As the
early registration deadline approaches, GDC 2010 organizers have revealed new lectures by Pixar notables, Lionhead's Peter Molyneux, Double Fine's Tim Schafer,
Final Fantasy XIII's director Motomu Toriyama, and fantasy writer R.A. Salvatore.
The announcements for
Game Developers Conference 2010, which takes place March 9th-13th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, add to
a recently confirmed keynote from
Civilization creator Sid Meier, alongside almost 350 other lectures, keynotes, and panels.
This set of Main Conference sessions, all taking place from March 11th-13th, bolster an already formidable line-up, with
nine notable Summits (from Social/Online through Indie to iPhone and beyond) set up for March 9th-10th.
Organizers have now released details on the following major new lectures for the GDC 2010 Main Conference (run by Think Services, as is this website):
- Seminal CG movie makers Pixar are giving a pair of two-hour lectures at the event -- the Toy Story and Up creators' Matthew Luhn will lecture on
'Storyboarding/Story Development at Pixar: Work Methods and Insights', while the Bay Area company's Andrew Gordon will speak on
'Character Animation at Pixar: Work Methods and Insights'.
- In a rare Western lecture,
Final Fantasy XIII's director and scenario writer Motomu Toriyama will discuss
the creator of FFXIII's story and mythos, "explaining the various processes involved in crafting The Crystal Mythos, creating the world of the game, character design, and the development of drama between the characters." He will also speak on the direction he hopes to take in future projects.
- Game development legend Peter Molyneux will present
a lecture called 'The Complex Challenges of Intuitive Design' with fellow designer Josh Atkins, discussing ways to "ensure that gamers of all abilities can quickly and easily immerse themselves in the game world." With examples from the upcoming
Fable III, Molyneux will show examples of long-established game mechanics which Lionhead intends to replace with more user-friendly and modern iterations.
- In his first lecture aimed at the game industry, multi-million selling fantasy novelist R.A. Salvatore will
present 'From Fantasy to Franchise: How to Build a Universe Worthy of Devotion', drawing lessons from his work in D&D's Forgotten Realms universe, and "presenting an examination of world building as a work in progress, through a sneak peek of his work with [Curt Schilling-backed Boston game developer] 38 Studios."
- Finally, Double Fine's Tim Schafer (
Brutal Legend) will be
appearing on a panel named 'Make 'Em Laugh: Comedy in Games', alongside
Overlord writer Rhianna Pratchett and Telltale (
Tales Of Monkey Island) writer/designer Sean Vanaman, analyzing "the challenges that face developers as they try to distill a sense of humor into their games."
Alongside the
full set of announced GDC 2010 lectures thus far comes news on
reduced conference pass prices for the event, with the introduction of optional lunch packages. Game Developers Conference 2010 will also play host to the
GDC Expo Floor, the GDC Career Pavilion, the
12th Annual Independent Games Festival and the
10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards.
Early Bird rates for GDC 2010 end in just two days -- on February 4, 2010, and more information on passes is available
the official GDC webpage on the subject. For more information on the 2010 Game Developers Conference, visit the
official GDC 2010 website.
