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In the latest update for GDC Europe 2012, show organizers have unveiled three new talks, including a postmortem on thatgamecompany's Journey, a panel on how publishers need to react to the latest industry trends, and a look at SOE's approach to social media.

These talks all fall within GDC Europe's Main Conference, which takes 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:

- As part of the Game Design track, former thatgamecompany producer Robin Hunicke (now of Tiny Speck), will look back at one of the most highly-regarded downloadable titles of this generation in "The Long Journey."

During this postmortem, Hunicke will outline how the PSN-exclusive Journey embraced the unknown to create meaningful social gameplay without relying on traditional video game tropes. The game took three full years to make -- double thatgamecompany's original goal -- and Hunicke will reflect on its production to determine whether the title lived up to its initial vision, while sharing some key lessons learned along the way.

- Over in the Business & Marketing track, a handful of major publishing executives will discuss their thoughts on the biggest trends facing game development in, "Ask the Publishers - Adapting and Succeeding in a Changing Games Industry."

In this panel, speakers from major companies including Microsoft, Konami and Capcom - moderated by Remedy (Alan Wake) head Matias Myllyrinne - will discuss the latest digital distribution models, new funding options like Kickstarter, and much more. The panelists will examine all of these trends, offering their take on how they will impact the industry and what developers and publishers need to so to survive in the years ahead.

- Also in the Business & Marketing track, Sony Online Entertainment's Linda Carlson will host "Surviving Social Media - Experimentation Leads to Innovation," detailing how companies can improve their online community outreach and better take advantage of the latest online developments.

Carlson will share SOE's own social media efforts, noting that the best way to find success with these initiatives is to experiment, abandon unsuccessful tactics, and constantly seek out new ideas. Attendees will walk away with a better understanding of how to leverage online media, regardless of their studio's size, structure, or ambition.

In the latest update for GDC Europe 2012, show organizers have revealed three new sessions, which cover the ways in which Game of Thrones can inspire concept artists, how developers can visualize and create new game mechanics, and how studios should react to the saturation of the free to play market.

These talks all fall within GDC Europe's Main Conference, which takes 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:

- As part of the Visual Arts track, concept artist Tobias Mannewitz (who's worked on games including Anno 1404, Gothic 4, and Killzone 3) will demonstrate what game artists can learn from television in "Concept Art Learnings From Game Of Thrones To... Games!"

In addition to working in the game industry, Mannewitz has also contributed concept art to Season 2 of the hit HBO television series Game of Thrones (pictured), and in this session, he will discuss how artists can learn from the show and use several filmmaking techniques to improve their pipelines and artistic output.

- Over in the Game Design track, veteran game designer and teacher Ernest Adams and gameplay engineer Joris Dormans (who holds a PhD in game design) will introduce a new and invaluable tool for creating gameplay mechanics in "Machinations: A New Way to Design Game Mechanics."

During this session, the pair will showcase how the free Machinations software will help developers visualize and diagram their ideas for new gameplay systems. Attendees will also get a chance to try the software for themselves, giving them hands-on experience in using the new game design tool.

- Finally, Bigpoint founder Heiko Hubertz will present the Business & Marketing track lecture, "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us - Trend Compendium for the F2P Online Games Industry," offering an in-depth look at the maturation and saturation of the free to play market.

Over the past few years, the free to play space has only grown more competitive -- companies are beginning to fight over larger and larger segments of the market, and users are beginning to expect more from the games that use the free to play model. In this session, Hubertz will outline these key trends, and will offer his advice on what developers need to do to survive as the market evolves.

With GDC Online 2012 quickly taking shape, show organizers have revealed the initial lineup for the event's Game Narrative Summit, which features a talk on writing for casual players, a look at crafting in-game romances, and a discussion on mystery and occult game design.

Now in its seventh year, the Game Narrative Summit -- formerly the Game Writers Conference -- will once again showcase leading industry professionals on the many facets of interactive storytelling, with sessions ranging from roundtable discussions, workshops, case studies, and more.

GDC Online itself will take place Tuesday, October 9 to Thursday, October 11 at the Austin Convention Center at Austin, Texas.

The initial sessions and lectures featured in the two-day Game Narrative Summit include the following:

- If you're writing for a traditional console game, chances are your stories are aimed squarely at a young male audience, but as Big Fish Games' Lisa Brunette will explain, storytelling techniques have to change quite wildly if you move over into the social or casual realm.

In her talk, "Immersive Storytelling for a Misunderstood Audience," Brunette will discuss how Big Fish writes games for the over-35 female audience with games like Cooking Dash and Mystery Case Files (pictured). Along the way, she'll detail how social audiences differ from the traditional console crowd, noting what developers need to do to write stories for each demographic.

- Elsewhere, Schell Games designer Heidi McDonald will outline a new model for writing successful romances in single player RPGs, which draws influence from games, writing, psychology, and more.

The session, dubbed "Writing the Romance-able NPC: ICING the Content Cake," will showcase how this "ICING" model leverages scholarly works to make virtual romances more believable, interesting, and complex.

- Finally, video game academic and story analyst Jeff Howard will present "Occult Game Design: An Initiation into Secrets and Mysteries," which will examine titles such as The Binding of Isaac and The Legend of Grimrock, and explain how mystery plays a key role in hooking a player's attention.

