[Every year before GDC, our press liaison firm FortySeven Communications works with us to put together a list for qualified press of some of the most interesting Summit and Main Conference lectures that could work well when written up for a larger audience.
We don't always publish these to the public. But both for the benefit of press that might not have spotted them yet, and for those people who want to see some of the 'newsier' (and some of the worthwhile and less news-y) talks at the show this week, here's GDC 2016's list. It's in the following order: Summits, Main Conference.
However, massive disclaimer again - these are not ALL necessarily the talks that you will get the best takeaway for if you're a developer looking for solid takeaway from the show. This is especially true if you want to attend technical talks based around programming, art, audio, etc. Please carefully peruse our overall session list and make a schedule that's right for you.]
Game Developers Conference 2016 Session Recommendations for Press
For full session descriptions, and for details on the entire GDC schedule, visit www.gdconf.com
Times and locations are subject to change. Please check the website and look for updates on site
GDC Summits (alphabetical order).
AI Summit
What Are You Driving At? Vehicle AI in Assassin's Creed Syndicate
Eric Martel (Ubisoft)
Monday, March 14 | 2:10pm - 2:40pm | Room 134, North Hall
Turing Tantrums: AI Devs Rant!!
Steve Rabin (Digipen Institute of Technology), Christopher Hazard (Hazardous Software Inc.), Brian Schwab (Magic Leap), Rez Graham (Independent), Marq Singer (Hazardous Software Inc.), Troy Humphreys (Turtle Rock Studios), Alex Champandard (AiGameDev.com)
Tuesday, March 15 | 5:30pm - 6:30pm | Room 134, North Hall
Community Management Summit
Community Engagement at the Intersection of Games and News
Lindsay Grace (American University Game Lab), Joyce Rice (American University Game Lab), Cherisse Datu (American University Game Lab), Kelli Dunlap (American University Game Lab)
Monday, March 14 | 1:20pm - 1:50pm | Room 3020, West Hall
Influencers: The Opportunity And Responsibility
Saralyn Smith (Blizzard Entertainment)
Monday, March 14 | 2:10pm - 2:40pm | Room 3020, West Hall
Cage Match! Reddit vs Forums
Linda Carlson (Trion Worlds), Tony Jones (Daybreak Games), Donna Prior (En Masse Entertainment), Eric Cleaver (Trion Worlds), Richard Weil (Metaverse Mod Squad)
Monday, March 14 | 5:30pm - 6:30pm | Room 3020, West Hall
eSports Summit
The Professional Gamer Experience - A Perspective on eSports From Former Pros
Dennis Fong (Raptr), Nick Allen (Twitch Esports), Robin Johansson (Twitch),
Stephen Ellis (Independent), Tricia Sugita (Azubu)
Tuesday, March 15 | 10am - 11am | Room 2020, West Hall
Storytellers of eSports
TJ Huckabee (Independent), Brittany Brown (League of Legends, Twitch), Damian Estrada (Team Liquid and 1UP Studios), Travis Beauchamp (East Point Pictures), Travis Gafford (CBSinteractive), Timothy Young (Twitch)
Tuesday, March 15 | Room 2020, West Hall | 11:20am - 12:20pm
Mercury Rising: The Killer Queen Community
Joshua DeBonis (BumbleBear Games), Nikita Mikros (BumbleBear Games)
Tuesday, March 15 | 2:10pm - 2:40pm | Room 2020, West Hall
The Vainglory Story - 5 Lessons From Building a Touch Screen eSport
Kristian Segerstrale (Super Evil Megacorp)
Tuesday, March 15 | 3:50pm - 4:20pm | Room 2020, West Hall
Running a Women's eSports Tournament
Stephanie Harvey (Counter Logic Gaming), Morgan Romine (AnyKey)
Tuesday, March 15 | 5:30pm - 6pm | Room 2020, West Hall
Free to Play Summit
F2P 101: Microtalks
Steve Meretzky (GSN Games), Eric Todd (Playdom), John Welch (Making Fun, Inc.),
Eyal Grundstein (GSN), AJ Glasser (Facebook), Bob Bates (Independent)
Monday, March 14 | 10:00am - 11:00am | Room 2016, West Hall
Alphabear Postmortem
