GDC Online opens call for submissions, debuts new advisors, summits

Organizers of the 10th annual GDC Online have announced that the call for submissions for this October's show is now open through midnight PT on May 2. As in previous years, the show is looking to coordinate lectures, panels, tutorials, and roundtables that cover pressing topics relating to online game creation and beyond. GDC Online, which will take place October 9-11, 2012 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, TX, focuses on development of connected games, including social network titles, free-to-play web games, kid-friendly online titles, and large-scale MMOs. Submissions should address the most pertinent development challenges for online and connected games with submissions related to the following tracks: Business & Marketing, Design, Customer Experience, Production and Programming. In addition, GDC Online welcomes new members to its advisory board this year. Bill Dalton, technical director at Zenimax Online, community expert Valerie Massey, iWin vice president Laralyn McWilliams and Zynga principal software engineer Robert Zubek will all join the event’s board for 2012. The call for submissions is also open for the standalone summits at GDC Online 2012, which this year includes the return of the ever-popular Game Narrative Summit and the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit, alongside two new summits: the Game Dev Start-Up Summit and the Gamification Day. The new Game Dev Start-Up Summit presents a comprehensive step-by-step look at the issues, challenges, and realities of a new game studio as it forms and gets off the ground. The growth of social, online, free to play, and other niches and genres have created unprecedented opportunity for entrepreneurs. This one-day program will identify the challenges and arm attendees with knowledge that can, together with creativity and passion, help new ventures succeed. Attorney Jim Charne will serve as the advisor for the Game Dev Start-Up Summit. Charne has provided legal representation for clients in all phases of the computer software and video game industry since the mid-1980s, and has been chair of the Legal and Business tutorial at the Game Developers Conference since 1998. The new Gamification Day at GDC Online will discuss the debatable and sometimes problematic process of building game-like incentives into non-game applications, to address issues like productivity, health, marketing, and customer engagement. The day-long program will bring fresh discussions about the integration points between games and technology and highlight inspired, successful case studies from today's forward-thinking businesses. "It is our goal to serve the most current, pressing needs of the game development industry with every one of our events, which is why this year's GDC Online introduces new summits and brings more industry leaders on board to help program the event," said Meggan Scavio, general manager of all Game Developers Conference events. "With the exponential growth of the connected game space meaning more opportunity for developers of all sizes, we are very excited to see the wide variety of submissions from long-established developers to the start-ups!" For more information about GDC Online, including the submissions guidelines and conference topics for the Call for Submissions, please visit the event's official website. GDC Online is owned and operated by Gamasutra parent company UBM TechWeb.