GDC 2012 adds Meier, Inafune, League of Legends talks

Author: by Staff

2012 Game Developers Conference show organizers have revealed major new talks featuring game design advice from Sid Meier, a Japanese game industry breakdown from Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune, and Riot Games on League of Legends' success with Dominion. As part of GDC 2012's Main Conference, these talks will be categorized among its six discipline-specific tracks, spanning Audio, Business, Marketing & Management, Game Design, Production, Programming, and Visual Arts, and will take place between March 6 and March 9 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Those interested in checking out all the exiting content in the show's Main Conference can do so by registering for an All-Access or Main Conference Pass via the event's official website (a specialized Audio pass is also available). Discounted prices for early registration will end Thursday, February 2. The following major talks are among the newest additions to GDC 2012: - In the Game Design track, the legendary Civilization creator Sid Meier (pictured) will host "Interesting Decisions," providing a detailed breakdown of how developers can make a player's gameplay decisions more interesting and rewarding. Throughout his talk, Meier will examine a number of popular games to show developers how they can best present decisions to the player, and provide enough feedback to ensure a well-realized and satisfying experience. - Elsewhere in the Game Design track, Capcom veteran and Mega Man co-creator Keiji Inafune (now of Comcept Inc.) will offer his thoughts on the challenges facing the Japanese game industry, particularly as Western developers continue to dominate the market. His simultaneously translated talk, dubbed "The Future of Japanese Games," will consider the current trends and prevailing ideas in modern game development, and will identify what Japanese developers can learn from video game history. - Finally, over in the Production track, Riot Games lead producer Travis George will look back on the creation of League of Legends' newest game mode in "Evolving the MOBA Genre - The League of Legends: Dominion Postmortem." Examining the production process from beginning to end, George will detail the how the Dominion game mode built upon League of Legends's existing gameplay tropes to introduce some fundamental ideas to the established multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre. Last week, GDC organizers showcased additional talks within the Main Conference, covering Batman: Arkham City, the upcoming Gravity Rush for Vita, and Double Fine's approach to prototyping and production. In addition, the show's latest Summit talks include looks at Playdom's Gardens of Time, the Flash MMO Realm of the Mad God, and Google's latest in Open Web tech. All of the above talks are but a small sample of the numerous lectures, panels, and tutorials to be held at GDC 2012, and the lineup will only grow larger in the weeks to come. For more information on these or other sessions at GDC 2012, please check out the event's official Schedule Builder, which shows the current (and constantly-growing) lineup for the show so far. Also be sure to keep an eye on the official GDC news blog, which will showcase exciting new announcements for the show, in addition to this continuing series of posts pointing a spotlight at the show's most exciting, informative, and usual content. To keep abreast of all the latest news about GDC 2012, please subscribe to updates from the GDC news page via Twitter, Facebook, or RSS. GDC 2012 will take place March 5 through March 9 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, and is owned and operated by Gamasutra parent company UBM TechWeb.