Latest News

With GDC Europe just a couple of weeks away, show organizers are highlighting a trio of new talks in the Social and Online Games Summit, and are reminding that the deadline for regular registration is next Tuesday, August 7.

Those who register online before the August 7 deadline will be able to secure reduced-pass prices for this month's show. Be sure to pick up your tickets soon, as all ticket sales after that date must be done on-site.

Meanwhile, the new Social and Online Game Summit talks are just the latest to join the growing lineup for GDC Europe, which will be held Monday through Wednesday, August 13-15, 2012 at the Congress-Centrum Ost Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany.

Here are the full details on these newly-announced sessions:

- In "Core Games, Real Numbers: Comparative Stats for MMOs & Social Games," Kongregate co-founder Emily Greer will look at the data from the service's numerous online games, sharing the details for how and why certain titles find long-term success.

During her comparative analysis, Greer will outline the basic trends in the online space, noting which mechanics and game types will make your game more likely to make money.

- Elsewhere, Riccardo Zacconi, CEO of social giant King.com will host "Building A Multi-Platform Game Business Out of Facebook and Onto Mobile & Tablet." Here, he will peel back the curtain on King.com's development process, detailing how the company designs, markets, and monetizes social games that can exist across Facebook, mobile, and other platforms.

- Finally, Papaya Mobile's Oscar Clark will present his case for why almost all mobile games need to embrace the free to play model, lest they be destined for obsolescence and eventual failure. The talk, "A Developer's Guide to Surviving the Zombie (Freemium) Apocalypse," Clark will explain why he thinks developers that follow the traditional premium model are looking more and more like the walking dead.

With GDC Online inching ever closer, the show has added a trio of new talks featuring Sony Online Entertainment's John Smedley on transitioning to the free to play model, BioWare on the platform supporting Star Wars: The Old Republic, and CCP on nurturing an MMO community.

These new talks all fall within GDC Online's Main Conference, which offers come of the world's leading content on persistent and online games. The event will be held Tuesday, October 9 to Thursday, October 11 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

The full details on these newly-announced sessions are as follows:

- First, John Smedley, the president of Sony Online Entertainment, will discuss how the company transitioned its entire game lineup to the free to play model in the Business and Marketing track lecture, "Free-to-Play: Driving the Future of MMOs."

Referencing games from EverQuest to Planetside 2 (pictured), Smedley will share some of SOE's insights and lessons learned to help other developers successfully adopt the free to play model. With this knowledge, attendees will walk away understanding how to grow not only their player base, but also their overall revenue.

- Over in the Production track, Dave Moore, BioWare's senior director of platform services, will explain how he and the studio established a robust and scalable platform for the major MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic.

During the session, "Building the Scalable Platform for SWTOR," Moore will discuss how the studio prepared for the game's launch, sharing the technical details and implementation decisions that helped ensure everything worked once the game went live.

- Finally, CCP senior researcher Petur Oskarsson will host the Customer Experience track session, "Ear to the Ground - MMO Community Feedback & Metrics for Decision Making," during which he'll share his insight on how to best nurture an online game community.

Using examples from CCP's own EVE Online, Oskarsson will outline the dos and don'ts of metrics-driven community management to help developers identify common pitfalls, learn how to best incorporate player feedback, and make their games better and their communities more active.

Over the past several years, Facebook has changed quite a bit as a game platform. It's expanded onto mobile devices, added its own app marketplace, and has continued to grow as one of the largest venues for online web games.

There are a lot of changes to keep track of, and if you're interested in learning how to make the most of the popular social network, next month's GDC Europe in Cologne, Germany will address that very topic in its sponsored Facebook Developer Day.

This full-day event will be held the second day of the show, on Tuesday, August 14, alongside the show's Main Conference, and will include nine distinct presentations and discussions where attendees will learn how to develop, grow, and maintain successful social games.

The Developer Day is available only on a first-come, first-served basis to all GDC Europe pass holders (except IGS Pass). Those who have not registered for GDC Europe 2012 yet can now pick the Facebook Developer Day as an option when registering online.

