GDC News and Information Blog

In today's market of follow-ups, reboots, and trilogies, developers need to understand what it takes to make a good video game sequel.

There are plenty of challenges that come with working on a beloved or classic IP, but at next month's GDC Online conference in Austin, Texas, a panel of experienced industry pros will share their advice for getting the most out of your next major sequel or reboot.

The session, titled "In the Shadow of Greatness - Sequels and Reboots Deconstructed," will feature seasoned designers and writers including Mary DeMarle (Eidos Montreal), Tom Abernathy (Microsoft Studios), Chris Avellone (Obsidian Entertainment), Raphael Van Lierop (HELM Studio) and Ivan Mulkeen (Eidos Montreal).

These speakers have worked on some of the most notable sequels and follow-ups recent memory, with credits spanning Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Halo: Reach, Knights of the Old Republic II, Fallout: New Vegas, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, and much more.

During this talk, these developers will discuss the major considerations studios will need to make when creating a follow-up to a successful game. Along the way, they'll also touch on some common misconceptions about working on a sequel, how DLC can fit into your narrative structure, and the future prospects of new IP.

As part of GDC Online's Game Narrative Summit, this talk will be open to All Access and Summits & Tutorials pass holders. The show itself will take place October 9-11 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

Continue reading "Deus Ex, Fallout notables talk 'the art of the reboot' at GDC Online" »

Posted by Staff at 12:11 PM | Permalink

The call for submissions to present lectures for the specialized Summits kicking off the 2013 Game Developers Conference (GDC) is now open through Tuesday, October 23 at 11:59pm ET.

The GDC Summits, which take place the first two days of the five day conference, are one and two day events that cover relevant topics in emerging sectors of the game industry, with a focus on broadening the scope of games to incorporate new audiences, new platforms and new gameplay ideas.

Organized by Gamasutra parent company UBM Tech Game Network, GDC 2013 will take place March 25-29, 2013 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California.

The Game Narrative Summit comes to GDC this year after being held for seven years at GDC Online in Austin, Texas. The two day program covers interactive narrative in all its forms, from AAA blockbusters to indie games to transmedia projects. The summit is looking to feature an all-star lineup of speakers from every corner of the discipline, with session content ranging from the advanced and theoretical for writers, designers and others seeking to hone their skills.

Returning advisors for the program include Tom Abernathy of Microsoft Studios, Lev Chapelsky of Blindlight, Richard Dansky of Ubisoft/Red Storm and Susan O'Connor of Susan O'Connor Writing Studio. Narrative Director, Mary DeMarle of Eidos Montreal (Deus Ex: Human Revolution) joins the returning advisors to assist in programming a robust Game Narrative Summit.

The introduction of the QA Summit marks the first time that the GDC will have dedicated content to quality assurance which is a critical component in game development. Since there is no standard methodology to QA, this summit will discuss new and/or current tools, processes and organization methods being used in QA today and to show how QA is an integral part of development.

Attendees will gain some new insight and knowledge that will help existing QA Teams/Managers as well as those new to QA. Mario Vasquez, Sr. Director, North American QA at Electronic Arts, Ben Wibberley, Games Director at VMC Game Labs, and Daniel Pangelina, QA Lead/Manager of Double Fine Games will spearhead the QA Summit advisory committee.

The Free-to-Play Design & Business Summit (the successor to the Social & Online Games Summit) will be taking submissions covering a range of topics relating to free-to-play (F2P) titles - from postmortems on new and successful F2P games, to the latest and greatest monetization techniques, to lessons learned in designing F2P titles from the ground up, to experiences on social features, among other pressing trends that F2P developers face.

Steve Meretzky of Playdom/Disney, Sulka Haro of Makie Lab, John Welch of Making Fun, Juan Grill of Joju Games, David Edery of Spry Fox and Frank Cartwright of 2K/Gamers First, the original advisors of the Social & Online Games Summit, will return to serve as the advisors for the Free-to-Play Design & Business Summit.

The new summits join a lineup of popular and major returning summits, including the Independent Games Summit and the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit; the complete lineup for the GDC 2013 Summits follows:

Free-to-Play Design & Business Summit
Game Narrative Summit
GDC Education Summit
Independent Games Summit
Localization Summit
QA Summit
Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit 

Posted by Staff at 7:51 AM | Permalink

With just two weeks to go until this year's GDC Online, the Austin show's organizers have debuted several new business-focused talks examining how YouTube's plans for game integration, Travian on how existing companies can adopt metrics driven design, and more.

These talks all fall within the Business & Marketing track in GDC Online's Main Conference, which will take place take place Tuesday, October 9 to Thursday, October 11 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

The full details on these new Business & Marketing track sessions are as follows:

- First, Lars Janssen of the German browser game company Travian Games (Travian, Miramagia) will explain why companies should use special procedures and tools to analyze player behavior if they hope to grow their games in today's market. In his talk, "Moving a Games Company from Gut Feeling to Metrics," he'll discuss how developers can overcome the challenges of introducing metrics to their existing design processes.

- Elsewhere, YouTube developer advocate Jarek Wilkiewicz and content partnerships manager Cliff Samaniego will present "Start Playing the Mobile Distribution Game on YouTube." Video games have become one of the top categories on the popular video streaming site, and during this session the pair will explain how you can convert those millions of viewers into actual players by integrating YouTube into your next mobile game.

Wilkiewicz and Samaniego will highlight some top examples of games that have benefitted from YouTube integration, and will cover the best practices for using these videos from a technical and business perspective. And of course, they'll take a moment to share some of their favorite gameplay videos with GDC attendees.

- Have you ever wanted to host your own session at one of these GDC events? If so, you're in luck, as Playdom developers and GDC advisory board members Steve Meretzky and Gordon Walton will help you do just that in "How to be Accepted to Speak at GDC." During this talk, Meretzky and Walton will detail how the GDC board reviews and selects the talks that make it to these shows. Along the way, attendees will learn how to make their submissions stand out, and how they can craft a solid presentation.

Continue reading "GDC Online highlights Travian, YouTube, new business talks" »

Posted by Staff at 1:06 PM | Permalink

The growing session lineup for this November's GDC China in Shanghai is quickly gaining steam, and today the show's organizers have revealed three new talks in the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit.

This time, these new sessions include an examination of PopCap's Bejeweled Blitz, a case study from Limbic Software on the challenges of mobile game growth, and Appy Entertainment on pivoting from 'premium to freemium' in the smartphone space.

As part of the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit, these sessions will run alongside the rest of GDC China from November 17-19 at the Shanghai Convention Center in Shanghai, China, and will offer specialized content covering the ins and outs of mobile game development.

The full details on these new Summit sessions are as follows:

- In "Bejeweled Blitz: One Year in the Life of a Top-Grossing Mobile Game," PopCap's Giordano Bruno Contestabile will discuss how Bejeweled Blitz made the jump from Facebook to iOS, and became one of the platform's most long-lasting success stories. Along the way, he'll explain how other cross-platform social game developers can emulate that success by combining smart game design, data analysis, and more.

- Elsewhere, Limbic Software co-founder Iman Mostafavi will host "Getting out of the Garage: Managing Teams, Customer Relationships, Cloud Servers and 97 Other Things to Handle Growth." During this session, Mostafavi will examine Limbic titles like TowerMadness, Nuts!, and Zombie Gunship, and will detail the technical and operational challenges the studio faced as its games began to grow. It'll be a great chance to learn from Limbic's experience and gain a better understanding of how to deal with rapid changes in scale.

- Finally, Appy Entertainment brand director Paul O'Connor (SpellCraft School of Magic, Trucks & Skulls) will present "Premium to Freemium: Pivoting Monetization Method for Best-Selling Apps," detailing how his studio "converted two best-selling premium apps to freemium monetization and increased their audience, grew their revenue and made the games better in the process."

Continue reading "GDC China 2012 adds Bejeweled Blitz, Zombie Gunship smartphone talks" »

Posted by Staff at 1:55 PM | Permalink

With GDC Online's final event in Austin less than a month away, show organizers have revealed a handful of new talks in the show's Customer Experience track, spanning a presentation on Microsoft's Age of Empires Online, a panel on modern community management, and more.

These talks all fall within GDC Online's Customer Experience track, which will feature numerous sessions to help developers better attract, retain, and monetize their players. Like the rest of GDC Online, these sessions will take place Tuesday, October 9 to Thursday, October 11 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

The full details on these new Customer Experience track sessions are as follows:

- First, Microsoft executive producer Kevin Perry will discuss the importance of transparent community management in "Age of Empires Online: Radical Transparency Clearly Works." Age of Empires Online had an extremely rough launch when it debuted in 2011, and as developers worked to fix its issues, the community team made sure to keep fans in the loop by giving them frequent updates about the game's process. During this talk, Perry will discuss how this open approach benefitted the game, and drastically changed the mood and behavior of the game's once-irate community.

- Elsewhere, former BioWare developer Jason Livingston will outline how he created a strong user support system in "Building a Successful Online Customer Support Program From Scratch." While working at BioWare, Livingston helped craft the customer support solution behind Star Wars: The Old Republic, and in this talk he'll discuss the best practices for building or improving a customer support organization on any budget.

