GDC Europe 2014 adds Below, Assassin's Creed talks

In the wake of our announcement that Telltale Games and Oculus VR will be presenting talks at GDC Europe 2014, we're excited to reveal two more notable updates for the major European game conference, which is being held in Germany this August. The event covers topics spanning AAA through mobile gaming and indie, both technical and business-focused. The pair of talks we're describing today are part of the conference's storied Design track, and they should include learnings for the entire community. Organized by UBM Tech Game Network, GDC Europe, now in its sixth year in Germany, will run Monday through Wednesday, August 11-13 at the Congress-Centrum Ost in Cologne, Germany, co-located with Europe's biggest video game trade and public show gamescom. We're very happy to have Capybara Games co-founder and creative director Kris Piotrowski joining us at GDC Europe 2014 to give a talk titled "The Isle: Creating A Space Worth Exploring." In his session, Piotrowski hopes to delve into the ongoing process of creating The Isle, the mysterious setting for Capy's upcoming game Below. This talk will attempt to shed light on Capy's creative process, and share some of challenges involved in attempting to create a game world that resonate with history, narrative and thematic meaning - all without relying on text or dialogue. Piotrowski intends to shed light on the impact of art direction choices, the role of music & sound direction, and how research, references and personal inspirations have shaped the creation of Below's foreboding game world. Game designers, writers and pretty much anyone interested in world creation can expect to gain useful insight into how you can create a rich, mysterious world which feels alive with history and intent. Also on the Design track, we're excited to announce that Ubisoft's Quentin De Beukelaer is stepping up to lead a previously-announced talk titled "Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag Multiplayer: Crafting Good Monetization on the Traditional Console." Game director Damien Kieken was originally expected to present the talk, but has since chosen to decline the speaking engagement. In his place, De Beukelaer -- who designed the in-game monetization mechanics and unlockables of Black Flag -- plans to explain the monetization design in the multiplayer portion of Assassin's Creed, and share a retrospective look back at how Ubisoft progressively introduced monetization systems into the franchise without upsetting players. During his talk he also hopes to dig deeper into specific systems that were integrated into Assassin's Creed series and explain their design, as well as share statistics that reflect what the company learned from making Assassin's Creed III and how they applied that knowledge to Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. Along the way, there should be useful information for everyone trying to monetize their game while keeping players happy. Of course, these are just some of the many exciting sessions that will be announced for GDC Europe 2014 in the coming weeks - with a list of announced talks now available, and early birds can register for GDC Europe 2014 by July 16 to save 200 euros on an All Access Pass. In addition, this year marks the GDC Europe debut of the Student Pass, a more affordable alternative to the All Access Pass created specifically for qualified students interested in learning and networking at GDC Europe 2014 - as well as the return of the Indie Games Summit pass. All GDC Europe passes also allow visitors to attend Gamescom from Wednesday to Friday. For more information, please visit the GDC Europe website. Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech