At this month's GDC China, Die Gute Fabrik's Douglas Wilson will share the unusual story behind the indie hit Johann Sebastian Joust while detailing his team's numerous lessons-learned along the way.
November 2, 2012
As video games go, Die Gute Fabrik's Johann Sebastian Joust is a bit of an odd case, as it really have any video to speak of. The graphics-free game relies only on music and motion controllers, and encourages players to get physical in a unique game of elimination. While it hasn't yet seen a commercial release, the game has won numerous awards, and has been featured at major industry events such as the Game Developers Conference, PAX, and more. And later this month, the game's creator, Douglas Wilson, will head to GDC China to discuss the how this quirky title evolved from a simple game jam prototype into a full-fledged indie darling. Douglas will chronicle the game's development from the very beginning, and will share the numerous lessons he's learned along the way. He'll examine how folk games and playground games can inspire developers working on their own physical games, and will explain why it's helpful to think of motion-controlled games "in terms of slapstick and subversion." Wilson's talk, "The Unlikely Story of Johann Sebastian Joust," is part of GDC China's Independent Games Summit, and 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 lineup: - Also in the Independent Games Summit, Dejobaan Games' Ichiro Lambe (who created the award-winning AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! -- A Reckless Disregard for Gravity) will outline how you can get your career as an indie developer off the ground. During his talk, "First Steps: Starting as an Independent Game Developer," he'll discuss how you can manage a brand new team, explore new publishing opportunities, avoid common pitfalls, and more. - Over in the Programming track, Adisak Pochanayon of Mortal Kombat house Netherrealm Studios will offer an advanced talk on code instrumentation. His session is titled "Runtime CPU Performance Spike Detection Using Manual and Automated Compiler Instrumentation," and will cover "manual instrumentation, code detours and function trampolining and compiler specific options including compiler automated (or compiler assisted) instrumentation (CAI), naked functions with platform specific inline assembler, and linker function wrapping." 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.
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