All Sessions
9:30 - 10:30, Wednesday, 30 July
CONFERENCE KEYNOTE
BioShock and Awe: Immersing the Gamer in an Alternate World Without Drowning Out the Gameplay
Ken Levine, Studio Founder and Creative Director
Nate Wells, Lead Technical Artist
Chris Kline, Technical Director and Lead Programmer and
Bill Gardner, Level Designer, 2K Boston Studio
The most critically-lauded release of 2007, 2K Boston and 2k Australias BioShock won awards and rave reviews for its rich plot and atmosphere that plunges the player into the fully-realised dystopia of Rapture, and the moral choices that affect how the story ends. Praised as a game that touches emotions others barely register, how did BioShock's development team achieve all this without compromising the ever-cardinal gameplay? Develop is proud to welcome 2k Bostons four key minds behind BioShock Studio Founder and Creative Director Ken Levine, Lead Technical Artist (and creator of the Big Daddy!) Nate Wells, Technical Director and Lead Programmer Chris Kline and Level Designer Bill Gardner to Brighton for a unique interview on the European stage.
11:00 - 12:00, Wednesday, 30 July
Engineering Mood and Atmosphere with Light
Dr. Chris Doran & Ivan Pedersen, Geomerics
Lighting is universally recognised as one of the key tools for controlling mood and atmosphere in film. In this talk Chris Doran and Ivan Pedersen will discuss how techniques from film cinematography can be applied in games. Whether you are using entirely pre-baked static lighting, or are including dynamic lighting effects at run-time, light, shadow and colour are the main tools for controlling mood in a virtual world. In the past, the technical limitations imposed by hardware have forced developers into a series of uneasy compromises when it comes to lighting their games. But with the arrival of the PS3 and Xbox360 we finally have enough power at our disposal to compute far more compelling and dynamic lighting models. So far, the creative possibilities that this brings are not being fully exploited in games. In this talk we will describe some of the main techniques used in film-making, from flashing lights in corridors in Alien, to the coloured lights of Blade Runner, through to the stark mood lighting of film noire. In each case we will show a simple real-time demo of the same effect, powered by the Enlighten engine. Our goal is to show that with skilful use of lighting, it is possible to create worlds which hang together in a coherent way, and simultaneously transmit a mood to the player. Whether this is used to transmit a feeling of foreboding, calmness, exhilaration or fun is then down to the designer.
ART & ANIMATION SESSION
11:00 - 12:00, Wednesday, 30 July
BUSINESS KEYNOTE
The Broadening Imperative
Shannon Loftis, Microsoft
As the games industry continues to grow and see record sales, its also been challenged to woo new audiences beyond the core through exclusive and increasingly broader and innovative content. As the first-party developer for Xbox 360, MGS has led the charge in investing in broadening content from leading developers to help expand the market for its console, as well as well-known franchises such as Scene It?, Viva Piata and Banjo, underscore the companys commitment to developing content that appeals to a wider swath of consumers and invites even non-gamers to jump in. Shannon Loftis, Director for European Production for Microsoft Game Studios, will speak the importance of broadening content to the continued growth and expansion of the games industry, particularly in Europe.
BUSINESS KEYNOTE
11:00 - 12:00, Wednesday, 30 July
Creatives and How to Get the Best Out of Them
Paul Barnett, Electronic Arts
What are creative people, how do you spot them, what are they like? The pitfalls and problems they cause, the challenges and trouble they generate. How to make them happy and productive, how to focus them to help you make money rather than cause chaos. How to communicate with them and understand what they are saying. The ten things you need to remember about them.
PRODUCION SESSION
11:00 - 12:00, Wednesday, 30 July
How To Make Children Cry
Jonathan Smith, Traveller's Tales
Children love games more than you do. Youve got other things to think about in your life work; responsibilities; a generalized gnawing sense of disappointment in the world but nothing fills the head of a child more completely than play. These modern games, youve seen them all before, and effortlessly draw comparisons with 8-bit precedents - but theyre having fresh experiences with every button press, playing games theyll remember for the rest of their lives. Children love games but games dont love them back. In fact, it often seems that games set out deliberately to make children cry. Why is this? And what classic techniques can you utilize to ensure that your games, like so many others, upset and frustrate young players? Drawing upon video interviews with a range of children, and case studies from his work on LEGO games, Jonathan Smith reveals all these secrets and more
DESIGN SESSION
11:00 - 12:00, Wednesday, 30 July
Harnessing the Performance of Multiple GPUs
Jon Story, Developer Relations Engineer, AMD GmbH
It is clear that in order to accelerate graphics processing, we need to take advantage of systems that come equipped with multiple GPU's. One of the most effective ways to do this is through a technique called Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR). In fact graphics drivers tend to try and implement AFR by default, when multiple GPU's are detected. Unfortunately many applications behave in a way that is simply not compatible with this technique. This session will highlight the most common causes of this AFR unfriendly behavior, and present the recommended solution.