If you've already purchased your pass, and wish to attend, please contact us via our web form or phone with your name and pass type, and we'll add you while spaces are available. (There may also be an opportunity to attend individual talks on the day of the event, if attendees drop out to join other classes.)

The full details on GDC Europe's Facebook Developer Day are as follows:

- First, Julien Codorniou, Facebook's head of games partnerships in Europe, will host "Growing Social Games With Facebook: Lessons From European Partners," during which he will showcase some of the most successful developers on the platform, noting what they've achieved and how they got there.

- In "Building Your Next Generation Social Game With Facebook," product manager for games and apps Matt Wyndowe will share his vision for social games on Facebook and offer his advice for how developers can grow their games on both the web and mobile devices.

- Next up is a technical talk dubbed "Simple Steps To Build & Grow A Social Game On Facebook," in which partner engineer for games Colin Creitz walks attendees through the best ways to set up Facebook's Developer App, incorporate social channels, leverage achievements, and much more.

- During the lunch break, a number of developers will take a moment to share their experiences on Facebook, noting how they incorporated social features into their games, how they leveraged the specific features on the platform, and where they think social games are headed.

- After the break, engineer Ali Parr will discuss how developers can integrate Facebook into their native iOS or Android games in a lecture titled "How Mobile Games Can Plug Into Facebook For Massive Growth."

- In "Driving Installs And Re-engagment With Open Graph," Facebook's Gareth Morris will showcase how Facebook's Open Graph has helped increase traffic and user engagement for games such as SongPop (FreshPlanet) and Marvel Avenger's Alliance (Playdom).

With GDC Europe almost upon us, the show's Independent Games Summit has added three new talks, covering experimental titles like Trauma and Proteus, as well as what developers should do after they've launched their game.

The Independent Games Summit takes place Wednesday, August 15th, 2012 at the Congress-Centrum Ost Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany during the Gamescom trade show, and is accessible via a special reduced-price Indie Games Summit Pass, as well as by all other regular pass types.

The full details on the Summit's new sessions are as follows:

- First, independent Polish/German developer Krystian Majewski will detail the creation of his atmospheric point and click adventure game, Trauma.

The game has been nominated by numerous competitions, including the Independent Games Festival, and in his session, "Trauma Making of: From University to Indie," Majewski will discuss the game's entire history, beginning with its inception as a final thesis project for his university and leading up to its final commercial debut.

- Elsewhere, attendees will get a behind the scenes look at the minimalistic, exploration-focused title Proteus (pictured) - a game that values abstraction and aesthetics over more traditional game design tropes. During this session, "Abstraction and Experience: Observations on Proteus," UK indie Ed Key will explain how he and his partner, David Kanaga, referenced their personal experiences to craft this unusual game.

- Finally, Rob Davis, the founder of the London-based game studio Playniac, will host "Beat the Post-Launch Blues: Your Game is Out, What Now?" During this session, he'll discuss the things developers need to keep in mind once their game is out in the wild. The talk will cover everything from promotion, content updates, business partnerships, and more - everything an indie dev needs to consider to make sure their game survives after its launch.

This year's GDC Europe is almost here, and if you're looking to attend, organizers are reminding there's just one day left to secure discounted passes for the August show.

Those who register online before the July 18th deadline will save up to 200 Euros on individual show passes. Since those lower prices are about to expire, now's a great time to sign up for what promises to be the biggest and most exciting GDC Europe yet.

As always, the show is bringing together some of the biggest names in the European and international game industries to discuss major practical takeaways for today's video game market, with presentations ranging from in-depth lectures, panels, case studies, postmortems, and more.

GDC Europe will take place Monday through Wednesday, August 13-15, 2012 at the Congress-Centrum Ost Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany, just before the popular Gamescom trade show. In fact, a Gamescom ticket is included alongside all regular GDC content passes.

Here are just a few of the major talks to be featured at this year's GDC Europe:

- Robin Hunicke, formerly of thatgamecompany (and now of Tiny Speck) will host an in-depth postmortem on the critically acclaimed PSN-exclusive Journey. She'll pull back the curtain on the game's three-year development cycle, examining how the game lived up to its original vision and what the team learned along the way.

