Think .2 seconds is nothing when it comes to designing gameplay mechanics? Check out this GDC Vault Panel Video that explores the sensitivities and delicate balance of game designers:
Halo 3 design w/ @32nds: changing time b/w shots for the Sniper Rifle from 0.5 to 0.7 secs: http://ow.ly/qrN2h
Twenty-two games were showcased at iFEST Seattle. Each of the following games received a $250 cash prize sponsored by the Living Computer Museum.
People’s Choice AwardiFEST Peoples Choice award Buddy and Me
Buddy & Me won the People’s Choice Award, voted on by the close to 400 attendees. Buddy and Me, a family-friendly “endless adventure about friendship” is the work of Sunbreak Studios for iOS and Android tablet and mobile devices. This “endless runner” game was funded in the Spring of 2013 through a successful Kickstarter Campaign. As a boy (or girl) falls asleep every night a mysterious golden light appears outside; his house shakes and he sees a giant familiar orange face looking in his window encouraging him to come out and play. This is his best friend, a magical flying creature named Buddy, with whom he has a different adventure every evening.
Best Art Award iFEST-Art-award-The-Bridge_WEB
The black and white puzzle game The Bridge from The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild won the juried prize for Best Art. The Bridge was released on Steam earlier this year. Described by its creators as “Isaac Newton meets M.C. Escher,” the Bridge features a hand-drawn art style and physics-based puzzles. The player has to figure out how to twist and turn through the possibly impossible environment.
Best Innovation Award iFEST-Innovation-award-Ironclad-Tactics_WEB
Ironclad Tactics from Zachtronics won the juried Best Innovation award. This fast-paced, card-based tactics game features steam-powered military robots in the American Civil War. Just released on Steam, it blends the precision of tactics and card games with the spontaneity of a fast-paced strategy game.
Read more at ifest.us.
Date: November 13-17, 2013
City: Busan, South Korea
Location: BEXCO
Title : G–STAR Global Game Exhibition (Game Show & Trade,All Round)
Hosted by : Ministry of Culture Sports and Tourist(MCST)Busan, Metropolitan city
Organized by : Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), IT Industry Promotion Agency(BIPA)
Online – Game Zone. Arcade game Zone, Board game Zone, Consol game Zone,Small&Medium Sized Company Pavillion, Content industry PR center, Event stage, Baby and Kids care center, lounge etc.
G-Star 2013 Calendar: /calendar/g-star-2013/
“Taipei Game Show 2014 (TGS)”, the biggest game exhibition in Taiwan, organized by Taipei Computer Association, will be held from January 23rd to 27th. In the exhibition, there will be the B2B Zone Area for business matching, B2C Area for newest product demonstration and TGS Night for networking casually. Want to explore the business market in the Asia-Pacific game industry? We welcome the world’s game companies to join our event.
Taiwan, as the heart of Asia’s digital content industry, is the best place for international cooperation. About 18 countries’ exhibitors and more than 30,000 visitors joined the “Taipei Game Show 2013”. A number of leading Game & Digital Content professionals have located in bases including International leading company, such as Sony Entertainment, Microsoft, Wargaming and Garena. With the great success, “Taipei Game Show 2014” is believed to create a new record in both scale of booths and visitors.
B2B Zone will be a two-day event, run from January 23rd to 24th, 2014. Exhibitors from key gaming companies in Taiwan will promote their newest products to the rest of the world. Furthermore, visitors and exhibitors could have a more business chance by making schedule appointment through online Biz-matching system. The early-bird price for participating in B2B Zone will be offered till the end of November. Please do not hesitate to join.
As Taiwan is one of the quickest grown up countries of mobile entertainment, more professional companies would be invited to the Taipei Game Show. It will grow up to be the most effective and authoritative platform for information exchange and trade: a high-efficient platform for publishers and operators seeking for domestic and international developers as well as a new window for international outstanding enterprises to tap into Asia market.
By participating in the B2B Zone, you will find the key partner to expand the business on the countries from Asia-Pacific market to the worldwide game industry.
An EXCLUSIVE PRICE OFFER for overseas exhibitors: USD 750 per booth.
Apply before November and enjoy the discount!!
Tuesday 12 November, 2013 – Tickets are now on sale for next year’s PAX Aus gaming festival, to be held from 31 October to 2 November, 2014 in the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre.
Tickets can now be purchased only through the PAX Aus website: www.paxaustralia.com.au/registration.
