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GDC Next 10: Designing Project Spark to make game-building fun and easy

"...We know that as soon as we ship, we will realize which features will really matter to the community, and no amount of planning in our office can truly predict that."

In advance of GDC Next, which runs in Los Angeles next week, GDC director of online community Patrick Miller talked to Microsoft Studios's Soren Hannibal about the inspiration and challenges behind making Project Spark, a free-to-play game-making-game due out for Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Windows.
Nielsen will be speaking about Project Spark in his GDC Next 10 talk in LA on Wednesday, Nov. 6th titled "Project Spark: Enabling and Inspiring the User to Make (Almost) Anything".

Design for mobile at GDC Next; online registration ends today!

Don't forget: Online registration for GDC Next ends today! Conference organizers are highlighting a selection of talks on designing for mobile devices, including Disney's Where's My Water? designer Tom Smith on holistic content design, The Silent Age's Thomas Ryder on minimalist design, and University of Michigan's Sean Petty on accessibility concerns for visually rich apps.
GDC Next will take place alongside the App Developers Conference on November 5th-7th, 2013 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The new event aims to highlight the future of video game development, with session tracks organized around 'Next Generation Game Platforms', 'Free To Play & New Business Models', and 'Smartphone & Tablet Games', as well as cloud and indie game tracks.
Disney Mobile's level designer Tom Smith will discuss in 'Where's My Flow? Holistic Content Design' how creatively organizing content throughout your game is critical to its overall success. Along the way, he'll be taking cues from some of the hit mobile titles he's been involved with, including Where's My Water? and Where's My Perry?.
Point-and-click adventure game The Silent Age (pictured) from House on Fire was tailor-made for mobile devices. Designer Thomas Ryder will share how his team overcame challenges of its unique approach to interaction design, sound, and more in 'Minimalist Game Design for Mobile Devices.'

GDC Next 10: Toejam & Earl creator on making a 'sweet, simple, genuine' game

"You don't need great complexity to touch people."

In advance of GDC Next, which runs in Los Angeles next week, GDC director of online community Patrick Miller talked to Toejam & Earl creator Greg Johnson about the inspiration behind HumaNature Studios's upcoming Doki-Doki Universe [trailer], which is currently slated for a December release for PS3, PS4, PS Vita, and mobile.
Johnson will be speaking about Doki-Doki Universe in his GDC Next 10 talk in LA on Tuesday, Nov. 5th titled "Doki-Doki Universe: Sweet, Simple and Genuine".

Discounted GDC Next/ADC registration ends on Thursday 10/31

Don't forget: online registration for next week's inaugural GDC Next and App Developers Conference in L.A. ends on Thursday, October 31st. Attendees can save up to $200 off admission to one or both events if registered before the deadline.
GDC Next will take place alongside the App Developers Conference on November 5th-7th, 2013 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
GDC Next aims to highlight the future of video game development, with session tracks organized around 'Next Generation Game Platforms', 'Free To Play & New Business Models', and 'Smartphone & Tablet Games', as well as cloud and indie game tracks. The brand new App Developers Conference (ADC) offers professionals a venue to share their knowledge about building, designing, marketing, and selling their apps.
The future is paved with new technology, and GDC Next has several demos and talks on the newest and hottest hardware, including free-to-play on PS4, Xbox One and Kinect, ex-Valve devs Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson demoing their CastAR augmented reality headset on the expo floor, and more.
As part of the Future of Gaming track, Kate Flack will speak on toy industry insights she brought to Ultima Forever and Ubisoft Blue Byte's Teut Weidemann will discuss why mobile is everything. eSports are also taking off, and GDC Next will feature several talks from Riot, Turtle Entertainment, Twitch, and Day[9] on the future of that industry sector.

