GDC 2010 Announces Level Design, Indie Studio Tutorials

Author: by Staff

Game Developers Conference 2010 organizers have announced the first set of tutorials for the March 9-13 event, revealing an all-star level design tutorial day and a full-day session on 'building an independent dev studio in 2010' among the initial tutorials. The GDC tutorials occur on the first two days of the event at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, alongside the high-profile GDC Summits that span areas such as iPhone games, social gaming, and independent games. Notably, now-confirmed tutorials for next March's GDC include 'Level Design in a Day: Best Practices from the Best in the Business', being held on Wednesday, March 10th, and including Bethesda lead level designer Joel Burgess, Epic Games lead level designer Jim Brown, and other notable professionals from Zipper Interactive, Kaos Studios, and more. As the official description notes: "In this intense day-long tutorial, attendees will gain deep insights from some of the most experienced level designers in the industry. The tutorial will cover every aspect of the level design process, from basic navigation and object manipulation tips and tricks to best practices for encounter design and level flow." This year's session focuses on Unreal Engine, but also includes learning applicable industry-wide, and subsequent years will focus on other notable game engines. Also notable this year is 'The Best of Times The Worst of Times: Building an Independent Dev Studio in 2010', a full-day tutorial which takes place on Tuesday, March 9th. Some of the notable industry professionals participating include Ready At Dawn's Didier Malenfant, Krome's Robert Walsh, Bungie's Harold Ryan, and Wahoo/NinjaBee's Steve Taylor, all important principals in their independent studios, as well as lawyers including Jim Charne, David S Rosenbaum, and Nixon Peabody's Dan O'Connell Offner. As the description notes: "The big console dev deal no longer dominates the developer landscape. New formats and delivery systems introduce uncertainty and turmoil in the developer marketplace -- but also provide unprecedented opportunity. Our panel of experienced games industry lawyers and successful developers will discuss the state of the industry in 2010, how deals and publisher demands have been changing since GDC 2009, the nature of game dev deals today, and how studios must adjust to the realities of the business during these changing times." The full information on Game Developers Conference 2010's tutorials, which have limited and fixed seating availablity, are available at their official website, and passes are now available for the event.