David Edery (Spry Fox)
Monday, March 14 | 2:10pm - 2:40pm | Room 2016, West Hall
Gaming, Gambling or Addiction? F2P Scientific and Legal Perspectives
Ryan Black (Information Technology, McMillan LLP), Tyler Black (Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Emergency Unit, BC Children's Hospital)
Monday, March 14 | 3:00pm - 3:30pm | Room 2016, West Hall
Don't Spend Millions: 'Rival Kingdoms' Launch Defined Our New Marketing Approach
Simon Hade (Space Ape Games)
Monday, March 14 | 5:30pm - 6:30pm | Room 2016, West Hall
How to Price Your In-App Purchases
AJ Glasser (Facebook), Daniel Hebb (Facebook)
Tuesday, March 15 | 3:00pm - 3:30pm | Room 2016, West Hall
The Walking Dead: No Man's Land Postmortem
Sulka Haro (Next Games)
Tuesday, March 15 | 4:40pm - 5:10pm | Room 2016, West Hall
Game Narrative Summit
The Narrative Innovation Showcase
Matthew Weise (Fiction Control), Clara Fernandez Vara (NYU), Katie Chironis (Golden Glitch Studios), Nina Freeman (Fullbright), Aaron Reed (Independent), Richard Rouse III (Paranoid Productions), Samantha Gorman (Tender Claws)
Monday, March 14 | 10:00am - 11:00am | Room 3016, West Hall
Forget Protagonists: Writing NPCs with Agency for "80 Days" and Beyond
Meg Jayanth (Writer, Freelance)
Monday, March 14 | 2:10pm - 2:40pm | Room 3016, West Hall
Dragon Age: Inquisition: Trespasser - Building to an Emotional Theme
John Epler (BioWare Edmonton), Patrick Weekes (BioWare Edmonton)
Monday, March 14 | 3:00pm - 3:30pm | Room 3016, West Hall
"Life is Strange" Case Study: Using Interactive Storytelling and Game Design to Tackle Real-World Problems
Michel Koch (DONTNOD Entertainment), Raoul Barbet (DONTNOD Entertainment)
Monday, March 14 | 5:30pm - 6:00pm | Room 3016, West Hall
Raid on Rise: Narrative Creation on Rise of The Tomb Raider
Rhianna Pratchett (Writer, Independent), John Stafford (Crystal Dynamics), Cameron Suey (Crystal Dynamics), Tore Blystad (Crystal Dynamics), Jeff Adams (Crystal Dynamics), Noah Hughes (Crystal Dynamics)
Tuesday, March 15 | 10:00am - 11:00am | Room 3016, West Hall
Making "Her Story" - Telling A Story Using The Player's Imagination
Sam Barlow (Game Director, Independent)
Tuesday, March 15 | 11:20am - 12:20pm | Room 3016, West Hall
Don't Fear the Queer: Audiences Are Ready!
Heidi McDonald (IThrive Games)
Tuesday, March 15 | 4:40pm - 5:10pm | Room 3016, West Hall
GDC Education Summit
Education Soapbox
James Portnow (Snow Cannon Games), Roger Altizer University of Utah), Ira Fay (Hampshire College), Scott Brodie (Heart Shaped Games), Ian Horswill (Northwestern University)
Tuesday, March 15 | 5:30pm - 6:30pm | Room 3005, West Hall
Independent Games Summit
Game Design and Mind Control in SUPERHOT
Piotr Iwanicki (Game Designer, SUPERHOT)
Monday, March 14 | 4:40pm - 5:10pm | Room 2005, West Hall
How Game Mechanics Helped Players Embody 19 Year Old Nina
Nina Freeman (Level Designer, Fullbright)
Monday, March 14 | 5:30pm - 6:00pm | Room 2009, West Hall
SOMA - Crafting Existential Dread
Thomas Grip (Frictional Games)
Tuesday, March 15 | 11:20am - 12:20pm | Room 2005, West Hall
Designing for One to One Million: The Choice Chamber Postmortem
Michael Molinari (Studio Bean)
Tuesday, March 15 | 3:00pm - 3:30pm | Room 2005, West Hall
Flying by the Seat of Our Pants: GALAK-Z
Raj Joshi (17-BIT)
Tuesday, March 15 | 4:40pm - 5:10pm | Room 2005, West Hall
Indie Soapbox
Dan Adelman (Dan Adelman LLC), Amy Green (Numinous Games), Max Temkin (Self Employed), Kimberly Voll (TBA), Toni Rocca (TBA), Mahdi Bahrami (Independent), Andy Nealen (NYU), Tommy Refenes (Tommunism / Nycrama), David Condolora (Brain&Brain), Amy Dallas (ClutchPlay Games LLC)
Tuesday, March 15 | 5:30pm - 6:30pm | Room 2005, West Hall
Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit
SimCity BuildIt - What Did I Learn as a Game Designer?
