Whether teaching game development or studying it: It's essential to know the latest and greatest methods to grow the industry. Educators and students heading to the Game Developers Conference: This Session Guide and Walkthrough will help you make the most of your GDC 2023.
In our Educators Summits track, discover the most innovative and exciting ideas in game education. Learn best practices to bring back to your classrooms and experimental approaches that will advance the field for the next generation of students. Join educators from established game development programs and new game course creators for professional development and to explore challenges together.
For Students, explore new ways to learn and grow, while getting ready to jumpstart your career in your chosen field. Be on the lookout for our Friday Student Workshop, hosted by Unity, to learn how to get started and thrive in high-growth careers in games, AR, VR, engineering, and more.
The track primarily includes sessions from: Educators Summit.
Sign Up For GDC 2023 Here
The 2023 Game Developers Conference features hundreds of sessions—covering nearly every discipline, topic, and focus that matters to game developers today. It can be hard to choose! That's why we've created this helpful guide. Head here to view all previous GDC 2023 session guides.
It features some standout sessions, panels, and events dedicated to helping your career and company growth efforts. In addition, we've got tips on making the most of your GDC, and links to GDC Vault videos and Game Developer articles that will help you get pumped for GDC 2023.
Be sure to visit our Session Viewer for a full list of Educators and Students talks at GDC 2023 and get started on prepping that schedule (we will update with dates and times as they become available). For those wanting the option to experience every education-related session at GDC 2023, be sure to register for an All-Access Pass.
Summits Session Picks for: Educators
Educators Summit: Incorporating Black Game Studies in the Classroom: Benefits to Everyone
Lindsay Grace (Knight Chair in Interactive Media, Vice President, University of Miami & Higher Education Video Game Alliance)
Kishonna Gray (Associate Professor, University of Kentucky)
Aaron Trammell (Assistant Professor of Informatics, UC Irvine)
Latoya Peterson (CXO, Glow Up Games)
Location: Room 2014, West Hall
Date: Tuesday, March 21
Time: 9:30 am - 10:30 am
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass
Description: "This panel helps educators at all levels understand content and strategies for incorporating Black Game Studies in their classrooms. The goal is to help diversify the education of games, reach a wider student audience, and support faculty engaging in equitable conversations about games and their impact on society."
Educators Summit: Teaching Sustainability and Game Design: From the Low-Hanging Fruits to the Root of the Problem
Patrick Prax (Associate Professor, Uppsala University)
Clayton Whittle (Manager of Online Learning, The Sustainable Forestry Initiative)
Trevin York (Lead Game Designe, Mindblown Labs)
Sonia Fizek (Associate Professor of Media & Game Studies, Cologne Game Lab at TH Köln)
Location: Room 2014, West Hall
Date: Tuesday, March 21
Time: 10:50 am - 11:50 am
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass
Description: "This panel presents The Environmental Game Design Playbook, recently published by the IGDA Climate Change SIG, and shares lessons learned from teaching with it. The panel has a very deliberate setup of diverse speakers from academia and industry."
Educators Summit: Essential Game UX Every Student Should Know
Katherine Isbister (Professor & Jack Baskin Endowed Chair in Engineering, UC Santa Cruz)
Celia Hodent (Game UX Strategist, Independent)
Location: Room 2014, West Hall
Date: Tuesday, March 21
Time: 1:20 pm - 1:50 pm
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass
Description: "Are you giving your students a solid introduction to Game User Experience (UX) best practices from industry? Every aspiring game professional should be familiar with this important aspect of game development to be successful in a game team."
Educators Summit: From Rosy-Eyed to Dissatisfied: What Game Education Is Missing
Cristina Amaya (President & Co-Founder, Latinx in Gaming)
Kenzie Gordon (Project Manager, University of Alberta)
Location: Room 2014, West Hall
Date: Tuesday, March 21
Time: 2:10 pm - 2:40 pm
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass
Description: "This talk explores the experiences and fears of new graduates from post-secondary education in video games as they face an industry notorious for difficult working conditions and barriers to long-term career success."
Educators Summit: One Quarter, One Game: Approaches to Teaching a Single Game Seminar
Patrick LeMieux (Assistant Professor, University of California, Davis)
Stephanie Boluk (Associate Professor, University of California, Davis)
Location: Room 2014, West Hall
Date: Tuesday, March 21
Time: 3:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass
Description: "Since 2015, University of California, Davis' Stephanie Boluk and Patrick LeMieux have been teaching quarter-long classes studying a single piece of software, like Super Mario Bros., Doom, Final Fantasy VII, and Kentucky Route Zero. In this session, they will share their methods, results, and conclusions after teaching one game, one quarter."
Core Session Picks for: Students
GDC 101
Brandon Sheffield (Game Developer, Necrosoft Games)
Location: Room 3004, West Hall
Date: Tuesday, March 21
Time: 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Audio Pass, Independent Games Summit Pass
Description: "A crash course in GDC for first-timers! Get the most out of your experience by learning the ins and outs of the show—from choosing sessions to networking, or simply how to get around. GDC is a big event with lots of things to do, and we're here to help you prioritize what you really want to get out of the show, while getting all the basics down in the process."