GDC Next 10: Why Lego and Neil Gaiman were key for Wayward Manor

"...Together we set out to make a story machine where game mechanics and story would blend together through play." In advance of GDC Next, which runs in Los Angeles next week, GDC director of online community Patrick Miller asked The Odd Gentlemen's Matt Korba about their collaboration with Neil Gaiman for Wayward Manor.
Korba (The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom) will be speaking about his company's latest project in his GDC Next 10 talk in LA on Thursday, Nov. 7th titled "An Odd Collaboration: How Neil Gaiman and The Odd Gentlemen Decided to Make Wayward Manor Together".

eSports @ GDC Next includes Riot, Turtle Ent, Twitch, Day[9]

eSports are skyrocketing, and next week's GDC Next has several talks to discuss the future of the phenomenon, with famed Starcraft II commentator Day[9] on what makes a game fun to watch, Turtle Entertainment on how the ecosystem works for games such as League of Legends and World of Tanks, and a panel including Twitch and Riot on the evolution of eSports.
GDC Next will take place alongside the App Developers Conference on November 5th-7th, 2013 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The new event aims to highlight the future of video game development, with session tracks organized around 'Next Generation Game Platforms', 'Free To Play & New Business Models', and 'Smartphone & Tablet Games', as well as cloud and indie game tracks.
Starcraft II commentator and eSports personality Sean "Day[9]" Plott will explain how to design games with spectators in mind in 'The Observer Friendly Game.' Plott will discuss what makes a game as fun to watch as it is to play, in order to tap into the community-building potential of streaming eSports events, Let's Play videos, and other spectator-friendly applications for games.
Turtle Entertainment's VP of gaming communities David Hiltscher will explain the ins and outs of the eSports industry in a talk called 'Inside the eSports Ecosystem: A Business Overview.' Hiltscher, who oversees the ESL eSports leagues, will use his work with companies like Riot Games (League of Legends) and Wargaming (World of Tanks) to discuss how the eSports ecosystem works, who the major players are, and how big it has become.

GDC 2014 Summit submission deadline extended to Nov 1st

In response to repeated requests, GDC organizers have extended the call for submissions deadline to Friday, November 1st to present lectures and panels for the specialized Summits that kick off the 2014 Game Developers Conference in California next March.
Organized by the UBM Tech Game Network, GDC 2014 will take place March 17-21 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California.
Beginning on the first two days of the conference, the GDC Summits cover topics in emerging sectors of the game development industry, with a focus on broadening the scope of games to incorporate new audiences, new platforms, and new gameplay ideas.
The 2014 GDC Summits accepting submissions are as follows:

F2P @ GDC Next: How to gain and retain your players

Learn how to engage with and retain new users next month in GDC Next's Free to Play & New Game Business Models Track, with Disruptor Beam on their social and soon-to-be mobile Game of Thrones: Ascent, KIXEYE on user retention and monetization, and Visa's PlaySpan and Frank N. Magid Associates on alternative payment methods.
GDC Next will take place alongside the App Developers Conference on November 5th-7th, 2013 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The new event aims to highlight the future of video game development, with session tracks organized around 'Next Generation Game Platforms', 'Free To Play & New Business Models', and 'Smartphone & Tablet Games', as well as cloud and indie game tracks.
In 'Game of Thrones Ascent: Creating an Engaging Social Game Through Story,' Jon Radoff and Tim Crosby of Disruptor Beam will discuss what it takes to create content for a notable free-to-play, story-driven social game based on a popular IP. Attendees will gain an understanding of what it takes to create engaging, steady content with low player acquisition costs for the high-profile licensed title.
KIXEYE's Seran Chen will provide key analytics and best practices towards building an engaging new user experience that increases retention and monetization in 'The Sticky Science of New User Experiences.' Chen will analyze different design concepts and offer methodologies that enhance the overall user's experience with regards to flow, fun, immersion and playability.
Also, in 'Should I Pay or Should I Go? Consumer Attitudes on F2P and Alternative Payments' Robert Crawford of Frank N. Magid Associates and Andre Machicao of Visa's virtual goods monetization platform PlaySpan will share studies conducted on virtual goods and free-to-play market trends. Their findings will include data on spending habits, genre and platform preferences, influential factors for purchases, and general consumer sentiment about free-to-play games and alternative payment methods.