CODING SPONSORED SESSION
12:00-13:00, Wednesday, 30 July
One Life Left
Ste Curran, Ann Scantlebury
One Life Left is Britain's Favourite Gaming Radio Show! It's also still, seventy-odd episodes in, Europe's only Gaming Radio Show and continues to regularly top the iTunes gaming podcast rankings, makings friends and enemies worldwide. It's presented by Ste Curran, Simon Byron and News Fox Ann Scantlebury, and it's back for its third appearance at the Develop conference, featuring news, features, reviews, special guests and competitions. One Life Left's session promises not just to be literally broadcastable but literally broadcasted, live on Eurogamer.Net.
WORLD VISION SESSION
13:30 - 14:30, Wednesday, 30 July
Heavenly Sword Cinematics: Real Emotion in Real-Time
Stuart Adcock, Ninja Theory
Ninja Theory, in collaboration with Weta Digital and Andy Serkis, pioneered the use of performance capture in real time and set new benchmarks for emotionally engaging characters. This talk will cover the journey and the development of the facial system used on Heavenly Sword, why Ninja Theory chose to implement that system, how they created and setup the digital faces and the benefits of recycling assets. It will also cover advanced topics on how to achieve an extra layer of realism and emotion by refining shapes, shaders and manipulating motion capture data. Takeaway Attendees will be exposed to the process of setting up a face for motion capture and hopefully leave with a good understanding of how to implement a similar system, including which areas an artist should focus on and which areas can benefit from recycling. Intended Audience Technical Artists and Animators interested in facial setups and motion capture.
ART & ANIMATION SESSION
13:30 - 14:30, Wednesday, 30 July
A Complete XBox 360 GPU Particle System: Technology & Pipeline
Simon Scarle & Sebastian Sylvan, Rare
We describe and demonstrate how to simulate a particle system entirely on the GPU using memory export. This frees up the CPU to perform other tasks, and eliminates synchronisation issues. The simulation includes all the main features required of a particle system, such as; random emission, turbulence, collision detection / response, and distributed sorting for non-commutative rendering modes (e.g. alpha blending for dust and smoke).,,This forms the base technology for a highly customizable GPU particle system pipeline, which utilises a building block approach to construct the requisite simulation shaders. We also cover particle rendering, including geometry amplification for non-point sprite primitives, as well as interfacing simulation variables with rendering. Finally, we give an over view of the GPU particle pipeline: art package interface, interim format, final asset and instance data.
CODING SESSION
13:30 - 14:30, Wednesday, 30 July
DESIGN KEYNOTE
Why the Future is Brighter than Ever
David Braben, Frontier
It's not just the rise in processing power of the fifth generation machines that is presenting a great opportunity, but the rise of the online community. People are more aware than ever about which games are good and which are not because of the inexorable rise of online reviews. This in turn brings increased power to good developers, as increasingly mediocre games are much harder to gloss over with an expensive marketing campaign or film license. This, together with the rise in online distribution, and the year-on-year growth of the industry as a whole means there has never been a better time to be in development. Company Founder and industry legend David Braben will explain Frontier's philosophy behind the production of contrasting titles like The Outsider and LostWinds, and look at key factors behind bringing LostWinds to market.
DESIGN KEYNOTE
13:30 - 14:30, Wednesday, 30 July
Agile Project Management in Game Development: Experiences Shared from Iceland and 16 Other Countries
Patric Palm, Hansoft & Noah Ward, CCP
Agile development methods, such as SCRUM and eXtreme Programming (XP), are becoming increasingly popular in game development. The iterative and incremental nature of Agile fits well with game development providing many opportunities to increase studio productivity. However, there are also challenges attached when trying to scale Agile to the size and specifics of game development. The session will describe the case of how CCP implemented an Agile development philosophy across its large organization with sites on three continents. Experiences from CCP and many other Agile implementations will be shared on to how to address the most common challenges successfully. The session will begin with a summary of the conceptual framework of agile project management.
PRODUCTION SESSION
13:30 - 14:30, Wednesday, 30 July
Social Games: Another Fad or the Next Big Thing in Video Games?
Kristian Segerstrale, Playfish
In less than a year, games on social networks have grown from nothing into a games category that reaches 100 million consumers. The games are instantly accessible, spread virally and utilize game mechanics that were never possible on other platforms. This presentation from one of the leading social games publishers will use first hand data and examples of top-10 social games on Facebook to talk about lessons learned and outline the opportunies and pitfalls that this new market presents for the traditional games industry.
BUSINESS SESSION
13:30 - 14:30, Wednesday, 30 July
Ultimate Graphics Performance for DirectX 10 Hardware
Nicolas Thibieroz - Developer Relations, AMD Graphics Products Group
Getting the ultimate graphics performance from DirectX 10 and the latest generation hardware can be an exciting and demanding challenge. Nick uses his extensive experience of recent games technology to show some of the key pivotal decisions which can lead to ultimate graphics performance. INTENDED AUDIENCE This session is intended for graphics and engine programmers with an interest in achieving high performance in their current and upcoming games. Anyone wishing to learn more about the latest iteration of the DirectX API and graphic hardware will also benefit from attending this session. TAKE AWAY After attending this session the audience will have learned the knowledge required to make key decisions shaping their graphic engine for optimized performance and API usage on all graphic hardware.
CODING SPONSORED SESSION
15:00 - 16:00, Wednesday, 30 July
At Least We Aren't Doing That: Finding and Fixing Real Life Next Gen Performance Mistakes
Allan Murphy, Microsoft
Everyone is in the same boat, facing similar performance issues. This presentation will draw on the unique perspective of Microsoft's XDC proactive engineering group to present an across the board survey of the performance issues even the very best developers run into, how you can find those problems, and how you can fix them. Applicable primarily to Xbox360, but translating well to PS3 and even high end PC, this set of mini-case studies forms a next-gen post-mortem which will help developers decide where to focus optimisation effort, and ultimately, reassure you're going the right way.
CODING SESSION
15:00 - 16:00, Wednesday, 30 July
Striking Chords
Ciaran Walsh, Zoe Mode
Music is a medium with uniquely universal appeal, transcending age, gender and language. Increasingly gamers and the games industry are realizing that music is not just a backdrop, but can be at the heart of new kinds of gaming experience. Striking Chords is an exploration of the new world of music gaming, an analysis of why people connect so viscerally with these experiences, and a discussion of the techniques game creators can use to tap into that universal appeal.
DESIGN SESSION
15:00 - 16:00, Wednesday, 30 July
Total Focussed Development: The Black Rock Way
Jason Avent & Alice Guy, Black Rock Studios
In a former life as part of the Climax Group, we were independent developers serving multiple publishers trying to protect ever slimmer margins. We'd often be at the whim of External Producers and steered by Publishers who were ever-conscious of competitive products. Feature lists would get quickly bloated as we all frantically rushed to keep up with not just the Joneses but also the Yamauchi's and the Hausers! Quality would inevitably suffer as a result. When we were bought by Disney, we changed our name to Black Rock Studio. We took the opportunity to change alot of other things too. We now run our own brand of Agile Development incorporating 'Lean' production techniques. We're far from traditional now. We've reorganised our team structures and removed our dependance on long working hours. By far the most important change though is that we've learned how to say 'no' and that focus is king. Focus is absolutely key to making the right decisions about features, team structures and even team-members if you're going to make quality games on time. We'd argue that focus goes absolutely hand-in-hand with agile development. We'll explain why and how we implemented Agile in the studio for teams of 70+ developers and show that Agile and Lean development techniques have produced excellent results in our new, original multi-platform game -PURE.
PRODUCTION SESSION
15:00 - 16:00, Wednesday, 30 July
Media Molecule: The Experiment Further Along
Alex Evans, Media Molecule
Media Molecule publicly unveiled their development and design ethos at GDC 2007. Their first game Little Big Planet was announced for PS3 at the same time. Now with the game nearing completion and due for release this autumn, founders Alex Evans and Mark Healey will take a look at what they said back then and explain if it actually worked out! Did they fulfil their ambition to maintain a lean team whilst creating a very ambitious full price game? Was it harder than they expected? What went right and what went wrong? Do they still believe a small team can create a triple a game in a comparatively short time frame? This session will take a frank and honest look at Media Molecule today and how the development of Little Big Planet unfolded.