- Finally, GDC Online's Customer Experience track will feature a robust panel titled "Community Relations Management Across the Board," in which speakers from all over the industry will discuss their approach to community management. Featuring speakers such as Meghan Jenks (Rebel Entertainment), Richard Weil (Metaverse Mod Squad), Linda Carlson (Sony Online Entertainment) and Alex Von Minden (Spacetime Studios), this panel will give attendees the change to learn more about how developers are approaching community management across a wide variety of platforms.

Continue reading "GDC Online debuts Age of Empires Online, community management talks" »

Posted by Staff at 2:30 PM | Permalink

The lineup for November's GDC China in Shanghai continues to grow today, adding some of the creators of key titles like Saints Row: The Third, Uncharted 3, and more.

These three newly announced sessions -- along with the rest of GDC China -- will take place November 17-19 at the Shanghai International Convention Center in Shanghai, China, and will bring together the world's leading developers to share knowledge and ideas that will benefit the Asian game industry and beyond.

The full details on GDC China's newest sessions are as follows:

- As part of the Production track, Volition player experience researcher Jordan Lynn will examine the best practices for making satisfying games in "Playtesting and Metrics: Getting the Most Out of Your Usability Testing." Drawing examples from games like Saints Row: The Third and Red Faction: Armageddon, Lynn will explain "how to integrate back-end telemetry into an existing playtest program," noting how it can help developers gather valuable information and ultimately make better games.

- Over in the conference's Game Design track, Naughty Dog senior game designer Benson Russell will host, "The Last 10, Going From Good To Awesome." Here, Russell will examine how the acclaimed studio behind Uncharted and The Last of Us ensures its games launch as polished as possible. He'll discuss the team's approach to managing development schedules, the level of detail developers should shoot for, and how to make a high-quality game while still shipping on time.

- Finally, Ubisoft Shanghai's Xu Wang will present the Game Design track lecture "From Console to Mobile: the Best Practices to Build Multi-Platform Games." During this session, Wang will discuss how developers can use some principles from console game development to make their mobile projects go much more smoothly. Looking at everything from development pipelines, technology and communication, Wang will examine the ways in which console expertise can benefit nearly all forms of multiplatform development.

Continue reading "GDC China 2012 adds talks from Naughty Dog, Volition, more" »

Posted by Staff at 3:00 PM | Permalink

The 3DO Company's Meridian 59 became one the first true 3D MMOs when it debuted on PC in 1995, and the game even laid the foundation for games like EverQuest, World of Warcraft, and more. It's remembered as one of the most seminal games of the 1990s, and at next month's GDC Online, you can see how the title came to be in a newly announced classic game postmortem.

In addition to this presentation, GDC organizers have also revealed a talk on securing top placement on digital marketplaces, as well as a robust hiring session featuring a handful of the industry's top developers.

These new talks all fall within GDC Online's Main Conference, which offers some of the world's leading content on persistent and online games. The event will be held Tuesday, October 9 to Thursday, October 11 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

The full details on GDC Online's latest sessions are as follows:

- In GDC Online's newest classic game postmortem, Meridian 59 lead designer Damion Schubert, now a BioWare developer working on Star Wars: The Old Republic, will share "how he and his team created a game that would inspire decades-worth of massively multiplayer online RPGs."

Schubert will run through the game's creation from beginning to end, detailing how the game took creative risks and broke new ground for the many online games that followed in its wake.

- Elsewhere, Jason Ing, Microsoft's head of marketing for the Xbox Live Marketplace, will host an in-depth session on the importance of getting favorable placement for your game on Xbox Live, the iTunes App Store, and other digital storefronts.

Ing believes games that secure a prominent spot are much more likely to find success, and in "Getting Storefront Placement for Discoverability," he will outline the process he uses to identify high-profile titles, and will share some general principles to help developers maximize the discoverability of their digital games.

- Finally, GDC Online will host a "Massive Multi-Recruiter Developer Hiring Session," in which major studios from all over the industry will try to attract new talent by discussing their teams and the positions they're hiring for. The event is open to all GDC Online attendees, and is a great opportunity for anyone looking for a big break, a lateral move, or the next step in their career.

Featured recruiters at the event include Emily Gabrian (Harmonix), Kriste Stull (Sony Computer), Kevin Moot (The Nerdery), Mara Flores (Multimedia Games, Inc.), Michael Sheets (Kabam), Ashley Pierce (Bioware) and James Rivers (Nexon America, Inc).

Continue reading "See how Meridian 59 set the stage for modern MMOs at GDC Online 2012" »

Posted by Staff at 1:24 PM | Permalink

The organizers of Game Developers Conference (GDC) have unveiled a brand new event, featuring two market leading conferences and a shared expo floor, debuting in Los Angeles in November 2013.