Being a Unicorn: Multiclassing in an Industry That Wants Specialization
Alexis De Girolami (Lead Game Designer, Electric Manta)
Theresa Duringer (CEO, Temple Gates Games)
Kimberly Unger (Strategic MR Lead, Oculus VR)
Virginia Smith (Senior Gameplay Engineer, Unknown Worlds)
Kate Compton (Asst Prof of Instruction, Northwestern University)
Location: Room 2010, West Hall
Date: Wednesday, March 22
Time: 9:00 am - 10:00 am
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Independent Games Summit Pass
Description: "This panel brings together four multitalented veteran developers who have each managed to build their career at a variety of mid-size and large studios, to tell their stories of how they were able to generalize in an industry of specialists."
Empowerment Playbook: Making and Measuring Change in the Games Industry
Stephanie Fisher (Co-Director, Pixelles)
Alison Harvey (Associate Professor, York University)
Location: Room 215, South Hall
Date: Wednesday, March 22
Time: 9:00 am - 10:00 am
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Independent Games Summit Pass
Description: "Working with the leaders and community members of Pixelles Montréal, Stephanie Fisher and Alison Harvey will outline the concrete and specific benefits of inclusion organizing in creating change in the short, medium, and long term."
Summits Session Picks for: Students
Game Career Seminar: An Impostor's Guide to the Industry
Leyla Johnson (CEO/Creative Director, Mohawk Games)
Rebekah Saltsman (CEO/Co-Founder, Finji)
Yaprak DeCarmine (CEO/Co-Founder, Game Jolt)
Location: Room 3016, West Hall
Date: Friday, March 24
Time: 9:40 am - 10:40 am
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Independent Games Summit Pass, Friday Only Expo Pass
Description: "There are many paths into the games industry, and some of them are more unconventional than others. This panel addresses the experiences of outsiders who have found their own special path in, including how and why each one was different."
Game Career Seminar: "Soft" Skills Are Hard! Acing the Non-Technical Interview Questions
Sonia Michaels (Department Chair, Humanities & Social Sciences, DigiPen Institute of Technology)
Location: Room 3016, West Hall
Date: Friday, March 24
Time: 1:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Independent Games Summit Pass, Friday Only Expo Pass
Description: "This talk will present tools and strategies for managing interview anxiety—preparing compelling responses to various types of situational questions, turning weakness and failure questions into opportunities, establishing potential fit and contribution, and designing good questions to ask interviewers at the end of the interaction."
Game Career Seminar: Finding Your Creative Voice Through Game Jams
Jongwoo Kim (Creative Director, Studio Imugi)
Location: Room 3016, West Hall
Date: Friday, March 24
Time: 2:10 pm - 2:40 pm
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Independent Games Summit Pass, Friday Only Expo Pass
Description: "Although game development is a creative field, very few of us ever become creative leads. This talk is a guide for junior to intermediate developers who aspire to attain such positions and realize their potential."
5 Tips for Making the Most of Your GDC
1. Join a roundtable: Our talks and panels are amazing, but be sure to bookmark at least one roundtable during your time at GDC. They're a great way to get hands-on with a topic of interest, as well as network with your industry colleagues. Head here for a list of roundtables at GDC 2023, with more being added regularly.
2. Meet up in the Connect Lounge: The GDC 2023 Expo Floor features hundreds of booths and exhibitors—along with a dedicated networking space where attendees can schedule meetings (through Swapcard, once available) with prospective clients or employers.
3. Attend a sponsored talk: Many of our wonderful sponsors host sessions and talks throughout the Game Developers Conference. Some of them showcase latest products and services, while others are about helping game developers navigate opportunities and challenges that they themselves have experienced. They're open to attendees of all pass levels. It's worth checking out what studios and companies are speaking at GDC that are of interest to you!
4. Get food recs from an SF ambassador: Trying to find something to eat in between sessions? Keep an eye out for the city’s official Welcome Ambassadors–in their signature bright orange jackets, with the words “Welcome Ambassador” written on the back. They'll be hanging around GDC and may have recommendations on interesting spots to grab breakfast or lunch.
5. Attend the GDCA and IGF Awards: On Wednesday, March 22 at 6:30pm PT, the GDC Main Stage hosts the Independent Games Festival Awards and the Game Developers Choice Awards—two prestigious ceremonies that celebrate the game industry and standout games and developers of the past year, including IGF's award for Best Student Game. Best part: It's free for attendees of all pass levels.
Watch and Read
(VIDEO) Build Your Career in Games Like It's an RPG: Panel (GDC 2022)
Watch more Educator talks on GDC Vault here.
This is the latest in our series of Session Guides for GDC 2023, with recommendations for sessions, events, networking opportunities, and more. Head here to view all previous GDC 2023 session guides.
Of course, the only way to see these sessions, and so much more, is to sign up for GDC!
Register for GDC 2023 Here
We can’t wait to see you at GDC 2023, taking place March 20-24, 2023 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California. Head here for information on booking a hotel and other travel inquiries, and follow the #GDC23 hashtag for the latest news and updates for this year’s exciting event.
GDC returns to San Francisco this March 20-24, 2023, and registration is now open! For more information, be sure to visit our website and follow the #GDC23 hashtag on social media.
Subscribe to the GDC newsletter.
Get regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Mastodon, or RSS.
