IGF, commented of this year's event: "We're delighted to return for our twelfth year of the Independent Games Festival, and we're really looking forward to see what the independent game community comes up with this time around. Good luck to all entrants!"

Submissions to the competition are now open to all independent game developers; important dates for IGF 2010 are as follows:

July 1st, 2009 - Submissions are Open
November 1st, 2009 - Submission Deadline, Main Competition
November 15th, 2009 - Submission Deadline, Student Competition
January 4th, 2010 - Finalists Announced, Main Competition
January 11th, 2010 - Finalists Announced, Student Competition
March 9th-13th, 2010 - Game Developer's Conference 2010
March 9th-10th, 2010 - Indie Games Summit @ GDC
March 11-13th, 2010 - IGF Pavilion @ GDC
March 11th, 2010 - IGF Awards Ceremony (Winners Announced!)

Sponsors already confirmed for the 2010 Independent Games Festival include Official Download Partner Direct2Drive and Platinum Student Showcase sponsor DigiPen Institute Of Technology. For a complete list of IGF 2010 event information, please visit the official IGF website.

Posted by Staff at 11:50 AM | Permalink

Game Developers Conference Europe organizers Think Services have announced that Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli will give a track keynote at the 2009 event.

In his keynote "The Future of Gaming Graphics," Yerli will tell the story of Crytek's success in developing of high-end graphics tech like CryEngine 2 for the PC and next generation consoles, and share his views on the future of rendering.

Yerli co-founded Crytek GmbH in 1999, and the developer now has approximately 470 employees in six countries. In addition to its proprietary CryEngine development platform, the company's best known for its Far Cry and Crysis franchises, and its proprietary CryEngine development platform.

"As a German based company, we are proud to participate in GDC Europe in Cologne," said Yerli. "We are very excited to share and communicate our success story with our fellow European developers and inspire the newer generation."

Yerli is the latest addition to the keynote line-up, which includes GameForge CEO Klaas Kersting on monetization models, Remedy's Matias Myllyrinne on creating IP, and CCP's Hilmar Petursson on EVE Online.

GDC Europe will be held in conjunction with the European GamesCom industry event for consumers, publishers, and trade professionals, and will take place August 17-19 at the Cologne Congress East Center in Germany.

The event will host more than 80 sessions addressing the needs and opportunities for developers and business professionals throughout Europe, and registration is open now, with a 20% discount for those signing up before July 29th.

Posted by Staff at 09:32 AM | Permalink

Organizers of this September's Independent Games Summit at GDC Austin have announced first speakers, with the indies behind titles like Bit.Trip Beat, Age Of Booty, Fantastic Contraption, and DeathSpank speaking on a multitude of notable topics.

Initial information about the September 15th-16th Summit, a separate part of the wider, 'connected game'-focused Austin-based event, is available on the GDC Austin website. Other Summits taking place at GDC Austin this year include a brand-new iPhone Games Summit and the notable, long-running Writing and Audio Summits..

Details on the Independent Games Summit at GDC Austin include specifics on the first five lectures and panels for the first-ever Austin edition of the popular main GDC event, and the highlights include:

- In 'The Bit.Trip Series: Holistic Indie Console Game Design', Gaijin Games' Alex Neuse will speak on "how the small team created the retro-infused [game] series, giving tips on standing out on WiiWare and how to intelligently mine classic gaming for a unique look."

- Speaking in 'Business Managing Your Indie Developer Through The Downturn', Jennifer Bullard of local Texas independent developer Certain Affinity, which has done contract work for big AAA console titles (Left 4 Dead, Call Of Duty: World At War) and developed significant original IP (downloadable title Age Of Booty) will discuss running your indie as a business, and how a small company intelligently juggles work for hire and original IP.

- In a lecture called 'Postmortem: The Design & Business Behind Fantastic Contraption', Colin Northway will explain how the Flash-based physics sandbox webgame -- which has been played by millions of people, and brought in six-figure profits for its single developer -- was designed, monetized and marketed itself, based on an initially free title with paid upgrades.

- Wolfire COO John Graham (co-creator of the upcoming Overgrowth) will discuss 'Effective Marketing For Indie Game Developers', explaining how you use your own website, social networking channels, independent editorial content, and even pre-release versions of your tools to build a robust community around your game before it even ships.

- Finally, in 'The Indie Business Rant', notables including Hothead's Joel DeYoung (DeathSpank, Penny Arcade Adventures), Klei's Jamie Cheng (Shank), and IGS advisory board members Matthew Wegner (Blurst.com, Crane Wars) and Adam Saltsman (Fathom) will "each give short 5-10 minute presentations on aspects of indie business that irk, disgust, or nauseate them, hopefully also including some panaceas for the indie business pain that sickens them."

More information on 2009's Independent Games Summit at Austin GDC, including registration details and other specifics, is available at the official IGS @ Austin GDC website.

Posted by Staff at 07:22 AM | Permalink