GDC opens this year's State of the European Game Industry survey

June 3, 2015

To advance our understanding of the state of the European game industry ahead of GDC Europe 2015, conference organizers are polling all European game developers about their roles in game development and their thoughts on where the industry is headed in the year to come.

The brief survey is live now, and officials will keep it open through June 19th in order to record important data on the work of European developers and their thoughts on vital issues facing the game industry.

This year the survey spans everything from the platforms respondents are working on -- now and in the future -- and what markets they work in to their thoughts on tax incentives and rating systems.

Riot and the makers of Hitman share production tips at GDC Europe

June 2, 2015

As preparations for this year's GDC Europe event in Cologne, Germany pick up speed, the GDC team is excited to debut two more expert talks for the upcoming August conference.

These two sessions feature practical, nuts-and-bolts technical game design learnings from expert developers at both Riot Games (League of Legends) and IO-Interactive (Hitman Absolution).

Notably, Riot's Adalsteinn Alli Ottarsson will be delivering a production-minded talk on how the folks who operate League of Legends scaled up to keep the game running smoothly as its global popularity exploded.

Come to GDC Europe and learn how Bohemia nabs DayZ cheaters

May 27, 2015

GDC officials are still working around the clock to line up great talks for GDC Europe this year, and today they're pleased to announce two more exciting sessions for the upcoming August conference.

The conference itself will take place August 3rd and 4th in Cologne, Germany, and today's talks exemplify organizers' efforts to find experts that can combine and share learnings across multiple fields of game development.

For example, Bohemia Interactive's Eugen Harton will be delivering a talk about combating cheaters in DayZ that straddles the Programming and Production tracks of GDC Europe sessions. In "Once a Cheater, Always A Cheater: Gotta Catch 'Em All" Harton will walk you through go through a detailed timeline of DayZ's development failures and wins, focusing on how to protect an Early Access game from manipulation both external and internal.

Come to GDC Europe for tips on soft-launching your next mobile game

May 21, 2015

Heads up, game developers: The big GDC Europe conference in Cologne, Germany is coming up fast, and today we're excited to announce more great talks from your game industry compatriots that will be delivered during the August conference.

Proletariat CEO Seth Sivak will be delivering a novel talk on beta-testing mobile games called "Doing It Live: Postmortem of a Nine Month Soft Launch." He'll tell the story of his team's lauded mobile strategy game World Zombination spent nine months in soft launch before going live worldwide, and how Proletariat took advantage of that geolocked beta process to iterate, add features and optimize the game's player retention rates.

Reminder: European Innovative Games Showcase submissions close this Friday

May 20, 2015

Heads up, European game makers: this year's call for submissions to present games in the second annual European Innovative Games Showcase at GDC Europe 2015 ends this Friday, May 22nd.

That's coming up quick, but you've still got time left to submit your game for possible inclusion in the Showcase, which will take place during the Independent Games Summit at the Cologne, Germany show this August.

The winning creators will be offered 5-minute microtalks at the final session of GDC Europe's IGS, showcasing what's special about their current project. For an idea of what we're talking about, check out the GDC Vault video of the inaugural 2014 EIGS.

PSA: Your deadline to submit talks for GDC China is this Friday

May 19, 2015

Heads up, game makers: The call for Mandarin and English submissions to present talks for the 2015 Game Developers Conference China is still open, but it closes this Friday, May 22nd at 23:49 PST.

Organized by UBM Tech Game Network, the 8th annual GDC China will take place in October this year, running the 25th to the 27st at the Shanghai International Convention Center in Shanghai, China.

As always, GDC officials are looking for leading industry practitioners to pitch lectures and panels with significant, applicable takeaways for today's video game community. Submissions will be accepted until Friday for papers on Game Design, Programming, Production, Business & Marketing, Smartphone & Tablet Games, and Independent Games.

Attend GDC Europe to learn the business of nurturing amateur eSports

May 13, 2015

This year's big GDC Europe conference in Cologne, Germany is just a few months away, and today conference officials are pleased to announce a pair of talks for the August conference that showcase the diverse variety of sessions available in even a single GDC track of talks.

This week also marks the debut of the GDC Europe Schedule Builder, a powerful tool that you can use to look up full details on all announced GDC Europe talks. Bookmark it now to keep tabs on the conference and put a pin in your can't-miss talks.

Both of these sessions are part of the GDC Europe Business, Marketing and Management track of talks, with one focusing on the business of supporting amateur competitive communities around your games while the other concerns itself with practical data-driven analysis of how game genres and mechanics affect players' social impact -- how much they talk about your game, tweet about it, and draw in friends and followers to play.

Watch your favorite GDC talks now on the new GDC YouTube channel

May 8, 2015

Game Developers Conference officials are very excited to announce the launch of an official GDC YouTube channel where you can watch high-quality recordings of some of the best and brightest members of the game industry sharing knowledge with their peers.

Subscribe now and be the first to know when a new video is posted every weekday, and if you like what you see, head over to the GDC Vault for thousands of more in-depth talks recorded and archived across nearly twenty years of GDC history.

Going forward, the GDC Vault will continue to offer tons of GDC videos for free, with more available to paying subscribers. The new GDC YouTube channel is designed to augment that service and make your life easier by collecting a selection of GDC talks and clips from talks in an easily shareable format.

Attend GDC Europe to see how top European indies make games

May 6, 2015

Plans for this year's GDC Europe conference in Cologne, Germany are coming together nicely, and today GDC officials are excited to announce another pair of great talks for the upcoming August show.

As part of the GDC Europe Independent Games Summit, Marius Winter (one half of the German game development duo Major Bueno) will step onstage to discuss how a documentary film crew and Major Bueno visited 11 members of the European indie game community (including Bounden creator Adriaan de Jongh, Proteus developer Ed Key and more) on a seven-week road trip to shed light on the creative process of indie game makers.

As part of the trip Major Bueno created a new game with each of their hosts, and at GDC Europe Winter will share their learnings about indie game development and offer meaningful advice for developers, film makers, and anyone working in a creative field. Don't miss their talk, "Tour Bueno - A Quest To Understand Creativity," where they'll recount their adventure.

Apply now to be a volunteer GDC Europe 2015 Conference Associate

May 5, 2015

Want to get into this year's Game Developers Conference Europe for free while helping the show go off without a hitch? Apply to be a volunteer Conference Associate (CA), and you can earn the equivalent of an All-Access Pass by putting in at least 14 hours of on-site work.

GDC Europe 2015 is taking place in Cologne, Germany later this year on August 3rd and 4th. Conference Associates have pre-conference assignments and a required orientation meeting on Sunday, August 2nd.

If you are accepted into the program, you are expected to be on-site at the Congress-Centrum Ost in Cologne, Germany during conference hours, from the start of your pre-conference assignments through the end of the conference on the evening of Tuesday, August 4th.

GDC Europe 2015 calls for Innovative Games Showcase submissions

May 4, 2015

Game Developers Conference Europe 2015 organizers are excited to once again open a special call for European developers to submit to the second annual European Innovative Games Showcase.

Taking place during the Independent Games Summit at the Cologne, Germany show this August, the winning creators will be offered 5-minute microtalks at the final session of GDC Europe's IGS, showcasing what's special about their current project. For an idea of what we're talking about, check out the GDC Vault video of the inaugural 2014 EIGS.

Anyone who successfully submits will also be given full Speaker Passes to the event (including full access to every GDC Europe session and the massive gamescom trade/public event) if selected. In addition, detailed video of the event will be showcased on Gamasutra and GDC Vault for free after the event.

See how Riot scaled up to produce League of Legends at GDC Europe

April 30, 2015

GDC officials are working with some of the game industry's best and brightest to line up great talks for GDC Europe this year, and today they're pleased to confirm two more exciting sessions for the upcoming August conference.

The conference itself will take place August 3rd and 4th in Cologne, Germany, and today's talks exemplify organizers' efforts to share learnings from cutting-edge developers large and small.

As part of the GDC Europe Production track of talks, Riot Games' Aðalsteinn "Alli" Óttarsson will be delivering an in-depth presentation on "Scaling Player-Focused Development for League of Legends." Since launching its flagship game in 2009 Riot has seen its number of live League of Legends game environments jump from one to 43 as its development team has grown tenfold; at GDC Europe, Ottarsson will share learnings from the experience that can help other developers scale their organizations, stabilize and even accelerate their live game releases.

Learn from The Talos Principle and RuneScape devs at GDC Europe

April 23, 2015

Preparations for this year's GDC Europe event in Cologne, Germany are well underway, and today GDC officials are excited to confirm another pair of great talks for the upcoming August conference.

The GDC Europe Independent Games Summit is back, and this year it features Croteam's Alen Ladavac diving into his studio's workflow in a talk entitled "Fast Iteration Tools in the Production of The Talos Principle."

Croteam is a small studio with outsized goals, and to make big games they've developed tools and processes with an eye towards keeping their team working as efficiently as possible. Catch Ladavac's talk to learn how Croteam optimizes things like content editing, source control, automated testing to build big games without sacrificing quality.

Learn about player behavior and DX12 tech in first GDC Europe 2015 talks

April 16, 2015

Game Developers Conference officials have fielded a ton of great pitches during the recent GDC Europe 2015 call for lectures, and today they're happy to share details on the first of many talks that will take place during the August conference.

The conference, organized by UBM Tech Game Network and now in its seventh year, will be held Monday and Tuesday, August 3-4 at the Congress-Centrum Ost in Cologne, Germany, co-located with Europe's biggest video game trade and public show gamescom.

The event will include talks on everything from AAA to indie to mobile games. The first two announced sessions address new game tech and design principles, and they should offer learnings for the entire community.

GDC Europe welcomes new board members ahead of 2015 show

April 9, 2015

As the industry gears up for GDC Europe, show organizers are excited to announce that a pair of game industry veterans have joined the event's main advisory board and Indie Games Summit board to help program the lectures and panel sessions taking place at this year's conference in Cologne, Germany, alongside the Gamescom trade fair.

The GDC Europe advisory board, which includes game industry notables like Rovio's Katharina Hautz, CD Projekt Red's Bartlomiej Gawel, DICE creative director Lars Gustavsson, and Rocksteady Studios' David Hego, is very excited to welcome its newest member: Kalypso Media Group global managing director Stefan Marcinek.

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