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The makers of Never Alone talk story and art design at GDC

Storytelling has long been an essential part of how wisdom is passed from generation to generation, and now video games are part of that process. 

Indigenous societies often use traditional storytelling to share and celebrate core cultural values as well, and developers can help share those stories through games like E-Line Media's Never Alone. 

However, to authentically and accurately represent such stories and values, the development process must be handled in direct partnership with the indigenous people themselves.

At GDC 2015, E-Line Media's Sean Vesce and Never Alone writer Ishmael Hope will explore how game makers can create relevant, successful commercial games based on under-represented cultures that also have meaning and social impact in their talk "Adventures in Storytelling: Telling the World's Stories Through Games."

Reminder: Use the new Session Scheduler to get the most from GDC

The 2015 Game Developers Conference is coming up fast, so now's the perfect time to sort out your schedule for the March conference.

To help streamline that process, conference officials encourage you to take advantage of the free, freshly revamped GDC 2015 Session Scheduler to plan out which talks you'd like to attend and ensure you don't miss anything the show has to offer.

If you've never used the Session Scheduler before, it's a fairly straightforward process to get started: simply select "Create Account" from the Session Scheduler page and provide a valid email address, then start adding talks to your personal GDC 2015 schedule.

Note: Due to system upgrades, if you already have a Session Scheduler account you must reset your password via the Session Scheduler website before you can access the service. 

Take your game industry career to the next level at GDC

We're just weeks away from the 2015 Game Developers Conference, and today show officials seek to remind you about the career growth and networking opportunities attendees can take advantage of through the GDC Career Center and the Game Career Seminar, which offers lectures, panels, and presentations to help new and aspiring developers kickstart their careers in the game business.

The Career Center returns to GDC 2015 to complement the expansive, vibrant Expo Floor with exclusive career development sessions programmed by GDC organizers and top vendors.

Stop by the Center, located on the lower level of Moscone Convention Center's North Hall, to get practical career-building advice and meet folks working at some of the largest and most prestigious publishers and studios in our industry.

See the future of VR game development at GDC 2015

Developers interested in charting a course through the new frontier of virtual reality game design would be wise to look for advice from trailblazers at the 2015 Game Developers Conference, where a variety of sessions will be offered on all aspects of VR development.

Among them will be John Carmack, CTO of Oculus VR and co-founder of id Software, speaking about "The Dawn of Mobile VR" on Wednesday, March 4th for at least an hour and a half (and probably longer) at GDC 2015.

Attendees will have the chance to hear Carmack discuss the technical details of making mobile VR a reality; techniques and strategies for maximizing the quality of your VR games, applications, and experiences; and thoughts about the future of VR, including what it means for the mobile ecosystem.

Put yourself into the game with advanced 3D scanners at GDC 2015

The 2015 Game Developers Conference is coming up next month, March 2-6 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, which means we're just weeks away from the year's premiere conference for game industry professionals.

While you're putting together your GDC 2015 session schedule in the Schedule Builder, don't forget to set some time aside to check out the variety of lounges, exhibits, and other events that will be happening across the Moscone Center throughout the week.

If you want to have some fun with a 3D scanner, don't miss the 3DPlusMe booth in the lower level of Moscone's North Hall. 3DPlus Me delivers a mobile personalized merchandise platform for 3D printing that can help anyone put their own face on your products -- whether physical toys or digital in-game models.

GDC: See how BioWare melded story with systems to make Dragon Age

Building a proper "open world" game is no easy feat.

Attend GDC 2015 and you'll hear firsthand how creating Dragon Age: Inquisition drove BioWare to re-think their approach to design; the challenge was to populate BioWare's largest 'open world' with only a handful of designers.

To achieve the desired content scope and density, the team split and experimented with two opposing techniques: the first group aimed to create discrete narrative content, while the second planned to implement standalone systems.

In a talk entitled "Worlds Collide: Combining Story and Design in Dragon Age: Inquisition", a pair of BioWare leads will explain how the first team found their content scaled poorly, and the latter discovered their content had a disconnected impact.

Play lovely indie games in the GDC 2015 Mild Rumpus grotto

The 2015 Game Developers Conference is coming up fast, and we're excited to announce that indie video game showcase collective Wild Rumpus will return to GDC to double down on the success of last year's 'Mild Rumpus' game lounge.

You may remember that last year the keen minds behind Wild Rumpus created a special low-key lounge space on the second floor of Moscone West. 

The sofa-filled Mild Rumpus offered GDC 2014 passholders an opportunity to kick back, relax, and check out games like Cardboard Computer's Kentucky Route Zero and Blendo Games' Quadrilateral Cowboy.

This year the Mild Rumpus returns with an expanded game lineup and a new woodland aesthetic. The Wild Rumpus encourages GDC attendees to stroll through the trees and into the welcoming heart of the Mild Rumpus woodland grotto.

