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IGF China seeking pan-Pacific indie game submissions for 2013 event

The Independent Games Festival China - which will take place alongside this September's GDC China in Shanghai - has opened its call for submissions and is accepting indie game entries from the pan-Pacific area from now through July 19.
Following its success from previous years, GDC China will once again host all three main elements of IGF China, including the Independent Games Summit, the IGF Pavilion, and the prestigious IGF China Awards.
Now in its fifth year, the IGF Summit at GDC China will feature sessions from some of the world's top developers, while the IGF Pavilion will showcase some of the region's best independent and student games.
And of course the IGF China Awards - which are split into both Main and Student competitions - will honor the many talented developers in the pan-Pacific area.
Last year's event saw 159 high-quality entries from regions including Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Serbia, Montenegro, and more.
Last year's recipients included the Best Game winner, the retro-inspired puzzler Cubetractor, and abstract action Best Student Game winner, Fish - and other previously honored games (from 2011 and before) include acclaimed strategy title FTL: Faster Than Light and unconventional retro game Pixel May Cry.

Call for GDC Europe 2013 talks closes on Monday - submit now!

GDC Europe organizers are reminding that the call for submissions deadline is rapidly approaching, with all entries needed by Monday, April 22 at 11:59 PM PDT.
Those selected will present at the 2013 Game Developers Conference Europe, which will run Monday through Wednesday, August 19-21 at the Cologne Congress-Centrum Ost in Cologne, Germany.
Taking place ahead of Europe's leading 250,000-person gamescom trade fair, GDC Europe 2013 will again provide the essential pan-European perspective on what's hot - and not - in today's video game market, with in-depth talks packed with takeaway on the latest learning and trends.
Submissions are still being accepted for Main Conference tracks in Business, Marketing & Management, Design, Production, Programming, and Visual Arts.
Content submissions are also being accepted for the three Summits taking place during GDC Europe 2013: the Free to Play Design & Business Summit, the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit and the Independent Games Summit.

GDC China 2013 announced for Sept 15-17th: call for talks now open

The call for Mandarin and English submissions to present talks for the 2013 Game Developers Conference China is now open until May 10.
Organized by UBM Tech Game Network, GDC China, now in its sixth year, will move up to September this year, running the 15th to the 17th at the Shanghai International Convention Center in Shanghai, China.
Submissions will be accepted until May 10th for papers on Game Design, Production, Business & Marketing, Smartphone & Tablet Games, and Independent Games.
As ever for the GDC shows, organizers are looking for leading industry practitioners to propose lectures and panels with significant, applicable takeaways for today's video game community.
GDC China continues to be the premier professional conference for the creators of games and interactive entertainment in Asia. Chosen speakers can join the world's leading developers to exchange ideas, be inspired, and to further advance the business, knowledge and technology behind game creation in Asia.

GDC Europe 2013's call for talks now open until April 22

The call for submissions to present lectures, roundtables, panels and poster sessions at the 2013 Game Developers Conference Europe (GDC Europe) is now open through Monday, April 22.

Organized by UBM Tech Game Network, the event, now in its fifth year, will run Monday through Wednesday, August 19-21 at the Cologne Congress-Centrum Ost in Cologne, Germany.

Co-located and taking place alongside Europe's leading gamescom trade fair, GDC Europe 2013 will again provide the essential pan-European perspective of game development and business trends currently happening throughout the continent.

Submissions are being accepted for Main Conference tracks in Business, Marketing & Management, Design, Production, Programming, and Visual Arts. Organizers are looking for leading industry practitioners to propose lectures and panels with significant, applicable takeaways for today's video game community.

Content submissions are also being accepted for the three Summits taking place during GDC Europe 2013: the Free to Play Design & Business Summit, the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit and the Independent Games Summit.

GDC Europe will continue to serve the pan-European game industry by gathering the world's leading game development professionals to discuss timely and relevant topics pertaining to current trends across platforms and industry disciplines.

Highlights from the 2012 event, which hosted more than 2,200 attendees, include the GDC Europe Classic Game Postmortem debut featuring the Nintendo 64's Golden Eye 007 creator Martin Hollis, a rich and detailed keynote talk given by Assassin's Creed III creative director Alexander Hutchinson and Dear Esther's Dan Pinchbeck offering valuable insights from lessons learned during the game's development.

GDC 2013 reveals record 23,000 attendees, next year's show dates

UBM Tech Game Network's 2013 Game Developers Conference, the world's largest and longest-running event serving professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games, revealed a record 23,000 industry professionals attended last week's conference in San Francisco's Moscone Center.

The 2013 conference kicked off with two days of tutorials and summits focused on specific emerging platforms and topics, including a newly introduced Free to Play Design & Business Summit, the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit, and the Independent Games Summit.

Summit highlights included Microsoft senior game designer Richard Rouse III giving a timely Game Narrative Summit lecture titled, "Seven (or So) Techniques for Writing a Moral Game." In the talk, Rouse detailed the ways that developers can write games with a solid foundation of morality and engagement.

In the Free to Play Design & Business Summit, King's Tommy Palm presented a session titled "Candy Crush Saga Postmortem: Luck in the Right Places" - for which a free GDC Vault video recording is already available - to reveal some of the secrets behind creating a mega-successful free-to-play casual game.

The main conference began on Wednesday and included the 10th and final edition of a GDC favorite, the Game Design Challenge, for which this year's theme was "Humanity's Last Game." Independent game designer Jason Rohrer won the competition with his game proposal, A Game for Someone, a board game locked away in a titanium tube and buried in the Nevada Desert.

All attendees of the session were given a unique sheet of paper in an envelope listing 900 different GPS coordinates, with only one coordinate in one of the envelopes revealing the location of the game. Rohrer estimated that if one person visits a GPS location each day with a metal detector, the game would be unearthed within the next million days.

GDC Day 4/5: Facebook, Unreal and IGDA controversy

An Epic interview on HTML5 support, a Unity interview on platform partnerships, an IGF booth hijacking, and the IGDA's response to its controversial party mark Day 4 of GDC 2013 news coverage.
GDC 2013 is running Monday, March 25th through Friday, March 29th at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California. Gamasutra is onsite to cover the event in its entirety, and the following are some of the fourth-day, can't-miss highlights:
- Facebook's director of game partnerships Sean Ryan talked about what the social network is doing to attract developers, and make them want to create Facebook games in 2013.
- Unity CEO David Helgason spoke with Gamasutra about its partnerships with Sony, Nintendo, and Facebook, and how the company continues to make sure its engine is elegant and works on all those platforms.
- Tim Sweeney and Mark Rein sat down to talk about what HTML5 support means for Epic, where the platform is going, and whether rich browser games could be threatening to hardware makers.

GDC 2013 Day 3: Engines and awards

An interview with PS4 chief architect Mark Cerny, Konami's FOX engine for Metal Gear Solid 5, Epic's Unreal Engine 3 for browsers, and DICE's Frostbite 3 for Battlefield 4 mark day 3 of GDC 2013. The IGF and Choice Awards concluded the evening of the first day of the Main Conference.
GDC 2013 is running Monday, March 25th through Friday, March 29th at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California. Gamasutra is onsite to cover the event in its entirety, and the following are the third-day, can't-miss highlights:
- In an interview with Mark Cerny, the PlayStation 4's lead architect offered an inside look into the upcoming console and explained how he began the process of designing Sony's new system -- with developers' desires.
- Firefox developer Mozilla has revealed a partnership with Epic Games, which will bring the latter's Unreal Engine 3 to web browsers very soon.
- Although it was previously thought that the next installment in the Battlefield series would use DICE's Frostbite 2 engine, the company has revealed that the Frostbite 3 engine will debut later this year.

GDC 2013 Day 2: F2P problems and solutions

Kongregate COO Emily Greer described what keeps F2P players playing and paying, while QWOP developer Bennett Foddy identified F2P problems and potential solutions in the second day of the 2013 Game Developers Conference.
GDC 2013 is running Monday, March 25th through Friday, March 29th at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California. Gamasutra is onsite to cover the event in its entirety, and the following are more can't-miss highlights:
-Kongregate COO and co-founder Emily Greer has built her company on maintaining players for the long haul. In her Free-To-Play Summit session, she described the six pillars her company has identified for keeping players happy (and keeping the revenues flowing).
-QWOP and GIRP developer Bennett Foddy says the free-to-play business model has five big problems. However, being creative about solving them can result in a more meaningful application of free-to-play games.
-FTL: Faster Than Light developers Matthew Davis and Justin Ma didn't bother with a design document -- after all, they expected it to be a three-month side project. But when development got serious, they had to adjust, the two share in this postmortem.
-Ndemic Creations CEO James Vaughan outlines some of the business decisions that made mobile disease simulation game Plague, Inc one of the most successful and top-grossing mobile games of 2012.

