Come to GDC 2016 to get hard data on how crunch makes games worse

Game Developers Conference 2016 officials are working hard to organize a great show next year, and today they're happy to reveal two new talks for the March conference that explore what it takes to survive and thrive in the contemporary game industry.

Speakers Bob Bates and Paul Tozour are longstanding members of the game development community who have accumulated a wealth of practical experience, and each of them will share their learnings in talks that span multiple tracks of GDC 2016 talks.

With over twenty years in the industry spanning credits on games like Thief: Deadly Shadows and Metroid Prime 2 and 3, Mothership Entertainment exec Paul Tozour is well-equipped to talk about the realities of game production in his frank data-driven talk on "The Game Outcomes Project: How Teamwork, Leadership, and Culture Drive Results."

Tozour and his team surveyed hundreds of developers last year as part of the Game Outcomes Project, and at GDC 2016 he'll share findings from that survey and explain how factors like overtime (crunch!) and intra-studio communication demonstrably affect things like project delays, Metacritic scores and your team's return on investment.

If real talk about what it takes to succeed as a studio isn't up your alley, check out Bob Bates' talk on "Leading a Creative Life in the Land of 'No'" as an independent developer.

Bates is himself currently independent, though his career in the game industry spans both indie venture and stints as a co-founder at Legend Entertainment (Unreal 2, Spider-Man 3) and as Chief Creative Officer for External Studios at Zynga. 

In his talk, Bates aims to acknowledge the challenges that creative game makers face and gives specifics on how to overcome them. It details steps to building a creative life, and offers practical advice about managing your day, your project, and your anxiety.

These are just two of the many exciting sessions that will be announced for GDC 2016 in the coming months.  Stay tuned for more, and don't miss the opportunity to save money by registering for the conference early -- the deadline to register for passes at a discounted rate is Wednesday, February 3rd, 2016.

GDC 2016 itself will take place March 14-18th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. For more information on GDC 2016, visit the show's official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.

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