We're one month away from GDC Summer, our first all-digital Game Developers Conference event, and now's the time for you to start planning out what you're going to see and do so you can get the most out of your time!
The GDC Summer Session Viewer has been updated to include times and dates for all announced sessions, and organizers encourage you to take advantage of it to start laying out your GDC Summer plans today.
(Not yet signed up to attend GDC Summer? Don't worry -- there's still time to register for a pass!)
The Session Viewer has been updating regularly with new confirmed sessions as we get closer to the show, and there's a broad array of practical and engaging talks on offer for game industry professionals looking to advance their skills and career.
For example, Phoenix Labs' Garrett Fredley will be at GDC Summer to deliver an important talk on "Increasing the Interview Odds Through Skill Set Diversification", a practical talk aimed at helping students, grads, and experienced devs diversify skills and demonstrate enough prowess to clinch that next job interview.
And in a virtual talk on "Physical Animation in 'Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order'" Respawn's Bartlomiej Waszak will show you how Fallen Order's physical animation system improves motion fluidity, smooths out transitions and provides a nuanced character performance.
Waszak will provide practical examples of hero traversal mechanics, stormtrooper death performances, and the companion droid BD-1. He'll also share several solutions for blending physics with target animations, discuss the control parameters and tradeoffs associated with each technique, and show implementations achieved using Unreal Engine 4 and PhysX!
You won't want to miss game industry veteran Brenda Romero's GDC Summer session on "Hidden Histories", an insightful and informative look back at the legacies of women who contributed mightily to the advancement of computers and programming, yet were overlooked by history.
The history of women in computing has largely been lost, like the histories of factory workers who built the first cars. Yet women invented programming, were the original developers for the ENIAC, created assembly language, developed the first compiler (not to mention the terms “compiler” and “bug”), and were instrumental to the development of many seminal programming languages. Find out what happened, and how the early women pioneers in computing shaped the work we do today, at GDC Summer.
And don't miss out on seeing the Experimental Gameplay Workshop, a fast-paced, game-packed session in which panelists showcase a selection of intriguing prototypes made by innovation-minded game developers from all over the world.
By demonstrating games that defy conventions and traditions in search of new genres and ideas, this session aims to ignite the imagination of all game makers. Come see what's happening in the world of experimental gameplay, and be inspired!
Plus, Disney returns to GDC this year to present "Live Your Story: Immersive Storytelling at 'Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge'", a session that promises to show you how the Imagineers crafted narratives that guests uncover as they explore Disney's most immersive, technologically advanced themed land to date.
This session will discuss the unique storytelling opportunities presented in such an immersive environment, and the strategies used to leverage guests' mobile devices through the Star Wars: Datapad to enhance their experience.
Full details on all of these sessions and many more are available now in the Session Viewer!
For more details on GDC Summer, scheduled to take place virtually August 4th through the 6th, visit the show's official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.
