[Simon Carless serves as EVP of the GDC shows, and in advance of next week's GDC Next event he's taken the time to share a list issued to press attendees that highlights some of the show's notable talks.]
Ahead of our GDC Next show in Los Angeles next week, our press liaison firm FortySeven Communications has again worked with us to put together a list of some of the most interesting lectures - especially those that could work well when written up for a larger audience.
We don't always publish these to the public. But both for the benefit of press that might not have spotted them yet, and for those people who want to see some of the 'newsier' (and some of the worthwhile and less news-y) talks at the show this week, here it is.
(However, massive disclaimer again - these are not ALL necessarily the talks that you will get the best takeaway for if you're a developer looking for solid takeaway from the show. This is especially true if you want to attend technical talks based around programming, art, audio, etc. Please carefully peruse our session list and make a schedule that's right for you. Also - reminder - the sponsored sessions are open even to those who have an Expo Pass!)
GDC Next 2014 Session Recommendations for Press
For full session descriptions, and for details on the entire GDC Next schedule, please check the GDC Next 2014 featuring ADC website. Make sure to check it for updates, too --
Times and locations are subject to change. For optimum convenience, use the GDC Next Session Scheduler to customize your own personal session list.
AppCircus - Best in Apps
The Best in Apps Contest, powered by AppCircus is returning! Last year, 45 then-unreleased apps from 10 different countries were submitted with winners selected in four categories. All four app winners were selected to pitch at the Mobile Premier Awards in 2014, with Fetch winning the Best App Award and Social Diabetes winning the Big Impact Award!
Best in Apps - Powered by AppCircus Day 1
Date/Time: Monday (November 3) 12:30pm-2:00pm
Location: Expo Floor Theater, Booth 102
Best in Apps - Powered by AppCircus Day 2
Date/Time: Tuesday (November 4) 12:30pm-2:00pm
Location: Expo Floor Theater, Booth 102
Big Names...
Indie Grassroots Marketing
Speakers: Zach Gage (Independent), Rami Ismail (Vlambeer), Raph Koster (Independent), Adam Saltsman (Finji)
Date/Time: Monday (November 3) 2:30pm-3:30pm
Location: Room 502 B
How to Create Awesome Employees
Speakers: Carrie Dieterle (Insomniac Games), Miranda Groomes (Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.), Marie Morgan (PETROL Advertising), Greg Short (IEP)
Date/Time: Monday (November 3) 5:30pm-6:30pm
Location: Room 515 B
What Every Mobile Indie Developer Needs to Know Before Publishing
Speakers: Johnny Coghlan (Ayopa Games), Barry Dorf (DeNA), Javier Ferreira (Scopely), Matthew Wilson (Rovio Entertainment)
Date/Time: Tuesday (November 4) 11:30am-12:30pm
Location: Room 502 B
Reclaiming My Soul: Why I Quit Making F2P Social Games
Speaker: Caryl Shaw (Telltale Games)
Date/Time: Tuesday (November 4) 11:30am-11:55am
Location: Room 502 A
... and Big Games
StarCraft II and GameHeart: Evolving eSports Interfaces with Modders
Speakers: Ryan Schutter (GameHeart), Philip Tan (MIT Game Lab), Jordan Womack (Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.)