Building on the success of the 2013 event, the new venue will allow an increase in space across the entire show, with most feature areas increasing by at least 50%. To accommodate the demand for content, the theatre spaces will also be increased, with three times the amount of space at the 2014 show.
Alongside the individual and three day badges available to purchase, a new three day international badge provides an option for visitors from outside of Australia to ensure they have an equal opportunity to attend the show for the entire weekend.
For those travelling and looking for accommodation, hotel rooms located close by have been reserved exclusively for PAX Aus attendees, and are available through our booking partner OzAccom. Further information on these exclusive offers can be found here: www.paxaustralia.com.au/hotels-and-travel.
PAX Australia will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 31 October to 2 November, 2014 organised by ReedPOP in conjunction with Penny Arcade.
For further information visit www.paxaustralia.com.au or follow PAX Australia updates via official Twitter and Facebook.
From WonderCon: WonderCon Anaheim returns in 2014 for another big weekend of comics and the popular arts at the beautiful Anaheim Convention Center on April 18, 19, and 20 (Easter weekend). With over 56,000 attendees in 2013 (and only the second year in Anaheim), WonderCon Anaheim continues to be one of the top comics and pop culture events in the country. 2014 marks the event’s 28th continuous year.
We’re working on the special guest list as you read this. The official Exhibitor Application Form for WCA 2014 is now available … if you’re interested in exhibiting in our giant Exhibit Hall, you’ll want to get that form in early, as this show tends to sell out of space quickly. Click here to download the Exhibitor Application.
Check back for more info as we rocket towards 2014, including the Exhibitor Application, our first round of special guest announcements, hotel reservations at our official headquarters hotel, and badge sales. Make sure you have a Member ID in order to purchase a badge for WonderCon Anaheim 2014, and save the dates: Easter weekend, April 18–20, at the Anaheim Convention Center!
See more at: http://www.comic-con.org/toucan/wondercon-anaheim-2014-april-18-20#sthash.IwueC1qz.dpuf
The inaugural GDC Next 2013 (and App Developers Conference) faced a unique challenge when it was announced the conference would be moved from Austin to Los Angeles and remain a Q4 event. Over the ten years GDC and its previous incarnations were held in Austin, a core group of attendees flocked to the event faithfully and enjoyed the warm autumn weather, unique game development and artistic community in Austin, as well as the nightlife on and around the famed 6th Street stretch of bars and music venues. A couple of the reasons behind the move appeared to be that the conference needed to change focus from MMOGs to mobile and also address the accessibility via travel for Californian and Asian businesspeople in the games industry.
How does a conference so deeply imprinted by the legacy in Austin — moving to the Los Angeles Convention Center, which is known by tens of thousands of game industry participants as the home of the E3 game trade show — find an identity and make a unique footprint of its own? Did this conference succeed in doing so?
To a point, yes.
GDC Next/ADC moved the ball forward with the number of attendees from the last year of the conference in Austin. According to the official post-event press release, the event brought in “close to 4,000 industry professionals at the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC), more than 40 percent up in attendees from the show’s spiritual predecessor GDC Online in 2012.” Some of these passes were represented by free expo pass-holders, which meant a percentage of the folks using gratis passes for touring the expo floor were a mix of students, independent developers, vendors and even curious folks outside the industry.
The Expo Floor
Speaking of the expo floor, amidst familiar monetization and platform vendors, there were a few of the next generation-oriented companies GDC Next was designed to advocate.
Among them was Sungame Corporation’s Flightdeck Commander 3D tablet. Inside the 10.1” simple glossy black case is a dual core A9 1.5 Ghz processor, 16 GB of RAM (32 GB version coming soon), with video playback of up to 6 hours and standby time of up to 300 hours, according to their official company info. The main attraction of the device is the no-glasses 3D display, which projects media through its lenticular lens in the display to show the content as 3D. The mixed media demo created a pretty convincing illusion of depth with a fairly wide angle of viewing in which to see it, and only minimal color shimmering in the 3D projection itself.
Another cool vision for the future of gaming was represented by a Neurosky headset-driven demo of the accurately named “Throw Trucks With Your Mind” game. Using the headset as a means of interface in conjunction with the classic mouse and keyboard combination to look and move through the environment, it’s possible to relax and focus the mind to manipulate objects in the game. How? To push and pull, lift and drop objects, from trucks (of course), to barrels and crates and more in a LAN-style team-play environment.
One of the booths with a small crowd often surrounding it was Technical Illusions with their CastAR headset demo, which combines augmented reality and virtual reality in one relatively lightweight pair of glasses. The glasses send images from a device to the two micro-projectors on the glasses at 720p resolution and 240 Hz, which is enough to create a convincing illusion of depth without completely disorienting the player, allowing the player to stay connected to the environment around them. As someone who’s tried the Oculus Rift VR headset, I’ve almost lost my balance standing up while test driving the immersive device, compared to the CastAR headset, which should solve that problem, the potential breadth and depth of utility possible through the CastAR device in both AR and VR is intriguing.
The Tracks Floor
Above the expo hall on the first floor, the second floor of the LACC was dominated by the various tracks of the the ADC and GDC Next, the content split to a wing of the floor for each respective conference.
On the GDC Next side, which is the focus of this article, the most differentiated tracks from traditional GDC speaking tracks were the “Future of Gaming” tracks and “Next Generation Platforms” tracks, covering a spread of content from augmented reality to transmedia partnerships and multiple platform game development. While I didn’t have the chance to attend enough of the sessions to attest to this more comprehensively, the tilt in the overall body of topics is subtle but noticeable towards future-focused themes from other GDC content I’ve seen before. Some of the topics drawing the largest crowds and excitement in the room seemed to be the next-gen console talks, sponsored expo theatre talks which allowed expo pass-holders to attend — and an e-sports panel I attended, which attracted a busy room and a lengthy Q&A session after the panel back-and-forth concluded.
A Postmortem
GDC Next (and ADC) is a blend of conferences still in transition, between the past and the future. The past is Austin, the present in E3’s backyard at the LACC, but with an eye towards focusing on the future of gaming. To rise above the sentimental missives about what the conference used to be in Austin, GDC Next will likely need to focus even more on the future of gaming to differentiate it from the many gaming conference in California and give it an identity all its own apart from location. Augmented reality, virtual reality, haptics, 3D gaming, future-thinking and alternative game play concepts that have been teased at this show just might help point the point way.
– Paul Philleo, Contributing Editor
Check out this plethora of awesome BlizzCon 2013 photos at VentureBeat!
Two inaugural events, the App Developers Conference (ADC) and Game Developers Conference Next (GDC Next), closed Thursday, Nov. 7 after hosting close to 4,000 industry professionals at the Los Angeles Convention Center, more than 40 percent up in attendees from the show’s spiritual predecessor GDC Online in 2012. Both conferences were produced by UBM Tech, the creators of the largest and longest-running professionals-only event for the games industry, the Game Developers Conference (GDC). ADC and GDC Next will return to the Los Angeles Convention Center on Nov. 4-6, 2014.
Both ADC and GDC Next brought their respective industries’ leaders together to share best practices and help developers fine-tune their crafts by providing valuable insights on the future of digital interactivity. Together the conferences welcomed more than 170 speakers across more than 150 sessions from influential and distinguished companies within the app, game and entertainment industries. Talks at ADC included those given by speakers from Evernote, Netflix, Pandora, Tumblr and more, while GDC Next featured talks by Double Fine Productions, Google, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Ouya, thatgamecompany, Ubisoft, Walt Disney Imagineering and several others.
In addition, The Combined Expo Floor featured more than 80 of the top game and app companies as exhibitors and sponsors, including Google, Sony, Microsoft, Oculus VR, Samsung, Intel, Qualcomm and more. The Expo Floor also hosted the ADC Best in Apps contest which was presented by way of a partnership with AppCircus, the unique global traveling showcase of the most innovative and creative apps. Sixteen finalists presented their apps to a panel of industry leaders and one winner was selected in each of four categories. Each winner was awarded a nomination for the prestigious Mobile Premier Awards, held by AppCircus during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in early 2014.
The ADC Best in Apps winners are:
Health & Wellness: SocialDiabetes (Spain)
Lifestyle: Fetch (US)
Education: SPARKvue (US)
Entertainment: Nott Won’t Sleep (Netherlands)
Hot topics discussed at GDC Next included the rise and evolution of eSports, funding options for indie game developers, the value of live player feedback, and how current emerging tech trends will be mashed up for even more creative potential, among others. Subject matter for ADC covered multi-screen and multi-platform app design, new opportunities with wearable technology, monetization in emerging markets, unique app design opportunities with sensors on mobile devices, and many more.
