The Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser experience may take place at Walt Disney World in Florida, but it feels like a galaxy far, far away. At GDC 2022, find out how Imagineers turned it into a full-fledged, multi-day immersive adventure.

"Starting with the Ending: Narrative Design of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser" is a must-see session happening at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Taking place on Thursday, March 24 from 4:00 to 5:00pm PT, Walt Disney Imagineering's Anisha Deshmane and Sara Thacher dive into how Disney turned a branching narrative upside-down to ensure guests have individual and group agency while satisfying the constraints of fixed endings, and examine how those principles manifested in core design choices to inform a passenger's personal adventure across real and virtual platforms to tell a cohesive, connected Star Wars story.

Join two Walt Disney Imagineers at GDC as they upend narrative design strategies to create compelling, impactful conclusions to each guest's individual—and multiplayer—stories developed for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. On this living, "playable" starcruiser, passengers are invited to take part in a multi-day connected roleplaying game where their personal story unfolds through physical exploration, responsive environments, interactions with live performers, and purpose-built digital interfaces. Throughout this adventure, participants can make choices that change their path while taking part in a range of Star Wars stories.

This talk is perfect for narrative designers, narrative system designers, creative designers, and anyone designing for escape rooms, multi-threaded experiences, and roleplaying games. It's also pretty great for Star Wars fans eager to find out more about this new immersive experience.

For those wanting a trip down Star Wars memory lane, there's "Star Wars: Squadrons: A Blast From the Past." In this session on Friday, March 25 from 1:30 to 2:30pm PT, EA Motive's Ian Frazier will explain how Squadrons was created to honor the classic's spirit while still creating an experience all its own. Driven by what the devs loved about the Star Wars space sims of the '90s, and wanting to bring that experience to modern gamers, this talk will examine past and present influences on the game design. In addition, Ian will cover challenges and opportunities of developing for VR and 2D concurrently, the execution of various peripherals, how the game evolved over time, and the Squadrons' development team's approach to testing and iteration.

Both sessions are available for All-Access and Core pass holders. But the only way to see them is to register for GDC 2022 today!

GDC returns in-person to San Francisco, March 21-25, 2022—registration is now open! For more information on GDC 2022, including our virtual options, be sure to visit our website and follow the #GDC22 hashtag on social media.

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