GDC Online has unveiled several new sessions for the upcoming October show, this week featuring a web-focused talk from Angry Birds developer Rovio, a look at the life on an MMO producer, and a panel on top practices for community management.
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 show's Production track, Rovio's Peter Vesterbacka and Serdar Soganci and Google's Seth Ladd will host "More Birds, More Pigs: Bringing Angry Birds to the Web," which will offer an in-depth look at the motivations, technologies, and challenges of bringing the popular Angry Birds to a browser. The speakers will also provide a more general overview of how to most efficiently translate a mobile title to the web.
- Elsewhere in the Production track, Jeremy Gaffney, founder of Lord of the Rings Online's Turbine Inc. and current executive producer at WildStar developer Carbine Studios, will host "My Producer Really Sucks: Inside the Twisted Minds of MMO Producers." In this session, Gaffney will point out the production challenges involved in big-budget MMO development, offering tips on how to deal with a large team and manage a studio through an online game's launch.
- Over in the Customer Experience track, a panel of community managers will discuss the key tenets of their profession in "Community Management Best Practices from the Console Side." Sega's Kellie Parker, ASTRO Gaming's Stan Press, and Sony's Cade Peterson will all draw from their experience to answer audience questions and outline the best ways to connect with customers, leverage social media, deal with crises, and more.
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.
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.
Event organizers would also like to point out that the GDC Online caption contest will run through August 28 on the show's official Facebook page. Everyone is eligible to submit captions, and winners will receive an All-Access Pass to GDC Online 2011 -- see the contest page for more details. As a reminder, discounted early registration pricing for GDC Online passes will remain in effect until September 1.
The title of this article misled me to believe there would be an Angry Birds MMO! Doesn't seem too far fetched given the shameless cash cow this is become. They are selling Angry Birds stuffed toys at Fry's Electronics for $10-$50 a pop!
