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Stay up to date on everything happening with the Game Developers Conference, the Independent Games Festival, the Game Developers Choice Awards, and more through our online blog. To get GDC updates sent straight to your mailbox, subscribe to our GDC Newsletter.

At GDC 2018, For Honor devs share lessons learned about sustaining a live game

November 3, 2017

Now that registration is open for the 2018 Game Developers Conference, event organizers want to keep you apprised of all the great stuff that's being planned for the March event.

Notably, there's an exciting presentation (which spans the Production & Team Management and Design tracks of talks) from the folks at Ubisoft about their experiences launching the multiplayer melee game For Honor, and maintaining it as a "live game" for over a year.

Together, For Honor creative director Roman Campos Oriola and game director Damien Kieken will tell the tale of their game in their GDC 2018 talk "'For Honor': From a Great Launch to a Challenging Live Period."

GDC 2018 to host a special 20th anniversary Ultima Online Classic Postmortem!

November 1, 2017

Game Developers Conference 2018 organizers are proud to welcome a team of game dev luminaries who will take the stage to deliver a very special postmortem look at their work on an incredibly influential online game.

Raph Koster, Starr Long, Richard Garriott de Cayeux, and Rich Vogel, a group of veteran game makers whose combined game credits span a significant swath of the game industry, will be presenting a very special Classic Game Postmortem on their trailblazing game Ultima Online at GDC 2018!

The group worked together on the game, which was launched by Origin Systems two decades ago and has remained online and operational in some form to this day.

It has a storied legacy, and so next year Ultima creator (and "Lord British" himself) Garriott de Cayeux will join Long, Koster, and Vogel onstage to mark the game's anniversary and share fresh insights into the challenges they faced in building one of the world's earliest graphical massively-multiplayer online games.

The death of Lord British. Simulated ecologies. Weddings. Sports events. Players who were orcs. Living in accordance with the Virtues. In September, Ultima Online celebrated its 20th birthday, and attendees of this GDC 2018 talk will learn about the game's complicated history -- and see that contemporary game dev challenges have very old roots.

GDC 2018 reveals first Board Game Design Day talks!

October 30, 2017

Now that everyone can register for Game Developers Conference 2018, organizers want to highlight some of the many fantastic talks and expert sessions that are being planned for the March event!

The popular Board Game Design Day is returning to GDC next year to help kick off the show, one of the many Bootcamps and Tutorials scheduled during the first two days of GDC (Monday and Tuesday, March 19th and 20th).

To give you a taste of what you'll get during this day-long deep dive into what makes board games tick (and what game designers of all stripes can learn by studying them), organizers are excited to reveal the first two sessions taking place during the GDC 2018 Board Game Design Day.

Apply now to be a GDC 2018 Conference Associate!

October 27, 2017

Are you someone who's eager to help the 2018 Game Developers Conference go off without a hitch, and get free entry to boot?

Then you should consider applying now to be a volunteer Conference Associate (CA), because you can earn the equivalent of an All-Access Pass by putting in roughly 25 hours of on-site work!

Next year GDC 2018 runs from Monday, March 19th through Friday, March 23rd. Applicants who are chosen to be Conference Associates will be given pre-conference assignments and asked to attend a required orientation dinner on Sunday, March 18th. This is a paid position, so you must be eligible to work in the United States.

Attend GDC 2018 and learn how to use (but not abuse) analytics in games

October 25, 2017

Registration is now open for the 2018 Game Developers Conference, and organizers are incredibly excited about putting together an event full of interesting people, presentations, and panels.

They've already begun lining up some fantastic sessions for GDC 2018, including Kongregate cofounder & CEO Emily Greer's talk on the art and business of using game analytics wisely.

In her session on "Data-Driven or Data-Blinded? Uses and Abuses of Analytics in Games" Greer will examine how, in the last decade of data analysis, A/B testing and predictive modeling have transitioned from an afterthought to a given in the game industry.

GDC 2018 attendees should make time to check it out because, according to Greer, data can be invaluable in understanding the player and making decisions -- but it can just as easily lead the industry astray, or worse, narrow the way we think.

Registration is now open for GDC 2018!

October 18, 2017

Good news, everyone: Game Developers Conference 2018 is now open for registration!

Join the global game development community for an unparalleled week of education, inspiration and networking at GDC.

View GDC 2018 passes and prices and register early to get the best price. Plus, some passes have limited quantities -- so if you’re interested, don't wait!

GDC 2018 will take place March 19th through the 23rd at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. As always, GDC Conference tracks span all major facets of game development - from in-depth business strategy to hardcore design and programming sessions.

