GDC Europe adds Tomb Raider, Schneider-Johne, Sproing talks

GDC Europe 2013 organizers have announced new talks on the relationships between customers, publishers and media; Tomb Raider's emotionally engaging camera system; and Sproing's research to speed up C++ compile times. These talks are part of the business, marketing & management, programming, and design tracks in GDC Europe 2013, which will take place Monday through Wednesday, August 19th-21st at the Cologne Congress-Centrum Ost in Cologne, Germany - just ahead of (and co-located with) the massive 275,000 person Gamescom event. Boris Schneider-Johne, a well-known German game industry veteran who has worked as a notable game journalist (Power Play/PC Player) and LucasArts translator (Maniac Mansion, Loom, Monkey Island 1 & 2), will explore the new marketing landscape in 'Opinion Leaders - The Changing Relationships Between Customers, Publishers and Media.' Highlights of his talk will include the psychology of app store ratings, how to persuade consumers to try developers' games, and how to handle consumers who are vocal about their distaste for developers. In 'Creating an Emotionally Engaging Camera for Tomb Raider,' Crystal Dynamics' lead camera designer Remi Lacoste will travel to GDC Europe to discuss in person the artistic and technical decisions that made players more emotionally involved and active in this multi-million-selling reboot (pictured). Along with the tools and technologies used, Lacoste will review the problems faced during development of the deep camera system how they were solved. Lastly, Sproing Interactive Media GmbH's head of console technology Dietmar Hauser will share the story of a team who researched how to speed up compile times for C++ projects in 'Toolchain Independent Distributed Compilation.' This programming-intensive talk will look "deeply into what's actually happening when a C++ source code file is being compiled and what to look out for" and will share "[m]any C preprocessor tricks and pitfalls." More talks will be revealed throughout the months leading up to GDC Europe in August. The schedule builder is live with a partial list of talks already available. Early bird registration for GDC Europe 2013 is also live, with discounts up to 20% off admission. Group admission discounts are also available. For all the latest news on GDC Europe, subscribe for updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS. Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech.