At VRDC you'll learn when (and when not) to apply existing design rules to VR

September 7, 2016

The advent of decent consumer-grade virtual reality hardware has huge implications for every creative field. But to take advantage of this cutting-edge tech, creators must understand the many ways VR confounds established design practices.

That's exactly what Noah Falstein, a longtime game maker who now serves as Google's chief game designer, hopes to explore in his talk on "7 Ways VR Confounds Design Expectations" at the inaugural standalone Virtual Reality Developers Conference this November.

Falstein's talk delves into seven specific areas, detailing problems and suggesting solutions derived from game design, film making, theater, evolution, and neuroscience.

Incidentally, the deadline to register early at a discounted rate for this year's Virtual Reality Developers Conference ends today, September 7th at 11:59 PM Pacific! Conference organizers are encouraging anyone interested in attending to register now at a discounted rate to save up to $400!

Make time to attend and you'll learn how VR game design and storytelling can benefit from existing rules of thumb, and when they need entirely new approaches to succeed. Plus, Falstein will speak to what VR devs need to know about physical considerations, immersion, presence, attention, timing, and more.

Submit talks now for the GDC 2017 Community Management Summit!

September 6, 2016

Got a great idea for a talk that would fit in well at the 2017 Game Developers Conference Community Management Summit?

Great news! GDC organizers are now accepting Community Management Summit talk submissions through Friday, September 23rd.

Next year is a great time to be speaking at the event. This will be the 31st edition of GDC, which continues to be the world's largest and longest-running event serving professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games.

The week-long conference takes place Monday, February 27 to Friday, March 3, 2017 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California, and will once again host thousands of game developers from all around the world for a week of learning, networking and inspiration.

The one-day Community Management Summit will cover every corner of a quickly-evolving, crucial facet of video game development. Summit content will focus on how to inspire, build and maintain user loyalty and enthusiasm through the ups and downs of community opinion and adoption.

Reminder: Early registration for VRDC ends tomorrow!

September 6, 2016

Heads up: The deadline to register early at a discounted rate for the 2016 Virtual Reality Developers Conference ends tomorrow, September 7th at 11:59 PM Pacific!

Conference organizers are encouraging anyone interested in attending to register now at a discounted rate to save up to $400!

The premier event for creators of immersive VR (and AR) experiences, VRDC will be held this November 2-3 in San Francisco, at the prestigious Park Central Hotel.

To meet the growing demand for high‐quality content in the rapidly-expanding VR/AR space, VRDC is expanding to cover virtual and augmented reality in games, entertainment, and beyond into subjects such as healthcare, journalism, travel, manufacturing, retail, live events, real estate, training, and so much more.

When you register you'll be securing access to a very special two‐day event that will bring together VR/AR experts from multiple industries to share best practices, demo new technology, create new business partnerships, and exchange ideas with innovators shaping the industry.

Attend VRDC and see how VR/AR is shaping the future of healthcare

September 5, 2016

This November San Francisco will host the inaugural standalone Virtual Reality Developers Conference, and as part of the event's broad coverage of the virtual- and augmented-reaility industries a panel of experts will explore how VR/AR can be used to improve healthcare.

During the panel on "The Future of Healthcare: Creating VR/AR for Patients & Doctors" experts Tracey John (Vice President, Associate Creative Director, Havas Health), Bart Kok (Studio Manager, The Virtual Dutch Men), Dr. Mark Lightowler, PhD (Founder and CEO, Phorix Limited, formerly head of digital innovation at Novartis) and Gerald Flannory (Vice President, Associate Creative Director, Havas Life New York) will discuss the needs, the challenges, the opportunities, and the process for creating VR/AR in healthcare by sharing their own work and experiences.

Not only is there emerging research and innovation in providing diagnostic and therapeutic applications for patients using VR and AR, there is a storytelling aspect, often aimed at physicians and non-patients, that can help inspire empathy and understanding of various disease states.

Now's the time to submit your talks for the AI Summit at GDC 2017

September 2, 2016

If you've been thinking about when would be the best time to submit a talk for the AI Summit at Game Developers Conference 2017, we've got news for you: that time is right now.

GDC organizers are now accepting AI Summit talk submissions through Friday, September 23rd.

There's never been a better time to be a GDC speaker -- this will be the 31st edition of GDC, which continues to be the world's largest and longest-running event serving professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games.

The big event takes place Monday, February 27 to Friday, March 3, 2017 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California, and will once again host thousands of game developers from all around the world for a week of learning, networking and inspiration.

