GDC 2011 organizers are detailing specifics for the San Francisco-based show, including the return of Poster Sessions, the speaker line-up for Experimental Gameplay Sessions, the Social Devs Rant Back talk, and the complete GDC conference schedule, including more than 650 speakers.
Organizers are highlighting the following lectures:
- A set of 'poster sessions' have been announced on Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 2 p.m., returning a popular format to Game Developers Conference in a higher profile setting.
As the description explains, poster sessions are "similar to a traditional lecture; however, these sessions are presented in front of an actual physical poster explaining his/her thesis, to a smaller group of attendees [including] one-on-one interactions."
The poster sessions, which occur on either Wednesday or Thursday, include Telltale's Bruce Wilcox on 'Beyond Facade: Pattern Matching for Natural Language Applications', as well as Volition's Jordan Lynn on 'How to Start a Usability Lab for $2500 or Less', plus High Moon's Daniel Holbert on 'Saying "Goodbye" to Shadow Acne'.
- The organizers of the lauded Experimental Gameplay Sessions event at GDC 2011 have revealed the speakers -- although not the specific games and prototypes -- for the return of the event that previously showcased early versions of Katamari Damacy, Portal, Rag Doll Kung Fu and Flower
The much-awaited two-hour lecture, compiled from submitted prototypes and games that "explore new frontiers in game design", includes Jon Blow (The Witness), Jason Rohrer (Inside A Star-Filled Sky), Richard Lemarchand (Uncharted franchise), Andy Schatz (Monaco), Robin Hunicke (Journey), Daniel Benmergui (Today I Die) and Frank Lantz (Area/Code/Zynga).
Other up and coming developers showcasing games and experiments at the event include Michael Brough (Independent), Nicolai Troshinsky (Independent), Mihir Sheth (University of Southern California), Chris Bell (Carnegie Mellon ETC), Agustin Perez Fernandez (Independent), Asher Vollmer (University of Southern California), and and Hanford Lemoore (Independent).
- Finally, this year's themed 'rant' session is confirmed as being 'No Freaking Respect! Social Game Developers Rant Back'. Co-hosted by Jason Della Rocca and Eric Zimmerman, the description jokes that this year's rant "has invited the people who everyone is blaming with ruining the industry: social network game developers."
As noted, "the rant session is about identifying solutions as well as problems", and some of the 'solution-finders' tapped this year include Brenda Brathwaite (Loot Drop), Trip Hawkins (Digital Chocolate), Brian Reynolds (Zynga), Steve Meretzky (Playdom), Ian Bogost (Georgia Institute of Technology), Chris Hecker (D6), and Scott Jon Siegel (Playdom).
Game Developers Conference 2011 -- the 25th iteration of the industry show -- is being held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from February 28th to March 4th.