GDC Europe 2011 is highlighting three new talks, including a look at how Driver: San Francisco balances art and tech, a panel on what publishers really want, and a lecture from Supercell (Gunshine) on browser-based games.
Taking place Monday through Wednesday, August 15-17, 2011 at the Cologne Congress-Centrum Ost, alongside the major gamescom trade show, GDC Europe will again provide the essential pan-European perspective of game development and business trends.
The new highlights from the Main Conference, which features tracks on Business & Marketing, Game Design, Production, Programming and Visual Arts, include the following:
- In the Business & Marketing track panel, "Ask the Decision Makers: Find Out What Publishers Want and How to Get What You Want," representatives from some of the industry's top publishers will discuss what they look for when evaluating a potential product or development partner.
Speakers in this panel include Chris Charla of Microsoft Game Studios, Christian Svensson of Capcom, and Jeff Hilbert of the talent agency Digital Development Management, as well as Martin De Ronde of Vanguard Games (Gatling Gears).
Each of the industry veterans will outline their company's philosophies on game development, teaching attendees what needs to happen before a publisher decides to support a game.
- Also in the Business & Marketing track, CEO Ilkka Paananen of web developer Supercell (Gunshine) will host, "Next Generation of Online Games: Accessible yet Deep and Immersive - and Truly Social via Real-Time Multi-Player!," a talk focused on the overlooked potential of browser-based online games.
Paananen's talk, referencing the Finnish firm's popular browser MMO, will discuss how browser-based games can combine the benefits of social networks with the appeal of hardcore games, simultaneously offering both accessibility and depth. Paananen will also note the obstacles that come with developing for a browser, and his talk will outline "a lot of challenges that must be addressed."
- Over in the Visual Arts track, Red Storm Entertainment art director Mike Haynes will examine how Driver: San Francisco balances art and performance in "An Open World Game in 60 FPS? An Art Postmortem on Driver: San Francisco."
Haynes, who has also worked on projects such as Ubisoft's Ghost Recon series, will explore the art team's solutions and compromises that helped the sprawling, open-world driving game run at 60 frames-per-second, while simultaneously maintaining a strong visual style.
In addition to these Main Conference sessions, a series of interviews with some of the show's notable exhibitors and sponsors have been added to organizer-related site JoinTheGameNetwork.com. These interviews feature Epic Games' Mark Rein on Gears of War 3 and the mobile presence at GDC Europe, Crytek's Avni Yerli on the company's latest tools, and Onlive's Chris Donahue on the rise of cloud gaming.
Other recent announcements include a keynote from Epic Games president Dr. Michael Capps, Main Conference talks from industry legend Mark Cerny and "Age of Empires" veteran Brian Sullivan, and Summit talks from thatgamecompany's Kellee Santiago, Glu Mobile's Mike Breslin, and more. GDC Europe has also released several interviews with some of the show's notable speakers, such as B.U.T.T.O.N. developer Douglas Wilson, Ubisoft Blue Byte's Teut Weidemann, CCP's David Press, and industry vet Ernest Adams.
For more information on GDC Europe as the event takes shape, please visit the official GDC Europe website, or subscribe to updates from the new GDC Europe-specific news page in RSS form, official Twitter page, or official Facebook page. GDC Europe is owned and operated by UBM TechWeb.