As always, the GDC AI Summit features panels and lectures from top game AI programmers in the industry. Organized as a collective effort by the AI Game Programmers Guild, this event promises to give you an inside look at key architectures and issues within successful commercial games, as well as let you eavesdrop on conversations, debates, and rants on how game AI can move forward.

Now's the time to submit talks for the Game Career Seminar at GDC 2017!

August 31, 2016

If you've got a great idea for a session that should take place as part of the Game Career Seminar at Game Developers Conference 2017, now is the time to submit it! We at GDC are now accepting Game Career Seminar submissions through Friday, September 23rd.

This will be the 31st edition of GDC, which continues to be the world's largest and longest-running event serving professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games.

The big event will take place Monday, February 27 to Friday, March 3, 2017 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California, and will once again host thousands of game developers from all around the world for a week of learning, networking and inspiration.

The Career Seminar is all about bringing new faces into the game industry, and encouraging the new folks who have recently joined us. It's for people who have either just made their first game, or are thinking about it. These aren't complete neophytes, but they certainly aren't veterans.

PSA: One week left to register early for VRDC at a discounted rate!

August 31, 2016

With just over seven days left until early registration for the first-ever standalone Virtual Reality Developers Conference ends September 7th at 11:59 PM Pacific, conference organizers are encouraging anyone interested in attending to register now at a discounted rate to save up to $400.

The premier event for creators of immersive VR (and AR) experiences will be held this November 2-3 in San Francisco, at the prestigious Park Central Hotel. To meet the growing demand for high‐quality content in the rapidly-expanding VR/AR space, VRDC is expanding to cover virtual and augmented reality in games, entertainment, and beyond into subjects such as healthcare, journalism, travel, manufacturing, retail, live events, real estate, training, and so much more.

Survey: Over 20% of VR/AR devs are working on platform exclusives

August 30, 2016

Last week the producers of the Virtual Reality Developers Conference released the first-ever VRDC VR/AR Innovation Report, a compilation of responses from professionals involved in the development of virtual and augmented reality.

Notably, this new report offers an exclusive glimpse into the rapidly-expanding, diverse and hard-to-measure VR/AR industry - from sustainability of the market, to market challenges, platform availability, funding and more.

For more information and to download the report, download it for free here!

This inaugural VR/AR Innovation Report comes in advance of the highly anticipated standalone VRDC event, which will take place November 2nd and 3rd in San Francisco. Reported findings are based on responses from more than 500 professionals currently working to develop VR/AR experiences.

To give you a better sense of the data available within the report, today we'd like to highlight a particularly notable finding regarding how many developers are working on platform-exclusive VR or AR projects.

Submit your Summit, VRDC talks for GDC 2017 now!

August 29, 2016

Great news: Now's your chance to propose a talk for one of the Game Developers Conference 2017 Summits or the VR-focused VRDC at GDC in February/March 2017!

This call for submissions of potential lectures and panels for both the VRDC and the specialized Summits that help open the 2017 Game Developers Conference opens today and runs through 11:59 PM Pacific on Friday, September 23rd.

Both VRDC and the GDC Summits take place on the first two days of GDC, signaling the start of the five-day signature game creation conference.

GDC organizers debuted the Virtual Reality Developers Conference at GDC last year as a special two-day event where developers of all stripes have the opportunity to explore and discuss VR/AR game design, to great success.

Now, they're bringing it back to GDC 2017 with the same two tracks of talks: one focused on VR/AR in games, the other on VR/AR in entertainment. (Organizers have also launched a standalone version of VRDC with an expanded focus that will be taking place in November of this year.)

Come to VRDC for expert tips on putting VR to good use at events and stores

August 29, 2016

Virtual reality is big business right now, but it's not always easy to figure out how to integrate it with your own work.

Today, Virtual Reality Developers Conference organizers want to let you know about a special talk on the conference's Brand Experience track that will offer practical advice on this very issue!

John Buzzell is an award winning 25-year veteran of the digital industry, and in his VRDC talk "10 Tips for VR in the Retail/Trade/Event Space" he'll share lessons learned from putting hundreds of thousands of people through VR at retail, trade shows, and events.

Attend and you'll be able to learn from their experience to make sure your brand is what shines through. Client case studies will be used to explain how to effectively plan and run VR experiences, so you can ensure that your customers' first VR experience work for the brand, not just the hardware manufacturer.

