GC Developers Conference 2008

GC Developers Conference (GCDC)

(August 18-20, 2008)

Leipzig, Germany - August 18, 2008 - GC Developers Conference (GCDC) is set for another successful event with top-class speakers and sponsors. The conference exhibition has sold out completely, and all meeting rooms have been booked. Registrations are also topping last year's numbers. Far more than half of the registered attendees are international attendees, with many developers from North America, Great Britain, and Eastern Europe.

In 2008, GCDC will welcome more than 130 speakers, many for the first time, including Nick Welsh of Massive, Stephane Morichere-Matte of Threewave Software, Joshua Hong of K2 Network, Alex St. John of Wild Tangent, Bo and Ulf Andersson of GRin, and Tim Nixon of Straylight Studios among others.

Five Keynote-Speakers

With Michael Capps, president of Epic Games, David Perry, the developer of games like Earthworm Jim and Terminator, and Chris Taylor, founder of Gas Powered Games, there will be three top-class keynote speakers at this year's GCDC. All three of them have created classic games and shaped the history of games.

Moreover, Henrik Lorensen of LEGO will deliver a business keynote, which should not be missed, as he touches upon how LEGO is looking to bring traditional brands into the video games space. The same goes for Cevat Yerli, CEO and president of Crytek, Germany's Best Developer of FPS Games, who will speak about the “Future of Gaming Graphics.”

This year, we changed the format of the lectures in order to focus on discussion of the issues that our speakers are going to present,” said, Frank Sliwka, project director of GCDC. “We feel this will provide a deeper connection with the audience by allowing them to have a greater opportunity to ask specific questions and find the answers that they are looking for.”

Sponsors of GCDC 2008

Nokia and Intel are the main sponsors of GCDC again. Both have supported the conference for many years. Moreover, Digital River is a gold sponsor for the first time which will include a conference session focused on e-commerce for games by Jeff Hemenway, Digital River's group vice president of games. Silver sponsors for this year's event are Aladdin, Autodesk, Big Fish Games, IBM, Linotype, PC Gaming Alliance, Perforce Software, Telia Sonera, and WIBU-Systems.

“The sponsors provide both valuable information for the industry, and enable us to present the best possible program,” said, Frank Sliwka, project director of GCDC. “I want to thank all of our sponsors for their support and they will definitely enrich our program with their sessions.”

EGDF and Nordic Game in Focus at GCDC

The European Games Developer Federation (EGDF) and Nordic Game will be in focus at this year's GCDC. Both will contribute to this year's event with several sessions. Fred Hasson, current Chairman of EGDF, and Executive Director Virtual World Developer Redbedlam, will take part in the panel “Online Games and Online Distribution” together with Erik Robertson, Head of the Nordic Game Program, and Malte Behrmann, General Secretary of EGDF. Robertson will also outline the mission of, and opportunities with, the Nordic Game Program in a separate lecture.

"Their contribution to GCDC emphasizes the increasing importance of European development to the world market,” said Frank Sliwka, project director of the GC Developers Conference. “This shows that GCDC has continued to grow as a show and now includes the intiatives and goals of the global games market in its programming."

Programming Track on Wednesday

For the first time, the organizer of GCDC has implemented a programming track, a group of sessions dealing with the latest technical aspects in game development, and bringing together prominent speakers on issues closer to the hearts and minds of programmers and the technical crowd. GCDC's tech track will consist of five sessions on a variety of topics, including:

"Simplifying Cross-Platform Development in a Multi-Core Environment," by Vincent Scheib of Emergent Game Technologies

"Variable-Size Penumbra with Variance Shadow Mapping," by Sebastian Tusk, technical director at The Games Company

"A Simple and Powerful Property System for C++," by David Salz, CEO of Bitfield

"Practical Use of Screen Space Ambient Occlusion," by Michal Drobot, visual technical director at Reality Pump Game Development Studios

Outstanding Panels

The excellent program is completed by five outstanding panels. Jeff Hickman of Mythic Entertainment will take part in the panel about MMO Games together with Joshua Hong of K2 Network, Matt Firor of ZeniMax Online Studios, Neil Harris of Simutronics, and Tom Putzki of Tom Putzki Consulting.

ArenaNet's writing team lead, Bobby Stein, RPG freelance writer Stephane Bura, Steve Meretzky of Blue Fang Games and industry veteran Bob Bates will deliver a panel on "Game Design." The panelists will discuss gameplay mechanics and game designer habits that will enable those interested in design to adopt new methodologies for creativity.

Moreover, “Casual Games,” will be discussed by Josh Welber of Large Animal Games, Ariella Lehrer of Legacy Interactive, Margaret Wallace of Rebel Monkey, Pierre Forest of Metaboli and Vincent Carrella of the Nickelodeon Kids & Family Group. Eddiemae Jukes, account supervisor of the TriplePoint PR agency, will moderate the panel, as well as the panel about “Women and Games.”

This topic will be addressed by four industry experts sharing their unique perspectives and insights on how can we better target the female game player. Alla Khrantsova of Intenium, Ariella Lehrer, and Jessica Tams of the Casual Games Association, as well as Margaret Wallace, will speak about general trends like women's purchasing habits, how they're changing, and what lessons and parallels we can draw for the games industry.

A special “Education Panel,” will be conducted by Hendrik Lesser of ML Enterprises, Achim Quinke of Quinke Networks, Christian Kluckner of Chimera, Frank Gwosdz of Artificial Technology, and Jörg Müller-Lietzkow of the University Paderborn.

Further information about the topics, the schedule and speakers of GCDC can be found at: www.gcdc.eu.

About GCDC

Under the motto “create tomorrow today,” GCDC will unite game developers, publishers, and scientists from all over the world. For the sixth time, professionals from the fields of games, information technology, and film will share their ideas and give insight on the latest trends. GCDC, Europe's leading developer conference, takes place August 18-20, 2008 in Leipzig, Germany.

GCDC Overview

Location: Leipzig Exhibition Centre, Administration Building

Conference Hours: August 18-20, 2008, 9:00 AM - 7:00 PM

Attendees: Attendees can still register during the conference in the administration building.

Press Accreditation: Members of the media interested in covering the conference can register at the conference in the press center of the administration building.

GCDC on the Internet: http://www.gcdc.eu

Media Contacts:

Europe

Robert Koestner, Press Department

+49 (0) 341 - 678 8183

r.koestner@leipziger-messe.de

North American Representative

Sean Kauppinen

+1 - 415 - 299 - 2156

gcdc2008@gmail.com

Contact GCDC:

Sponsors, speakers and participants:

Frank Sliwka, Project Director

+49 (0) 341 - 678 8288

f.sliwka@leipziger-messe.de

GCDC on the Internet:

http://www.gcdc.eu

Editor's Note: Please find attached a photo of Mr. Sliwka, project director of GC Developers Conference.