GDC News

2010 Independent Games Festival Opens Submissions

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:50:45 -0800

Think Services, organizer of the industry-leading Game Developers Conference (GDC) events, is pleased to announce that submissions are now open for the 2010 Independent Games Festival. Entries to the 12th annual festival are due in both Main and Student Showcase categories by November 2009, with Main Competition finalists to be announced January 4, 2010.

Games selected as finalists will be available in playable form on the GDC show floor and will compete for nearly $50,000 in prizes, including awards for Excellence in Design, Art, the Audience Award and the coveted $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

Winners will be announced on stage at the prestigious Independent Games Festival Awards on Thursday, March 11, 2010, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

The Independent Games Festival Awards are held alongside the Game Developers Choice Awards and both award shows are part of the 2010 Game Developers Conference. GDC 2010 also includes the 2010 Independent Games Summit, which is entering its fourth year and offers two days of inspiration and practical lectures and rants from the top minds in the independent games world.

Over the years, the Independent Games Festival has recognized the best and brightest indie game developers and their games. As the indie game mindshare continues to grow, thanks to the rise of digital distribution and a compelling aesthetic, the Independent Games Festival has played a key role in putting a well-deserved spotlight on these games. Notable former IGF winners include Everyday Shooter, Audiosurf, World of Goo, Blueberry Garden, Darwinia, Castle Crashers, and many more.

Notable evolutions to this year's Festival include a substantial increase in the number of hand-picked IGF judges - chosen, as always, from notables practicing both mainstream and indie game development, as well as discerning indie-minded games journalists.

The judging pool has more than doubled over last year's event, allowing each individual game entry to be played in much greater depth. The IGF is also adding compulsory (previously optional) written judge feedback alongside scores, an important part of deriving value and takeaway from entering the Festival, even for non-finalists.

Simon Carless, Chairman of the IGF, commented of this year's event: "We're delighted to return for our twelfth year of the Independent Games Festival, and we're really looking forward to see what the independent game community comes up with this time around. Good luck to all entrants!"

Submissions to the competition are now open to all independent game developers; important dates for IGF 2010 are as follows:

July 1st, 2009 - Submissions are Open
November 1st, 2009 - Submission Deadline, Main Competition
November 15th, 2009 - Submission Deadline, Student Competition
January 4th, 2010 - Finalists Announced, Main Competition
January 11th, 2010 - Finalists Announced, Student Competition
March 9th-13th, 2010 - Game Developer's Conference 2010
March 9th-10th, 2010 - Indie Games Summit @ GDC
March 11-13th, 2010 - IGF Pavilion @ GDC
March 11th, 2010 - IGF Awards Ceremony (Winners Announced!)

Sponsors already confirmed for the 2010 Independent Games Festival include Official Download Partner Direct2Drive and Platinum Student Showcase sponsor DigiPen Institute Of Technology. For a complete list of IGF 2010 event information, please visit the official IGF website.

Crytek's Yerli To Give GDC Europe 2009 Keynote

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:32:21 -0800

Game Developers Conference Europe organizers Think Services have announced that Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli will give a track keynote at the 2009 event.

In his keynote "The Future of Gaming Graphics," Yerli will tell the story of Crytek's success in developing of high-end graphics tech like CryEngine 2 for the PC and next generation consoles, and share his views on the future of rendering.

Yerli co-founded Crytek GmbH in 1999, and the developer now has approximately 470 employees in six countries. In addition to its proprietary CryEngine development platform, the company's best known for its Far Cry and Crysis franchises, and its proprietary CryEngine development platform.

"As a German based company, we are proud to participate in GDC Europe in Cologne," said Yerli. "We are very excited to share and communicate our success story with our fellow European developers and inspire the newer generation."

Yerli is the latest addition to the keynote line-up, which includes GameForge CEO Klaas Kersting on monetization models, Remedy's Matias Myllyrinne on creating IP, and CCP's Hilmar Petursson on EVE Online.

GDC Europe will be held in conjunction with the European GamesCom industry event for consumers, publishers, and trade professionals, and will take place August 17-19 at the Cologne Congress East Center in Germany.