Attend VRDC for expert advice on tackling VR's usability challenges

August 26, 2016

Heads up, VR devs: Virtual Reality Developers Conference organizers are hard at work lining up a fantastic array of VR/AR experts to speak at the big November show, including game researcher, designer and XEODesign founder Nicole Lazzaro.

In Lazarro's VRDC talk on "VR Usability in Wonderland," she plans to outline how VR game devs must releasrn how to do things like move a game's camera, design a player interface, and even play audio in order to effectively immerse players in a VR experience.

Based on two years of VR research on games such as Job Simulator, Defense Grid, EVE: Valkyrie, plus 25 years of game research and developing XEODesign's own VR game Follow the White Rabbit (pictured) Lazzaro will deliver a deep dive into player psychology, usability, and the neuropsychology of emotion.

What's the most popular VR platform? Find out in VRDC's VR/AR Innovation Report

August 24, 2016

The UBM Game Network, producer of the Virtual Reality Developers Conference (VRDC), today released the first-ever VRDC VR/AR Innovation Report, compiled of responses from professionals involved in the development of virtual and augmented reality. The new report offers an exclusive glimpse into the fast growing and diverse VR/AR industry - from sustainability of the market, to market challenges, platform availability, funding and more.

For more information and to download the report, download it for free here!

The VR/AR industry is in a phase of rapid growth. Investors have poured major money into expanding the business, while leading innovators (including Microsoft, Sony, Google and more) are entering the market this year. AR technology has burst into the mainstream market via the highly popular Pokemon Go app. As the world of VR and AR expands, UBM Game Network is working to provide the industry with the latest information around virtual and augmented reality.

With this initiative in mind, the organization first launched VRDC, co-located with the Game Developers Conference, in March 2016 and will introduce a standalone VRDC event November 2-3 in San Francisco, CA that expands beyond games and entertainment to VR and AR for brand experience and innovative use cases of all kinds.

Microsoft, ARM and CCP among the cutting-edge sponsors of VRDC

August 23, 2016

The inaugural standalone edition of the Virtual Reality Developers Conference kicks off this November, and today we'd like to quickly run down some of the cutting-edge tech companies who have already signed on to sponsor the show.

Among them are tech giants Microsoft, ARM and Qualcomm, industry leaders who are invested in realizing the full potential of virtual- and augmented-reality technology.

The growing list of VRDC sponsors also includes CCP Games, developers of the high-profile VR game EVE Valkyrie, as well as the eye-tracking VR headset company Fove and the Japanese game publisher/developer Colopl, which recently launched a $50 million global VR investment fund as it works to develop and publish its own VR games.

And that's not all -- more sponsors are expected to get involved with VRDC, and some of them will be sponsoring their own expert talks on the VRDC Partners Track, which aims to provide sessions that enable companies to communicate the value of their tool or service, then educate and empower developers to put it to great use.

At VRDC you'll see how the White House is using VR to tackle real challenges

August 22, 2016

Virtual Reality Developers Conference organizers are working to line up a fantastic array of VR/AR experts to speak at the big November show, and today they're happy to announce that one of those speakers will be coming from the White House.

Erik Martin is a policy advisor at the White House, and in a VRDC Innovation Track talk on "The White House Call: Virtual Reality for Grand Challenges" he'll address the ways the White House sees virtual reality as a new tool for approaching a number of significant issues.

He'll also explore efforts by the White House to utilize leading entertainment technology, and speak to how, in areas like education, VR must also help reduce the digital divide among wealthy and poor rather than expand it. This talk will call for VR as a force for good, and showcase how developers can help achieve that goal.

Come out to VRDC and see how CCP developed EVE: Valkyrie

August 17, 2016

The inaugural standalone edition of the Virtual Reality Developers Conference is kicking off in November, and today organizers are happy to announce that experts from CCP Games will be there to talk about how they launched one of the most high-profile VR games: EVE: Valkyrie.

In the VRDC Games & Entertainment track talk "Prepped for Launch, The EVE: Valkyrie Development Story" lead game designer Andrew Willans will deliver an earnest narrative of the development of EVE: Valkyrie from prototype to launch.

This lecture will cover many aspects of game design from UX to gameplay and mechanics balancing. Willans will also share and discuss the best practices with examples from various stages in production as the hardware, and vision for the game evolved.

Plus, the presentation will also cover the launch of PSVR and discuss how community-led development and cross-platform play are essential ingredients for the success of social VR gaming.

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