GDC Online has revealed a new batch of sessions for the upcoming October show, this week featuring a look at EA's social game Dragon Age Legends, a postmortem on Super Hero Squad Online, and a glimpse at Kabam's analytical approach to production.
Taking place Monday, October 10 through Thursday, October 13, 2011 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas, GDC Online continues as the leading worldwide event dedicated solely to discussing the development and business trends surrounding connected games -- including casual titles, MMOs, virtual worlds, and social networking games.
As seen in the event's Schedule Builder, the following lectures are highlights from this year's Main Conference:
- In the Business & Marketing track, Ethan Levy of Electronic Arts will host, "Dragon Age Legends' Road to 100K Likes," a talk outlining the successes and failures of the marketing strategy for the company's social game spinoff.
In this metrics-driven session, Levy will point to Dragon Age Legends' MMO-like beta program, its fully animated trailer, and more to explain why the title was "a game of firsts in the social gaming space."
- Over in the Production track, The Amazing Society co-founders Jay Minn and Jason Robar will reflect on their recently launched Marvel MMO in, "Marvel Super Hero Squad Online Postmortem: An MMO For the Whole Family in Under Two Years." In this lighthearted session, the pair will look back on their experience working with Marvel, developing in Unity, monetizing game content, and much more, offering an inside look at the production of their kid-friendly online game.
- Also in the production track, Sheridan Hitchens of social game developer Kabam will explain the benefits of data analysis in, "Data Driven: How Creating a Deeply Analytical Approach Drives Success." In this session, Hitchens will break down how Kabam (Global Warfare) integrates analytics into its production cycle, its tools, and even into its internal studio culture to help adjust to market trends and drive its success in the social market.
In addition to the Main Conference, GDC Online will also feature the ever-popular Game Narrative Summit, as well as Summits on Smartphone & Tablet Games and Virtual Items, all of which will host specialized sessions on some of the most vital emerging areas in games.
Over the last few weeks, GDC Online organizers have also debuted Main Conference sessions from Riot Games on League of Legends and SOE on EverQuest II, as well as talks from companies including Zynga, CCP, and more. In addition, show organizers have revealed that the show's second annual Game Developers Choice Online Awards will honor Kesmai Corporation co-founders John Taylor and Kelton Flinn with the Online Game Legend Award, and the original EverQuest will be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The social app Dragon Age Online I thought was really neat. A mash up of sim towers kind of setup and a familiar RPG element with your friends who are also playing. I liked that you didn't have to send invites to people who you think might like it or are currently playing this app because they auto added anyone on your list playing it. What killed my interest was the loading assets thing. Not just once but almost every action required a 5-10 sec load.
