The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is the largest annual gathering of professional video game developers, focusing on learning, inspiration, and networking. The event is comprised of an expo, networking events, awards shows such as the Independent Games Festival and the Game Developers Choice Awards, and a variety of tutorials, lectures, and roundtables by industry professionals on game-related topics covering programming, design, audio, production, business and management, and visual arts. A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates computer or video games. ... The Game Developers Conference has annually hosted the Independent Games Festival (IGF) since 1999 to reward innovative games produced by independent video game developers as well as full-time college and high school students. ... The Game Developers Conference has annually hosted the Game Developers Choice Awards presented by the International Game Developers Association for outstanding developers of video game entertainment since 2001. ... // Academia In British academic parlance, a tutorial is a small class of one, or only a few, students, in which the tutor (a professor or other academic staff member) gives individual attention to the students. ... In Japanese pop music, Round Table (officially ROUND TABLE) is a band that produces music mostly for Anime soundtracks. ... A game programmer is a software engineer who primarily develops computer or video games or related software (such as game development tools). ... Game design is the process of designing the content and rules of a game. ...

Outside the San Jose Convention Center during GDC 2004.

Game Developers Conference 2004 at San Jose McEnery Convention Center. ... Game Developers Conference 2004 at San Jose McEnery Convention Center. ...

History

Originally called the Computer Game Developers Conference, the first conference was organized in 1987 by Chris Crawford in his San Jose, California-area living room. About twenty designers attended, including Don Daglow, Brenda Laurel, Brian Moriarty, Gordon Walton, Tim Brengle, and Dave Menconi. The second conference, held that same year at a Holiday Inn at Milpitas, attracted about 150 developers. Later conferences moved between facilities in Santa Clara, San Jose and Long Beach, growing steadily in popularity. In 2005, GDC moved to the new Moscone Center West, in the heart of San Francisco's SOMA district, and reported over 12,000 attendees. GDC returned to San Jose in 2006, reporting over 12,500 attendees, and returned to San Francisco in 2007 -- where the organizers expect it will stay for the foreseeable future. 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Chris Crawford is a noted computer game designer and writer, responsible for a number of important games in the 1980s, for founding The Journal of Computer Game Design and for organizing the Computer Game Developers Conference. ... Nickname: Capital of Silicon Valley Location of San Jose within Santa Clara County, California. ... Don Daglow (born ~1953) is an American computer game and video game designer, programmer and producer. ... Brenda Laurel is a pioneering writer, researcher, designer and entrepeneur in the fields of human-computer interaction, interactive narrative and cultural aspects of technology. ... Brian Moriarty (born 1956) is an American game developer who authored three of the original Infocom interactive fiction titles, Wishbringer (1985), Trinity (1986) and Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendor (1987). ... Gordon Walton at Kesmai in 1998 Gordon Walton, Jr. ... Holiday Inn is a brand name applied to hotels within the InterContinental Hotels Group. ... Location of Milpitas within Santa Clara County, California. ... Official website: http://www. ... Nickname: The International City (on flag), Friendly City (in Latin on citys seal), or the LBC Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates: Country United States State California County Los Angeles County Mayor Bob Foster Area    - City 170. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Colored flags flying high outside the Moscone Convention Center The Moscone Center is San Francisco, Californias largest convention center and exhibition hall. ... Nickname: The City by the Bay; Fog City; The City Location of the City and County of San Francisco, California Coordinates: Country United States of America State California City-County San Francisco  - Mayor Gavin Newsom Area    - City  47 sq mi (122 km²)  - Land  46. ... South of Market or SoMA (South of Market Area) is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. ...

Crawford continued to give the conference keynote address for the first several years of the conference, including the famous "whip" speech in the early 1990s where he punctuated a point about game tuning and player involvement by cracking a bullwhip perilously close to the front row of the audience. This article is very long Some browsers may have difficulty rendering this article. ... A bullwhip is a single-tailed whip, usually made of braided leather, which was originally used as a farmers tool for working with livestock. ...

Crawford also founded The Journal of Computer Game Design in 1987 in parallel to beginning the GDC, and served as publisher and editor of the academic-style journal through 1996.

The CGDC changed its name to "Game Developers Conference" in 1999. The GDC has also hosted the Spotlight Awards from 1997 to 1999, the Independent Games Festival since 1999 and the Game Developers Choice Awards since 2001. GDC is also used for the annual meeting of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... The Spotlight Awards (GDC) was hosted annually by the Game Developers Conference from 1997 to 1999. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Game Developers Conference has annually hosted the Independent Games Festival (IGF) since 1999 to reward innovative games produced by independent video game developers as well as full-time college and high school students. ... The Game Developers Conference has annually hosted the Game Developers Choice Awards presented by the International Game Developers Association for outstanding developers of video game entertainment since 2001. ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is a non-profit organization designed to promote, and strengthen the video game industry, and have computer games recognised as an art form. ...

The Independent Games Festival, is the first and largest competition for independent games, and highlights the innovative achievements of developers ranging in size from individuals building PC titles to studio teams creating console downloadable titles. A pool of judges from the game industry selects the finalists and winners, and the individual creators are named as the recipients of the awards. The IGF is managed and developed by the CMP Game Group, the organizer of GDC. The Game Developers Conference has annually hosted the Independent Games Festival (IGF) since 1999 to reward innovative games produced by independent video game developers as well as full-time college and high school students. ...

The Game Developers Choice Awards is the game industry's only open, peer-based awards show. Any member of the IGDA may nominate games, and then the membership votes on the finalists. As with the IGF, the individual creators are named as the recipients of the awards. Specialty awards such as Lifetime Achievement and First Penguin are determined by the GDCA committee, and all are revealed at the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony at GDC. The IGF and the GDCA are presented back to back, in an awards show produced by the CMP Game Group, typically on the Wednesday of GDC. The Game Developers Conference has annually hosted the Game Developers Choice Awards presented by the International Game Developers Association for outstanding developers of video game entertainment since 2001. ...

The CMP Game Group has added several other events to GDC in recent years. At the GDC Expo, developers display the latest techniques useful in game development. "GDC Mobile," first held in 2002, focuses on developing games for mobile phones. Starting in 2004, GDC partnered with Game Connection to present Game Connection @ GDC, a live matchmaking service for developers and publishers, which in 2007 expanded to include Game Connection Services for outsourcing and other services. Starting in 2006, GDC partnered with Video Games Live to feature their symphonic performance of videogame music as the closing night event. In addition, GDC has hosted a number of conference-wide game experiments designed by GameLab. For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Video Games Live Video Games Live is a concert tour featuring music from a variety of video games, combined with video, light, lasers, and special effects. ... Gamelab is a New York City-based computer game developer. ...

The CMP Game Group has also produced several spinoff events. For example, the first GDC Europe (GDCE) was featured at the European Computer Trade Show (ECTS) in London between August 31 and September 1, 2001. Other GDC-related events include the Serious Games Summit, first held in 2004 as a GDC tutorial, and spun off as a standalone event in 2005, focusing on developing games for practical purposes, such as education, corporate training, military, and health care applications; and the Hollywood and Games Summit in conjunction with The Hollywood Reporter first held in June 2006. Additional events include the Game Advertising Summit, the Game Outsourcing Summit, the Game Career Seminar, GDC Russia, the China Game Summit, GDC London, the London Games Summit, the London Game Career Fair, and many others. In late 2006, the CMP Game Group acquired The Game Initiative, and now produces the Austin Game Developers Conference. The European Computer Trade Show, commonly known as ECTS, was an annual trade show for the European computer and video game industry, which first ran in 1988, with the last event occurring in 2004. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... August 31 is the 243rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (244th in leap years), with 122 days remaining. ... September 1 is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Serious games (SGs) or persuasive games are computer and video games used as persuasion technology or educational technology. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Personnel

Many people work on planning the Game Developers Conference. The executive director since GDC 2005 is Jamil Moledina, who manages the content, production, and business of the event. He is credited with broadening GDC's leadership position, and founding the East Meets West program, the China Game Summit, the Hollywood and Games Summit, the Game Career Seminar, and GDC Prime. The senior conference manager is Meggan Scavio, who manages the speakers, session development, and the GDC advisory board. The content chairs of GDC Mobile, Serious Games Summit, and the Independent Games Festival are Rob Tercek, Ben Sawyer, and Simon Carless respectively. The event is produced by a team within the CMP Game Group, and draws support from an advisory board and several specialized boards, as well as an army of volunteers called conference associates. Notable contributors over GDC's long history include former directors Jennifer Pahlka and Alan Yu who are credited with transforming the GDC from a grassroots gathering to an international brand by expanding GDC's reach into Asia, founding the Game Developers Choice Awards, GDC Europe, Game Executive, GDC Hardcore, Serious Games Summit, Game Marketing and Distribution Conference, GDC Mobile, and the Independent Games Festival, and Game Connection. Other notable former staff include Alex Dunne (founder of the Independent Game Festival), Jennifer Olsen, Susan Marshall, Greg Kerwin, Afton Thatcher, Tim Brengle, and Chris Crawford. Jamil Moledina is a videogame industry event director. ... Simon Carless is a video game industry journalist, editor and game designer. ... The Game Developers Conference has annually hosted the Game Developers Choice Awards presented by the International Game Developers Association for outstanding developers of video game entertainment since 2001. ... The Game Developers Conference has annually hosted the Independent Games Festival (IGF) since 1999 to reward innovative games produced by independent video game developers as well as full-time college and high school students. ... Susan Marshall (born October 17 1958) is an American choreographer and dancer. ... Chris Crawford is a noted computer game designer and writer, responsible for a number of important games in the 1980s, for founding The Journal of Computer Game Design and for organizing the Computer Game Developers Conference. ...

Members of the GDC advisory board (at one time or another) included Jason Rubin, Peter Molyneux, David Perry, Masaya Matsuura, Jez San, Ian Baverstock, Mark Cerny, Chris Hecker, Louis Castle, Doug Church, Ron Gilbert, Alan Yu, Mark DeLoura, Hal Barwood, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Bob Rafei, Elain Hodgson, Laura Fryer, Tommy Tallarico, Cyrus Lum, Dave Menconi, Sara Reeder, Stephen Friedman, Jeff Johannigman, Nicky Robinson, Tim Brengle, Ernest Adams, Susan Lee-Merrow and Anne Westfall. Peter Molyneux OBE (born 1960 in Guildford, Surrey, UK) is a computer game designer and game programmer, responsible for well known God games Populous and Black & White, among others, as well as Business Strategy games such as Theme Park and most recently, The Movies. ... David Perry should not be confused with Dave Perry, co-commentator on UK Channel 4 video game TV show GamesMaster. ... Tommy Tallarico Tommy Tallarico (born on February 18, 1968) is an American video game music composer. ... Anne Westfall is an influentional game programmer of the 1980s. ...

External links

• Game Developers Conference official site
• GDC 2007 News Coverage by GamersCast
• Hollywood and Games Summit official site
• Austin Game Developers Conference official site
• Hints and Tips for San Francisco Convention Travel