GDC Online Reveals Sims Social, Ankama Talks, Reminds On Deadline

Author: by Staff

With less than a week to go before GDC Online, show organizers added a talk for the breakout Sims Social from EA, also highlighting Dofus creator Ankama and one day to go until the pre-show registration deadline. GDC Online will take place next week, from Monday, October 10 through Thursday, October 13 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas, and these talks come from throughout the show's various tracks and Summits, with nearly 150 sessions and 230 speakers on tap. Show organizers would also like to point out that attendees can save up to 25 percent on a show pass by pre-registering before midnight EDT on October 7. In addition, students and industry professionals can receive free Expo Passes to the show through GDC Online's Student Outreach and Games & Tech programs. Here are the newest sessions to be revealed for the show: - As part of the GDC Virtual Items Summit, EA Playfish executive producer Tom Mapham will host, "The Sims Social: Deepening Interaction with the World's Most Unpredictable Social Game." Here, he will discuss the game's highly-engaged user base, and will outline the monetization techniques and design decisions that helped encourage early adoption. - In the Main Conference's Customer Experience track, David Calvo of Ankama will discuss key transmedia strategies in, "Chaos in Motion: Transmedia as a Living Community Experience." Using examples from Ankama's own transmedia properties like Wakfu and Dofus, Calvo will point to the company's successes and lessons learned, noting the importance of entertainment that extends beyond video games. - Finally, new details on the sponsored "Building Iconic Online Games Tutorial Day" from GameSpy have been revealed. The event will open with a preview of Warm Gun from Emotional Robots and Dungeon Defenders: Second Wave from Trendy Entertainment, both of which use GameSpy Technologies for their online features on smartphones. Following the event's opening session is a talk with author Ernest Cline on his new novel, Ready Player One, which is set within the an MMO and provides a unique perspective on the structure and implications of online entertainment. The event will also host a panel dubbed, "Beyond the Couch - State of Online Games in 2011," which will feature industry professionals such as Booyah's Brian Cho, BioWare's Dallas Dickinson, OnLive's Tom DuBois, SOE's Lorin Jameson, and Bungie Aerospace's Bernie Yee on the future of online-enabled games. In a final panel at the event, "Never Looking Back: Why I Went Indie," Ars Technica's Ben Kuchera will talk to a group of experienced developers about their experiences and reasons for pursuing independent development. Speakers include Philip Asher (Dungeon Defenders), Max Hoberman (Crimson Alliance), Justin Woodward (Super Comboman), and Richard Wykoff (SkullGirls). For more information on these or other sessions at GDC Online, please check out the show's official Schedule Builder. Earlier this week, GDC Online debuted six additional sessions in the show's Game Narrative Summit, featuring talks on the 10 commandments of game writing, top industry reporters on innovation in interactive storytelling, tips on writing co-op campaigns, and much more. Other previously-announced sessions within the Main Conference cover topics ranging from monetization strategies in Firefall and Combat Arms, to breaking into Asian mobile markets, to the capabilities of Sony's PlayStation Vita. For more information on GDC Online, please visit the official GDC Online website, or subscribe to updates from the new GDC Online-specific news page via Twitter, Facebook, or RSS. GDC Online is owned and operated by UBM TechWeb, as is this website.