At GDC 2017 Epic shares tips on boosting player retention via good design

The 2017 Game Developers Conference is drawing nigh, and today organizers are excited to announce a talk from Epic Games' Jim Brown about designing games that people want to play -- and come back to keep playing, over time.

Brown has 20 years of experience in the video game industry as a designer, writer, and manager, having worked on Epic projects like the Unreal and Gears of War game series. In his GDC 2017 UX Summit talk "From Rational to Emotional: Designs that Increase Player Retention", Brown aims to dissect the basic emotions that drive everyone, and provide specific examples of design techniques that encourage the formation of enduring emotional ties that could enhance both retention and enjoyment for players.

Brown is adamant that this will not be a talk about narrative design or "how to make people cry", but an evaluation of the underlying factors that can create emotional attachment, and how to encourage those connections in games with focused design and UX techniques.

So don't forget about this talk when it comes time to head to GDC 2017, and don't miss your opportunity to save money by registering for the conference early -- the deadline to register for passes at a discounted rate is January 18, 2017. GDC 2017 itself will take place February 27th - March 3rd at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

For more information on GDC 2017, visit the show's official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.

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