Reminder: GDC Online 2012's call for submissions ends Wednesday, May 2

Following a successful event in 2011, this October's GDC Online is beginning to take shape. Developers looking to submit a proposal for the Austin-based show should act soon, as the call for lecture and panel submissions ends this Wednesday, May 2. This year, the conference is accepting submissions for main conference tracks in Business & Marketing, Customer Experience, Design, Production, and Programming. Keeping in line with the conference's online theme, these tracks all emphasize the development of connected games such as social network titles, free-to-play web games, kid-friendly online titles, and large-scale MMOs. In addition, GDC Online is also seeking proposals for its four Summits, which each focus on a prominent or emerging sector of game development. The 2012 show will see the return of the ever-popular Game Narrative Summit and the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit, alongside the brand new Game Dev Start-Up Summit and the Gamification Day. The new Game Dev Start-Up Summit presents a comprehensive step-by-step look at the issues, challenges, and realities getting a new game studio off the ground. This one-day program will identify key challenges and arm attendees with knowledge that can help new ventures succeed. The Gamification Day, meanwhile, will discuss the debatable and sometimes problematic process of building game-like incentives into non-game applications to address issues like productivity, health, marketing, and customer engagement. The full-day event will bring fresh discussions about blending games and technology, and will highlight inspired and successful case studies from today's forward-thinking businesses. To oversee and evaluate the numerous submissions across all of these main conference tracks and Summits, GDC online organizers have recruited a notable roster of advisors hailing from all realms of the industry. This year, GDC Online welcomes new advisors such as Zenimax Online technical director Bill Dalton, community expert Valerie Massey, iWin vice president Laralyn McWilliams, Zynga principal software engineer Robert Zubek, and Attorney Jim Charne. GDC Online will take place October 9-11, 2012 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, TX. For more information about the show, including the submissions guidelines and conference topics for the call for submissions, please visit the event's official website. GDC Online is owned and operated by Gamasutra parent company UBM TechWeb.