Cologne / Mülheim, 20 August 2014: Attended by some 900 visitors, the “Respawn – Gathering of Game Developers” conference held in Cologne on 12 and 13 August closes the gap to Europe’s leading game developer conventions. With this year’s focus on the indie developer scene, the conference effectively doubled attendance since its debut last year. The concept of multiple presentations taking place in parallel in a single large hall was readily accepted by the participants. They were able to listen to different speakers on wireless headsets and alternate between the various presentations while moving around freely in the new event venue, Dock.One in Cologne. It has been decided that there will be another Respawn installment during the 2015 gamescom week, with the exact date to be announced as soon as possible.

Renowned international speakers, including Jason Della Rocca (Execution Labs), Daniel Matros (DICE), Martijn Wenting (Bitstorm Games), Fasih Sayin (Crytek), Odile Limpach (Ubisoft Blue Byte), Teut Weidemann (Consultant) and Ralf C. Adam (flaregames GmbH), captivated their audiences as they shed light on issues such as challenges for indie developers, gender diversity, games education, digital games as a cultural element, or best-practice tips for young game developers.

A new business format entitled “Pitch & Match” saw its premiere this year. Developers were given the opportunity to present their game or product to established companies like Nintendo, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Google, Square Enix Collective and Unity3D. Engaging discussions helped to lay the foundations for promising collaborations.

Stephan Reichart, Aruba Events managing director and Respawn organizer, is more than pleased with the outcome of the conference: “The tremendous increase in attendance shows that the games industry’s interest in indie topics is growing continuously. With Respawn, we again provided a fitting environment that contributed to a vibrant exchange between AAA game professionals, indie developers and students.”

This is seconded by Tobias Kopka, Respawn’s program director: “We are very happy that the visitors liked our mix of knowledge transfer, debate and relaxed networking as much as they did. We focus on content and substance, regardless of whether it is presented by AAA studio veterans, indies, freelancers or  medium-sized studios, and that seems to strike a chord with the developer community.”

For the first time, “Respawn – Gathering of Game Developers” was presented in cooperation with “GDC Europe”. Visitor benefits included special pricing offers: Respawn attendees had access to the GDC Expo, received a 10-percent rebate on a GDC Europe All Access Pass, and all GDC visitors were admitted to Respawn free of charge. Furthermore, this year saw the first jointly hosted evening event: More than 1,500 participants of both conferences followed the invitation to the “GDC Europe and Respawn Developer Night powered by flaregames” on the evening of 12 August and came to the “Bootshaus” to network and celebrate.

Additional information on Respawn – Gathering of Game Developers is provided on www.respawngathering.com,www.facebook.com/RespawnGathering and www.twitter.com/respawn_conf. Tickets for Respawn are available onwww.respawngathering.com/tickets.

Register for the 10th Conference on Video Game Music and Sound Design in Los Angeles by September 1 at early bird discounted price

Seattle, WA (August 14, 2014) – GameSoundCon 2014, the leading conference on video game music and sound design, has announced early bird discounts on all registrations until September 1, 2014. The organization’s 10th conference will be held October 7-8 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles and feature two days of sessions, panel discussions and hands-on workshops from over twenty of the game industry’s leading composers, sound designers and audio directors.

“The video game industry has been changing rapidly,” said Brian Schmidt, Executive Director of GameSoundCon. “New consoles have been launched, casual and social games have exploded onto the scene. We’ve put together speakers and sessions this year that reflect the changing challenges of working in videogames for both aspiring and professional composers and sound designers. GameSoundCon continues to be the premier audio event for people who want to understand the creative, technical and business challenges of working in sound for games.”

GameSoundCon comprises four concurrent session tracks. Game Audio Essentials features presentations and panels on essential topics in game audio, specifically designed for professional composers and sound designers who want to expand into games. Game Audio Pro features talks and roundtables for seasoned game audio professionals, while separate sessions providing Hands-on FMOD Studio training and Hands-on WWise training allow attendees to bring their laptops and receive training on creating interactive music and sound effects using the industry’s leading game audio design tools.

This year’s featured keynote speaker will be Marty O’Donnell, creator of perhaps the most iconic game soundtrack of the recent era with his work on HALO. O’Donnell, formerly audio director at Bungie, now with his own studio, will talk about stimulating creativity, the video game business, and what it was like to collaborate with Sir Paul McCartney on the upcoming game Destiny.

GameSoundCon 2014 Los Angeles will be held on October 7-8 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California.

For a complete list of speakers, sessions and more information or to register for GameSoundCon, visit www.GameSoundCon.com.