Think Services, organizer of the Game Developers Conference (also parent of Gamasutra), has announced its advisory board for the October 11th-13th GDC China event in Shanghai.

Board members include industry veterans Ding Yingfeng, product director of NetEase's popular Chinese free-to-play MMO Fantasy Westward Journey, Eric Chang, CTO and co-founder of XPEC Entertainment, Xu Xiao Yue, a lead engineer at Ubisoft Shanghai and Joe Zuo, vice president of Shanda Games, the Shanghai-based licensed publisher of MapleStory, Ragnarok Online, Dungeons & Dragons Online and many others.

The 2009 event marks the second GDC China conference dedicated to the art, science and business of games by returning to the Shanghai International Convention Center, October 11-13 of this year.

The full 2009 GDC China advisory board is as follows:

Ding Yingfeng
Deputy Director of Online Game Department & Product Director, Fantasy Studio (Fantasy Westward Journey) of NetEase

Raymond Neoh
Founder, TQ-Global Ltd

Billy Hsu
CEO, DJL Worldwide

Xu Xiao Yue
Lead Engineer, Ubisoft Shanghai

Eric Chang
CTO & Co-Founder, XPEC Entertainment Inc.

Joe Zuo
Vice President & Partner of "18 Fund," Shanda Games

"GDC China is the ideal venue to explore the groundbreaking frontier of Chinese game development," says Meggan Scavio, event director for GDC China, "and there's no group better qualified to act as our guides than the expert developers and executives of the GDC China advisory board."

"They helped craft the content that makes GDC China the must-attend event for anyone interested in the Chinese game industry."

GDC China has extended its early bird registration to September 15, 2009. Interested parties can find more information at the event's official website.

Posted by Staff at 12:30 PM | Permalink

Organizers of the newly announced IGF China event, intended to expose Asia-Pacific indie game innovation, have announced judges for the satellite event taking place in Shanghai this October.

The judges, for which information is available on the official GDC China website, are headed by main Independent Games Festival chairman and Game Developer/Gamasutra publisher Simon Carless.

They include notables such as Michael Lu, Director of Game Art Department at the Shanghai Film Art Academy and Art Director at CWC, as well as Feng Zhu, President of the Singapore-based FZD School of Design.

Also tapped to be judges are Xubo Yang, Director of Digital Art Lab at Shanghai Jiaotong University's School of Software, plus Monte Singman, the Founder/CEO of Radiance Digital Entertainment, and Kevin Li, Strategy Growth Director at Activision China.

The first ever Independent Games Festival in China 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.

Organizers are also reminding that submissions for the IGF China event, which are free, must be completed by September 7th at the latest. For more English-language information on the submission guidelines for IGF China and an official entry form, please visit the official IGF China website on the GDC China webpage. (Chinese-language information is also available.)

Posted by Staff at 6:50 AM | Permalink

2009 GDC Austin organizers have announced its final keynote, with Playfish co-founder Sebastien de Halleux (Pet Society) talking about Facebook and social network gaming at the September 15th-18th conference.

London-headquartered Playfish is one of the world’s largest and fastest growing social games companies, with hit microtransaction-powered titles such as Who Has The Biggest Brain? and Crazy Planets on Facebook and other networks.

By examining the inherent strengths of the community on social networks, de Halleux’s keynote will "provide insight on how these platforms can be used to create engaging games, and why developers should be looking at social networks as a burgeoning area of video game design and business development."

Playfish itself has a verified base of more than 100 million game installations across nine titles, reached only 18 months after the company’s launch in late 2007, and de Halleux was recently interviewed about social gaming trends on GDC's sister website Gamasutra.

This keynote joins two others -- by Sony Online Entertainment head John Smedley on the company's move into a wider market, and by a notable Blizzard duo on 'The Universe Of World Of Warcraft', as well as over 90 other lectures at the event, which has three days of main conference content focused on connected games, online games, virtual worlds, and social networking game play.

GDC Austin also has four two-day summits including the Game Writers, Game Audio, iPhone Games and Independent Games Summits, takes place at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas September 15-18, 2009. More information is available on the official event website.

Posted by Staff at 7:34 AM | Permalink

2009 GDC Europe organizers announced that the three day pre-GamesCom event in Cologne saw nearly 1,500 game professional attendees, with the event's return confirmed for August 16-18, 2010.

GDC Europe, which was held at the Cologne Congress East Center as a precursor to the massive GamesCom trade show, is the largest professionals-only game industry event in Europe, organizers claim. The event, organized by Think Services sported a lineup of more than 130 speakers from around the world, over 40 exhibitors and sponsors, and more than 250 media representatives.

As for highlights, keynote speaker Cevat Yerli, CEO of Crytek, kicked off the conference Monday with a keynote lecture before a packed audience, where he discussed the challenges of creating some of the gaming world's most graphically-intense gameplay experiences.

