Blizzard and MIT break down how eSports can evolve at GDC 2015

Game Developers Conference officials have added a new eSports Summit to the GDC 2015 lineup that will better address the needs of contemporary game developers, and today they're excited to debut a cutting-edge talk on the topic.

MIT Game Lab research scientist Philip Tan will join Blizzard Entertainment developer Ryan Schutter at GDC in March to give a talk detailing how they worked together with community modders to rapidly iterate on the observer experience of Starcraft II as an eSport.

During their talk, "Starcraft II and GameHeart: Evolving eSports Interfaces with Modders," the pair will retrace their experiences and best practices in the project, examining how communication between game developers, content-creating fans, and tournament organizers can push further experimentation with the live presentation of competitive digital games.

Developers can expect to walk away with a first-hand understanding of how to design iterative loops that allow an eSport to respond dynamically to the changing needs of a simultaneously maturing and broadening audience.

Full details on this session and many others can be perused on the list of all announced talks available now in the online GDC 2015 Session Scheduler, where you can begin to plan out your conference week and later export it to the up-to-the-minute GDC Mobile App, coming soon.

Conference officials look forward to announcing many more GDC 2015 sessions spanning a diverse array of game industry issues in the months ahead.

For now, don't miss the opportunity to save money by registering early -- the deadline to register for passes at a discounted rate is January 21, 2015.

GDC 2015 itself will take place March 2-6 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. For more information on GDC 2015, visit the show's official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.

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