GDC Europe 2014 adds talks on League of Legends and going indie

Following announcements of talks from the creators of Monument Valley and Luftrausers last week, GDC Europe organizers are debuting two more notable sessions for the major European game conference, which is being held in Germany this August. Today we're announcing a pair of talks covering the design and business of games: Ubisoft Blue Byte's Teut Weidemann (Settlers Online) will deconstruct the design principles of one of the most successful free-to-play games in the industry, while industry veteran Don Daglow (Neverwinter Nights) will break down what it takes to jumpstart a successful career as an indie developer. 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. The event will include topics spanning AAA through mobile gaming and indie, both technical and business-focused. Today's announced talks cover both the design and the business of games, and they should include learnings for the entire community. Firstly, industry veteran Don Daglow is giving a pretty honest talk at GDC Europe this year that should help attendees understand the risks, potential benefits, and day-to-day routine changes that come when a developer decides to go indie. In his talk, "10 Questions: Am I Ready to Go Indie?", Daglow -- who has worked on a vast array of games from Baseball to Neverwinter Nights -- will walk you through a series of straightforward questions that should help elucidate if, when, and how you should take the indie plunge. Attendees can expect to walk away with a better understanding of how to separate and manage the financial and creative sides of indie development, as well as how to function as a successful entrepreneur in the game industry. Over on the design side, experienced free-to-play design analyst and Settlers Online lead designer Teut Weidemann returns to GDC Europe to dissect what makes League of Legends so successful. In his talk, "League of Legends: An Outsiders Analysis", will examine the game's performance using financial reports provided to Riot shareholders, traffic data from third-party analysts, and interviews with fans and professional players of the game to determine which aspects of the game's design work and why. Of course, these are just some of the many exciting sessions that will be announced for GDC Europe 2014 in the coming weeks, 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