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Organizers of the 2012 Game Developers Conference have debuted initial full-day tutorials for the March event in San Francisco, featuring full-day sessions on game writing, level design, studio startups, and much more.

These first-come first-served tutorials will take place alongside the GDC Summits on Monday, March 5th and Tuesday, March 6th -- the first two days of the five-day San Francisco-based event.

The tutorials will be open to those with an All-Access Pass or Summits & Tutorials Pass, and those interested in learning more about either of these options can do so at the official GDC website's passes page.

The newly-announced tutorials for Game Developers Conference 2012, part of a growing selection, include the following:

- The historically well-received tutorial "Level Design in a Day: Best Practices from the Best in the Business" will return to GDC in 2012, offering an intense, full-day examination of the ins and outs of video game level creation.

Featuring speakers such as Bethesda Game Studios' Joel Burgess, EA's Seth Marinello, LucasArts' Mathias Worch, and Epic's Jim Brown, this tutorial will provide an inside look at the level design process for games and franchises such as Gears of War, Dead Space, and much more.

- LucasArts lead narrative designer Evan Skolnick will host the perennial, highly rated "Learn Better Game Writing In A Day" tutorial, which will offer a comprehensive primer for game writers, covering the basics of good story structure, character development, and dialogue writing.

Of course, developers in other disciplines will find a lot of useful information as well, as they will learn about a number of essential narrative concepts, including bridging the gap between game writers and the rest of the development team.

- In "The Game Dev Start-Up 2012: Issues and Practical Answers for the Rookie Studio," Hidden Variable Studios COO Amos Marvel, Loeb & Loeb partner Dan Offner, and attorneys Jim Charne and David Rosenbaum will go over the issues and complications that come with starting your own game studio. In addition, this session will cover pre-formation considerations all the way through the necessities of maintaining a successful business.

Organizers
of the third annual Independent Games Festival China have announced the
winners for this weekend's indie showcase in Shanghai, with Feng Li's
2D action beat-em-up Pixel May Cry (pictured) taking home the prize for Best Game, in addition to a host of other notable winners.

Following the announcement of the IGF China finalists in September, the selected teams attended a special awards show at the Shanghai Exhibition Center during GDC China
on Saturday night, where the winners took home a prestigious IGF award,
and a cash prize ranging from RMB3,000 ($450 USD) to RMB20,000 ($3,060
USD).

Guest presenters from the independent games community on hand to help
give out awards included GDC China Independent Games Summit speakers
such as Amir Rao (Bastion), Baiyon (PixelJunk Eden/4am) and Jenova Chen (Flower/Journey).

Winners announced at the show include aBit Games' rhythm counting game Super Sheep Tap, WitOne Games' fantasy RPG Pocket Warriors, and Ant Hive Games' The Line HD, which took home the award for Best Mobile Game.

The full lineup of winners at the 2011 IGF China is as follows:

Main Competition

Best Game: Pixel May Cry, by Feng Li, China [RMB20,000 ~ $3,060 USD]
Best Mobile Game: The Line HD, by Ant Hive Games, China [RMB10,000 ~ $1,530 USD]
Excellence In Audio: Super Sheep Tap, by aBit Games, China [RMB5,000 ~ $760 USD]
Excellence In Technology: Void, by DigiPen Institute of Technology, Singapore [RMB5,000 ~ $760 USD]
Excellence In Visual Arts: Pocket Warriors, by WitOne Games, China [RMB5,000 ~ $760 USD]

Student Competition

IGF China Best Student Game: Void, by DigiPen Institute of Technology, Singapore [RMB10,000 ~ $1,530 USD]
IGF China Excellent Student Winner: Pixi, by DigiPen Institute of Technology, Singapore [RMB3,000 ~$450 USD]
IGF China Excellent Student Winner: Robotany, by Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab, Singapore [RMB3,000 ~$450 USD]

Organizers of Game Developers Conference 2012 have announced new enhancements to the show's GDC Play showcase, including a new business software solution for exhibitors, and increased support from IGDA executive director and industry veteran Jason Della Rocca.

