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Video: A better way of depicting war in games

In this 2018 GDC session Bohemia Interactive's Andrew Barron discusses his experience making game-based training simulators for military use to help developers better understand the realities of war.

October 27, 2020

1 Min Read
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Video games have long made use of turning war into gameplay, whether it's the Carthaginian campaigns of Age of Empires or the dry desert battlegrounds of Call of Duty. But in the quest for fun experiences, game developers often have to shy away from the realities of war, and play into the fantasy.

How could they do otherwise? At GDC 2018, Bohemia Interactive's Andrew Barron, who's both seen war himself and helped develop training simulators for military use, weighed in with a set of helpful best practices for developers.

His talk, which covers work done for DARPA and other games at Bohemia, can be seen in the video above. Or you can watch it for free on the GDC YouTube channel.

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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