Game Developers Conference 2008 - (Page 61) Tutorials Monday & Tuesday GaMe desiGn Track (301) Game design Workshop Jonathan Hamel (Breakaway Games), robin Hunicke (ea), Frank Lantz (area/code), Marc LeBlanc, andrew Leker (Mind-control), steve Librande (Blizzard), Tim stellmach (Vicarious Visions) 10am-6pm • rooms 3005, 3007, 3020, West Hall Game design is an iterative process. In any medium, the final quality of a game depends on many cycles of experimentation, analysis and revision. This iterative process is the focus of the workshop. The workshop presents a formal approach to game design, in which games viewed as systems, and analyzed in terms of their mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics. Working in small groups, attendees will be given specific games to play, and will analyze them in terms of aesthetic goals and models. Several different games will be explored, and common game design themes will be identified as different groups share their results. For each game that they analyze, attendees will be presented with a concrete design exercise to undertake. An exercise might involve adding a new feature, accommodating a new goal or requirement, or fixing a design flaw. These exercises will challenge attendees to analyze and identify the design principles at work in a game, and to think flexibly and creatively while working within design constraints. In addition, these exercises will serve as a starting point for discussing how the iterative design applies to games in digital and non-digital media. audio Track entertainment has grown far beyond simple mash-ups of technical concepts with linear audio design techniques. Today’s games require responsive and dynamic musical scores; ambiences, sound effects, and dialog that respond to player actions; immersive and accurate player-surrounding soundscapes; not to mention AI driven dynamic control of the overall mix. The Audio Boot Camp offers an introduction to the wide array of topics that comprise the burgeoning game audio industry, with an increasing focus on harnessing tools and technology to serve the artistic needs of the title. games developers. There is huge potential for us to take aspects of the methodology and apply it to scripted scenarios, cutscenes, and simulation/AI driven scenarios. Starting with a lecture from Mark on scene structure, directing, and principles, we’ll go on to a live demo of staging with actors using the famous ‘Red Pontiac Firebird’ scene from the movie ‘American Beauty’. For the rest of the day we’ll work with a group of actors again demonstrating how we can use it in scenes from games, using material from Fable 2; and showing how the subtlest adjustments can have dramatic effects. ProGraMMinG Track Tutorials Monday GaMe desiGn Track (101) Learn Better Game Writing in a day evan skolnick (Vicarious Visions) 10am-6pm • room 2002, West Hall Former Marvel Comics editor/writer Evan Skolnick’s 2007 GDC presentation on the fundamentals of better game writing is being re-offered this year, by popular demand. This comprehensive, day-long tutorial incorporating insightful lectures, entertaining examples and skill-building exercises – offers writers of novice to intermediate experience an opportunity to learn the basics of good story structure, vibrant character development and snappy dialogue writing. Attendees from last year’s tutorial called it “innovative”, “relevant” and “better than a college class on writing!” GaMe desiGn & VisuaL arT Tracks (103) advanced Visual effects with direct3d Louis Bavoil (nVidia), chas. Boyd (Microsoft) cem cebenoyan (nVidia), Holger Gruen (aMd), richard Huddy (aMd), ignacio Llamas (nVidia), natalya Tatarchuk (aTi research, inc.), andrei Tatarinov (nVidia), nicolas Thibieroz (aTi Technologies inc.), alex Vlachos (Valve) 10am-6pm • room 2007, West Hall Brought to you with the collaboration of the industry’s leading hardware and software vendors, this day-long tutorial provides an in-depth look at the Direct3D technologies in DirectX 10 and how they can be applied to cutting-edge game graphics. After a review of the latest API improvements in Direct3D 10 and Shader Model 4.0 along with considerations for applications to Direct3D 10, a variety of special effects which illustrate their use in game content will be discussed and demonstrated. This will include detailed presentations from AMD and NVIDIA’s demo and developer relations teams as well as some of the top game developers who ship real games into the marketplace. In addition to illustrating the details of rendering advanced real-time visual effects, this tutorial will cover a series of vendor-neutral optimizations that developers need to keep in mind when designing their engines and shaders. (302) audio Boot camp dan Bardino (sony computer entertainment europe), charles deenen (ea), Marty o’donnell (Bungie), Jason Page (sony computer entertainment), dave ranyard (scee), scott selfon (Microsoft), chance Thomas (HuGesound), Jay Weinland (Bungie studios), Guy Whitmore (Music design network, LLc) 10am-6pm • room 2022, West Hall Audio for games and other interactive (102) staging Workshop: Visual storytelling Masterclass andrew Lindsay (Lionhead studios), Mark Travis 10am-6pm • room 2009, West Hall ‘Staging’ is a very powerful and subtle visual storytelling tool. Central in theatre and film and tv work, it is concerned with directing the physical relationships, in space, between characters, between characters and environments and props – how people stand/ sit/move, in relationship to each other etc. ‘Staging’ however is barely considered by Visit www.gdconf.com for daily coverage of GDC 2008 61 http://www.gdconf.com/?cid=GDC08_showguide http://www.gdconf.com/?cid=GDC08_showguide
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