Game Developers Conference Next will be the reimagined successor to GDC Online, whose final iteration is set to take place in Austin this year from October 9th-11th. App Developers Conference (ADC) is a brand new event dedicated to key takeaways in app technology, creation, business and marketing outside of gaming.

GDC Next and the App Developers Conference will debut as a co-located event November 5th-7th, 2013 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

GDC Next focuses on what's next in smartphone & tablet, social, independent, cloud and other major forms of games. Whether a designer, programmer, architect, producer, artist, marketer, businessperson or all of the above, the new show will prove vital to making great games and making money in the most vibrant new areas of the game industry.

From the creators of GDC, the ADC is a brand new event focusing on the very best development, UI, marketing and business of apps. Organizers will be recruiting the very best app creators, whether they be on mobile devices, on the web, or beyond, and getting them to present their best practices to attendees.

Attendees will be able to sign up individually for the GDC Next 2013 and ADC 2013 conferences (Nov 5-7, 2013) or attend both at a special price.  The shared expo floor for the two shows will be open to all attendees on Nov. 5th and 6th.  For further information please visit the GDC Next website or the ADC landing page.

Posted by Staff at 6:50 AM | Permalink

This year's Game Narrative Summit at GDC Online next month in Austin, TX is quickly becoming one of the event's most robust yet, and today GDC organizers have revealed even more Summit sessions featuring a behind the scenes look at the DLC for Fallout: New Vegas, a talk on writing for both paper and electronic games, and more.

Now in its seventh year, the Game Narrative Summit -- formerly the Game Writers Conference -- will once again take place at GDC Online, showcasing leading industry professionals on the many facets of interactive storytelling, with sessions ranging from roundtable discussions, workshops, case studies, and more.

This Summit will run alongside the rest of GDC Online, which will take place October 9-11 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

The full details on these new Summit sessions are as follows:

- In "A 4 Hour Story in 400 Simple Steps: Fallout DLC," Obsidian Entertainment's creative director, Chris Avellone, will explain how the studio created small-scale RPG narratives in its 2010 hit, Fallout: New Vegas. Throughout his talk, Avellone will offer a number of tips to help game writers create story flowcharts, build emotional vistas, proofread their scripts, and edit their interactive storylines.

- Elsewhere, game scriptwriter Daniel Greenberg will host, "How NOT to Freelance," detailing some common mistakes among independent game writers. Drawing from his experience working with licenses like The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Crysis, and more, Greenberg will discuss his own mistakes, how he handled them, and what other writers can do to avoid those same errors.

- Finally, a panel of pen and paper game designers will discuss how their experience in the non-digital world helped them become better video game developers. During the talk, "The Journey from Paper Games to Digital Games - What Writers Have Learned," the panelists will discuss how the history of the pen and paper industry has played a major role in shaping modern game development.

Speakers at this panel include ArenaNet's Angel Leigh McCoy, Zenimax's Sam Lewis, and Crossover Technologies' Eric Goldberg, freelancer Thomas Reid, and Schell Games veteran Sheri Ray.

Continue reading "GDC Online debuts talks on Fallout DLC, pen and paper games, and more" »

Posted by Staff at 2:50 PM | Permalink

With GDC Online's October kickoff quickly approaching, the show's organizers have revealed a trio of new talks, including a postmortem of BioWare Mythic's Ultima Forever, a Unity session on multiplatform game development, and some bootstrapping tips from social startup PerBlue.

These new talks all fall within GDC Online's Main Conference, which offers some of the world's leading content on persistent and online games. The event will be held Tuesday, October 9 to Thursday, October 11 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

The full details on GDC Online's newly announced sessions are as follows:

- In Ultima Forever: Reimagining a Classic, BioWare Mythic senior creative director Paul Barnett will discuss how the studio drew inspiration from the classic Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, and reimagined it as an all-new free-to-play online game. This lecture will join the previously announced Ultima Online classic game postmortem, and will showcase how the renowned Ultima franchise has been updated by modern game designers to put a distinctly different spin on the IP.

- As part of GDC Online's Production track, Unity director of games monetization Adam Gutterman will host "The Challenges (and Promise!) of Multiplatform Production." Here, he will outline the challenges of multiplatform game development, and will offer some business-focused advice to help developers decide whether this production strategy is the right fit for their game.

- Elsewhere, highly rated GDC speaker Justin Beck will share some tips for getting a startup off the ground in the Business & Marketing track session, "Bootstrapping 101: How College Kids Built a Thriving Game Company in Under Three Years." Here, he will share lessons learned from the social startup PerBlue (Parallel Kingdom), detailing "why we turned down seed funding and how we compensated team members when we had no money."

Continue reading "GDC Online adds Ultima Forever postmortem, Unity, startup sessions" »

Posted by Staff at 3:40 PM | Permalink