Passes for the Game Developers Conference 2014 are going fast, and today we're announcing -- you guessed it -- even more sessions for the Main Conference that you'll want to check out.
Today's highlights include a postmortem look at the development of Forced from the CEO of BetaDwarf, a talk on telling stories through competitive multiplayer from Riot's Christina Norman, and more.
Now in its 28th year, GDC is the world's largest and longest-running professionals-only game industry event, and will once again take place at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California during March 17-21, 2014.
Forced postmortem
BetaDwarf CEO Steffen Kabbelgaard Gronning takes the stage at GDC 2014 to share the story of how his cadre of independent Danish developers created the 4-player co-op action RPG Forced while essentially squatting in an unused classroom in Copenhagen's Aalborg University. In addition to covering the nitty-gritty development details of Forced, Gronning intends to share stories of how teams of developers living and working together can best synchronize sleeping schedules, clean and cook without alerting anyone else in the building and generally just survive three years of working together in close proximity under, err, clandestine conditions during his talk, titled Forced Postmortem: Living Together For Three Years.
Hardcore mechanics in casual games
The mobile games market is booming, but it's also maturing, and players expect more complex features and game mechanics in mobile games than ever before. In this GDC 2014 session Pocket Gems CEO Ben Liu plans to explain how his company takes inspiration from classic games to develop deeper, more engaging mechanics for mobile games like Tap Paradise Cove. During the talk, entitled Pocket Gems and the Evolution of Mobile Gamers: Hardcore Mechanics in Casual Games, Liu will discuss the strategic rationale for augmenting mobile games with systems like crafting and PVP, and how these additions can help engage players and boost an app's performance in the sales charts.
Storytelling in competitive multiplayer games
Riot Games' Christina Norman leads a talk at GDC this year about how you can help your players better engage with and enjoy your game by taking time to design interesting characters, events and worlds, even if your game happens to be a multiplayer-only competitive battler like League of Legends. During her talk, Storytelling in Multiplayer Competitive Games, Norman plans to cite examples from her work on Riot's flagship MOBA, as well as other competitive multiplayer games in the industry, to illustrate how canny design can communicate meaningful narrative and "lore" without getting in the way of core gameplay.
More essential GDC details
Earlier GDC 2014 announcements include a presentation on the AI technology powering open-world games like Saints Row IV, a guide to teaching writers how to tell better stories through games, and a postmortem from Luca Redwood detailing the development process of 10,000,000. Developers on Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Destiny, and inFamous: Second Son will also be giving talks.
All of the announced talks are now available in the online GDC 2014 Session Scheduler, where you can begin to build your conference week and later export it to the up-to-the-minute GDC Mobile App, coming soon.
GDC 2014 itself will take place March 17-21, 2014 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California. You can register for the event by visiting the info page on the official GDC 2014 website. Early Bird pricing, with discounts up to 30 percent, will remain in effect until January 31st. Some passes have limited amounts, and with the Independent Games Summit pass already sold out, interested parties should register now.
For more information on GDC 2014, visit the show's official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.
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