GDC 2012 details full Game Career Seminar lineup

This year's Game Developers Conference is almost upon us, and today show organizers have highlighted the Game Career Seminar, which offers lectures, panels, and presentations to help new and aspiring developers kick-start their careers in the game business. This one-day program will take place Friday, March 9 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, and will give attendees the chance to learn about the industry and network with leading professionals and HR representatives, both within sessions and at the show's robust Career Pavilion. The Game Career Seminar is open to all GDC pass holders, including Expo Pass holders, as well as with a special one-day Student Pass for currently enrolled students over the age of 18 -- available on-site on Friday, March 9 for just $75. The following are a few highlights from this year's Game Career Seminar: - In the two-part session "Killer Portfolio or Portfolio Killer," a panel of artists hailing from Firaxis, Epic, Irrational, Naughty Dog and Valve will help attendees perfect their art portfolio, and hopefully score a job working on games. The first session will focus primarily on the dos and don'ts of artist portfolios, and will allow the audience to ask the panelists for specific tips and insight. The second segment will instead focus on one-on-one portfolio reviews, giving attendees a chance to get advice and criticism specific to their needs. - In another panel, leading game professionals such as 343 Industries' Frank O'Connor, Loot Drop's Brenda Brathwaite, Riot Games' Travis George, ex-Portal designer and Airtight Games developer Kim Swift, and Microsoft's Chris Charla will reveal what it takes to secure a job at the top companies in the industry. The session, "Breaking Into Game Development: Ask the Pros," gives attendees a chance to speak directly with the leading minds behind some of gaming's most influential games and projects. The panelists' expertise spans big-budget development, social gaming, and more, providing a wide range of experience from all realms of the business. - In the multi-part session "Postmortem Microtalks," indie developers Nathan Fouts (Mommy's Best Games), Craig Adams (Superbrothers), and Ian Moreno (The Behemoth) will detail their mistakes and lessons learned from some of their most recent titles, which include games such as Castle Crashers, Sword & Sworcery EP and Weapon Of Choice. The talk, hosted by Game Developer magazine EIC Brandon Sheffield, will go over what went right and what went wrong with these projects, and will provide attendees with some key takeaways for developing games on their own. In addition to the above sessions, the Game Career Seminar will also feature presentations from 38 Studios' Lindsey McQueeney on tips for networking, Double Fine's Nathan Martz on pitching game prototypes, THQ's Scott Rogers on impressing publishers, and a panel of experts on modern game programming. For more information on these or any other sessions at GDC 2012, please check out the event's official Schedule Builder, which shows the near-final line-up for the show so far. Also be sure to keep an eye on the official GDC news blog, or subscribe to updates via Twitter, Facebook, or RSS. GDC 2012 will take place March 5 through March 9 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, and is owned and operated by Gamasutra parent company UBM TechWeb.