GDC 2024 Panel info as well as additional info about games.

[Gamernyc78]

Join Xbox and Microsoft at GDC 2024

Continuing our commitment to support game developers on any platform, anywhere in the world, at every stage of development, by powering their games and empowering their teams.

developer.microsoft.com

As GDC, the world’s largest game developer conference, returns to San Francisco, Microsoft and Xbox will be there to engage and empower developers, publishers, and technology partners across the industry. We are committed to supporting game developers on any platform, anywhere in the world, at every stage of development. Our message is simple: Microsoft and Xbox are here to help power your games and empower your teams.

From March 18 - 22, the Xbox Lobby Lounge in the Moscone Center South can’t be missed – an easy meeting point, and a first step toward learning more about the ID@Xbox publishing program, the Developer Acceleration Program (DAP) for underrepresented creators, Azure cloud gaming services, and anything else developers might need.

GDC features dozens of speakers from across Xbox, Activision, Blizzard, King and Zenimax who will demonstrate groundbreaking in-game innovations and share community-building strategies. Microsoft technology teams, with support from partners, will also host talks that spotlight new tools, software and services that help increase developer velocity, grow player engagement and help creators grow. See below for the Conference programming details.

Xbox is also sponsoring the Independent Games Festival (IGF) and our Xbox Gaming for Everyone employee communities are coming together to host a networking event for underrepresented developers and their allies. We hope you can join us at the G4E event on Thursday March 21st from 11am to 4pm at Minna Gallery (111 Minna St. in San Francisco), located minutes from the Moscone center. To learn more and to register for the event, please read our full GDC 2024 Gaming for Everyone Community Networking Lounge & Scholarship Program announcement.

Monday, March 18​

Skyscraper Zombies: Advancing 'Call of Duty's' Systems for Giant AI
Speaker: Andrew Hoyt (Gameplay Engineer, Treyarch)
Date: Monday, March 18
Time: 3:50 pm - 4:20 pm

Tuesday, March 19​

H2O in H3LL: The Various Forms of Water in Diablo IV
Speaker: Aaron Aikman (Lead Technical Artist, Graphics, Blizzard Entertainment)
Date: Tuesday, March 19
Time: 10:50 am - 11:50 am

The Synergy of Architecture and Structural Engineering in Game Art and Design
Speaker: Joshua Haun (Expert Environment Artist, Activision)
Date: Tuesday, March 19
Time: 10:50 am - 11:50 am

Harvesting 10 Years Of Success: How Farm Heroes Saga Has Super-Served It's Players For A Decade
Speaker: Sabrina Carmona (VP Head of Farm Heroes Saga, King)
Date: Tuesday, March 19
Time: 2:40 pm - 3:40 pm

Audio Summit: How do you make casual games players turn their audio on?
Speaker: Dominique Devoucoux (Head of Audio, King)
Date: Tuesday, March 19
Time: 4:40 pm - 5:10 pm

Wednesday, March 20​

Developing Hi-Fi RUSH "Backwards" and Finding Our Positive Gameplay Loop
Speaker: John Johanas (Game Director, Tango Gameworks)
Date: Wednesday, March 20
Time: 9:00 am - 10:00 am

The First 30 Years of 'Warcraft': The Making of a Game Universe
Speaker: John Hight (Franchise General Manager, Warcraft Franchise, Blizzard Entertainment)
Date: Wednesday, March 20
Time: 9:00 am - 10:00 am

The Pillars of Hell: Achieving the Artistic Vision of Diablo IV
Speaker: John Mueller (Art Director, Blizzard Entertainment)
Date: Wednesday, March 20
Time: 9:00 am - 10:00 am

Sugary Statistics: What we have learned about Candy Crush content after 10 years and over 15,000 levels
Speakers: Jan Wedekind (Head of Central Insights, King) and Xavier Guardiola (Data Science Director, King)
Date: Wednesday, March 20
Time: 9:00 am - 10:00 am

Xbox’s Product Inclusion Framework & Inclusive Growth Doorways
Speaker: Katy Jo Wright (Senior Director, Gaming for Everyone, Microsoft)
Date: Wednesday, March 20
Time: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm

Automated Testing of Shader Code
Speaker: Keith Stockdale (Senior Software Engineer, Rare Ltd)
Date: Wednesday, March 20
Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Diablo IV – Audio Systems Deep Dive “Living Audio”
Speakers: Kris Giampa (Audio Director, Blizzard Entertainment) and Michael Bartnett (Software Engineer, Blizzard Entertainment)
Date: Wednesday, March 20
Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Optimizing Game Development Workflows with Visual Studio and AI
Speakers: David Li (Game Developer Product Manager, Microsoft) and Greg Denton (Principal Product Manager, Microsoft)
Date: Wednesday, March 20
Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

All things Azure & OpenAI for Game Development
Speakers: Jon Kefaloukos (Strategic Account Director Gaming at Azure , Microsoft) and Uthappa Kattera Chengappa (Lead Cloud Solution Architect Gaming at Azure , Microsoft)
Date: Wednesday, March 20
Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

10 Years in Tamriel: Success of The Elder Scrolls
Speaker: Matt Firor (Studio Director / President, ZeniMax Online Studios)
Date: Wednesday, March 20
Time: 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

3D Toon Rendering in Hi-Fi RUSH
Speakers: Kosuke Tanaka (Lead Graphics Programmer, Tango Gameworks) and Takashi Komada (Graphics/Physics Programmer, Tango Gameworks)
Date: Wednesday, March 20
Time: 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

The View From Above: Designing Compelling Quests for 'Diablo IV'
Speaker: Harrison Pink (Senior Quest Designer II, Blizzard Entertainment)
Date: Wednesday, March 20
Time: 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Thursday, March 21​

'Diablo IV': The Art of Open World Sanctuary
Speakers: Mahreen Fatima (Senior Environment Artist, Blizzard Entertainment), Sam Gao (Environment Artist, Blizzard Entertainment), and Justin Whitehead (Associate Material Artist, Environments, Blizzard Entertainment)
Date: Thursday, March 21
Time: 10:00 am - 11:00 am

Levelling Up: How AI's Transformative Role in Level Automation Production Adds Business Value in 'Candy Crush Saga'
Speaker: Anna Hernandelius (Product Director Content, King) and Sahar Asadi (Director of AI Labs, King)
Date: Thursday, March 21
Time: 10:00 am - 11:00 am

Keeping Online Communities Healthy
Speakers: Jennifer Mills-Perov (Principal Product Manager Gaming Trust and Safety, Microsoft) and Ivory Harvey (Senior Technical Program Manager Gaming Trust and Safety, Microsoft)
Date: Thursday, March 21
Time: 11:30 am - 12:30 pm

DirectX State of the Union Featuring Work Graphs and Introducing DirectSR
Speakers: Shawn Hargreaves (Dev Manager, Direct3D, Microsoft), Austin Kinross (PIX Developer Lead, Microsoft), Wessam Bahnassi (Principal Engineer, Developer Technology, Nvidia), and Rob Martin (Fellow Software Engineer, AMD)
Date: Thursday, March 21
Time: 12:45 am - 1:45 pm

Minecraft Players at the Center of the Universe of Big Data
Speaker: Francisco Rius (Head of Data at Mojang Studios)
Date: Thursday, March 21
Time: 12:45 pm - 1:45 pm

MergeBot: Activision's Merge and Resolve Infrastructure
Speaker: Damianos Gkouzkouris (Senior Tools Engineer, Activision)
Date: Thursday, March 21
Time: 3:00 pm - 3:30 pm

How PlayFab Helped Texas Chainsaw Massacre Succeed
Speakers: CJ Williams (Director of Product Management Microsoft Game Creator Services, Microsoft) and Rob Fox (Designer and Producer Gun Interactive, Gun Interactive)
Date: Thursday, March 21
Time: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Operation Innovation: How Xbox Employs Military Talents in Gaming
Speakers: Fiona Cherbak (Lead Talent Program Manager, Xbox Game Studios), iAsia Brown (Senior Producer, Xbox Game Studios Publishing), Lisa Elswick (Vice President, USO Transition Programs , USO), Jenn Panattoni (Head of Xbox Social Impact, Xbox/Microsoft), and Jason Coon (Director of Xbox Safety Operations, Xbox/Microsoft)
Date: Thursday, March 21
Time: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Friday, March 22​

