GDC 2012 unveils Molyneux, Bleszinski, Meier 'Forgotten Tales' panel

Author: by Staff

This week, organizers of the 2012 Game Developers Conference have detailed three new Main Conference talks, including a panel of industry legends looking at lessons from the past, a lecture on the death of game consoles, and Bastion's Greg Kasavin on creating atmosphere in games. The 26th GDC show will take place Monday, March 5 through Friday, March 9 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, and the Main Conference (March 7th-9th) offers six tracks covering key disciplines in the games industry, including Audio, Business, Marketing & Management, Game Design, Production, Programming, and Visual Arts. The following lectures are the newest highlights for GDC 2012's Main Conference: - In the Game Design track, notable developers and industry leaders such as Lionhead's Peter Molyneux, Doom creator John Romero, Epic's Cliff Bleszinski, and Firaxis' Sid Meier (Civilization) will host "Forgotten Tales Remembered: The Games that Inspired Leading Innovators", moderated by Director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games, JP Dyson. During this panel, the creators will take some time to look back on their careers and present the games that inspired them most, offering insight into the lessons we can still pull from these titles today. Along the way, the will examine how technological growth causes some design elements to lose their luster, while others will forever stand the test of time. - Over in the Business, Marketing, & Management track, highly rated speaker Ben Cousins of Ngmoco Sweden (formerly general manager of EA's free-to-play-focused Battlefield Heroes home Easy Studios) will discuss the future and potential demise of the traditional video game console. His lecture, "When the Consoles Die - What Comes Next?," will examine the ever-expanding range of game-enabled devices, detailing how these new platforms could threaten the existence of the console market as we know it, and how developers can prepare for this paradigm shift. - Finally, Greg Kasavin of Supergiant Games will present "Creating Atmosphere in Games," a Game Design track session on creating cohesive and meaningful moment-to-moment experiences in games. Primarily drawing from his experience working on the indie hit Bastion, Kasavin will explain how developers can intertwine artwork, audio, narrative, and level design to establish a seamless and meaningful game world that more effectively engages the player. In addition to the above sessions, GDC organizers previously debuted a panel with speakers such as Epic founder Tim Sweeney and Mojang's Markus "Notch" Persson, a look at emerging technology trends, and a breakdown of the tech pipeline for Assassin's Creed. In addition, the show also highlighted new AI Summit talks spanning games from Thief 4 through Double Fine's Happy Action Theater to Hitman: Absolution and beyond. For more information on these or other sessions at GDC 2012, please take a look at the event's recently-launched Schedule Builder, which will list all public lectures and additions between now and the March 2012 show. To ensure you receive the latest news about GDC 2012 as the event takes shape, please subscribe to updates from the GDC news page via Twitter, Facebook, or RSS. GDC is owned and operated by Gamasutra parent company UBM TechWeb.