GDC Canada Adds Skate, God Of War Writer Lectures

Author: by Staff

The 2009 Game Developers Conference Canada, taking place from May 12th-13th in Vancouver, BC, has added a number of sessions featuring high-profile speakers from Electronic Arts, plus notable game writers Susan O'Connor and Marianne Krawczyk. EA technical art director Richard Burgess-Dawson will present "Shooting in San Vanelona: the Visuals of EA's Skate," a talk for artists and visual engineers the paradigms, methods, challenges and tricks behind the visuals of EA's acclaimed skating title. Burgess-Dawson will explain how lighting, surfacing, geometry, post FX, shadows, streaming and particles contribute to the cohesion of the nine square-kilometer world. EA Montreal executive producer Reid Schneider will present "An Army of Two Post-Mortem - Deconstructing the Mercenary," discussing what went right and what went wrong during the game's production, which featured multiple engines, team-lead changes, release date ‘adjustments’ and the process of building a next-gen team from the ground up. Games need stories, but how to integrate writers into the development process? Krawczyk and O'Connor, writers for the God Of War series and Far Cry 2/Gears Of War respectively, will present "Square Pegs, Round Holes: Integrating a Writer Into Your Studio," a talk for developers and producers on how to optimize a writer's input in the pipeline to strengthen story and avoid common pitfalls. Presented by Reboot Communications and Think Services (owners of Gamasutra), GDC Canada, which is co-located with other regional events including Future Play, is intended to enable Canadian game developers to share best practices for fostering ingenuity and quality games. The conference, which takes places at the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Center, emphasizes studying the challenges and opportunities inherent in creating games with long-production cycles, large development teams, and across multiple platforms. More information on the event's sessions and full registration details can be found at the official GDC Canada site.