GDC 2016's Game Design Challenge: Design a game that takes 30 years to play

As the game industry prepares for GDC 2016 next month, organizers want to remind all attendees that the popular Game Design Challenge returns this year for a special session to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Game Developers Conference.

This year, a panel terrifyingly talented game designers will be challenged to to design a game that is meant to be played across 30 years – that’s 11,000 days, or 250,000 hours, or 15 million minutes... A full human generation.

Why 30 years? Game designers too often think about only the next technology cycle. Designers in other fields - from architects to typeface designers - think of their audiences in terms of decades or even centuries. So what happens when designers take the long view?

Find out at GDC 2016, where on Wednesday, March 16th game designer, NYU professor and GameLab co-founder Eric ZImmerman will once again serve as MC for the hour-long Game Design Challenge on the Design track of GDC talks.

Game industry notables Chris Crawford (Siboot), Nina Freeman (Cibele), Anna Kipnis (Broken Age, or really anything Double Fine) and Zach Gage (Tharsis) will be serve as panelists/challengers, and all GDC attendees are encouraged to come and see what strange and wonderful designs they cook up up. Plus, you may well help select the winner of the 2016 Game Design Challenge!

And of course there are lots of other great Design track talks at GDC 2016, including great sessions like "Beat It. A Retrospective of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit" by Criterion games' James Svensson, Ubisoft's Jason VandenBerghe speaking about "Engines of Play: How Player Motivation Changes Over Time," and Psyonix design director Corey Davis' talk "Rocket League: The Road From Cult Classic to Surprise Success."

What's more, new sessions will continue to be announced for GDC 2016 in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

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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