According to Howard, "mystery enables puzzles that are pervasive and organic rather than localized and artificial," and during his talk he will provide some advice on crafting in-game mysteries that "heighten player engagement, enrich player communities, and keep satisfied players wanting more."

In the latest update for GDC Europe 2012, show organizers have unveiled a brand new keynote from Epic Games on Infinity Blade and mobile graphics, as well as new sessions on pitching your game and using effective lighting techniques.

These talks all fall within GDC Europe's Main Conference, which takes 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:

- In Epic's Programming track keynote, "Bringing AAA Graphics to Mobile Platforms," senior engine programmer Niklas Smedberg will discuss how the studio works with mobile devices to create the high quality visuals seen in games the developer's own Infinity Blade 2 and Infinity Blade: Dungeons.

Along the way, Smedberg will explain how a tile-based GPU architecture works, detailing "how to modify and adapt the implementation of various graphics effects so that they become viable for this kind of GPU." With this knowledge, attendees will talk away understanding how to maximize their graphical output on mobile platforms.

- Over in the Business & Marketing track, Pete Smith, the executive producer of Sony XDev Studio Europe, will offer tips on getting your game published in: "Pitching to Publishers: How to Impress and What to Avoid."

Smith, who has helped establish Sony franchises such as Motorstorm and LittleBigPlanet, will explain what publishers are looking for and what developers need to do to impress them. In addition, he'll provide practical hints on preparing a pitch to make sure it sends the right message.

- Finally, Robert Yang, a student at the New York-based Parsons School of Design, will host the Design track session "Lighting Design for Level Designers," where he will offer tips to help level designers understand how to effectively use and implement lighting techniques.

Yang himself is a level designer with lighting design training (he created the acclaimed 2011 FPS mod Radiator), and in this session he will "summarize a body of lighting theory and common patterns, contextualize it within the affordances of player behavior, and discuss case studies / lighting strategies."

With online registration now open for GDC Online 2012, show organizers have begun unveiling new talks for the October event, this time revealing three new lectures covering EA's approach to multiplatform franchises, tips for taking PR into your own hands, and advice for conducting A/B tests within social games.

These talks all fall within GDC Online's main conference, which takes place Tuesday, October 9 to Thursday, October 11 at the Austin Convention Center at Austin, Texas.

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

- As part of the Business & Marketing track, Playfish co-founder and EA EVP of digital Kristian Segerstrale (Pet Society, SimCity Social) will host "Bet on IP and Platform," which covers how to create successful brands that can succeed on nearly any platform.

Looking at EA's own strategy in particular, key social game pioneer Segerstrale (pictured) will discuss how to ensure a franchise such as The Sims can succeed across multiple devices, while sharing insight on how to turn "the industry's biggest titles into 365-day a year services."

- Over in the Production track, Valerie Massey, the director of community development at the community analytics company Clara, will outline some essential tools for taking care of your own low-cost media outreach for online games.

During this session, titled "Public Relations 101: Make Your Own Media Magic," the former CCP employee will ensure attendees walk away knowing how to "[put] together a basic media kit and contact list, how to kick off their PR efforts," and how to avoid common mistakes with the press.

- Finally, Jesse Hull of the social game company GSN Games (top 100 Facebook app Games By GSN) will host the Business & Marketing track lecture, "A Holistic Approach to A/B Testing," detailing how developers can make their online social games more efficient and more appealing to their players.

Building upon his critically acclaimed GDC 2012 session, Hull will explain how to most effectively implement A/B testing, helping developers avoid common pitfalls, establish effective procedures, and hopefully make better online games.

As the regular updates for GDC Europe 2012 continue, event organizers have debuted a trio of new talks covering everything from limiting player choice, moving to free to play development, to PR crisis management.

These talks fall within GDC Europe's Main Conference, which takes 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 Game Design track, Joerg Friedrich, lead level designer on 2K and Yager Development's Spec Ops: The Line (pictured), will examine how to build an emotional response by manipulating player choice in "Making the Player Feel Bad - Breaking Rules of Player Choice for Emotional Impact."

While most games use an established set of rules to provide satisfying player choices, Friedrich will argue "designers sometimes should break these rules to create emotional impact on the player and tell a serious narrative." To illustrate his point, he will offer a number of examples where this has worked, and where it hasn't.

- Also in the Game Design track, Travian Games senior game designer Jan van der Crabben will explore how to make the transition from blockbuster games to free to play development in "AAA goes F2P: Same Skills, Different Mindset."

Previously, van der Crabben worked on Empire: Total War and Napoleon: Total War, and during this talk he will outline how he eventually moved toward making free to play games like Travian's browser-based Imperion. Along the way, he'll offer advice for other developers looking to make a similar switch.

- No matter how hard you try, sometimes it's simply impossible to avoid a public relations disaster. Valerie Massey, the director of community development at the community analytics company Clara, will offer some advice on how to deal with these scenarios in the Business & Marketing track talk, "DEFCON: A Basic Guide to Public Relations Crisis Management."

Building upon talks she's given at previous GDC events, the former CCP PR director will focus on the inevitable crises that arise during game development, and will outline "the tips and tools you'll need to calmly weather the storm and get things back on track."