The event will host more than 80 sessions addressing the needs and opportunities for developers and business professionals throughout Europe, and registration is open now, with a 20% discount for those signing up before July 29th.

Independent Games Summit @ GDC Austin Reveals First Speakers

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:22:08 -0800

Organizers of this September's Independent Games Summit at GDC Austin have announced first speakers, with the indies behind titles like Bit.Trip Beat, Age Of Booty, Fantastic Contraption, and DeathSpank speaking on a multitude of notable topics.

Initial information about the September 15th-16th Summit, a separate part of the wider, 'connected game'-focused Austin-based event, is available on the GDC Austin website. Other Summits taking place at GDC Austin this year include a brand-new iPhone Games Summit and the notable, long-running Writing and Audio Summits..

Details on the Independent Games Summit at GDC Austin include specifics on the first five lectures and panels for the first-ever Austin edition of the popular main GDC event, and the highlights include:

- In 'The Bit.Trip Series: Holistic Indie Console Game Design', Gaijin Games' Alex Neuse will speak on "how the small team created the retro-infused [game] series, giving tips on standing out on WiiWare and how to intelligently mine classic gaming for a unique look."

- Speaking in 'Business Managing Your Indie Developer Through The Downturn', Jennifer Bullard of local Texas independent developer Certain Affinity, which has done contract work for big AAA console titles (Left 4 Dead, Call Of Duty: World At War) and developed significant original IP (downloadable title Age Of Booty) will discuss running your indie as a business, and how a small company intelligently juggles work for hire and original IP.

- In a lecture called 'Postmortem: The Design & Business Behind Fantastic Contraption', Colin Northway will explain how the Flash-based physics sandbox webgame -- which has been played by millions of people, and brought in six-figure profits for its single developer -- was designed, monetized and marketed itself, based on an initially free title with paid upgrades.

- Wolfire COO John Graham (co-creator of the upcoming Overgrowth) will discuss 'Effective Marketing For Indie Game Developers', explaining how you use your own website, social networking channels, independent editorial content, and even pre-release versions of your tools to build a robust community around your game before it even ships.

- Finally, in 'The Indie Business Rant', notables including Hothead's Joel DeYoung (DeathSpank, Penny Arcade Adventures), Klei's Jamie Cheng (Shank), and IGS advisory board members Matthew Wegner (Blurst.com, Crane Wars) and Adam Saltsman (Fathom) will "each give short 5-10 minute presentations on aspects of indie business that irk, disgust, or nauseate them, hopefully also including some panaceas for the indie business pain that sickens them."

More information on 2009's Independent Games Summit at Austin GDC, including registration details and other specifics, is available at the official IGS @ Austin GDC website.

GDC Europe Adds Keynote From Ikariam Free-To-Play MMO Creator

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:25:43 -0800

GDC organizer Think Services announced that Klaas Kersting, CEO of German browser game pioneer Gameforge, will keynote the business track at the 2009 Game Developers Conference Europe.

Gameforge is best known for free browser-based RPG Ikariam, and at GDC Europe, he'll give a talk entitled "Changes in the Games Industry - Free-to-play vs. Payment Models," where he'll share his thoughts on the success of the revolutionary free-to-play model Gameforge uses.

In his keynote, Kersting also present the history of Gameforge, the advantages of different payment models, and the differences between Europe and Asia in terms of attitudes toward gaming and cultural backgrounds.

Kersting and Alexander Rosner founded Gameforge in 2003. In addition to Ikariam, the company's responsible for OGame and Metin2 have attracted more than 75 million gamers worldwide.

"Gameforge develops pioneering and groundbreaking technologies in the browser-based game sector, which is driving the whole industry," said event director Frank Sliwka. "GDC Europe is focused on delivering content that appeals to a global audience, while presenting content that represents and showcases the European development community."

Frank's Blog: News About GDC Europe

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:01:01 -0800

[In his first update, Game Developers Conference Europe event director Frank Sliwka welcomes you to his regularly updated comments about the August 17-19 event taking place in Cologne, Germany.]

Today, I would like to start my blog and welcome all of you to my posts about GDC Europe. During the next few weeks, I would like to give you all some impressions about GDC Europe as well as the host city of Cologne.

Since the Think Services Game Group Germany office is located in Berlin, our team travels quite a bit to this beautiful city.

Oftentimes, I have flights from Berlin to Cologne and I can honestly say that the connection from the city of Cologne and the airport is really nice. By train, you can arrive to the convention center in just 12 minutes and with a cab it will take you about 20 minutes (if there are no traffic jams).

Please look out for my future posts where you’ll get an insider’s look on Cologne and our amazing event about to take place in August.

Sincerely,
Frank

[Frank and his colleagues will be posting regular news updates from behind the scenes of GDC Europe, including content reveals and other helpful information. You can subscribe individually to the GDC News blog via its RSS feed.]

2009 GDC Austin Announces First Subscription MMO-Centric Sessions

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:45:18 -0800

After debuting initial free-to-play online game lectures from Sony Online (Free Realms), Gaia Online and Rebel Monkey (CampFu), September's GDC Austin 2009 event has revealed subscription MMO-specific talks spanning Star Wars: The Old Republic, DC Universe Online, EVE Online, and more.

The first set of lectures announced for GDC Austin span the gamut of 'connected games', from traditional high-profile subscription MMOs through free-to-play online games, social network games, and even online components to console games.

The event, to be held September 15th-18th, 2009 at the Austin Convention Center in Texas, now includes six online-centric 'tracks' for the Main Conference, which takes place Wednesday 16th to Friday 18th.

These tracks, which span design, business & marketing, social networking & community, services, programming and production, have a number of lectures focused on the core, AAA subscription-MMO space. Initial highlights from these include:

- BioWare Austin's 'Come and See the Elephant - Challenges Encountered Growing an MMO' will talk about strategies "pertaining to process and technology" that the much-vaunted firm's technical director Bill Dalton utilized in helping to make the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic.

- In 'Why We Need Heroes And Villains In Games', some of the key creators of the upcoming DC Universe Online MMO, including SOE Austin's Chris Cao and Jens Andersen, alongside noted comic book artist and game contributor Jim Lee and DC Comics writer Marv Wolfman, discuss "why... tension between good and evil is so critical -- not only for telling a good story, but for making a video game."

- CCP Games' Petur Johannes Oskarsson is presenting a lecture called 'EVE Online's Player Elected Council Case Study', explaining that the space trading and combat MMO "uses a democratically elected council of 9 community members to get a feel for what the whole wants, where they want EVE to go in the future and how we, players and developers, can get there together." The study will analyze the Council's failures and successes for the past, present and future.

- In 'MMOs to Consoles – Challenges, Opportunities and Emerging Trends', Turbine VP Craig Alexander will talk about the Lord Of The Rings Online creator's view on the console market for major MMOs, with market analysis, commenting that "given the processing power and connectivity of console game systems, the opportunity to transition massively multiplayer online games to the console platform is enormous."

Further announcements and details on lectures for this September's GDC Austin, as well as multiple keynote addresses, will be debuting over the next few weeks.

In addition, GDC Austin will also include its long-running Game Audio and Game Writer Summits, alongside an iteration of the breakout successful Independent Games Summit and the newly introduced iPhone Game Summit, all debuting on September 15-16, 2009 at the same venue.

Full listings of announced lectures, registration information, and other specifics are now available at the official GDC Austin website.

October's GDC China is the Only Game Development Conference Approved by MOC

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:45:25 -0800

[In her latest Bosslady Blog update, Game Developers Conference China event director Meggan Scavio discusses some of the recent news pertaining to GDC China 2009.]

Yesterday, the Ministry of Culture (MOC) formally issued a notification to regulate animation, comics and game tradeshows/conferences. As of today, the Game Developers Conference China (GDC China), to be held October 11-13 2009 in Shanghai, is the only game development conference approved by the Ministry of Culture.

We've been working closely with the MOC over the last 9 months towards what we both see as a long-term partnership. The GDC China team, along with UBM CEO, David Levin, met in person with the Minister just last week. The MOC minister expressed excitement over a mutually beneficial future between China and the Game Developers Conference (GDC). In addition, the launch of the first ever Independent Games Festival (IGF) in China mirrors a mission of the MOC--to showcase the talent and craft of the Chinese game development community. The MOC recognize our commitment to the local developers and share our desire to create an environment in which studios participate in a voluntary and meaningful manner.

Read the Official Press Release on the Minisistry of Culture's new Policy as well as GDC China's Official Endorsement

GDC China has a few more unannounced surprises so keep a lookout here for updates!

GDC Europe 2009 Reveals Remedy Keynote

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:12:46 -0800

Matias Myllyrinne, managing director of Remedy Entertainment, original creators of the acclaimed Max Payne series and the upcoming Alan Wake, has been announced as the second keynote for GDC Europe 2009.

In his keynote address entitled, "From Max Payne to Alan Wake: Creating Intellectual Properties the Remedy Way," Myllyrinne will share the key principles that have guided the company over the years in developing its games.

He will touch on the company's explicit goal to remain small, independent, and passionate about creating new IP, and will try to answer a very important question: how can boutique European studios create large games, compete and succeed in a quickly changing and ever-growing games industry?

As one of the key figures behind the company's success, Myllyrinne is responsible for handling Remedy's business affairs. Since joining the company in 1999, he has helped build Remedy into one of the region's leading independent game developers.

He's also heavily involved with Remedy's upcoming Alan Wake, due to debut exclusively on Xbox 360 in Spring 2010. It follows the writer Alan Wake as he battles dark forces against him and unravels the mystery behind his fiancee's disappearance.

The keynote announcement follows the earlier announcement of a keynote from CCP head Hilmar Petursson, who will be unveiling the studio's next project during his speech on CCP's growth.

In addition, other confirmed speakers for the August event include Flower's Kellee Santiago, who is joining Swords And Soldiers' Joost van Dongen, Zootfly's Bostjan Troha and Black Rock's Eduardo Jimenez at the three-day conference.

"Remedy revolutionized the action genre with Max Payne in 2001," said Frank Sliwka, Vice President European Business Development of Think Services Game Group. "Their keynote exemplifies a success story of high quality games produced in Europe and enjoyed worldwide. We are honored to welcome Myllyrinne to the stage."

GDC Europe will take place August 17-19 this year in Cologne alongside the inaugural GamesCom trade/consumer game event, and more information is available via the official GDC Europe website.

2009 GDC Austin Announces Initial Free-To-Play Centric Sessions

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:45:33 -0800

Announcing its initial set of lectures, the online game-focused GDC Austin 2009 event has revealed free-to-play centric lectures from Sony Online (Free Realms), Gaia Online and Rebel Monkey (CampFu) for the September conference.

These tracks, which span design, business & marketing, social networking & community, services, programming and production, have some lectures specially focused on free-to-play, microtransaction-powered games. Initial highlights from these include:

- Craig Sherman, CEO of popular micro-transaction powered site/game Gaia Online, will be discussing this model, in which "consumers play web-based, platform agnostic games for free, while developers attain revenue through microtransactions", with examples from his own company.

- Sony Online's Rosie Rappaport and Sebastian Strzalkowski are discussing the importance of a unified art style for the hit SOE free-to-play title Free Realms, which has already racked up 3 million registered users, noting the importance of a "distinct [art] style that players will associate with the title even when viewed outside the game world."

- Former Disney and current Hangout Industries exec Mike Goslin will take examples from products that he's worked on such as Pixie Hollow, Pirates Of The Caribbean and Toontown Online to detail and describe "10 techniques for engaging teens, drawn from the state of the art of social gaming."

- Rebel Monkey CTO Jeffrey Kesselman will be discussing how the CampFu free-to-play game developer "combined open source technologies to build an industrial strength platform for unified multi-player casual game-play and social web experiences", in a talk called 'The Monkey Wrench: Design and Architecture of an Online Environment'.

Further announcements and details on 'core' subscription MMO-centric lectures for this September's GDC Austin, as well as multiple keynote addresses, will be debuting over the next few weeks.

Full listings of announced lectures, registration information, and other specifics are now available at the official GDC Austin website

EVE Online Dev CCP To Keynote, Reveal Next Game At GDC Europe

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:35:09 -0800

Hilmar Petursson, chief exec at EVE Online developer CCP, will be keynoting the upcoming Game Developers Conference Europe this August in Cologne, Germany, where he'll unveil the studio's next project.

The exec, who has been with Reykjavik, Iceland-based CCP since 2000, will deliver the keynote "CCP: Winning the War," a presentation centered on his company's growth.

The studio began in relative obscurity, but now lays claim to the space-faring MMORPG EVE Online, which surpassed 300,000 subscribers in May.

At GDC Europe, Petursson will exclusively reveal CCP's latest project, currently in pre-production.

"GDC Europe is gearing up to be one of the industry's most essential events. I am honored to have this opportunity to share some of the valuable lessons CCP has learned with such a prestigious audience," Petursson said.

According to the firm, CCP plans on an "extensive global expansion" as online gaming continues to proliferate in the market.

GDC Europe will take place August 17-19 this year in Cologne alongside the inaugural GamesCom trade/consumer game event, and more information is available via the official GDC Europe website.

GDC Europe Partners With European Games Developer Federation

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 06:36:36 -0800

The Game Developers Conference Europe has teamed up with the European Games Developer Federation, Europe's trade body of game developers, in an effort to better address trends and political issues facing European game developers today.

Alongside more than 80 sessions, the results of this new cooperation will be seen at Europe's premier developer event, taking place August 17-19 at the Cologne Congress East Center in Cologne, Germany.

EGDF members will receive additional benefits through this alliance, which includes a 100 Euro discount on conference passes to GDC Europe.

"It is with great pleasure that I welcome the EGDF as a key partner for GDC Europe," said Frank Sliwka, VP of European Business Development of Think Services Game Group and Event Director, GDC Europe.

He called the "long term" partnership "a great opportunity to unite European game developers and is a reflection on our commitment to serve the interests of the European game development community and ensure their voices are heard."

"The EGDF's goals to further advance the European games development sector to be more globally competitive and recognized culturally fit perfectly with GDC Europe's objectives," added Dr. Malte Behrmann, General Secretary of EGDF.

GDC Europe, for which more information can be found on its official website, will be held in conjunction with the European consumer gaming event, gamescom.

2009 GDC Austin Reveals iPhone Summit Plans

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:07:36 -0800

Organizers of this September's GDC Austin have announced its new iPhone Summit, following a similar revelation regarding the Indie Games Summit.

Initial information about the September 15th-16th iPhone Games Summit is available on the GDC Austin website, with organizers noting that the first day will discuss "the business, marketing, and key design tenets behind successful iPhone game development", before the second day "provides overviews and deep dives into technical aspects of developing on iPhone."

The Advisory Board for the Summit, which will be announcing its first speakers in the next few weeks, include local Austin-area iPhone developer Brian Greenstone, founder and president of Enigmo creator Pangea Software, as well as Snappy Touch's Noel Llopis, a Game Developer magazine columnist and creator of notable iPhone app Flower Garden.

GDC Europe 2009 Announces First Speakers

Wed, 27 May 2009 16:35:38 -0800

GDC Europe 2009 has announced initial speakers for its August event in Cologne, Germany, with Flower's Kellee Santiago joining Swords And Soldiers' Joost van Dongen and Zootfly's Bostjan Troha at the international event.

The event will be held in conjunction with the massive European GamesCom industry event for consumers, publishers, and trade professionals, and will take place August 17-19 at the Cologne Congress East Center in Germany.

While just a small percentage of the lectures and roundtables have been announced, a first set of speakers is now available on the GDC Europe website. These span the gamut of content from technical through design and business talks, and some of the highlights thus far include:

- 'Flower - Design Postmortem' by ThatGameCompany's Kellee Santiago, in which the company co-founder discusses the hit PlayStation Network title, and "will walk through the team's design process and playable prototypes that led to the final product."

- 'Surviving Project Cancellation in the Economic Downturn' by Zootfly's Bostjan Troha, which sees the Eastern European company, perhaps best known for its Ghostbusters game prototype, discussing "hard-learned lessons from a near-fatal cancellation of a three-platform $5-million project" by a failing publisher, with "recommendations and strategies" on recovering.

- 'Advanced Racing Game AI in PURE', by Black Rock's Eduardo Jimenez, discussing the critically acclaimed, Disney-published ATV title and "what we did to try to have the player challenged and surrounded at all times, while avoiding the unfair sensation that rubber band methods leave the player with."

- 'Compressing Loads of Content Into Only 20MB: A Case Study Of Swords & Soldiers for WiiWare' by Ronimo's Joost van Dongen, in which the Dutch developer, compromised of original De Blob co-creators, discusses "techniques and approaches for making large amounts of textures, animations, sounds, music, XML and text fit into a small file size."

Overall, GDC Europe will host more than 80 sessions addressing the needs and opportunities for developers and business professionals throughout Europe. More information on the August 17-19 show is available at its official website.

GDC Canada Announces Doubled Attendance, 2010 Return

Thu, 21 May 2009 12:09:21 -0800

Game Developers Conference organizers Think Services and Reboot Communications have announced that the first ever GDC Canada saw more than 800 attendees at the event last week in Vancouver.

This represents a doubling in attendance over last year's Reboot-run Vancounver International Game Summit (VIGS), say the organizers.

The two-day event was focused on offering education, networking opportunities to the Canadian development community -- and on the heels of its success, the event is set to return to the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Center May 6-7, 2010.

GDC Canada featured over 40 lectures, panels and sessions focused on cross-disciplinary collaboration in production cycles, with the aim of offering developers opportunities to share best practices. GDC Canada also featured an expo, networking receptions and the Game Career Seminar, in addition to Future Play 2009.

"With perspectives from Don Mattrick of Microsoft and the BioWare doctors, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, GDC Canada was an opportunity for Canadian developers to assess where the industry has been and where it is going," said Izora de Lillard, event director.

"This event's focus on collaborative learning and career programs were met with tremendous support from the Canadian developer community and really demonstrated its passion, commitment and resilience that will continue to move the industry forward."

Interested parties can find complete information on GDC Canada as well as other Game Developers Conferences -- including GDC Europe, GDC Austin, GDC China, and GDC 2010 at the event series' official news weblog.

GDC Austin Adds Indie Summit, Calls For Submissions

Tue, 19 May 2009 12:27:18 -0800

Organizers of this September's GDC Austin have announced a call for submissions for the first-ever Independent Games Summit there, also revealing the Advisory Board and topics to be discussed at the two-day Summit.

Initial information about the September 15th-16th Summit is available on the GDC Austin website, with organizers noting that the Indie Games Summit will include "discussions surrounding business models and methods, promotion and marketing, deep game design techniques and inspirational case studies."

The Advisory Board for the Summit, which will be announcing its first speakers in the next few weeks, include local Austin-area independent developers Adam Saltsman (Paper Moon, Cave Story WiiWare contributor) and Brandon Boyer (editor of indie-friendly BoingBoing-affiliated game site Offworld.com).

In addition, the three main Advisory Board members of GDC San Francisco's yearly Independent Games Summit, Flashbang Studios' Matthew Wegner and Steve Swink (Minotaur China Shop) and IGF Chairman Simon Carless, are also helping to oversee the event.

The San Francisco version of the IGS -- held alongside the Independent Games Festival -- has hosted some of the most notable names in indie gaming over the previous years, from World Of Goo's Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler through Flower's Jenova Chen, Braid's Jonathan Blow, and many more.

As the GDC Austin Indie Games Summit call for submissions page explains, organizers are looking for the following topics, spanning both smaller one and two-person indies and somewhat larger independent console and PC game developers:

- Indie Business: "How to make money, manage teams, and run a company without going insane."
- Promotion & Marketing: "How to get noticed when the "Marketing Department" = you."
- Design and Philosophy: "Deep dive into design techniques, for example: constraints, rapid prototyping, tools."
- Case Studies and Postmortems: "Inspirational talks that demonstrate what worked, what didn’t, what surprised you and made you wiser."

The submission deadline for presentation abstracts for the 2009 Indie Games Summit at Austin GDC is June 3rd at midnight PST, and more information is available on the official GDC Austin IGS website.