GDC Play -- which will take place March 6-7 during GDC 2012 -- is a dedicated program that will give exhibitors a chance to show off their games to a host of specially-invited industry decision makers, in addition to the 19,000-strong GDC attendee base.

The showcase itself will take place across several dedicated pavilions themed around emerging games markets, giving developers a venue to display their work and get in touch with other industry professionals and potential business partners.

As part of the showcase for GDC 2012, show organizers will now offer to exhibitors a full business matching software solution that will make it easy to request and coordinate meetings with key decision makers, as well as any All-Access Pass holders or other exhibitors attending the show.

In addition, GDC organizers are happy to announce that IGDA executive director Jason Della Rocca has signed on as a consultant to the GDC Play showcase, and will help ensure the attendance of key publishers, distributors, and investors.

Jason Della Rocca is a renowned consultant in the games industry, and has years of experience working with game studios and organizations worldwide. In 2009, Gamasutra sister publication Game Developer magazine named him among the publication's "Game Developer 50," which profiles the 50 most important contributors to the industry.

Halfbrick chief marketing officer Phil Larsen recently reflected on the astounding success of the studio's Fruit Ninja over the last year and a half, attributing a large portion of the game's growth to the fact that its premise "requires no explanation."

Since its iOS debut in 2010, the game has maintained a high position on the App Store charts, and has expanded to encompass new platforms like Android, Windows Phone 7, and even new interfaces like Microsoft's Kinect. Of late, Halfbrick has turned it attention to China, where it expects the game to see an additional 70 million downloads.

At this month's GDC China, Larsen will dive even further into the series' growth in a session dubbed, "The Rise and Rise of Fruit Ninja: Developing, Marketing and Supporting a Hit Mobile Game," which will cover the game's initial development and the tactics the studio used to evolve the game over the last 18 months.

In anticipation of his talk, Larsen reflected on Fruit Ninja's success, and offered some insight into how Halfbrick grew the game from a small-scale mobile project into the company's most valuable brand.

What would you say have been the key factors to Fruit Ninja's success?

Simplicity, satisfaction, theme and marketing! It was abundantly clear that the game is so simple to play that it requires no explanation. Only a tiny fraction of developers have managed to achieve this in the mobile market. From there, the input and feedback from the game's squishy fruit means that it's satisfying to simply slice over and over, let alone compete and aim for high scores.

When you have a game with clear value and rewards to the player, then it makes an even stronger message when communicating the game through marketing channels. Talking with platform holders, meeting with the media, chatting to fans online - everything runs smoother when the game lends itself so well to fueling discussion.

What tactics have you used to maintain the game's success since its original debut?

We've definitely worked hard to keep the momentum going after launch, and the consistent sales have been proof of our success. After launch we focused on both updates to the game, continued PR support and building the Fruit Ninja brand. For example, we listened to customer feedback and were able to continually add new fruit, new blades, new online features and even new game modes. It's this kind of support that keeps fans playing and keeps them talking about Fruit Ninja.

We support every major update and milestone with targeted PR, and further build on the success by increasing brand awareness. Merchandise, TV, social networking and expanding the universe of Fruit Ninja is an ongoing task for us and our chance to ensure that the mainstream audiences are aware of how massive mobile gaming is in a global entertainment market.

This week, GDC China has debuted new lectures featuring Microsoft on the present and future of cloud gaming, a look at Ubisoft's Smurfs & Co Facebook game, and Wizard101 developer KingsIsle on the ins and outs of RPG math.

Taking place November 12-14 at the Shanghai Exhibition Center in Shanghai, China, the event will once again serve as the premier game industry event in China, bringing together influential developers from around the world to share ideas, network, and inspire each other to further the game industry in this region.

This year, the show's Main Conference will feature three primary tracks, covering Online Game Development & Business, Global Game Development, and Social Games, and two Summits on Indie Games and Mobile Games, respectively.

Here are the latest talks to be revealed for the show:

- As part of the Global Game Development track, Microsoft's Brian price will host "Gaming and the Cloud: Present and the Future." Here, he will explain how game developers could benefit from using a cloud-based service, detailing cloud gaming's current capabilities and where he expects the technology to go in the years to come.

