The organizers of Game Developers Conference 2010 have added several new Audio Track lectures, including talks on prominent titles such as Final Fantasy XIII, Dante's Inferno and the Halo franchise.
Continuing the GDC 2010 track-specific announcements, following new Business Track details, the Audio Track "looks at the game development process from the standpoint of developing dynamic videogame sound and offers direction for developers who wish to understand complex sound composition strategies."
The notables at the Game Developers Conference 2010 Advisory Board tasked with programming the Audio Track include Media Molecule's Kenneth Young (LittleBigPlanet), veteran composer Chance Thomas (Lord Of The Rings Online, Avatar), Video Games Live co-creator Tommy Tallarico, and more.
Some of the new Audio Track lectures confirmed for the March 11th-13th Main Conference track devoted to game audio include:
- Final Fantasy XIII's Motion-Controlled Real-Time Automatic Sound Triggering System
This presentation from two Square Enix Japan notables working on Final Fantasy XIII, Yoshinori Tsuchida and Tomohiro Yajima, will explain how, in the big-budget RPG, "new techniques have been introduced for creating sound effects that automatically trigger in response to the angles and velocities of characters -- as well as collision detection algorithms assigned to every terrain in the game environment."
- Lost Planet 2: Bridging the Gap Between Developer and Contractor
Audio director Tomoya Kishi and supervising sound designer Peter Zinda will discuss the sound design work flow on Capcom's Lost Planet 2, which represented a major shift for the long time collaborators. The lecture will "concentrate on how Capcom involved sound designers in the audio implementation process, as well as technology used to enable long distance collaboration."
- Materials vs. Audio: Object Interaction Sound Design in Halo
Bungie Studios audio lead Jay Weinland "will dissect the manner in which the Halo audio team implements the sound design in Halo as it relates to objects interacting with the environment. From footsteps, to vehicle crashes, to shell casings falling in water, I will cover our method of implementation and how we keep our heads from exploding when approaching this huge undertaking."
- Scoring Hell: How We Created the Score for EA's Dante's Inferno from Inception to Final Implementation.
In this lecture featuring composer Garry Schyman and Electronic Arts audio director Paul Gorman, the duo will "present a step-by-step description of how we scored Dante's Inferno." Topics will include how the composer was chosen, designing a style and approach to the score, score approvals and mockups, preparations for and recording the music with a live orchestra in London, and final mixes and approvals of all elements of the score.
Alongside the full set of announced GDC 2010 lectures thus far comes news on reduced conference pass prices for the event, with the introduction of optional lunch packages. Game Developers Conference 2010 will also play host to the GDC Expo Floor, the GDC Career Pavilion, the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival and the 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards.
Early Bird rates for GDC 2010 end on February 4, 2010, and there is a special Audio Pass specifically for those wishing to attend only the Audio Track. For more information on the 2010 Game Developers Conference, visit the official GDC 2010 website.