GDC Vault Adds Free Crawford, Halo: Reach, Maxis Lectures

Author: by Staff

The GDC Vault service has debuted free video talks from Game Developers Conference 2011, including Chris Crawford's much-acclaimed 'In Days Of Yore' talk, plus a 2-hour Halo: Reach tech talk and Maxis' Stone Librande on board games for his kids. These talks add to recent free videos from Jane McGonigal, Monaco's Andy Schatz on winning the IGF, and Playdom's Scott Jon Siegel, as well as the much-watched classic game postmortem series as part of GDC 2011's 'free recordings' section. The following lectures from GDC 2011's acclaimed Main Conference -- which were some of the highlights of this year's February 28th-March 4th show in San Francisco -- are being made free at this time: The talk 'In Days of Yore' sees original CGDC founder and legendary game designer Chris Crawford (Balance Of Power) present a powerful talk on the earliest days of making games, "times of technological swashbuckling, shoestring budgets, amateur designers, amateurish products, and wild experimentation." As Crawford (pictured) notes for this special 'GDC 25' talk: "Just getting things to move around on the screen was a huge technical challenge. Nobody knew what the hell they were doing, but everybody knew that we were creating a new medium and a new industry... You'll be amazed by the differences -- and stunned by the similarities." In addition, GDC organizers are making an already much-watched subscriber only talk from Bungie's David Aldridge, 'I Shot You First: Networking the Gameplay of Halo: Reach', free for all. As Aldridge explains in the special 2-hour video talk on the tech behind Bungie's final Halo franchise title: "Find out all the things that are wrong with that statement in this gripping tale of the perilous minefield that lies between sockets and game code. This talk describes in detail the patterns and processes that have allowed Bungie to repeatedly set new standards for gameplay networking quality." Finally, Maxis veteran Stone Librande (Spore) presents a sentimental favorite from this year's conference, '15 Games in 15 Years'. Over the past 15 years, Stone has been designing card and board games to entertain his children as they grew from age 3 to age 18. It's explained: "During this session he shows 15 of those games and describes how his design techniques have evolved over time, as he went from making simple color matching games to tactical battle simulations. Along the way he talks about the lessons he has learned and how his children have shaped his personal design philosophy." As the team behind the leading worldwide game creation conference, GDC organizers are committed to making many of the event's best lectures -- both current and historical -- available for free to the global game community, and will continue rolling out new free content throughout 2011. Full GDC Vault access is available to GDC 2011 All-Access Pass holders, speakers, and All-Access Pass buyers to other GDC events for the rest of 2011, and subscribers having issues accessing content should contact GDC Vault admins. Individual Vault subscriptions not tied to All-Access passes have recently launched in a limited-edition Beta invite process -- those interested in signing up to be invited in on a first come, first served basis should sign up on the GDC Vault website. In addition, game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company. More information on this option is available via viewing an online demonstration. GDC organizers are also committed to making more archival content free for all during 2011, following a successful 'GDC 25 Chronicles' digitization project. GDC historian Jason Scott has been retained for the rest of 2011 to continue digitizing the extensive Game Developers Conference archives, with his 'Tales From The GDC Vault' series