Now's the time to submit talks for the GDC 2018 Tutorials!

October 16, 2017

If you have a great pitch for a session that would be a good fit for one of the many Tutorials offered at Game Developers Conference 2018, organizers want to hear it -- the sooner, the better!

That's because many of them have put out a public call for submissions to present lectures and panels as part of a full-day GDC 2018 Tutorial. The deadline for submissions to Tutorial may vary based on the organizer, but they all close no later than Friday, November 3rd!

The Tutorials scheduled during the first two days of GDC 2018 (Monday and Tuesday, March 19-20) are designed to offer attendees the chance to focus on the critical components of game development, providing them with a full day to take a deep dive into a single topic.

GDC Retro Play returns for GDC 2018, and is now accepting submissions!

October 13, 2017

Game Developers Conference organizers are pleased to announce that free submissions are now open for GDC Retro Play, an exhibit appearing for the second time at 2018 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco that specifically concentrates on showcasing retro consoles, computers, games and related memorabilia.

GDC organizers will be donating space in the North Hall Expo Floor to select retro collectors or organizations interested in exhibiting their collections Wednesday through Friday (March 21-23) during the show.

They are targeting those who would like to showcase playable versions of the best of video game history (from Atari 2600 to SNES to Amiga and beyond) to over 27,000 eager game developers attending GDC 2018.

IGF 2018 celebrates a bumper crop of diverse and exciting entries!

October 12, 2017

The 20th annual Independent Games Festival -- the longest-running and largest showcase for independent game developers -- recently closed its call for submissions, and organizers are very proud to proclaim that nearly 600 entries have been accepted into the IGF 2018 Competition!

The long-running and perennially popular festival -- which is co-located with Game Developers Conference 2018 -- welcomed those submissions from a diverse array of experienced indie developers, first-time entrants and students.

Among the hundreds of exciting submissions entered into this year's IGF Competition are notable games like Infinite Fall's Night in the Woods, The Sexy Brutale from Cavalier Game Studios and Tequila Works, and Suspicious Developments' new game Heat Signature.

Reminder: Now's the time to pitch your talks for VRDC @ GDC 2018!

September 26, 2017

Today we'd like to quickly remind you that organizers of the 2018 Game Developers Conference are still accepting VRDC@GDC talk submissions -- but only until this Friday, September 29th at 11:59 pm Pacific!

Of course, officials are also accepting talks that would be a good fit for the other GDC Summits, and the Game Career Seminar at GDC 2018, which is happening in San Francisco March 19-23 of next year.

However, we're highlighting the Virtual Reality Developers Conference @ GDC (or VRDC@GDC) because a very special, cutting-edge portion of GDC where attendees learn to create amazing, immersive VR and AR experiences for games as well as entertainment of all kinds–including films, travel, retail, fitness, product design, journalism, and sports entertainment.

The GDC 2018 UX Summit seeks your best talks on user experience!

September 25, 2017

As the 2018 Game Developers Conference draws closer, organizers want to quickly remind you that they're still accepting UX Summit talk submissions -- but only until this Friday, September 29th at 11:59 pm Pacific!

That's also the deadline for submissions of any talks that would be a good fit for the Virtual Reality Developers Conference @ GDC (or just VRDC@GDC), the other GDC Summits, and the Game Career Seminar at GDC 2018, which is happening in San Francisco March 19-23 of next year.

We want to draw special attention to the one-day GDC UX Summit because it's one of our newest and most exciting summits, featuring panels and lectures from top UX practitioners and advocates in the industry.

Alt.Ctrl.GDC needs your unique alternative controller games!

September 22, 2017

The 2018 Game Developers Conference has opened a call for submissions to ALT.CTRL.GDC, that popular on-site special exhibit which highlights unique control methods for playing games.

The perennially popular ALT.CTRL.GDC showcase will take place from March 21 to March 23, 2018 at the Game Developers Conference 2018. The deadline for submissions to the showcase is December 1st, and organizers welcome all indie-centric one-of-a-kind game peripherals, contraptions, and novelties which enhance game experiences and challenge traditional forms of input.

To get your cranial and actual circuits buzzing, consider that last year ALT.CTRL.GDC visitors played a game of give-and-take with a re-purposed printer motor in Doggy-Tug-of-War, touched colorfully-tinted tummies to make mix and match colors in U.F.O. Bellies, crawled for their lives by pulling on a carpeted treadmill in Zombie Crawler, and revisited their childhood imaginations while titling and shooting in a cardboard box in Space Box.

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