Author: by Staff

GDC China organizers are proud to announce that registration is now live for the 2011 show, and the first batch of announced sessions includes speakers from the show's Social and Indie Games Summits, on topics spanning Western-focused development and essential indie dev tools. Taking place November 12-14 at Shanghai Exhibition Center in Shanghai, China, the event will once again serve as the premier game industry event in China, bringing together influential developers from around the world to share ideas, network, and inspire each other to further the game industry in this region. This year, GDC China will feature tracks on Online Game Development & Business, Global Game Development, and Social Games, with notable summits on Independent Games and Mobile Games. In addition, the show will boast a two-floor exhibition hall, and will once again host the Independent Games Festival China for the third year running. All of the sessions at GDC China will be simultaneously translated between English and Chinese during the event, and the following talks are the first among many to be revealed for this year's show: - As part of the Social Games Summit, Ubisoft Chengdu project manager Xiaojuan He will host a talk dubbed, "Project Managing a Social Game for the Western Market," revealing how the China-based Ubisoft branch developed the Facebook title Castle & Co. for western markets. He's lecture will focus particularly on her role as project manager throughout the game's development, outlining the team's approach to designing a Western-focused game, the problems encountered during production, handling team morale, post-launch support, and more. - Over in the Independent Games Summit, Ye Feng, co-founder and CTO of independent iOS developer Coconut Island Studio (Finger Balance, iDragPaper) will discuss indie dev tools in, "Brewing Your Own Game Engine - The Pros & Cons of Using Open Source Software to Rapidly Develop Cross-Platform Indie Games and Tools." In this lecture, Feng will weigh the pros and cons of using homebrewed tools versus middleware, and will show attendees how his studio used custom tools to its advantage to streamline and improve their development pipeline. In addition, he will suggest a number of tools that make indie development easier. - Also within the Independent Games Summit, Dongxu He of indie studio Gamegou (Watermelon!, Soccer Stealers) will host "Products Development Strategy of Indie Studios," a talk that will explain why indie developers cannot always rely on "creative ideas" to survive in today's market. Drawing from his experience at Gamegou, He will discuss how developers should balance innovation, tenacity, and good business sense to survive in a mobile and indie market that remains in constant flux. With registration for GDC China now open, interested parties can go to the event's official website to start the registration process and gain access to the numerous talks, tutorials, and events the show will have to offer. Keep an eye out for even more news as the show draws closer, as GDC China organizers have a number of exciting announcements planned for the coming weeks and months. For more information on GDC China as the event takes shape, please visit the official GDC China website, or subscribe to updates from the new GDC Online-specific news page via Twitter, Facebook, or RSS. GDC China is owned and operated by UBM TechWeb, as is this website.