- Elsewhere, attendees will get an inside look at the creation of the Nintendo 64 classic, GoldenEye 007. During this postmortem, former Rare director Martin Hollis (now of independent studio Zoonami) will showcase how this licensed movie title evolved from an on-rails shooter into the 8-million unit selling title that popularized the console-based first person shooter.

- Wargaming.net's World of Tanks has grown into one of the industry's most popular online games, and at GDC Europe, Wargaming.net CEO Victor Kislyi will outline the game's explosive growth, and argue why the free to play model could spell the end of the boxed retail game.

- In addition, concept artist Tobias Mannewitz will discuss what video game artists can learn from HBO's hit fantasy show, Game of Thrones. Mannewitz worked on Season 2 of the George R.R. Martin-inspired epic, and at GDC Europe he'll share what he learned to help artists improve both their pipelines and the quality of their work.

- For years, DICE's Battlefield series has stood out as one of the leading franchises in the first person shooter space, and at next month's show, DICE general manager Karl Magnus will reflect on the last 10 years of the successful series, noting how it changed, and how the studio has sustained the franchise's success.

In the latest update for GDC Europe, event organizers have revealed an all-new session covering the evolution of World of Tanks developer Wargaming.net, as well as mobile game talks covering Wooga's Diamond Dash and tips for cross-platform development.

Like the rest of the sessions at GDC Europe, these talks will take place Monday through Wednesday, August 13-15, 2012 at the Congress-Centrum Ost Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany.

The full details on these new sessions are as follows:

- Over in the Business & Management track, Wargaming.net CEO Victor Kislyi will discuss how the free to play model was essential to the success of the studio's hit game World of Tanks, and why that model could spell the end of the boxed retail game.

The talk, "World of Free-to-Play - Triple A by Wargaming.net," will examine the company's growth since it embraced the free to play model, and Kislyi will argue why it works, how it should be implemented, and why it's a better fit for today's players than any other business strategy out there.

- As part of GDC Europe's Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit, Wooga lead product manager Christopher Parschat will look back on how the social giant moved one of its most popular games to mobile in "Postmortem: Bringing Diamond Dash to iOS."

Diamond Dash was the first Wooga game to make it from Facebook to iOS, and in this session Parschat will outline how the company created a new version of the game that offered synced cross-platform play with the original version on social networks. Along the way, he'll share some important lessons learned to help any developer looking to adapt a Facebook title to iOS.

- Also in the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit, Darya Trushkina, the VP of business development for the Russian game studio Game Insight, will present a number of case studies to help developers create mobile games that span both iOS and Android platforms.

His talk, "Cross-Platform Mobile Game Development: What, Why, and How Much?," will examine cross-platform Game Insight titles like Mystery Manor and Paradise Island to explain what works when creating a multiplatform game, and perhaps more importantly, what doesn't.

In the latest update to the GDC Europe Independent Games Summit, organizers have added three new talks, including discussions on game design from Fotonica developer Santa Ragione and level design from Eufloria HD developer Omni System, with postmortems on the 100-player Renga and the 250 square-meter LED screen displayed Rocket Bullet Storm.

The Independent Games Summit takes place Wednesday, August 15th, 2012 at the Congress-Centrum Ost Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany during the gamescom event, and is accessible via a special reduced-price Indie Games Summit Pass, as well as by all other regular pass types.

The full details on these new sessions are as follows:

- In 'Games Happen: Design Lessons from MirrorMoon and Fotonica', Santa Ragione's Pietro Righi Riva will provide insight into creating his team's experimental games, sharing the design concepts and philosophies he discovered making titles that focused on the player's freedom to enact and interpret them.

- Rudolf Kremers of Omni Systems will explore how to do more with less in creating game worlds much like Eufloria HD's own, implementing techniques such as procedural content generation and modular design. Kremers will also discuss how to employ user generated content in his 'Adventures in Negative Space' lecture.

- Finally, the postmortems of wallFour's Renga and Nemesys Games' Rocket Bullet Storm will highlight creating unorthodox games which involve social gaming at live events. Renga asked 100 players to interact cooperatively, and Rocket Bullet Storm had its debut projected onto 250 square meters of LED screen. This session will be especially for developers who want to bring in new gamers to play in unorthodox spaces.