GDC 2013 Day 1: Indies speak out

The 2013 Game Developers Conference is in full swing, and highlights from the first day include Double Fine's Kipnis on the game jam inspired by @petermolydeux, Terry Cavanagh calling for indies to curate their own games, and Giant Sparrow on The Unfnished's Swan's journey to PSN.
GDC 2013 is running Monday, March 25th through Friday, March 29th at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California. Gamasutra is onsite to cover the event in its entirety, and the following are some of the first-day highlights.
In How a parody Twitter account inspired a global game jam, Double Fine's Anna Kipnis gives a postmortem of "What Would Molydeux," last year's event that offered a unique spin on the concept of a game jam by basing prototypes on the tweets of Twitter parody account @petermolydeux.
Elsewhere, Super Hexagon creator Terry Cavanagh argues that fellow indie game developers are the community's best curators in Indies question whether journalists should be our game curators .
In Lessons from The Unfinished Swan's unique development journey, Giant Sparrow creative director Ian Dallas shares what he learned in The Unfinished Swan's journey from USC student prototype to full-scale, 12-person PlayStation Network release.

GDC 2013: What you need to know onsite

Mere days before GDC 2013 begins, organizers offer an extensive overview of the event and remind of conference-navigating tools to maximize attendees' experiences, such as the schedule builder and mobile app, and the availability of onsite pass purchases.
GDC 2013 will run Monday, March 25th through Friday, March 29th at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California.
The event is set to provide a wealth of knowledge, networking and inspiration for game development professionals worldwide, and is centered around more than 500 lectures, panels, tutorials, and roundtable discussions from more than 900 speakers.
Also key to the event are the Independent Games Festival (IGF) and Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCAs) ceremonies, and the most comprehensive Expo floor of its kind, open from Wednesday to Friday and featuring a Career Pavilion, Business Center, and more than 350 exhibitors in total.
The best way to maximize the week of events is to plan ahead for them with online schedule builder, which can be exported or added to the GDC mobile app. Attendees can also plan their expo routes with the detailed expo floor plan.

GDC 2013 organizers highlight titles to watch next week at GDC Play

GDC 2013 organizers are reminding attendees of the return of its onsite independent and emerging developer area GDC Play, featuring over 70 playable exhibits and the first hand-picked Best in Play showcase.
This will be the second GDC Play expo, after a successful 2012 debut, and will take place Tuesday, March 26 - Thursday, March 28 at San Francisco's Moscone Center during the 2013 Game Developers Conference.
In a new, expanded onsite location this year, GDC Play 2013 will be in the South Hall's Gateway Ballroom, in a prominent position directly opposite the main GDC Expo floor (which is open from Wednesday to Friday) - providing enhanced opportunities to target the more than 20,000 attendees at the show.
All Access pass holders and GDC Play exhibitors can easily arrange meetings with each other now using GDC's Business Matchmaking tool, too.
Earlier this month, organizers announced the eight Best in Play winners and eight strong runner-ups that will showcase next week. Winners will receive specially designated kiosks at GDC Play and two All Access Passes for the 2014 Game Developers Conference.

GDC 2013 highlights Tomb Raider, StarCraft II: HotS talks; discount pre-reg ends tonight

On the last day of discounted online registration, GDC 2013 organizers are highlighting talks on freemium app CSR Racing getting 30 million downloads, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm's cinematic process, and the 'reinvention' of Tomb Raider and Crystal Dynamics.
These talks are part of the Main Conference for Game Developers Conference 2013, which will take place next week, Wednesday-Friday, March 27-29 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA.
Today's highlights begin with Blizzard's Wyatt Cheng, who will explore his company's iterative design process in 'Through the Grinder: Refining Diablo III's Game Systems.' Cheng will focus particularly on what worked and what did not for the game's health recovery, controls, and skills systems.
'The Reinvention of Tomb Raider' called for a reinvention of Crystal Dynamics, studio head Darrell Gallagher and creative director Noah Hughes will share. Along with a studio "reboot," the two will discuss how the game required rebooted creative vision and production techniques to develop a Tomb Raider for a modern audience.
In another Blizzard session, lead writer Brian Kindregan will trace the story development of a difficult StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm cinematic in 'How Hard Could It Be? The Story of a Cinematic.' While showing multiple versions, Kindregan will track "the differing speed of cinematic production vs. game design, the feedback we received, the choices we made, and how they impacted the story."

