GDC 2011 Reveals Major Roster Of Full-Day Tutorials

Author: by Staff

Organizers of the 2011 Game Developers Conference have revealed a packed full-day tutorial line-up -- including notables from Epic, Blizzard, and Valve -- for the 25th edition of the industry's leading event for game creators. With the overall session list for the event starting to fill out, organizers are taking the opportunity to reveal the full-day tutorials available to attendees during the GDC 2011 registration process. These lower-capacity, first-come first-served tutorials will once again be held alongside the GDC Summits on the first two days of the San Francisco-based event, Monday, February 28th and Tuesday, March 1st. They will be open to those with a Summits & Tutorials or All-Access Pass, and interested parties can select their preference during the process of registration. Newly announced GDC 2011 tutorials of particular note include the following: - A special one-day 'Producer Boot Camp' is being assembled by key GDC Advisory Board members including Laura Fryer, VP and General Manager of WB Games Seattle; Epic Games executive producer Rod Fergusson and Media Molecule's Siobhan Reddy (LittleBigPlanet franchise). The trio will assemble a full day tutorial -- including themselves and other yet to be announced speakers -- that "focuses on some of the key skills required by producers, both new to the role and seasoned veterans, to be successful in this challenging industry." - Bringing back last year's highly-rated 'Level Design in a Day: Best Practices from the Best in the Business', some of the most experienced AAA game level designers in the industry will offer an all-new line-up of best practices, lessons learned, interactive audience participation and case studies. Titles discussed will span Brink to Dead Space, and Gears of War to Fallout 3, with takeaway lessons for all those "responsible for crafting moment-to-moment gameplay", and speakers including Epic's Jim Brown, Zipper's Ed Byrne, Bethesda's Joel Burgess, Visceral's Matthias Worch, Splash Damage's Neil Alphonso and more. - The intense, technical 'Physics for Programmers' tutorial brings together some of the best practitioners in gaming physics -- from Insomniac and Blizzard, through Sony and Havok -- to continue this storied session's more than ten-year tradition. Over the course of a day, attendees will "get up to speed in the latest techniques and deepen their knowledge in the topic of physical simulation. These presenters will provide a toolbox of techniques for programmers interested in creating physics engines, with references and links for those looking for more information." - In another first, 'Technical Artist Boot Camp: Lessons in How to Create and Be an Effective TA' will cover the sometimes-neglected technical art area, offering insight from well-respected TAs from Volition, Valve, Blizzard, BioWare, and other top studios. The presenters' hope is that by exposing academia, studio management, and displaced industry professionals to technical art, they will "foster discussion and expand educational and professional boundaries." These speakers and tutorials join a host of other notable tutorials, including veteran industry lawyer Jim Charne on 'Emerging Issues in Game Dev Deals', the ever-popular 'Audio Boot Camp', Evan Skolnick's highly rated 'Learn Better Game Writing in a Day', Marc LeBlanc's acclaimed two day 'Game Design Workshop', and the eminently practical 'Advanced Visual Effects with DirectX 11'. At the forefront of game development, Game Developers Conference -- part of the UBM TechWeb Game Network, as is this website -- continues to deliver the most pertinent and informative updates in digital entertainment, with a host of GDC 2011 Summit and Main Conference content announcements to come over the next few weeks. Game Developers Conference 2011 will be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from February 28th to March 4th, and registration is now open. For more information on all aspects of the show, visit the official GDC 2011 website.