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GDC 2014 adds talks on Plants vs. Zombies 2, Forza Motorsport 5

Passes for the Game Developers Conference 2014 are going fast, and today we're announcing even more sessions for the Main Conference that you'll want to check out.
Today's highlights include a look behind-the-scenes of the Plants vs. Zombies 2 art design, a discussion of how Turn 10 accurately modeled real cars in Forza Motorsport 5, 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.

Capturing reality to make Forza Motorsport 5
Turn 10's Arthur Shek served as technical art director on last year's Forza Motorsport 5, and now he's coming to GDC give a talk about how Turn 10 went about collecting reams of information about real-world reference cars and turning that data into in-game assets. In his talk Capturing Reality: Gathering Reference for Forza Motorsport 5, Shek plans to explain the fundamental strategies and specific technology Turn 10 employed to gather reference data as a basis for making more, better content at a lower cost. Attendees, especially technical and environmental artists, should walk away with tips and tech suggestions to make the process of replicating real-world objects in their game a little easier.
Reanimating the art of Plants vs. Zombies 2
The visual design of PopCap's latest garden defense game may seem like a straightforward evolution of the original Plants vs. Zombies, but experienced hands know nothing is ever simple or straightforward when it comes to game development. Learn more in a talk from PopCap Games senior artist Mark Barrett titled The Art of Reanimating Plants vs. Zombies 2. During the session Barrett plans to share never-before-seen concept art, animations, and anecdotes -- good and bad -- from the game's development.
Flashy effects in InFamous: Second Son
Sucker Punch senior visual effects artist Matt Vainio is giving a GDC talk, titled The Visual Effects of InFamous: Second Son, that will cover the processes behind the visual effects development of inFAMOUS: Second Son, from breakdowns of specific effects to discussions of Sucker Punch's tools and workflow. Vainio plans to discuss how his team used concept art during production to better define a visual language for the effects. Plus, he'll delve into the game engine and accompanying toolsets that Sucker Punch developed for its next-gen superhero game, and share a few hard lessons learned along the way.
More essential GDC details
Earlier GDC 2014 announcements include a fresh batch of QA Summit talks, the return of the popular #1reasontobe panel, and a Zork postmortem from co-creator Dave Lebling. Developers on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Robotron 2084, and Saints Row 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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