GDC 2012 adds HTML5, physics, Scrum, usability tutorials

Author: by Staff

Organizers of Game Developers Conference 2012 have debuted the latest batch of tutorials for the March event in San Francisco, featuring full-day sessions on HTML5, physics simulation, Scrum, and game usability. These first-come first-served tutorials will take place alongside the GDC Summits on Monday, March 5th and Tuesday, March 6th -- the first two days of the five-day San Francisco-based event. The tutorials will be open to those with an All-Access Pass or Summits & Tutorials Pass who select the tutorial during the registration process, and those interested in learning more about either of these options can do so at the official GDC website's passes page. The newly-announced tutorials for Game Developers Conference 2012, part of a growing selection, include the following: - In the in-depth "HTML5 Tutorial Day," Google software developer Rachel Blum and Bocoup programmer Darius Kazemi will share their experience and offer advice on creating games in HTML5. The full-day tutorial will open with a detailed overview on what game developers need to know about HTML5, followed by a series of lectures on art APIs, WebGL programming, brief postmortems of HTML5 games, and much more. This session is targeted primarily at experienced game programmers, and will ensure that even developers with no prior knowledge of HTML5 will leave with a solid understanding of what it takes to build games for the web. - Physics simulation has become an increasingly important aspect of game development, and the "Physics for Games Programmers" tutorial will return to GDC to focus on the tools and techniques developers should know when implementing physics in their games. A panel of speakers from Nvidia, AMD, Sony, Blizzard, and more will go over the various aspects of the simulation pipeline and demonstrate how common problems can be solved with standard mathematics and engineering know-how. - Industry veteran and consultant Clinton Keith will host the "Scrum Essentials Tutorial," providing an in-depth overview of how Scrum works and what it means for game development. Keith has been actively employing Scrum development for more than eight years, and will leverage this experience to show how it can be used in studios of all sizes and for any type of game. - Elsewhere, EA game user researcher Veronica Zammitto and development director Paul Newton will oversee the full-day "Usability Boot Camp," covering the applied practice of usability research and how it can make games easier to play. Through a series of hands-on exercises, group discussions, and examples, attendees will learn some key techniques to use and metrics to examine when fine-tuning the usability of any interactive experience. Other notable tutorials at GDC 2012 include the ever-popular "Audio Boot Camp," the discipline-specific "Producer Boot Camp," the "Game Design Workshop," and a detailed look at "Advanced Visual Effects with DirectX 11". GDC organizers previously highlighted even more key tutorials, covering level design, game writing, studio startups, a Microsoft developer day, and much more. For more information on these or any other sessions at GDC 2012, check out the show's official Schedule Builder, which lists every publically announced session for the show so far. The 2012 Game Developers Conference will take place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from March 5 to March 9, and will once again serve as the biggest worldwide event for games industry professionals to learn, get inspiration and network. To see more information on GDC 2012 as the event takes shape, please visit the show's official website, or subscribe to updates from the GDC news page via Twitter, Facebook, or RSS.