Conference Talks

GDC

Designing for Multiple Minds - Crafting the Craft of Player Dynamics

A framework for designing player dynamics that fosters cohesion, meaningful roles, positive interactions, and shared values in games.

• YouTube
• 43 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

GDC

Destructible Environments in Control - Lessons in Procedural Destruction

Lessons learned building Control’s destructible world through material-driven behavior, procedural destruction, simulation entities, toolchains, optimization, and testing.

• YouTube
• 30 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

GDC

Knowledge is Power - An Overview of Knowledge Representation in Game AI

Explore how game AI represents world knowledge—from navigation and smart objects to influence maps—to make decisions feel impactful to players.

• YouTube
• 31 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

GDC

Data-Driven or Data-Blinded? Uses and Abuses of Analytics in Games

Avoid statistical pitfalls in game analytics by improving data quality, designing rigorous tests, and interpreting results in context.

• YouTube
• 1 hour
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

GDC

High Resolution Pixel Art and Animation

Learn to create high-resolution pixel art with fluid, appealing motion for game development through silhouettes, spacing, smears, overlapping action, color, and shading.

• YouTube
• 29 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

GDC

It's About Time - System Design for Mobile Free-to-Play

Explore game systems design for mobile free-to-play games through time, player progression, economies, combat balance, unit balancing, and other mechanics.

• YouTube
• 26 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

GDC

Emergent Storytelling Techniques in The Sims

Explore how The Sims uses autonomy, ambiguity, randomness, and feedback loops to generate player-driven stories across four generations.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 2 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

GDC

Writing Tools Faster - Design Decisions to Accelerate Tool Development

A GDC talk on design decisions, frameworks, performance techniques, and UI architecture that make game-development tools faster and easier to build.

• YouTube
• 1 hour
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

GDC

Bleeding-Edge Effects on Mobile

Learn to build mobile-game visual effects using dynamic UV masks, blood trails, softbody deformation, signed distance functions, and sphere tracing.

• YouTube
• 24 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

GDC

Intrinsically Motivated Teams - Applying Self-Determination Theory

Learn how Self-Determination Theory can build intrinsically motivated teams that sustain high performance and work satisfaction.

• YouTube
• 27 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

GDC

The Forest Paths Method for Accessible Narrative Design

The Forest Paths method helps game developers develop narrative alongside game design through high concepts, dramatic questions, reversals, escalation, and vertical slices.

• YouTube
• 38 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

GDC

Geometry in Milliseconds - Real-Time Constructive Solid Geometry

Learn how hierarchical Constructive Solid Geometry can be implemented in real time by finding brush intersections, combining polygons, and generating meshes for game levels.

• YouTube
• 47 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

GDC

Reading the Rules of Baba Is You

A developer explains how Baba Is You’s sentence-based rule system was implemented, iterated, and reworked through Lua tables, conditional words, and diagrams.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 4 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

GDC

Kill the Hero, Save the -Narrative- World

Explore how ensemble casts reshape video game narratives through multiple characters, conflicting viewpoints, layered plots, and a deeper narrative universe.

• YouTube
• 31 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

GDC

Storytelling with Verbs - Integrating Gameplay and Narrative

Explore how gameplay verbs such as shooting, talking, and puzzle solving carry inherent fiction and shape narrative coherence, player choice, and motivation.

• YouTube
• 22 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk