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CONFERENCE  

|    Game Design
    DESIGN

Creating compelling, immersive games requires understanding, visualizing, demonstrating, and tuning the interactions of an ever-increasing number of game tools and systems. While game designers need to understand and exploit the possibilities of new technologies such as realistic physics, facial expressions, and lighting techniques; they must also continue to master the traditional disciplines of drama, game play, and psychology.

The Design Track explores the challenges and ramifications of the interaction between new technologies and established techniques.

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2013 HIGHLIGHTED SESSIONS

We Are the Space Invaders (Presented by NASA)
Victor Luo (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
Jeff Norris (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
 
NASA landed a two-ton Martian mega-rover and shared it with the world through the space agency's first console video game. Meanwhile, the same NASA team is driving giant spider robots and humanoids with video game technologies that may revolutionize the future of space exploration. These endeavors are fueled by ground-breaking partnerships with key players in the game industry. The rocket scientists leading these projects will share the surprising crossover between video games and the systems that command real spacecraft. Packed with live demos, this talk will challenge the way you think about the future of games and space exploration.
One with Lara: The Croft of Systems Design
Jonathan Hamel (Crystal Dynamics)
 
Third-person, action adventure games are special from a gameplay systems perspective. This talk includes key learnings from the Tomb Raider reboot, from concept phase to ship. It will draw examples from all three core pillars of the Tomb Raider experience: combat design, traversal design, and puzzle design. Through iteration and playtest, the design team discovered a secret that helped pull together all the pieces of this very ambitious franchise reboot, and created game dynamics that made the adventure meaningful.
GDC Microtalks: One Hour, Ten Talks, A Bazillion Design Ideas
Leigh Alexander (Gamasutra), Anna Anthropy (Auntie Pixelante), Tom Bissell (Freelance), Ben Cerveny (Bloom), George Fan (Independent), Carla Fisher (No Crusts Interactive), Manveer Heir (BioWare Montreal), Richard Lemarchand (University of Southern California), Mare Sheppard (Metanet Software Inc.), Kim Swift (Airtight Games)
 
The GDC Microtalks session returns with more short talks packed with gigantic concepts, presented by a bevy of distinctive voices from the world of games and play. The Microtalk concept is game-like and simple: each of the session's ten speakers gets 20 slides, each of which will be displayed for exactly 16 seconds before automatically advancing. That gives each speaker five minutes and 20 seconds to talk about things that they might not otherwise get to discuss on stage at GDC. Join anna anthropy, Ben Cerveny, Carla Fisher, George Fan, Kim Swift, Leigh Alexander, Manveer Heir, Mare Sheppard and Tom Bissell, along with curator and host Richard Lemarchand, for an hour of scintillating ideas about the past, present and future of play. What will you be talking about after this year's session?
Humanity's Last Game: The Game Design Challenge Final Championship
Jenova Chen (thatgamecompany), Richard Lemarchand (University of Southern California), Steve Meretzky (Playdom), Erin Robinson (Ivy Games), Jason Rohrer (Independent), Harvey Smith (Arkane Studios), Will Wright (Stupid Fun Club), Eric Zimmerman (Independent)
 
The 10th and final Game Design Challenge brings together winners from the past for an ultimate, final showdown. Over the years, we have seen challenges that range from creating a game that expresses the poetry of Emily Dickenson to a game that uses needle and thread as an interface to a game that tells the story of the designer's first sexual experience. This year, for the final Game Design Challenge, panelists must design the last game that humanity will ever play. Is it a game that goes on forever? Or perhaps a game that leads to the extinction of humanity? Or a game that brings humanity immortality? Winners from the last 10 years of the Game Design Challenge will each present a unique solution to this game design problem. As always, you will play a crucial role. After the panelists present, the audience will vote to see who will become the winner of the Game Design Challenge Final Championship.
Saving Doug: Empathy, Character, and Choice in The Walking Dead
Jake Rodkin (Telltale Games)
Sean Vanaman (Telltale Games)
 
Telltale's The Walking Dead should be, by most historical measures, a failure as an apocalyptic zombie video game. It has no dedicated combat button, the main character has no exceptional skills or abilities, and it explores issues of race and gender under a mechanical and thematic milieu of "choice." By focusing completely on characters and "designing with empathy," we were able to create a story-driven game experience that has become both a commercial and critical success. Join designers Sean Vanaman and Jake Rodkin for a discussion of The Walking Dead's characters, its world, its moral choice moments, and where the player fits in to it all.
Photorealism Through the Eyes of a FOX: The Core of Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes
Hideo Kojima (Konami Digital Entertainment)
Hideki Sasaki (Konami Digital Entertainment)Masayuki Suzuki (Konami Digital Entertainment)Junji Tago (Konami Digital Entertainment)
 
Join Hideo Kojima and the Kojima Productions staff as they demonstrate and explain the workflow and development process of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes on the Fox Engine. This session will mainly cover the key components and unique methods Kojima Productions utilizes in the graphics arena to create visuals seen in METAL GEAR SOLID GROUND ZEROES. Participants can expect an overview of topics such as asset creation and rendering techniques used in the next METAL GEAR SOLID. Enjoy the session as Kojima Productions unveils the FOX Engine for the first time.

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