IGF 2014 organizers announce record Main Competition entrants

The organizers of the 16th annual Independent Games Festival -- the longest-running and largest showcase for independent developers -- are proud to announce that the event has once again seen record entries for its latest Main Competition.
In total, the GDC 2014 co-located festival attracted 656 Main Competition entries from both established indie developers and first-time entrants, handily beating last year's high score of 589.
Some of the hundreds of promising titles entered in this year's IGF Main Competition include Stoic's turn-based strategy RPG The Banner Saga, Impromptu Games's puzzle platformer InFlux, and David S. Gallant's I Get This Call Every Day.
The entrants also feature titles such as Vlambeer's Nuclear Throne, TAISO by Zacozaco, and Quadrilateral Cowboy by Blendo Games. You can check out the full list of IGF entries here.

GDC Next 10: Storyteller dev on plot devices and game mechanics

"We can still redefine what 'video game' means."

In advance of GDC Next, which runs in Los Angeles on November 5-7, GDC director of online community Patrick Miller asked Storyteller creator Daniel Benmergui about how he grew his narrative-puzzle game Storyteller from a two-day experiment into an IGF 2012 Nuovo Award winner.
Benmergui will be speaking as part of the GDC Next 10 session series, which highlights forward-looking work in upcoming games, in a talk called Using Plot Devices to Create Gameplay in Storyteller".

GDC Next partners with USC to give out free passes to USC Game students

University of Southern California's USC Games program and GDC Next are collaborating to support the next generation of developers with a pass giveaway to GDC Next in November.
USC will distribute 50 VIP All Access Passes and additional complimentary Expo Passes to eligible students in the USC Games program enrolled in Advanced Game Projects (a full-year class in which students at USC Games work with industry and faculty mentors to create professional-quality games) and MFA students working on their final year thesis projects (the culmination of the three-year MFA program in School of Cinematic Arts' Interactive Media and Games Division).
"We're thrilled to be able to offer an opportunity for USC students to participate in this GDC," said GDC general manager Meggan Scavio, "In creating an event aimed at discussing 'what's next' in game development, it only seemed natural to include the next generation of game developers."
Tracy Fullerton, director of USC's Game Innovation Lab, echoed Scavio's sentiment: "Attending professional conferences such as GDC and GDC Next is an incredible opportunity for our students to learn more about the latest, best practices in the game industry; to meet with their peers and mentors; and is critical for their professional development."
The USC Games program is a joint collaboration between the School of Cinematic Arts' Interactive Media & Games Division and the Viterbi School of Engineering's Department of Computer Science. Incorporating elements of design, artistry and engineering, USC Games offers an utterly unique educational experience for students, and serves as the launching pad for them to play significant roles in the game design field.

Volunteer applications now open to be a GDC 2014 Conference Associate

Want to get into Game Developers Conference 2014 for free while helping the show go off without a hitch? Apply to be a volunteer Conference Associate (CA), and you can earn the equivalent of an All-Access Pass by putting in about 20 hours of on-site work.
GDC 2014 runs from Monday, March 17th through Friday, March 21st, 2014. Conference Associates have pre-conference assignments and a required orientation dinner on Sunday, March 16th.
If you are accepted into the program, you are expected to be on-site from the start of your pre-conference assignments through the end of the conference on the evening of Friday, March 21st, during conference hours.
Duties may include guarding doors and scanning badges, monitoring sessions, answering attendees' questions, and more. (You will be given some free time during the show to attend talks or the Expo floor.)
To apply, head over to the GDC 2014 CA application page and read the instructions. The deadline for applications closes at 11:59pm PDT, January 3rd, 2014. Applicants will be notified if they are accepted (or not) by January 9th.
Applications submitted after the positions are filled will be offered the opportunity to be put on the waiting list. Applications will be accepted up until 11:59 pm (Pacific Time, UTC-8) on March 14th for the waiting list.