BUSINESS SESSION
15:00 - 16:00, Wednesday, 30 July
Transforming Real Locations into a Virtual World
Beverly Bright, Bizarre Creations
Making a digital version of a real world location should be pretty straightforward shouldn’t it? Actually there are plenty of pitfalls for the uninitiated. This presentation describes how Bizarre Creations approaches the task, from planning to execution. Here is your opportunity to find out how we train our artists to get it right.
ART & ANIMATION
15:00 - 16:00, Wednesday, 30 July
Design Strategically: Is your game missing the market?
Phil Mochan, CEO and Founder of Digital Governance
Computer games, MMO's and virtual worlds are the subject of much progressive discussion: how should game-play mechanics develop? How will economic components be integrated enjoyably? What revenue models will be accepted by users? In this session we take it a level higher and discuss the connection of market channels with game design, we examine the complete customer journey, and we look at key architectural changes that could expand the market.
DESIGN SPONSORED SESSION
16:30 - 17:30, Wednesday, 30 July
Creating Drama From Script to Gameplay
Tameem Antoniades, Ninja Theory
In Heavenly Sword, Ninja Theory, Weta Digital and Andy Serkis collaborated to bring performance capture to video games for the first time. With the simultaneous voice, body and facial capture for up to five actors, the techniques pioneered by that collaboration are now being used in major Hollywood movies. Using Heavenly Sword as an example, this session covers the creative process from initial story and script development, through to casting, rehearsals, filming, editing and the subsequent work required to create the final in-game real-time cutscenes. The session is especially geared for designers, creative directors, directors, producers and writers.
ART & ANIMATION SESSION
16:30 - 17:30, Wednesday, 30 July
Why We Sold Our Studio and Why We Didn't: A Candid Discussion About Selling Up or Staying Free
Moderator: Ed Fear, Intent Media; Sarah Chudley, Bizarre Creations; Ian Baverstock, Kuju Entertainment; Paul Wedgwood, Splash Damage
A candid discussion about selling up or staying free of three of the top UK developers explore the pressures and opportunities that can lead to agreeing to a studios acquisition. Sarah Chudley of Bizarre Creations explains why the Liverpool-based company fell for the charms of Activision, while Ian Baverstock, CEO of multi-site Kuju and Paul Wedgwood make the case for staying independent. After many years in development, both should have an idea about the potential pitfalls in the others' strategy!
BUSINESS SESSION
16:30 - 17:30, Wednesday, 30 July
Elephant in a Shoe Box
Craig Wright, Sumo Digital
This session will comprise of practical advice and tips for developers producing 'ports' of titles and for multiple platform development. It will cover common problems faced when moving games from more powerful to less powerful platforms, but should also be of interest to developers wanting to make their titles and engines easier to migrate to other platforms. The bulk of the talk will consist of real-world examples of design patterns, code layout techniques and approaches that, based on experience, can be used to simplify to coding effort required to build and maintain a cross-platform codebase. The talk will cover topics such as static versus dynamic polymorphism, testing procedures, maths library design and low-level components such as particle systems.
CODING SESSION
16:30 - 17:30, Wednesday, 30 July
Talking Games
Matthew Bellows, Vivox
Speech is the most natural form of human communication - the first we develop and the most prevalent and personal one we use throughout our lives. But as an interface into our digital lives, speech is shockingly absent. This talk will span the creative, technical and experiential aspects of speech from both gamers and game designers points of view. What are the dynamics of a voice-powered community compared with a text-centric one? How does voice work for and against the design efforts of the XBox community, Team Fortress 2, Second Life and WoW? And how will voice interfaces change the casual, social games that are expanding our market? This talk will present a deep dive into the emerging role of voice as an interface for digital community and games.
DESIGN SESSION
16:30 - 17:30, Wednesday, 30 July
Secrets, Exclusives & Lies
Ste Curran, Zoe Mode
Games Journalism vs Game Development: FIGHT! Sell-out Ste Curran looks at games journalism, games development, the line that separates the two and what happens when you stumble across it. How do journalists think games get made, and what do game developers really think goes on inside games magazines? Features real life examples of past incompetence from the speaker's personal history and working examples from veterans either side of the battle line.
