In the course of her years of work on games of all stripes, veteran game designer Chelsea Howe says one thing has remained constant: a focus on time, and how it influences game design. 

At GDC 2017 Howe took the stage to explain why time is important to think about, in game dev: Time is the core currency for live games, but humans are notoriously bad at projecting long-term outcomes.

Thus, Howe broke down typical patterns of human attention and engagement over time and shared concrete ways devs can design for those phases, including how to surface time components, approaching engagement with a relationship lens, transitioning from hand-crafted experiences to procedural and social systems, and balancing permanent progress with maintenance mechanics.

Her talk offered unique perspective on the art of game design, especially  if you (like so many devs) are working on a live, regularly updated game. If you missed Howe's talk in person, don't miss your chance to now watch it for free over on the official GDC YouTube channel!

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its new 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, GDC Europe, and GDC Next 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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