GDC is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Brian Moriarty explains Loom in GDC 2015 Classic Game Postmortem

Game Developers Conference 2015 officials are excited to announce that another game industry luminary is coming to the show in March to deliver an informative, insightful postmortem of a seminal game.

Brian Moriarty, the trailblazing author of influential Infocom games like Trinity and Beyond Zork, will be delivering a Classic Game Postmortem on the groundbreaking 1990 graphic adventure game Loom at GDC 2015.

Moriarty currently serves as a Professor of Practice in Game Design at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, and his lengthy game development career spans stints at Infocom, Lucasfilm Games (later LucasArts), Rocket Science, Mpath/HearMe, and other ventures.

Reminder: Just over 24 hours left to register early for GDC 2015

With just over a day left until early registration for Game Developers Conference 2015 ends January 21 at 11:59 PM Pacific, conference organizers are encouraging anyone interested in attending to register now at a discounted rate.

When you register you'll be securing access to a wide variety of game development talks, roundtable discussions, postmortems and workshops. All passholders also have access to the GDC Expo Floor, located within the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, which serves as a showcase for cutting-edge technology from some of the industry's biggest and most influential companies.

80 Days and Kitty Powers join GDC 2015 Indie Games Summit lineup

The Game Developers Conference Indie Games Summit has a history of hosting insightful talks from a diverse array of innovative speakers, and today conference officials are happy to announce a few notable IGS 2015 talks that continue that tradition.

These talks are part of the GDC Indie 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.

While you're there, don't miss "Making Kitty Powers' Matchmaker - Adventures of a Video Game Drag Queen." In this inspirational and practical talk, develope Richard Franke charts the development of hilarious drag queen-hosted mobile dating sim Kitty Powers' Matchmaker (pictured).

Get practical design tips for inspiring your players at GDC 2015

Designing great games is tricky business, and as a developer there's no better way (other than hands-on experience) to sharpen your design skills than swapping stories and techniques with your peers. 

With that in mind, Game Developers Conference 2015 officials are excited to highlight another great set of sessions incorporated into the perennially popular Design track of talks that you'll want to keep on your radar.

While you're at GDC, join Fantasia: Music Evolved (pictured) lead designer Jonathan Mintz for a look at how the game turns players into creators. During his talk, "Insipring Player Creativity in Fantasia: Music Evolved," You'll see methods for getting players into a creative mindset, how the interactions in the game are set up to give players confidence, and how the game celebrates players' creations to keep them engaged.

Hear how Shadow of Mordor and Diablo III were scored at GDC 2015

Developers, lend us your ears: Game Developers Conference 2015 officials are excited to highlight another great set of sessions incorporated into the Audio track of talks that you'll want to keep on your radar.


While you're at GDC, don't miss a cutting-edge talk from three high-profile members of Monolith Productions' audio team on the audio techniques at work in Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor (pictured): "Confronting our 'Audio Nemesis' in Shadow of Mordor: Maximizing Emotional Resonance in an Open World Environment."

In this talk, members of Monolith will discuss the technical hurdles they encountered in transitioning from the first-person genre to an open world sandbox environment, as well as some of the audio successes they achieved by using previous experience crafting engaging, atmospheric soundscapes for first-person games like No One Lives Forever, F.E.A.R. and Condemned to strengthen emotional impact.

GDC poll suggests most game developers still rely on self-funding

Big venture capital windfalls and crowdfunding successes make the headlines, but the majority of game developers are still self-reliant when it comes to funding development, according to a recent Game Developers Conference developer survey.

Survey officials polled more than 2,000 North American game developers who attended GDC 2014 to compose the third annual State of the Industry Survey, which seeks to provide a snapshot of the games industry and illustrate industry trends ahead of GDC 2015 in March.

Survey results suggest that, among other trends, console development is on the rise (though PC and mobile still remain the most popular platforms by a wide margin) while digital and microtransaction sales are dominating profits.

Alt.Ctrl.GDC alternative input exhibit reveals GDC game lineup

Game Developers Conference 2015 organizers have chosen 15 teams for the return of alt.ctrl.GDC, an on-site exhibit of alternative control schemes and interactions.

This time, attendees will wear a snail controller in Snail Run, disable a bomb while wearing Oculus VR in Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, chef with finesse in Robo Mama's Cooking Kitchen, stick their hands inside Ferdinand Laboite's controllable head, and more.

alt.ctrl.GDC is open to all attendees and will make its second showcase on GDC's Career Center Floor from Wed-Fri, March 4th-6th. Out of over 100 submissions, organizers have chosen 15 teams and 18 indie-centric, one-of-a-kind game peripherals and unique tech pairings that challenge commonly accepted forms of input.

Blizzard and MIT break down how eSports can evolve at GDC 2015

Game Developers Conference officials have added a new eSports Summit to the GDC 2015 lineup that will better address the needs of contemporary game developers, and today they're excited to debut a cutting-edge talk on the topic.

MIT Game Lab research scientist Philip Tan will join Blizzard Entertainment developer Ryan Schutter at GDC in March to give a talk detailing how they worked together with community modders to rapidly iterate on the observer experience of Starcraft II as an eSport.

During their talk, "Starcraft II and GameHeart: Evolving eSports Interfaces with Modders," the pair will retrace their experiences and best practices in the project, examining how communication between game developers, content-creating fans, and tournament organizers can push further experimentation with the live presentation of competitive digital games.

GDC State of the Industry: Developers double down on PS4, Xbox One

The Game Developers Conference has polled more than 2,000 North American game developers who attended GDC 2014 to compose the third annual State of the Industry Survey, which seeks to provide a snapshot of the games industry and illustrate industry trends ahead of GDC 2015 in March.

Notable trends shown in the poll results include console development on the rise, digital and microtransaction sales dominating profits, and other trends that offer a glimpse into the future landscape of the games industry.

Learn to make games smarter at the GDC 2015 AI Summit

Artificial intelligence design in games remains one of the perennially popular Game Developers Conference topics, and today we're highlighting a few notable talks on the subject that you must see at GDC 2015 in March.

These talks are part of the GDC AI 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.

Make time to check out these excellent GDC 2015 Advocacy talks

Today Game Developers Conference 2015 officials are excited 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.

Design by constraints: Hitman Go postmortem comes to GDC 2015

Developers, how would you go about bringing a big-budget game franchise like Hitman to the mobile market as a standalone product in a way that best takes advantages of the platform's strengths?

It's a tricky question, but you'll likely find at least one good answer in the GDC 2015 talk "Design by Constraints: Hitman GO Design Postmortem." Check it to see Square Enix Montreal's Daniel Lutz, the game director behind Hitman GO, deliver a design postmortem on the game and its unorthodox design concept: an extremely minimalistic turn-based strategy game with diorama-style set pieces.

Shadow of Mordor, Bayonetta 2 and Hearthstone grab key Choice Awards nominations

Organizers have revealed the finalists for the 15th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, the leading peer-based video game event celebrating the industry's top games and developers.

Winners in all categories will be honored at the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony, taking place on Wednesday, March 4th, 2015 at 6:30pm at the San Francisco Moscone Center during the 2015 Game Developers Conference alongside the Independent Games Festival Awards.

Connecting the Global Game Development Community

GDC Vault icon
Game Developers Choice Awards icon
Independent Games Festival (IGF) icon
GameDeveloper.com icon