GDC Next 10: How Dr. Strangelove inspired CounterSpy

In advance of GDC Next, taking place in Los Angeles in early November, GDC Director of Online Community Patrick Miller asked Dynamighty co-founder David Nottingham about the creative and artistic influences that inspired PlayStation 3, mobile, tablet and PlayStation Vita title CounterSpy.
Nottingham, himself a LucasArts veteran, will be speaking in a GDC Next 10 talk titled "How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love Making CounterSpy" at next month's show.
Patrick Miller: Why decide to start a new studio and develop an original game at the same time instead of tackling each ridiculously difficult task one at a time?

Changing the world, trends for the next decade headline GDC Next 2013

Learn about the future of games in Los Angeles next month during Game Developers Conference Next's Future of Gaming Track, with EA Mythic lead designer Kate Flack on toy industry insights she brought to Ultima Forever (pictured), Ubisoft Blue Byte's Teut Weidemann on why mobile is everything, and more.
GDC Next will take place alongside the App Developers Conference on November 5th-7th, 2013 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The new event aims to highlight the future of video game development, with session tracks organized around 'Next Generation Game Platforms', 'Free To Play & New Business Models', and 'Smartphone & Tablet Games', as well as cloud and indie game tracks.
Along with the GDC Next 10 series of talks on forward-looking games, the Future of Gaming Track will explore the future of the industry around key parts of the world and how and on what the games of tomorrow will be made.
Smartphones and tablets are the future, and anyone not moving their business to these devices will get left behind, urges Ubisoft Blue Byte senior online game supervisor Teut Weidemann. In his talk 'Why Everything in Games Today Is Irrelevant,' he will explain why mobile is key for future-minded game dev studios.
Starr Long will draw from his 20 years of industry experience, from project director of Ultima Online to now executive producer of the $2.3 million crowd-funded Shroud of the Avatar, to propose 'Nine Trends For The Next Decade Of Video Games.' In this talk, Long will explore how trends like 3D printing and wearable tech can change the way we make and consume games -- and how said trends will combine with each other to produce even more drastic changes down the line.
EA Mythic lead designer Kate Flack will share "main street retail" insights that helped her in creating and launching freemium mobile title Ultima Forever in 'Analogue Lessons for a Digital Age.' Flack will illustrate how her experience working for Games Workshop, the largest creator of 'toy soldiers' in the world, helped inform her game design decisions, such as focusing on long-term loyal hobbyists and learning the profiles of those hobbyists.
Those wondering 'How Your Game Can Change the World' will want to attend Game It Forward CCO and founder Brandon Bozzi's talk, in which he will examine games that are affecting communities, science, medicine, and fundraising and share tools that developers can use in more mainstream games for positive impact.

Cloud, crowd, and alternative biz models big at GDC Next

Last year, Austin's GDC Online floored its final show -- but its focus on cutting-edge sessions for developing Internet-connected games lives on in GDC Next, the 'spiritual successor' show which takes place in Los Angeles from November 5th-7th.
GDC Next will feature sessions from previous GDC Online favorite topics and speakers on F2P lessons from Neverwinter and Diner Dash, cloud gaming and crowdfunding with Star Citizen, microtransactions and subscriptions from Playdom, new user experience and retention from KIXEYE and Workshop Entertainment, and more.
GDC Next will take place alongside the App Developers Conference on November 5th-7th, 2013 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The new event aims to highlight the future of video game development, with session tracks organized around 'Next Generation Game Platforms', 'Free To Play & New Business Models', and 'Smartphone & Tablet Games', as well as cloud and indie game tracks.

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