Portal co-creator Kim Swift to give Indie Summit keynote at GDC China

There's certainly no one path to success in the game industry, but Kim Swift's rise to fame still stands out as a particularly interesting case. After joining Valve and helping to mastermind the acclaimed Portal right out of college (cuing off IGF Student finalist Narbacular Drop), Swift has gone on to become one of the industry's most renowned designers. Today, she serves as a creative director at Airtight Games, where she co-created the first person puzzler Quantum Conundrum. Swift has accomplished quite a bit in just a few short years, and at next month's GDC China, she will host a keynote at the Independent Games Summit to discuss the lessons she's learned along the way, where things went wrong, and how other developers can learn from her experience. She'll also take a moment to discuss her "design principles for creating games for a more mass appeal, how to work best with a team of talented, passionate developers, and how to create an enjoyable and fun game." This keynote, titled "Designing Fun: Easier Said Than Done," will be open to GDC China's All Access and Summits & Tutorials pass holders. Online registration is now open on the GDC China website, and the show itself will take place November 17-19 at the Shanghai Convention Center in Shanghai, China. In addition to the above presentation, GDC China organizers have also added the following talks to the show's Independent Games Summit: - In "Building a Brand as an Independent Developer," Microsoft Game Studios XBLA portfolio director Chris Charla will discuss what indie developers need to do if they want to stand out in today's crowded marketplace. Charla will examine a number of brand and audience building strategies that have succeeded and failed, while questioning some of the "conventional wisdom" what we often associate with video game promotion. - Elsewhere, Kert Gartner, an independent creator of numerous indie game trailers, will host "Creating the Trailers Your Game Deserves!" Here, he will run through a number of tips that will help developers edit together their own trailers that effectively capture the essence of their game, and convince players to buy it in less than one minute. These talks join the numerous other sessions already announced for GDC China. For more information on any of the sessions in the show's growing lineup, check out the "Announced Sessions" page on the show's official website. Be sure to keep an eye out for even more updates on GDC China in the weeks ahead, as show organizers have plenty more to announce for the upcoming event. For all the latest information on registering for GDC China, visit the show's website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.