USC's Lemarchand investigates 'infinite play' game design at GDC

As 2014 comes to a close and the industry winds down its reflections on the year that was, Game Developers Conference officials are pleased to announce a forward-thinking talk for GDC 2015 about what games can be and do in the years to come.

Richard Lemarchand, former Naughty Dog lead game designer and associate professor in the USC Games program, will deliver a talk at the March conference that investigates the game design potential of "open play" - play that does not necessarily result in an outcome of victory or defeat.

Lemarchand's "Infinite Play" presentation is part of the conference's storied Design track of talks, and attendees can expect him to deconstruct game design through the lens of James P. Carse's "Finite and Infinite Games," a book that is widely influential outside of game design circles, but is not well-known among game designers,

The veteran designer will examine the recent revolution in experiential, reflective and expressive games with the goal of expanding our thinking about game design of all kinds, and the personal and moral value that can be found in games.

If that's not for you, no worries -- conference organizers look forward to announcing more GDC 2015 sessions covering a diverse array of topical game industry issues in the months ahead.

All of the announced talks are now available in the online GDC 2015 Session Scheduler, where you can begin to build your conference week and later export it to the up-to-the-minute GDC Mobile App, coming soon.

In the meantime, don't miss your chance to save money by registering early -- the deadline to register for passes at a discounted rate is January 21, 2015. GDC 2015 itself will take place March 2-6 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

For more information on GDC 2015, visit the show's official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.

Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech.