GDC Europe 2011 Debuts Notable Smartphone Summit, Design Talks

Author: by Staff

GDC Europe organizers have announced new lectures for the August show, including Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit talks on topics including Android game development, Catan's tablet gaming push, and a Main Conference talk on blending existing IP with creative design. Taking place Monday through Wednesday, August 15-17, 2011 at the Cologne Congress-Centrum Ost, GDC Europe 2011 -- alongside the major gamescom trade show -- will again provide the essential pan-European perspective of game development and business trends. New to the conference this year is the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit, which will feature panels and lectures from some of the most influential figures in the mobile space - on topics including the emerging business trends and successful design strategies for platforms such as iOS, Android and more. As part of the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit, Fishlabs Entertainment's Marc Hehmeyer will discuss how to best move an iOS title to Android devices in his talk, "From iOS to Android - Galaxy on Fire 2 Does the Green Robot." Using the German studio's own hit space simulator Galaxy on Fire 2 as an example, the Fishlabs CTO will outline the challenges and intricacies involved with porting mobile games to the Android platform, with many practical examples. The Summit will also feature Exozet Games' head of mobile development Matthias Hellmund -- the studio behind Catan and Carcassone's smartphone and tablet versions -- in a talk on how to bring popular board game titles to mobile platforms. Hellmund's lecture, entitled "Board Game Mobilization - What's Now, What's Next," will go over the company's work and other successful examples of mobile board games -- outlining how they take advantage of the accessibility, technology, and form factor offered by a number of popular mobile devices. Elsewhere, in the GDC Europe 2011 Main Conference's Game Design track, Ubisoft creative director Jason VandenBergh -- whose highest-rated GDC Europe 2010 talk on Red Steel 2 is available to view for free on GDC Vault -- will outline how to satisfy your creative itch when working within the constraints of an existing IP. In his in-depth lecture, entitled "The Magic Gun: Surviving IP Development Through Embracing Your Constraints," VandenBerghe will draw examples from games based on popular franchises such as James Bond and Lord of the Rings to illustrate how effective design can benefit not just the games, but the developers themselves. Recent session announcements for GDC Europe have included talks from social firms Playdom and Playfish, Mortal Kombat creator NetherRealm Studios, as well as on Mass Effect 3 and regarding Brink, Blue Fang's Facebook success and Crysis 2. Many more GDC Europe Main Conference sessions are due to be revealed over the next few weeks for the event -- part of the UBM TechWeb Game Network, as is this website. In addition to the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit, GDC Europe has added notable Summits on indie games, social games, and community management to the existing line-up this year. For more information on GDC Europe as the event takes shape, please visit the official GDC Europe website, or subscribe to updates from the new GDC Europe-specific news page in RSS form, official Twitter page, or official Facebook page.