Learn about player behavior and DX12 tech in first GDC Europe 2015 talks

Game Developers Conference officials have fielded a ton of great pitches during the recent GDC Europe 2015 call for lectures, and today they're happy to share details on the first of many talks that will take place during the August conference.

The conference, organized by UBM Tech Game Network and now in its seventh year, will be held Monday and Tuesday, August 3-4 at the Congress-Centrum Ost in Cologne, Germany, co-located with Europe's biggest video game trade and public show gamescom.

The event will include talks on everything from AAA to indie to mobile games. The first two announced sessions address new game tech and design principles, and they should offer learnings for the entire community.

First, as part of this year's GDC Europe Programming track, AMD engineer Stephan Hodes will deliver a talk on DirectX 12 and AMD's Vulkan graphics technology titled "DX12 & Vulkan: Dawn of a New Generation of Graphics APIs." He'll teach developers the basic concepts common to Vulkan and DX12, explain how those concepts will help your games utilize contemporary hardware more efficiently and offer advice on overcoming the most common problems that arise when developers switch over to new APIs while making games.

Also, don't miss Ubisoft's Jason VandenBerghe design-minded presentation on "Engines of Play: How Player Motivation Changes Over Time." In an unholy psychological fusion, the Ubisoft creative director has merged the 5 Domains of Play (Big 5) with Scott Rigby's PENS model (SDT). The result is a startlingly *usable* model of your player's motivational journey through time.  

Knowing which of your proposed game design features fit with what part of your player's motivational journey is what this talk is all about - but as a bonus, this semi-unified motivation model also works as a tool to communicate your project's answer to the timeless questions: "Who are our players? What do they want?" to your team, in your company, and even to your players. Don't be scared! It's just science.

These are just two of the many exciting sessions that will be announced for GDC Europe 2015 in the coming weeks, and early birds can register for GDC Europe 2015 by July 8th to save 200 euros on an All Access Pass.

In addition, this year marks the return of the special GDC Europe Indie Games Summit pass and the GDC Europe Student Pass, a more affordable alternative to the All Access Pass created specifically for qualified students interested in learning and networking at GDC Europe 2015. All GDC Europe passes also allow visitors to attend Gamescom from Wednesday to Friday.

Alongside all of this, GDC Europe 2015 will continue to offer business and networking opportunities to all attendees with a developer-focused Expo Floor area and day and evening networking events. For more information, please visit the GDC Europe website.

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