GDC 2013 adds Sega history, board game exhibits, with 24 hours to pre-register

Just one day before discounted registration ends, GDC 2013 organizers are calling attention to several interactive events for the March conference, including playable board games from video game designers, plus multiple game history exhibits spanning The Neverhood through classic Sega games.
These events will be free to all GDC passholders for the week of the 2013 Game Developers Conference on March 25-29 and will be found in the common areas across the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. The full line-up of exhibits is as follows:
The MADE - Game History Exhibit
Firstly, occupying part of the West Hall's Street Level, the Oakland-based Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment will host and curate a playable, diverse game history exhibit in three parts: 'Games You Can Frame', 'The Sound of Games', and 'African-Americans in Game Development'.
The main exhibit, 'Games You Can Frame' focuses on beautiful visuals from video gaming's past, and includes titles spanning GDC Classic Postmortem honoree Myst, Cinemaware's It Came From The Desert!, LucasArts' Grim Fandango, Q's Rez, and Fumito Ueda's Shadow Of The Colossus, to name but a few.
'The Sound Of Games' is a mini-exhibit featuring games with amazing audio or soundtracks, including Streets Of Rage and Super Metroid, and the mini-exhibit on African-Americans in games will feature the Fairchild Channel F game console, Designasaur 2 and Battlecruiser 3000AD.

GDC 2013 showcases Destiny visibility rendering, Skulls of the Shogun sponsored talks

Just two days before discounted registration ends, GDC 2013 organizers are highlighting notable sponsored sessions for its March event, including automated visibility rendering in Bungie's Destiny, Skulls of the Shogun's development across Microsoft platforms, and a 'Japanese Games & Publishing in Japan' panel.
These sponsor-supported talks are part of the Main Conference for Game Developers Conference 2013, which will take place Wednesday-Friday, March 27-29 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA, and are open to all relevant passholders.
Some of the highlights from the multitude of vendor sessions at this year's show include:
- In 'Powering up Destiny's Level Creation and Rendering with Umbra 3 (Presented by Umbra Soft)', and Umbra's Otso Makinen will discuss his company's newest automated visibility solution. Bungie's Hao Chen will then share how this solution lead to "a new level of artistic freedom and rapid content iteration times," which is "vital in the creation of Bungie's next universe and its unparalleled gaming experience."
- In '5 things to know: Japanese Games & Publishing in Japan (Presented by JETRO)', attendees will learn how to succeed in the game markets in Japan and overseas, which types of Japanese games will be successful in western markets, how to partner with Japanese gaming companies, and how to source Japanese games or developers.
The growing lineup, in a panel moderated by veteran Jon Kimmich of consulting firm Software Illuminati, will include Alexander Aniel of Land Ho (multiplaform developer in Japan, localized Ubisoft's Just Dance and We Cheer series), Atsushi Ishii of Dango (Magimon, Land of Zombies developer), Masaki Sato of WINLIGHT (mobile game developer, Elemental Knights Online), and Tomonori Sugiyama of Vanguard (Trauma Center 2, Mononoke Fever multiplatform developer).

Guild Wars 2, SimCity design lectures highlighted at GDC 2013

GDC 2013 organizers are highlighting more top talks for its March conference, including design lectures on Guild Wars 2 and SimCity, Brenda Romero's F2P "morning after," and panels on indie incubators/accelerators and physical/digital game mixing.
These newly highlighted talks will be part of GDC 2013's Main Conference, which will take place Wednesday-Friday, March 27-29 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA.
First up, the panel 'Incubators/Accelerators: An Inside Look at Startup Funding and Entrepreneurship Programs' will show to developers what help exists to start their projects or companies and to program leaders how several models support indies and entrepreneurship.
Speakers in the panel will be Paul Bragiel (Founder, I/O Ventures), Jason Della Rocca and Keith Katz (Co-Founders, Execution Labs), Epona Schweer (Producer, Indie Bits), and Ken Seto (Co-Founder, Massive Damage).
In 'The Beauty and Challenge of Mixing Physical and Digital Games,' attendees will learn the design tradeoffs between board games and video games,the different audiences for each format, and the mechanics that work best for asynchronous play.
Speakers will include Tom Chick (Founder, Quarter to Three), Richard Garfield (Magic: The Gathering designer, now at Three Donkeys), Joel Goodman (CEO, Playdek), Eric Hautemont (CEO, Ticket To Ride publisher Days of Wonder), and Soren Johnson (Dragon Age Legends and Sid Meier's Civilization IV lead designer).

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