Game Career Seminar: Who Are You? Building Your Profile Outside the Job
Speaker: Ashley Poprik (Writer, High Moon Studios)
Date: Friday, March 22
Time: 10:10 am - 10:40 am

Shipping Diablo IV
Speakers: Michael Bybee (Production Director, Blizzard Entertainment) and Tiffany Wat (Production Director, Blizzard Entertainment)
Date: Friday, March 22
Time: 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm

Building the 'Minecraft' Creator Platform Block-by-Block
Speaker: Kayla Kinnunen (Executive Producer, Mojang Studios)
Date: Friday, March 22
Time: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Embracing Art Performance on 'Diablo IV'
Speaker: Evan Edwards (Senior Technical Artist I, Graphics, Blizzard Entertainment)
Date: Friday, March 22
Time: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Visual Effects Roundtable Day 3
Speaker: Gabriel Boileau (VFX Artist, Activision Blizzard)
Date: Friday, March 22
Time: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

 

[John Elden Ring]

PSA: It's very rare for stuff to be announced at GDC

 

[Gamernyc78]

PSA: It's very rare for stuff to be announced at GDC4

John we know lol but it isn't super rare either. John most of us are enthusiasts, that have seen years of GDC pass by.

They talk about the development behind games and other things, it isn't rare to catch new videos or screens of ganes in development that they talk about like Hellblade 2. It's not about announcements but catching new info or stills on existing games in development now.

 

[Gamernyc78]

There are no big major-publisher keynote scheduled, so don't look for big stuff. (Nothing is on the official docket where Sony would be likely introduce its PS5 Pro or anything like that.) Also, most of the individual company sessions don't get streamed, so even if you're fascinated by "3D Toon Rendering in Hi-Fi RUSH", presentations like this are generally private only. So mostly, this thread is for the Unreal event tomorrow (where hopefully UE5.4 and other new developments will be showcased,) but there are usually a few things which entice game players to learn about upcoming tech. Here's some highlights I've found:

EPIC GAMES
State of Unreal : March 20 @ 9:30 AM PDT. This is likely the main one to not miss, as the Unreal Engine presentations have been the GDC highlight since 2020. (Whether UE5 has lived up to the promises is its own discussion, but it's always cool to see what Epic is cooking.) The next version Unreal Engine will likely be the spotlighted tech, and UEFN might also be in the mix. UE 5.4 roadmap features are not as cool on paper as previous events where Lumen and Nanite and PCG dropped jaws, but cool-shit or not, the stability and performance improvements worked on for UE5.3 and 5.4 should actually help the games made with it live up to the potential we've been wanting since UE5 was unveiled.

Unreal Engine 5.4 Sneak Peek : March 20 @ 11 AM PDT & 1 PM PST & March 21 @ 10:30 AM. More chances to see what improvements Unreal will offer developers this year. Note that there are multiple sessions, for whatever reason.

Beyond Fortnite: Taking Your UEFN Experience to the Next Level : March 20 @ 12 PM PDT. UEFN is the hobbyist version of UE included in Fortnite. If the full-fledged UE is too much to handle but you've been interested in making your own games, check out this session to get started making the game of your "Dreams"...

Pushing Next-Gen Real-Time Technology : March 20 @ 12:30 PM PDT. This is probably going to be too techie-talk for most of us, but it could have a cool demo inside it?

UEFN Roadmap : March 20 @ 2PM. More about UEFN, the hobbyist version of UE included in Fortnite.

Beyond Fortnite: Taking Your UEFN Experience to the Next Level : March 20 @ 3 PM. Even more bout UEFN, the hobbyist version of UE included in Fortnite.

There are other Unreal events, but these are the ones likely to pique a gamer's curiosity. Unlike most GDC conferences, Unreal shares a lot of its event streams to the public, so you might be interested to dive in deeper if you like engine and tech chat. Full schedule is here:
UNITY
The AI Revolution: An Expert-led Discussion on Generative AI's Potential in Gaming : March 20 @ 12:30PM PDT. (May not stream?) Don't expect any cool game demos, but if they do post this to the public, this may be a comprehensive state of AI chat.