Date/Time: Monday (November 3) 11:30am-12:30pm
Location: Room 515 A
Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag Multiplayer: Crafting Good Monetization on the Traditional Console
Speaker: Damien Kieken (Ubisoft)
Date/Time: Tuesday (November 4) 10:00am-11:00am
Location: Room 502 B
TwitchPlayedPokemon: An Analysis of the Experimental Interactive Phenomenon
Speaker: Alex Leavitt (University of Southern California/ Sony San Diego & Sony Santa Monica Studios)
Date/Time: Tuesday (November 4) 10:00am-11:00am
Location: Room 502 A
There and Dad Again - The Octodad: Dadliest Catch Postmortem
Speakers: John Murphy (Young Horses), Phil Tibitoski (Young Horses)
Date/Time: Tuesday (November 4) 4:00pm-4:25pm
Location: Room 515 A
App Developers Conference
Building a Global Mobile Brand with Longevity
Speakers: Michael Chen (TinyCo), Vitaly Golban (My.com), Joleen Hughes (Hughes Media Law Group), Mikael Mossberg (Distiller), Matt Turetzky (Lima Sky, LLC)
Date/Time: Monday (November 3) 11:30-12:30pm
Location: Room 501
Designing Apps and Games for Kids (The Right Way)
Speakers: Paul Armstrong (ChoreMonster), Alex Bowman (ChoreMonster), Carly Gloge (Ubooly), Jim Nichols (THUP Games)
Date/Time: Monday (November 3) 5:30pm-6:30pm
Location: Room 501
Business & Marketing
Outmaneuvering Your Competition, It's Cheaper than You Think
Speaker: Tobiah Marks (Microsoft)
Date/Time: Monday (November 3) 4:35pm-5:00pm
Location: Room 502 A
Puzzle and Dragons: An Outsider's Analysis
Speaker: Teut Weidemann (Consultant to Online Games and F2P)
Date/Time: Monday (November 3) 5:30pm - 6:30pm
Location: Room 502 A
Indie Scrub Life: Make Publishers Pay You to Do Whatever You Want
Speaker: Brandon Sheffield (Necrosoft Games)
Date/Time: Tuesday (November 4) 4:35pm-5:00pm
Location: Room 502 A
Community
Indie Voltron: Building a Development Collective
Speakers: Teddy Diefenbach (Heart Machine), Benjamin Esposito (Little Flag), Sam Farmer (Independent), Akira Thompson (RainBros), Asher Vollmer (Independent)
Date/Time: Monday (November 3) 11:30am-12:30pm
Location: Room 502 B
Help! How Do I Keep My Players Happy?!
Speakers: Chris Tabasa (GREE International)
Date/Time: Monday (November 3) 4:00pm-5:00pm
Location: Room 502 B
Bringing the Community into the Dev Team - A Look into Open Development
Speaker: Jeff Spock (Amplitude Studios)
Date/Time: Monday (November 3) 5:30pm-6:30pm
Location: Room 502 B
Building Successful eSports Communities - Lessons Learned After 2300+ eSports Events
Speaker: Jason Xu (Battlefy)
Date/Time: Tuesday (November 4) 4:00pm-4:25pm
Location: Room 511 AB
Design
Best Practices for Mobile VR Development
Speaker: Benjamin Miller (WemoLab)
Date/Time: Monday (November 3) 4:00pm-4:25pm
Location: Room 515 A
Lucky's Tale, Stories from the Bleeding Edge of VR Game Development
Speaker: Paul Bettner (Playful Corp)
Date/Time: Tuesday (November 4) 2:30pm-3:30pm
Location: Room 502 B
Discoverability
Mobile Gaming on Messenger Apps: The Future of Mobile Entertainment
Speaker: John Golden (PlayPhone)
Date/Time: Monday (November 3) 10:00am-11:00am
Location: Room 511 AB
How Do Games Go Viral? Making Games for YouTube
Speaker: Keenan Mosimann (Maker Studios/USC Games)
Date/Time: Tuesday (November 4) 4:00pm-4:25pm
Location: Room 515 B
Production
Games as a Service: Rebooting a 4-Year-Old Game to the Top of the Charts
Speaker: Ramine Darabiha (Halfbrick)
Date/Time: Monday (November 3) 10:00am-10:25am
Location: Room 502 A
Ten Weeks, Three Guys, One Shot: Taking ADR1FT from Concept to Publishing Deal
Speakers: Omar Aziz (Three One Zero), Hogarth De la Plante (Red Accent), Adam Orth (Three One Zero)
Date/Time: Tuesday (November 4) 4:00pm-5:00pm
Location: Room 502 B
Sponsored Sessions
A User-Centric Approach to Mobile Game Measurement (Presented by Google)
Speaker: Russell Ketchum (Google Inc.)
Date/Time: Monday (November 3) 2:30pm-3:15pm
Location: Expo Floor Theater, Booth 102
Monetizing Free-to-Play: Making the Most of In-App Purchases and Ads (Presented by Google)
Speaker: Alex Manchado (Google Inc.)
Date/Time: Monday (November 3) 3:30pm-4:15pm
Location: Expo Floor Theater, Booth 102
Find the Right Users, Find Success (Presented by Google)
Speaker: Alex Valle (Google Inc.)
Date/Time: Monday (November 3) 4:30pm-5:15pm
Location: Expo Floor Theater, Booth 102
Creating Leaderboards in Unity, Using Azure Mobile Services and Prime[31] (Presented by Microsoft)
Speaker: Dave Voyles (Microsoft)
Date/Time: Monday (November 3) 2:30-3:15pm
Location: Room 510, 2nd Level West