- In the Social Games track, Richard Tsao of Ubisoft Chengdu will examine the publisher's popular Facebook game based on the classic Smurfs franchise. In "The Smurfs & Co - How to Develop a Successful Facebook Game in China," Tsao will look back on the game's development, detailing the factors that helped the title become one of Ubisoft's most successful social ventures.

- Finally, Sara Jensen Schubert, design lead at Wizard 101 developer KingsIsle Entertainment, will look dive into role-playing statistics in "Fundamental Multiplayer RPG Math." In this lecture, Schubert will explain how to draft the essential framework for basic RPG systems, from experience curves to character attributes, emphasizing how data-driven spreadsheets can streamline the ways in which these systems take shape.

Earlier this year, Supergiant Games made its indie debut with the XBLA and PC hit Bastion, which received warm reception from critics and players alike. Now that the team has its first title under its belt, studio director Amir Rao says the team's "initial fears have subsided."

Rao notes that while several key members of Supergiant left traditional development at EA to move away from the risks and restrictions of big-budget development, going indie came with its own set of worries.

At next month's GDC China, Rao will outline the benefits and hardships of indie development in a session titled "Maximizing Risk: The Building of Bastion." During this lecture, he will detail the origins and development of the studio's debut game, and offer advice to other developers looking to pursue their independence.

In anticipation of his talk, Rao reflects on the driving forces behind Supergiant's inception, and points out some tips for making it in the indie space.

How and why did you and the team of other EA vets decide to go indie and make Supergiant Games?

Supergiant Games was started by Gavin Simon and me -- both of us worked at EALA on Command & Conquer 3 and Red Alert 3. We were inspired by the success stories of people like The Behemoth, 2D Boy and Jonathon Blow. We left EA to create games that were more personal to us. It was a decision born out of ambition and passion to try to make the kind of game we could never have made on a large team at a big company.

What was it like to adjust to indie development considering your previous job at a traditional game studio?

We are significantly faster and more nimble than we ever were at EA because we have no production or management overhead. A large team has to manage a complex schedule and deal with lot of risk; they need to plan on paper months ahead. We never do anything on paper. Good ideas get into the game in hours and are iterated on immediately.

What was the hardest part about going indie?

There is a lot of worry in being independent. First, you worry if the game is going to be good, then you worry if anyone will like it, then you worry if it will ever come out, then you worry if something bigger will come out right on top of it, then when it's finally out, you worry if it will sell well enough to let you do a second one. Thankfully, Bastion has done that for us and lot of the initial fears have subsided. I'm looking forward to worrying about something new.

This week, GDC China has revealed a new keynote from industry veteran and Interplay founder Brian Fargo, as well as a trio of new talks featuring CrowdStar, Flurry, and PapayaMobile.

Fargo's keynote, titled "Making RPGs That Stand the Test of Time," will examine the last three decades of role-playing games, detailing the ways in which story, character development, balance, and production must work in unison to create games that players remember for the rest of their lives.

Fargo himself has a storied history in RPG development, and played a key role in classic Interplay titles such as The Bard's Tale, Wasteland, Baldur's Gate, and Fallout. Currently, he leads the California-based inXile Entertainment, which is working on the upcoming multiplatform action title Hunted: The Demon's Forge.

In addition to this keynote, GDC China has debuted the following lectures from the show's Main Conference and Summits:

- In the Social Games track, CrowdStar director of business development Randy Lee will host, "The Importance of Multiplatform for Social Gaming," offering a look at how the It Girl and Wasteland Empires developer uses multiplatform games to expand its reach into global territories.

- Over in the Mobile Games Summit, Jeferson Valadares of the mobile analytics firm Flurry will delve into what it takes to develop a hit game for both the U.S. and China. His talk, "Win in the World's Top Two Mobile Gaming Markets: The U.S. & China," will use data from over 120,000 apps to illustrate key differences between these markets, and will outline some key tactics for approaching user behavior, game design, and business models.

- Also in the Mobile Games Summit is a talk dubbed, "Domestic Small Teams Design, Develop and Operate Games for European Markets," featuring Liang Zhang, founder of PapayaMobile. Here, Zhang will draw from the company's experience operating a developer incubation program to help small teams make it big in European and American markets.