GDC officials are lining up some great talks for the big GDC Europe conference this August in Cologne, Germany, and today they're happy to announce another exciting session taking place at the show.

In developing the crowdfunded PC RPG Pillars of Eternity, Obsidian Entertainment sought to create a spiritual successor to beloved '90s PC RPGs like Baldur's Gate and Planescape Torment. That involved a host of technical and creative challenges, as well as the tricky work of designing a game with contemporary sensibilities that could also appeal to fans of those classic games.

At GDC Europe, Obsidian's Josh Sawyer willl speak frankly about those challenges in his talk "Looking Back and Moving Forward with Pillars of Eternity." Make time to check it out, and you'll walk away with insight into the into the benefits and pitfalls of making a "retro classic", especially for a crowdfunding audience that is emotionally (and financially) invested from the start of the project.

GDC organizers are working with top game industry talent to line up great talks for this year's GDC Europe conference in Germany, and today they'd like to tip you off to one such talk from the folks at Wargaming about rebooting the classic game Master of Orion.

Come August, GDC Europe 2016 attendees will have the chance to check out "Alien Cultures: Rebooting 'Master of Orion' with a Global Team" and get an in-depth look at the process of rebooting a beloved strategy game in a way that both satisfies diehard Master of Orion fans while simultaneously showcasing the appeal of space strategy games to a new audience.

Wargaming's Chris Keeling and Jacob Beucler both worked closely on the project, and in their talk they'll discuss how the Master of Orion team overcame obstacles and managed remote third-party teams across multiple languages, time zones, and cultures. 

Heads up, game makers: GDC Europe is taking place this summer in Cologne, Germany and today is the day to register early at a discounted rate.

Organizers of the Game Developers Conference are pleased to announce that early registration for GDC Europe 2016 has officially opened,  there's no better place to find the essential pan-European perspective of game development and business trends currently happening throughout the continent.

Organized by UBM Tech Game Network, the event, now in its eighth year running, will run Monday through Tuesday, August 15th and 16th at the Cologne Congress-Centrum Ost venue in Cologne, Germany.

Register now and you can save 200 euros on an All Access Pass. Plus, this year there will also be a GDC Europe Student Pass made available as a more affordable alternative to the All Access Pass -- one created specifically for qualified students interested in learning and networking at the conference.

Just a quick reminder that the call for submissions to present lectures and panel sessions at the Game Developers Conference Europe in August ends tomorrow: Friday, April 1st, at 11:59 PM Pacific, to be precise.

If you have a great idea for a talk, now's the time to pitch it! Talk submissions are being accepted for Main Conference tracks in Business, Marketing & Management, Design, Production, Programming, and Visual Arts. Organizers are seeking 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 Independent Games Summit, so if you have a great idea for either a Main Conference or Indie Summit talk, submit it now! You can learn more about the submissions process and guidelines via the GDC Europe Submissions page.

Heads up, game makers: The call for submissions to present lectures and panel sessions at the 2016 Game Developers Conference Europe is open through next Friday, April 1st, at 11:59 PM Pacific.

Organized by UBM Tech Game Network, the event, now in its eighth year in Cologne, Germany, will run Monday through Tuesday, August 15th-16th at the Cologne Congress-Centrum Ost.

Once again co-located with the European gamescom trade fair, GDC Europe 2016 will continue to provide the essential pan-European perspective of game development and highlight business trends throughout the continent.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the open-world fantasy role-playing game from developer CD Projekt RED, was honored with the Game of the Year award at tonight's 16th annual Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony during the 2016 Game Developers Conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

The acclaimed title also received the award for Best Technology for its complex game engine that combines brilliant visuals with a huge game world. 

Her Story, the interactive crime fiction game from independent game developer Sam Barlow, earned the most awards of any nominee tonight, taking home the awards for Innovation, Best Narrative and Best Handheld/Mobile Game. 

Monday March 14 marks the start of Game Developers Conference 2016, the 30th anniversary for the event. Gamasutra will have reporters at the Moscone Center in San Francisco bringing you breaking news along with coverage from developer sessions and interviews throughout the course of the week.

Follow along via Gamasutra's live event coverage page, sponsored by Akamai.