Matias Myllyrinne, Managing Director of Finland's Remedy Entertainment, covered the topic of creating successful new intellectual property for games during his keynote speech on Monday, referencing the company's blockbuster shooter franchise, Max Payne and their hotly-anticipated Alan Wake.

During his keynote speech on Tuesday, CEO of Icelandic game developer CCP Hilmar Veigar Petursson, made the unexpected announcement of Dust 514, a console-based massively multiplayer online first person shooter set within the world of EVE Online, CCP's landmark massively multiplayer title, which now boasts an audience of more than 300,000 active users.

Tuesday also saw the keynote from David Cage, founder and CEO of Quantic Dream, in which Cage discussed conquering the challenges of expressing mature, emotionally resonant interactive narratives for games, and how these challenges are being addressed in his company's upcoming title, Heavy Rain.

On Wednesday, Klaas Kersting, CEO of Gameforge Productions, discussed the history of his German-headquartered free-to-play firm during his keynote. Kersting spoke about the cultural difference between Europe and Asian game design that make Gameforge's titles stand out as a distinctly European take on online role playing games.

A number of other notable lectures, from Peter Molyneux to iPhone panels and beyond, were covered in Gamasutra's official event lecture round-up. GDC Europe organizers also confirmed that the event will return on August 16-18, 2010, once again co-located with GamesCom and earlier in the same week.

"With GDC Europe concluded, we're happy to look back at a truly successful event that will help guide the European game industry even further into the spotlight," said Frank Sliwka, Vice President of European Business Development of Think Services Game Group. He added: "From Sweden to Germany, France to England, amazing developers from every corner of the continent and throughout North America and Asia came together to make this conference truly pan-European as well as global."

Posted by Staff at 7:03 AM | Permalink

Due to popular demand, GDC organizers have extended the call for submissions for next March's 2010 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, the pre-eminent game creation conference, to next Tuesday, August 18th, 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 -- which includes 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, as well as new additions in the form of Ubisoft Creative Director Clint Hocking and Epic Games President Mike Capps - 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.

Posted by Staff at 6:03 PM | Permalink

2009 GDC Austin organizers have announced a raft of new lectures as the August 13th early registration deadline nears, with Metaplace's Raph Koster and Zynga's Brandon Barber joining keynotes from Blizzard and SOE at the September 15th-18th conference.

As organizers note, the many notable sessions taking place at GDC Austin include BioWare technical director Bill Dalton's talk on the tech complexities and struggles of developing MMO titles and Cartoon Network's Richard Weil's co-presented session on the financial and regulatory complications of online games for younger children. Also added is best practices for creating 'sticky' game designs from Zynga's Brandon Barber.

Other topics include viral growth tactics, harnessing community feedback to improve game design, micro-transaction security, and developing recognizable IP that appeals to all generations of gamers.

Some of the other highlights of newly announced or existing 2009 GDC Austin lectures include:

- Talking in 'Challenges In Designing A Casual MMO', Sony Online Entertainment's Laralyn McWilliams will address the creation of Free Realms, presenting "a discussion of the user-driven design process the team followed, and a frank look at what worked for the team and for players...and what didn’t."

- Metaplace's Raph Koster is discussing 'Games are Math: 10 Core Mechanics That Drive Compelling Gameplay', with the intriguing lecture positing: "Games fundamentally model systems – and that’s a topic that mathematicians wrestle with for a living! Are there particular math problems that make for great game mechanics?"

- An interesting core MMO-centric panel called 'Making the Grade: What Gaming’s Premier Guilds Really Think About You' spans Meridian 59 to Age of Conan and "will assemble five Guild Masters from gaming’s premier player organizations to discuss the state of MMO gaming from top to bottom -- why they choose some games and quit others, how they approach beta testing, what they love (and hate) about our games, and what they still hope to see."

- In 'Why We Need Heroes And Villains In Games', some of the key creators of the upcoming DC Universe Online MMO, including SOE Austin's Chris Cao and Jens Andersen, alongside DC Comics writer Marv Wolfman, discuss "why... tension between good and evil is so critical -- not only for telling a good story, but for making a video game."

These lectures join confirmed keynotes by Sony Online Entertainment head John Smedley on the company's move into a wider market, and by a notable Blizzard duo on 'The Universe Of World Of Warcraft', as well as over 90 other lectures at the event, which has three days of main conference content focused on connected games, online games, virtual worlds, and social networking game play.

"One of the unique challenges of GDC Austin is staying ahead of the next trend in the ever changing online gaming space. We have seen the industry expand and morph from MMOs to virtual worlds to online social networked free-to-play casual MMOs," says Izora De Lillard, event director at Think Services Game Group. "This September, we are proud to present a program focused on the lessons you need to harness current opportunities and the inspiration to develop the next breakthrough."

GDC Austin also has four two-day summits including the Game Writers, Game Audio, iPhone Games and Independent Games Summits, takes place at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas September 15-18, 2009. More information is available on the official event website, and early registration discounts of up to 25% will end on Thursday, August 13.

