Dates: February 27 – March 3, 2017 | Register here
Prices: starting from USD 199,-
Location: San Francisco, The United States

Game Developer Conference 2017

Game Developer Conference returns to San Francisco for five days of sessions, tutorials, bootcamps, and roundtable discussions on a comprehensive selection of game development topics taught by leading industry experts. From year to year, the GDC continues to define market innovations and provide insight into the future of gaming.

This year’s main conference tracks include the following:

The Game Developers Conference Advocacy track presents a number of topics that address new and existing issues within the realm of social advocacy. Topics covered range from diversity to censorship to quality of life.

With these sessions, Game Developer Conference hopes to offer a forum for discussion and ultimately a place to effect change for the development community.

The Audio Track brings the industry’s top professionals to share their knowledge and experience from the real-world, addressing these unique problems: aesthetic, technical, business, logistical and then some.

The Business & Marketing Track seeks to educate and inform developers about the business of game development and ways in which their business can be improved.

Creating compelling, immersive games requires understanding, visualizing, demonstrating, and tuning the interactions of an ever-increasing number of game tools and systems.

While game designers need to understand and exploit the possibilities of new technologies such as realistic physics, facial expressions, and lighting techniques; they must also continue to master.

The Sponsored Monetization Track at Game Developer Conference will contain three full days of content, focusing on the current and future opportunities for monetizing social network titles, free-to-play web games, kid-friendly online titles and large-scale MMOs. Leading payment providers will share the pitfalls, successes and best practices in this thriving and competitive marketplace.

In recent years, game industry production challenges have been split between massive budgets for AAA console games, and significant new production challenges from social, online, smartphone and other emerging types of game.

The goal of the Production & Team Management Track is to provide developers with concrete tactics for managing game production, no matter what size or scope your game is.

As new platforms emerge and existing platforms evolve, programmers face an ever increasing challenge to produce games that capture the attention of the public and the media.The Programming Track focuses on these challenges and the opportunities presented by next and current generation development including mature consoles, new handhelds.

The Programming Track focuses on these challenges and the opportunities presented by next and current generation development including mature consoles, new handhelds.

The Visual Arts Track strives to educate artists and technical artists about methods for producing game art and animations; from stellar concept, art techniques to post production best practices.

Events at GDC

GDC is not just about the conference. It has a line-up of events ready for you to network, connect with fellow game developers, and to have a good time. Get the most out of your GDC experience by checking out the events.

Tutorials and Bootcamps

GDC 2016 has a variety of Tutorials and Bootcamps to choose from. Tutorials and Bootcamps take place over a full day, providing deep-dive focus on each topic. Come share with and learn from some of the best and brightest in the game development industry.

Tutorials and Bootcamps are seated on a first come, first served basis. All Access and Summits, Tutorials & Bootcamps Pass holders are welcome to attend.

Developers days

Game Developer Conference Developer Days provide immersive learning experiences lead by thought leaders from the industry’s top companies. Attendees partake in a full day of sessions on topics most relevant to them, coming away with invaluable lessons.

GDC Summits

The Summits at Game Developer Conference return for two days of lectures, panels, postmortems and more, to foster community-building within specific sectors of the game industry.

From year to year, the GDC continues to define market innovations and future vision, providing insight into the future of gaming.

The AI Summit features panels and lectures from top game AI programmers in the industry, giving you an inside look at key architectures and issues within successful commercial games, as well as let you eavesdrop on conversations, debates, and rants on how game AI can move forward.

The one-day Community Management Summit will cover every corner of this quickly evolving, a crucial facet of video game development. Summit content will focus on how to inspire, build and maintain user loyalty and enthusiasm through the ups and downs of community opinion and adoption.

The Game Narrative Summit covers interactive narrative in all its forms, from AAA blockbusters to indie games to mobile/social projects. The event features an all-star lineup of speakers from every corner of the discipline. Session content ranges from the advanced and theoretical to practical case studies and advocacy for writers, designers, producers, and others seeking to expand their understanding of game narrative.

The Game Developer Conference Education Summit is dedicated to bringing forward the most innovative and exciting ideas in game education today. Attendees will discover new experimental and inventive educational approaches as well as best practices that they can bring back to their faculty and classrooms.

The GDC Mobile Summit brings together top game developers from around the world to share ideas, discuss best practices, and consider the future of gaming on mobile platforms, including iOS, Android, Amazon, and more. This two-day program will focus on the nuts and bolts of great game design and successful business strategies specifically tailored to popular mobile games.

The Independent Games Summit is the place for the independent game developer at Game Developer Conference. It features lectures, postmortems, and roundtables from notable independent game creators, including many former and current Independent Games Festival finalists and winners.

The one-day UX Summit will cover all the facets of the user experience discipline in the video game industry. Attendees of the summit will learn UX strategy, design, and research best practices in how to remove unnecessary barriers to the enjoyment of their game, how to increase its overall quality, and increase the likelihood that it will create and sustain engagement.

For more business and career opportunities, check our opportunities section and subscribe to our weekly newsletters.