Published , by Sam Chandler
Published , by Sam Chandler
Instead of a public event, GDC 2020 is going virtual. For this week, would-be attendees can enjoy GDC 2020 from the comfort of their own homes with virtual talks, awards livestreams, and more. This will be a free event, so all should take this opportunity to watch and learn!
GDC is a major event that sees developers from all over the world meet up to host panels, show progress of their games, and reveal new products in development. With the coronavirus becoming a pandemic, and several gaming events being canceled, GDC 2020 has shifted to a livestream event. Everyone can tune in, for free, to see all manner of content.
The GDC 2020 livestreams are scheduled to take place between 9:00AM and 5:00PM PT / 12:00PM and 8:00PM ET each day this week, starting on Monday, March 16 and going through Friday, March 20. Check out the livestream below:
There will be a lot of excellent talks to be heard over the coming week, with the GDC page highlighting a few:
“Expect to enjoy some expert talks from studios like 343 Industries, Playground Games, BioWare, Gearbox and more, as well as insightful behind-the-scenes explorations of notable indie games like Baba Is You, A Short Hike, and Kine.”
Aside from the talks, there will also be a stream for the Independent Games Festival and Games Developers Choice Awards starting at 5:00PM PT / 8:00PM ET on Wednesday, March 18.
The following is the daily schedule for the GDC 2020 livestream. This information is thanks to the GDC 2020 page. Most days this week will conclude aroung 5PM with Wednesday running later thanks to the aforementioned awards night and Friday, which ends a bit early.
| Monday, March 16 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Title | Topic | Talker(s) |
| 9:00AM-9:30AM | The "Kine" Postmortem | Independent games | Gwen Frey (President, Chump Squad) |
| 10:00AM-10:30AM | Storytelling with Verbs: Integrating Gameplay and Narrative | Game Narrative | Kaitlin Tremblay (Writer & Narrative Designer, Capybara Games) |
| 11:00AM-11:30AM | Intrinsically Motivated Teams: The Manager's Toolbox | Production and Team Management | Alexandre Moufarek (Product Manager, DeepMind) |
| 12:00PM-12:30PM | From "Assassin's Creed" to "The Dark Eye": The Importance of Themes | Audio | Winifred Phillips (Composer, Generations Productions LLC) |
| 1:00PM-1:30PM | Representing LGBT+ Characters in Games: Two Cases Studies | Advocacy, Design | Tori Schafer (Writer & Designer, Proletariat) |
| 2:00PM-3:00PM | The Sound of Anthem | Audio | Cody Behiel (Audio Lead, Electronic Arts BioWare), Eric Vervaet (Director of Audio, Electronic Arts BioWare) |
| 3:00PM-3:30PM | Is Your Game Cross-Platform Ready? | Programming | Raymond Arifianto (VP of Tech, AccelByte) |
| 4:00pm-4:30pm | Forgiveness Mechanics: Reading Minds for Responsive Gameplay | Design | Seth Coster (CEO & Game Programmer, Butterscotch Shenanigans, Inc) |
| 4:30pm (microtalk) | Experimental AI Lightning Talk: Hyper Realistic Artificial Voices for Games | Programming | Zeena Qureshi (Co-Founder & CEO, Sonantic) |
| Tuesday, March 17 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Title | Topic | Talker(s) |
| 9:00am-9:50am | What to Write So People Buy: Selling Your Game Without Feeling Sleazy | Business & Marketing | Chris Zukowski (Founder, Return To Adventure Mountain) |
| 9:50am (microtalk) | Failure Workshop: FutureGrind: How To Make A 6-Month Game In Only 4.5 Years | Independent Games | Owen Goss (Co-Founder, Milkbag Games) |
| 10:00am-11:00am | Stress-Free Game Development: Powering Up Your Studio With DevOps | Production & Team Management | Seth Coster (CEO & Game Programmer, Butterscotch Shenanigans, Inc) |
| 11:00am-11:30am | Baked in Accessibility: How Features Were Approached in 'Borderlands 3' | Design | Andrew Bair (Lead UI Programmer, Gearbox Software) |
| 12:00pm-1:00pm | Matchmaking for Engagement: Lessons from 'Halo 5' | Design | Josh Menke (Lead Engagement Designer, 343 Industries) |
| 1:00pm-1:30pm | Forget CPI: Dynamic Mobile Marketing | Free to Play | Heather Gainer (Marketing Manager User Acquisition, Kongregate) |
| 2:00pm-2:30pm | Integrating Sound Healing Methodologies Into Your Workflow | Audio | Matt Levine (Uncle Vector's Audio Lab LLC) |