Learn to build mobile games better at GDC 2015

The field of mobile game design is still relatively young and bursting with potential; today, conference officials a few notable talks on the subject that you must see at GDC 2015 in March.

These talks are part of the GDC Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit, one of eight that will take place Monday, March 2nd and Tuesday, March 3rd at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA during the first two days of the conference.

Here's an interesting challenge: Can you make an old game new again?  Halfbrick's chief product officer Ramine Darabiha tackles the topic during his talk, "Games As A Service: Rebooting a 4 Year Old Game to the Top Charts."

Here's the lineup for GDC's exciting Experimental Gameplay Workshop

With less than a month to go before we're all at the 2015 Game Developers Conference, officials are excited to reveal the lineup of the ever-popular Experimental Gameplay Workshop, which returns to GDC for its 13th year.

This action-packed extended session -- which is taking place on Friday, March 6 at 1:30pm in Room 135 of the San Francisco Moscone Center's North Hall -- will showcase an eclectic mix of unusual game prototypes that defy convention and explore new ideas and genres.

This year the EGW is once again curated and organized by standout game creators Robin Hunicke and Daniel Benmergui, and it promises to be an exciting opportunity for presenters and attendees alike to explore some fresh territory in game design.


These games are your 'Best In Play' winners for GDC Play 2015

Organizers of the 2015 Game Developers Conference have announced the eight winners of the Best in Play award program for exhibitors in the three-day GDC Play 2015 event, which allows emerging developers to show their games in a specially designed kiosk.

The winners, picked from more than 50 exhibitors participating in GDC Play, include the strikingly beautiful Owlboy from D-Pad Studios, the remarkable open-ended space simulator Into the Stars by Fugitive Games and The Good Mood Creators' lush animal-themed platformer Mekazoo.

For the Best in Play award program, all GDC Play exhibitors were judged on their in-development or complete games by a panel of veteran GDC organizers and Gamasutra editors. All Best in Play award winners will receive 2 All Access Passes to the 2016 Game Developers Conference.

The consequences of war (in video games) and other topics come to GDC 2015

With just weeks to go until the 2015 Game Developers Conference, we're eager to highlight another great set of sessions in the Advocacy track that you'll want to check out.

Quick reminder: for the second year running, GDC organizers have made all Advocacy track talks open to all GDC attendees, regardless of what type of pass they purchase. You can find the full lineup of awesome advocacy-centric talks at GDC 2015 via the Advocacy track session list.

Many developers once aspired (or still aspire) to makes games with that elusive "addictive" quality that delights players, but the phrase "addicting gameplay" has become problematic amid the rise of free-to-play games and the unique way they blend monetization with game design.

Brenda Romero and Laura Fryer headline 'Flash Forward' at GDC 2015

Passes for the Game Developers Conference 2015 are going fast, and today we're excited to announce a very special session that you won't want to miss.

This year we're kicking off GDC with the fourth annual Flash Forward session, starting at 9:30am on Wednesday, March 4th in the West Hall of San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center.

The Flash Forward offers attendees an opportunity to hear what will be discussed in sessions taking place Wednesday-Friday directly from the people giving the talks, which should help listeners better decide which sessions are perfect for their needs. Plus, audience members can expect to be entertained by some of the biggest names and foremost experts in the games industry.

See John Carmack discuss the dawn of mobile VR development at GDC

The 2015 Game Developers Conference is less than a month away, and today conference officials are excited to announce another high-profile session that attendees should make time to attend.

John Carmack, CTO of Oculus VR and co-founder of id Software, will be speaking about "The Dawn of Mobile VR" on Wednesday, March 4th for at least an hour and a half (and probably longer) at GDC 2015.

Attendees will have the chance to hear Carmack discuss the technical details of making mobile VR a reality; techniques and strategies for maximizing the quality of your VR games, applications, and experiences; and thoughts about the future of VR, including what it means for the mobile ecosystem.

Make time to attend the standout #1ReasonToBe panel at GDC 2015

The 2015 Game Developers Conference is coming up fast, but we wanted to pause for a second to highlight one of the more popular sessions at the show: the #1ReasonToBe panel on the Advocacy track of talks.

Inspired by the #1ReasonWhy and #1ReasonToBe hashtagged discussions that erupted across social media in 2013, this panel is a rapid, fun microtalk-style celebration and exploration of what it means to be a woman in games.

For the second year running GDC organizers have made all Advocacy track talks open to all GDC attendees, regardless of what type of pass they purchase, so it's open to everyone with a GDC badge.

See how Clash of Clans was made at GDC 2015

Real talk: Building a game that people play for years is no simple task and has no magic formula. 

However, canny developers can up their odds of success by studying the successes of their compatriots. At GDC 2015Clash of Clans developer Jonas Collaros will offer attendees a chance to do just that with a behind-the-scenes look at the hit game's development history in his "Clash of Clans: Designing Games That People Will Play For Years" session.

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