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GDC Vault Adds Acclaimed Lectures From Amy Jo Kim, Bob Bates

Continuing their Game Developers Conference 2010 free video lecture series, organizers have debuted well-received lectures from Amy Jo Kim (on meta-game design) and Bob Bates (on 'living a creative life' in games.)

The two new lectures, both highly rated by GDC attendees, are part of a free update published at the GDC Vault website, and feature video technology that allows users to simultaneously view a presenter's slides alongside video and audio of their presentation.

The first talk to be made freely available in this set is 'Meta-Game Design: Reward Systems that Drive Engagement', originally presented at the Social & Online Games Summit by Shufflebrain co-founder and veteran social game/community designer Amy Jo Kim.

Kim, whose clients have included Electronic Arts, Sony, Disney, eBay, MTV, Square Enix and Harmonix, presents an in-depth look at 'metagame design', that is, "the practice of applying game-like reward and feedback systems to non-game applications for the purpose of driving loyalty and engagement".

In the 30 minute talk, the designer and consultant examines games like FarmVille and websites like Stack Overflow to see how clever incentivizing can make -- or break -- your product, whether it sits in the game space, web space, or somewhere in between.

The second lecture available for free is 'The Belly of the Whale: Living a Creative Life in the Game Industry' from 25-year industry veteran Bob Bates (Infocom, Legend Entertainment). The designer, who has worked on dozens of games since he started at seminal adventure game creator Infocom in 1986, explains his talk as follows: "Every year, thousands of people enter the games industry, believing they have found their 'dream job.' Five years later, half of them are gone."

As Bates goes on to explain of the inspirational bit practical hour-long lecture: "This talk addresses the problems of leading a creative life in our business, identifying traps and pitfalls, but also offering specific solutions to the challenges we all face."

In addition to these lectures, GDC Vault's free videos section includes talks from Zynga, Ernest Adams, and NCsoft, plus highly rated lectures featuring 2D Boy's Ron Carmel and Bungie's Brian Sharp, Brenda Brathwaite and geoDefense creator Doug Whatley, plus social game experts Neil Young (Ngmoco) and Michael Acton Smith (Moshi Monsters).

The free recordings available are a fraction of the content currently being flowed into the GDC Vault. Full GDC Vault access, including synchronized video recordings for over 200 of GDC 2010's sessions and hundreds of historical video and audio recordings, is available to GDC 2010 All-Access Pass holders, as well as All-Access Pass holders for other GDC events during the year.

In addition, development studios and schools who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company. More information on this option is available by contacting Suzanne Cunningham or viewing an online demonstration. Individual Vault subscriptions not tied to All-Access passes are being considered for a 2011 launch.

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