Posted by Staff at 8:49 AM | Permalink

2009 GDC Austin organizers have announced that Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley will keynote next month's event, discussing the success and lessons learned from the firm's recently launched, family-friendly free to play MMO Free Realms.

Smedley, who heads up the long-time online game publisher/developer and creator of EverQuest and EverQuest II, will present a keynote entitled: "From Dragons and Daggers to Kart Racing, Cooking and Concerts ... It's a Whole New MMO World".

He will discuss how the critically-acclaimed freely available tween and teen title Free Realms, originally announced during GDC Austin 2007, has worked to expand the base of players engaging together in online worlds.

The online game, launched in April 2009 and monetizing via item sales and optional membership, saw 1 million registered accounts in the first ten days, and has already seen users reach nearly 5 million, according to a Comic-Con panel.

According to the announcement, Smedley "will inform attendees about the challenges and lessons learned when creating a full-blown MMO for younger audiences", with empirical research and insights.

The keynote will "speak to the challenges and boundless opportunity of connected games, and will also describe how to re-educate development teams to move away from stagnant MMO designs towards mass market success."

The SOE executive's talk joins an already-confirmed Blizzard keynote on 'The Universe Of World Of Warcraft', as well as a number of major online game-centric sessions at the event, which has three days of main conference content focused on connected games, online games, virtual worlds, and social networking game play.

GDC Austin also has four two-day summits including the Game Writers, Game Audio, iPhone Games and Independent Games Summits, takes place at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas September 15-18, 2009. More information is available on the official event website, and early registration discounts will end on August 13.

Posted by Staff at 8:11 AM | Permalink

Organizers of this September's Game Writers Summit at GDC Austin have revealed the full session line-up, including Valve's writers teaming up to discuss Portal and Half-Life 2, and the notable writers behind Overlord, Deus Ex 3 and more.

Full 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 Writers Summit is dedicated to the art and craft of game writing, game narrative and interactive storytelling, and, as the developer-led advisory board explains: "This is the premier event in the world for discourse on, and learning about, the subject of video game writing."

Details on the Game Writers Summit at GDC Austin include specifics on the first lectures and panels for the long-running GDC Austin standout event, and the highlights include:

- A special panel called 'Having Your Cake and Eating It Too: A Conversation with the Writers of Valve' brings together for the first time three of the Half-Life, Left 4 Dead and Portal creator's writers – Marc Laidlaw, Erik Wolpaw and Chet Faliszek. They "will take the stage together to discuss the process that has made Valve games a gold standard of writing in games."

- In 'What’s a Writer to Do? Redefining Our Role in Crafting Player Driven Narratives', Mary Le Merle, who is lead writer on Eidos Montreal's upcoming Deus Ex 3, discusses whether we will ever "succeed in engrossing players in rich, story-driven narratives, while simultaneously allowing them to define their own paths -- and their own stories" -- a particularly relevant issue for the update of Warren Spector's cyberpunk title.

- Presenting a pertinent lecture to GDC Austin's main online-centric content, ZeniMax Online's Tracy Seamster and 38 Studios' Steve Danuser discuss 'Writing for MMOs: You're Doing It Wrong', explaining of the genre: "Rather than thinking of our job as 'writing for MMOs,' we should consider ourselves MMO storytellers."

- In the panel 'Clash Of The Titans: Debating Gameplay vs. Story', major game writing notables including Chris Avellone (Fallout 2, Alpha Protocol), Rhianna Pratchett (Overlord series, Heavenly Sword), Christian Allen (Ghost Recon), and Andrew Walsh (Prince of Persia, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) discuss conflicts between gameplay and storytelling, and how to resolve them.

- In 'Thinking Inside the Box: Finding Creative Space in Your Franchise', Red Storm's Jay Posey discusses why "finding ways to bring fresh and innovative ideas to [existing major franchises] can be a challenge for developers of all stripes, but writers in particular may be especially daunted by the sometimes rigorous constraints imposed by legacy titles."

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 brand-new Independent Games and iPhone Game Summits and the noted, long-running Audio Summit.

Further information on 2009's Game Writers Summit at GDC Austin, including registration details and other specifics, is available at the official Summit website. Early Bird registration for the event, which brings significant savings with it, ends on August 13th.

Posted by Staff at 8:45 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.]

One of my favorite jobs in preparing GDC Europe was to check out the nightlife of Cologne. With my two good friends, Alex and Franko (both members of the gamescom team), we enjoy KOLSCH a local beer you too will soon enjoy. We then went to "Friesenstrasse", one of the state-of-the -art clubs are here. This was just one of the many clubs and restaurants in Cologne.

Then there is the Ivory Lounge, where we will have our GDC Club Party (powered by Gameforge) on Monday night. In my opinion, this is a really nice place, but I prefer the "Old part of Cologne" which is located at the river Rhine near the famous Cologne cathedral or Kolner Dom.

Stay tuned for more in my next blog.

[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 at 7:52 AM | Permalink