Mecha BREAK’s Virtual Geometry : March 21 @ 4PM. I doubt this will stream, but I put this on because this game by Seasun Games is one of a few attempts to bring Nanite-type mesh handling to Unity Engine. It's not an amazing result IMO, but you can see what they're up to in the 2023 game trailer. Coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox.

Unity has its own Unite events where it usually unveils major new iterations, and they unveiled their major Unity 6 update last November, which GAF talked about here and saw video of already. None of the scheduled events hit at anything awesome like the Enemies demo, not even a scheduled Ziva Dynamics showcase. Plus, Unity is in a spot of "rebuilding" after a rough 2023.
https://unityatgdc2024.splashthat.com/
NVIDIA
Advances in Ray Tracing Developer Tools : March 20 @ 12:30 PM PDT. (Might not stream?) This will be developer-focused in talks about Shader Debugger and Shader Profiler tools, but maybe there will be eye candy here?

(Also see the GTC AI conference presentation that Jensen Huang did on the 18th of "announcements on AI advances that are shaping our future". Video and GAF Thread already available)

AMD
Mesh Shaders in AMD RDNA 3 Architecture : March 20 @ 9AM PDT. (Might not stream?)For all those been wondering why mesh/primitive shaders / virtualized geometry hasn't revolutionized game graphics, this might outline the future of this exciting approach to graphic rendering... for future-gen platforms.

High Performance Rendering in Snowdrop Using AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 3 : March 20 @ 10:30 AM. (Might not stream?) Massive's Snowdrop engine has been particularly strong at pulling out the power of current-gen consoles, with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora being one of the most impressive and advanced games on the market, and Star Wars Outlaws stunning all the same in its trailer debut. Probably nothing new of Star Wars or other games will be in this showing, but given that both Snowdrop games and AMD FidelityFX are on all current platforms, this might be informative if you can catch it.

Global Illumination With AMD FidelityFX Brixelizer : March 20 @ 2PM. (Might not stream?) Brixelizer is AMD's tech to optimize Global Illumination or Ambient Occlusion for RT-quality effects without murdering framerate via real-time sparse distance fields (SDFs). So, probably a techie talk, but maybe there'd be eye candy?

INDUSTRY
State Of The Game Industry: Devs Discuss Layoffs, Generative AI, And More : March 18th (Cormack12 already put together a helpful thread about this)

Nintendo has post-mort panels scheduled for Zelda: TotK and Super Mario Wonder, but neither of these will be public. Sony and Xbox panels on the schedule all look to be private and mostly of the deep-dive post-mort variety.


.

 

[Gamernyc78]

Just bumping this up since it's occurring in these days. Yes don't expect nothing major but we did get the transformitive AL info and thread I posted from there.

 

[Yurinka]

These are a ton of talks from MS and many of them very interesting.

Nice to see Jan from King (plus other people from their local office), in the past he was once my direct boss. Nice guy, we had a lot of fun party rocking in local clubs back in the time. I keep several secrets from wild parties we had back then xDD

 

[Gamernyc78]

PSA: It's very rare for stuff to be announced at GDC

To my point. As I said we always get a few gd tidbits from GDC Marvel 1943 official showing and announcement. Now you know for next year

And this isn't the only important Gane related stuff we learned about.

 

[Gamernyc78]

Building Baldur's Gate 3's memorable characters was all about forming trust in performance capture​

Building Baldur's Gate 3's memorable characters was all about forming trust in performance capture

Baldur's Gate 3's performance director Greg Lidstone explained how they built trust with their actors, including having an intimacy coordinator on the team.

www.gamedeveloper.com

 

[Cool hand luke]

These are a ton of talks from MS and many of them very interesting.

Nice to see Jan from King (plus other people from their local office), in the past he was once my direct boss. Nice guy, we had a lot of fun party rocking in local clubs back in the time. I keep several secrets from wild parties we had back then xDD

Spill it!

 

[Yurinka]

Spill it!

Nah. But as fun fact, in some games I did work with him was also published on the Spil Games website, which back then was important for casual browser games.