Special to GDC Next, the show organizers honored ten innovative, yet-to-debut games as the “GDC Next 10.” Game designers from each of the GDC Next 10 games revealed their inspiration behind their titles to attendees. The games chosen as the GDC Next 10 were: Broken Age, Counterspy, D4, Doki Doki Universe, Project Eternity, Project Spark, Storyteller, Super Time Force, Supernauts and Wayward Manor.
As a part of the conference organizers’ dedication to game development advocacy, GDC Next welcomed Women In Games International (WIGI) and Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles (GSGLA) to give a special panel presentation regarding updates on a new patch program that will introduce, educate and excite girls about video game creation. WIGI and GSGLA have been working hard behind the scenes to begin rolling out a series of workshops for Girl Scout Juniors (grades 4-5) throughout greater Los Angeles. WIGI will initiate parts of the patch program with girls on Nov. 9 at Girltopia, GSGLA’s huge girl power event also at the LA Convention Center.
“We’re thrilled to have launched two brand new conferences and to have offered attendees quality content that not only provides key learnings in game and app development but also inspires one another to raise the bar in the creation process,” said Meggan Scavio, General Manager of the Game Developers Conference events. “The feedback from ADC and GDC Next attendees has been great and we look forward to returning next year with even bigger and better conferences.”
VIP All Access, ADC and GDC Next Pass holders to the events, as well as those with GDC Vault subscriptions, will be able to access the video, audio and presentation recordings in the coming weeks via GDC Vault and ADC Vault. In addition, six pre-selected sessions from GDC Next can be viewed online via GameSpot.com:
Broken Age: Rethinking a Classic Genre for the Modern Era
D4: Dawn of the Dreaming Director’s Drama
From Game Jam to Full Game – Super TIME Force & Other Shining Examples
Project Spark: Enabling and Inspiring the User to Make (Almost) Anything
The Evolution of e-Sports as a Sport, Entertainment and International Pastime
The Observer Friendly Game
For more information about ADC and GDC Next 2013, please visit www.adconf.com and www.gdcnext.com. Official photos from the conferences can be downloaded from the official GDC Flickr account, and for extensive coverage from the events visit Gamasutra’s event page.
View the original article at App Developers Conference Website.
Game director Dustin Browder detailed Heroes of the Storm’s upcoming Battlegrounds maps at BlizzCon 2013. “It’s not enough to pay homage to the games, he said. “We have to provide you with new challenges, and challenge the genre.” As such, the Battlegrounds feature distinct advantages for players who go out of their way to accomplish more.
Read more about Heroes of the Storm over at IGN.com!
Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles and Women in Games International Unveil Videogame Patch Program to Videogame Professionals at GDC Next
What: Informational panel for videogame professionals at GDC Next about to get involved in shaping the next generation of female videogame developers through participation in the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles’ (GSGLA) videogame development patch program.
Who: Women In Games International, the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles, and E-Line Media
Why: In a recent survey of participants in GSGLA’s STEM programs, “videogame programming” was the number one new program category requested to be incorporated into Girl Scout programming. Tapping into the natural interests and passions of girls, the patch program will consist of hands-on design exercises emphasizing peer collaboration.
WIGI will initiate parts of the patch program with girls a few days later on Nov. 9 at Girltopia, GSGLA’s huge girl power event also at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
When: November 6th from 6pm – 7pm PT
Where: Game Developers Next Conference, Los Angeles Convention Center.
Media Contact:
Honey.hamilton@gmail.com
Feb 5 – 6 2014, Moscone Center West, San Francisco
Returning to the tech capital for the second time, Apps World will be introducing a brand new free to attend workshop called Gaming World.
The two day event will feature some of the world’s biggest gaming houses as well a number of handpicked indie developers making a name for themselves in gaming app industry.
Registration is completely free and you’ll also have access to the Apps World exhibition with over 250 exhibitors, 8000 attendees and 4 other free to attend workshops including Developer World, Droid World, Enterprise World and Tech World.
Register for your free pass here.
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If you’re an indie game developer or self employed game developer looking to get your app in front of the right people why not take part in the Indie Game Zone at Apps World. Apps World is giving away free table top stands to a select number of indie game developers and you could be one of them!
Find out more here: http://www.apps-world.net/northamerica/exhibitions/indie-game-village
Events for Gamers is a game industry event calendar and resource for conferences and conventions from around the world. Events include GDC, SIGGRAPH, Casual Connect, GamesBeat, E3 Expo, PAX, Comic-Con, Computex, and hundreds of others.
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