| 3:00pm-3:30pm | From 0-1000: A Test Driven Approach to Tools Development | Programming | David Paris (Senior Engineer, Playground Games) |
| 4:00pm-4:30pm | Overcoming Creative Block on 'Super Crush KO' | Independent Games | Gabby DaRienzo (Senior Artist, Drinkbox Studios) |
| 4:30pm (microtalk) | When Film, Games, and Theatre Collide | Independent Games | Sarah Scialli (Game Director & Mocap Engineer, Tinted Stardust & DreamWorks) |
| Wednesday, March 18 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Title | Topic | Talker(s) |
| 9:00am-10:00am | Bringing Replays to 'World of Tanks: Mercenaries' | Programming | Andrew Glover (Lead Software Engineer, Wargaming Sydney) |
| 10:00am-10:30am | Developing and Running Neural Audio in Constrained Environments | Programming | Carter Huffman (Co-Founder & CTO, Modulate.ai), Brendan Kelly (Research Engineer, Modulate.ai) |
| 11:00am-12:00pm | Mental Health State of the Industry: Past, Present & Future | Advocacy | Eve Crevoshay (Executive Director, Take This) |
| 12:00pm-12:30pm | Empathizing with Steam: How People Shop for Your Game | Independent Games | Chris Zukowski (Game Designer & Marketing Consultant, Return To Adventure Mountain LLC) |
| 1:00pm-1:30pm | Scaling to 10 Concurrent Users: Online Infrastructure as an Indie | Programming | Andrew Erridge (Software Engineer & Cofounder, Gamebreaking Studios) |
| 2:00pm-2:30pm | Crafting A Tiny Open World: 'A Short Hike' Postmortem | Independent Games | Adam Robinson-Yu (Developer, Independent) |
| 2:30pm (microtalk) |
Indie Soapbox: UI design is fun! | Independent Games | Nathalie Lawhead (Independent Game Designer, Alienmelon) |
| 3:00pm-3:30pm | Don't Ship a Product, Ship Value: Start Your Minimum Viable Product With a Solution | Production & Team Management | Janessa Olson (Product Manager, Data & Tools, Kongregate) |
| 4:00pm-5:00pm | Day of the Devs: GDC Edition Direct | Double Fine & iam8bit | |
| 5:00pm-7:00pm | Independent Games Festival & Game Developers Choice Awards | Trent Kusters (IGF) and Kim Swift (GDCA) | |
| Thursday, March 19 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Title | Topic | Talker(s) |
| 9:00am-10:00am | Machine Learning for Optimal Matchmaking | Programming | Josh Menke (Lead Engagement Designer, 343 Industries) |
| 10:00am-10:30am | Skill Progression, Visual Attention, and Efficiently Getting Good at Esports | Esports | Dr. Anders Frank (Game Experience Researcher, Tobii) |
| 11:00am-11:30am | Making Your Game Influencer Ready: A Marketing Wishlist for Developers | Business & Marketing | David Ortiz Lapaz (Communications Director, ICO Partners) |
| 12:00pm-1:00pm | How to Run Your Own Career Fair on a Tiny Budget | Special Event | Chris DeLeon (Independent Educator & Game Developer, Gamkedo LLC), Dru Erridge (Software Engineer & Cofounder, Gamebreaking Studios), David Mullich (Adjunct Professor, ArtCenter College of Design), Tiffany Otto (Director of Partnership & Sponsorship, IndieCade) |
| 1:00pm-1:30pm | Making a Healthy Social Impact in Commercial Games | Advocacy | Jennifer Estaris (Game Director, Sybo Games) |
| 2:00pm-2:30pm | 'Forza' Monthly: Live Streaming a Franchise | Business & Marketing | Shay Goldenberg (Producer, Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft) |
| 3:00pm-3:30pm | Aesthetic Driven Development: Choosing Your Art Before Making a Game | Business & Marketing | Vladimir Slav (Owner & Director, Coldwild Games) |
| 4:00pm-5:00pm | Reading the Rules of 'Baba Is You' | Design | Arvi Teikari (Game Developer, Hempuli Oy) |
| Friday, March 20 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Title | Topic | Talker(s) |
| 9:00am-10:00am | Beyond Games as a Service with Live Ops | Design | Crystin Cox (Director of Live Operations, Microsoft) |
| 10:00am-10:30am | Kill the Hero, Save the (Narrative) World | Game Narrative | Hannah Nicklin (Studio Lead, Narrative Designer & Writer, Die Gute Fabrik) |
This is a great solution to a pretty world-changing problem. While it is disappointing attendees won’t be able to mingle with others in the industry, this is at least one way for developers to get the word out about their games and ideas. Be sure to keep it locked to Shacknews for continue GDC 2020 coverage!