Petri Ikonen (Electronic Arts)
Monday, March 14 | 1:20pm - 1:50pm | Room 2001, West Hall
Mobile Is The New Core Gaming
Tadhg Kelly (Game Designer, Freelance), Daniel Cook (Spry Fox), Emily Greer (Kongregate), Lee Perry (Independent), Ramine Darabiha (Storm8), Lulu MaClendon, (Funomena)
Tuesday, March 15 | 10:00am - 11:00am | Room 2001, West Hall
Mobile Game Designer Notebook
Juan Gril (Joju Games), Kenny Shea Dinkin (Game Show Network), Nicholas Fortugno (Playmatics), Bryan Mashinter (Backflip Studios)
Tuesday, March 15 | 11:20am - 12:20pm | Room 2001, West Hall
Main Conference
Flash Backward: 30 Years of Making Games
Chris Crawford, Lori Cole, Graeme Devine, Phil Harrison, Raph Koster, Dave Jones, Ken Lobb, Chelsea Howe, Niklas Hed, Tim Schafer, Seth Killian, Palmer Luckey
Wednesday, March 16 | 9:30am – 10:30 am | GDC Ballroom, West Hall
Classic Game Postmortems
Classic Game Postmortem: Ms. Pac-Man
Steve Golson (Independent)
Wednesday, March 16 | 2:00pm - 3:00pm | Room 135, North Hall
Classic Game Postmortem: Rez
Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Enhance Games)
Thursday, March 17 | 11:30am - 12:30pm | Room 135, North Hall
Classic Game Postmortem: Diablo
David Brevik (Gazillion Entertainment)
Friday, March 18 | 3:00pm - 4:00pm | Room 134, North Hall
GDC Favorites
THE GAME DESIGN CHALLENGE: The Thirty-Year Game
Chris Crawford (Founder of the Computer Game Developer Conference), Nina Freeman (Fullbright), Zach Gage (Game Designer, Independent), Anna Kipnis (Double Fine Productions), Eric Zimmerman (Game Designer, Independent)
Wednesday, March 16 | 5:00pm - 6:00pm | Room 135, North Hall
GDC Microtalks 2016: Everyone Loves to Play
Richard Lemarchand (University of Southern California), Jenn Frank ( Paste Games), Bennett Foddy (foddy.net), Robert Yang (Independent), Steve Gaynor (Fullbright), Mathew Kumar (MK-ULTRA Games), Christina Norman (Riot Games), Henrike Lode (Lohika), Brian Allgeier (Insomniac Games), Aleissia Laidacker (Ubisoft Montreal)
Thursday, March 17 | 4:00pm - 5:00pm | Room 135, North Hall
Experimental Gameplay Workshop
Robin Hunicke (Funomena), Daniel Benmergui (Independent), Sarah Northway (Northway Games), Lindsay Jorgensen (Radial Games), David OReilly (Independent), Damien DiFede (Independent), Tracey Fullerton (USC), Jason Roher (Independent), Mahdi Bahrami (Independent), Titouan Millet (Mu Cartographer), Jeroen Wimmers (Independent), John Ceceri III (Independent), Jonathan Ng (MERJ Media), Mike Wozniewski (MERJ Media), Pol Clarissou (Independent), Ramsey Kharroubi (Independent), Richard Boeser (Sparpweed), Ryan Tharp (Let's Robot), Jillian Ogle (Let's Robot), Christopher Hazard (Hazardous Software Inc.), TC Chang (Hazardous Software Inc.), Terrence Tolman (Independent), Thomas Bailey (Independent), Peter Javidpour (Killigan Industries), Travis Chen (Killigan Industries), Victor Thompson (Independent), Jerry Belich (Independent)
Friday, March 18 | 1:30pm - 5:00pm | Room 135, North Hall
Big Names and Big Games
Quality is Worth Killing For
Jonathan Dower (Supercell HQ)
Wednesday, March 16 | 2:00pm - 3:00pm | Room 134, North Hall
Fallout 4's Modular Level Design
Joel Burgess (Bethesda Game Studios), Nathan Purkeypile (Bethesda Game Studios)