WORLD VISION SESSION
9:10 - 9:30, Thursday, 31 July
The Audio Track Theme: Welcome & Introduction John Broomhall, Conference Chair – Audio Track, Columnist – Develop Magazine & Independent Audio Director /h2>
AUDIO SESSION
9:30 - 10:00, Thursday, 31 July
Can You Hear Us Now? Dolbys New Voice Solution For Online Games
Paul Boustead,Director, Interactive Voice Technology, Online Game Technology Group, Dolby Australia
As social interaction becomes an important part of online games and virtual worlds, Dolby Laboratories remains committed to creating solutions that will enhance the end-user experience. This session will explore Dolbys exciting new voice solution for online games that delivers a clear, intelligible, realistic experience.
AUDIO SESSION
9:30 - 10:30, Thursday, 31 July
Movies Aren't our Friends: A Call to use Popular Culture and its Study as Tools for Game Development
Matt Southern, Evolution
There has never been a mainstream videogame. After 30 years of existence we stand poised to start truly delivering them, but only if we stop envying movies and play to our true strengths. This session is about identifying those strengths and using other forms of culture as tools to improve what we do. It uses scholarly forms of understanding popular culture, and in doing so tries to argue that academic theorists and researchers - long stereotyped as being insular and irrelevant - can help us head towards becoming the dominant form of art and entertainment in this century that we all know we can be. Scholars are our friendsmovies arent.
DESIGN SESSION
9:30 - 10:30, Thursday, 31 July
New Revenue Streams Showcase
Jon Jordan, Pocket Gamer (Moderator), Ed Bartlett, IGW, David Miller, Double Fusion, Antoine Doumenc, Nokia; Sulka Haro, Sulake
In-game advertising, microtransactions, product placement, subscriptions: Developers hear lots of new ways to make money from games these days. But which method works when, and are the revenues anything to email home about? Four panellists pitch their revenue stream of choice.
BUSINESS SESSION
9:30 - 10:30, Thursday, 31 July
Snakes!: Implementing Python in your Game Engine
Doug Wolff & David Hawes, Eutechnyx
This lecture shows how we integrated the stackless flavour of the powerful scripting language python into our game engine. It discusses issues with scripting in general, Python, and finally stackless Python. It covers how we were able to control performance and memory costs on next-gen hardware whilst still running large numbers of agents in a large game world. It also includes the production benefits of this approach.
CODING SESSION
9:30 - 10:30, Thursday, 31 July
Sticking Atmospheric Scattering Where the Sun Don't Shine
Damiano Iannetta, Rare
High definition gaming demands high quality rendering and the stunning visuals that real-time atmospheric scattering provides can be extremely breathtaking, when done right. While the mathematical theory isn't the heaviest, making the jump to an artist friendly, configurable and expandable system can be a much more testing process. In this session, Damiano describes his experiences implementing real-time atmospheric scattering at Rare the nuances of implementation, creating a robust system, delivering a usable interface to artists and, with an understanding of what the scattering equations are actually doing, how to abuse the maths to extend the effect further.
CODING SESSION
9:30 - 10:30, Thursday, 31 July
PRODUCTION KEYNOTE
Working Hard and Having Fun: How Naughty Dog Made Uncharted: Drakes Fortune
Richard Lemarchand, Naughty Dog
Brace yourself for a rollicking ride as Uncharted: Drakes Fortune lead game designer Richard Lemarchand dishes the dirt about the way that California-based Naughty Dog develops their games. Uncharted was Naughty Dogs first game for the PlayStation 3 and presented a unique set of challenges to the developer of the smash-hit Jak and Daxter series. Using examples from the development of Uncharted, Lemarchand will describe the fast, collaborative, iterative way that things get done at the Dog and how the studio nearly doubled its size without losing its company culture. Hell also describe the cornerstones of the Naughty Dog development philosophy which include a strong focus on pre-production, recognizing the differences between macro and micro design, embracing change, playtesting, and lots and lots of elbow grease. Naughty Dog is famous for their flat, un-bureaucratic studio structure, open and honest team communication and the fact that theyve never missed a deadline, despite not having anyone at the studio with the job title of producer. This talk will be of interest to anyone involved or interested in character-action video game production and design who wants practical examples of ways to optimize the game creation process.
Idea Takeaway: The takeaway from this talk will include practical design and production methods based on honesty and hard work that foster both individual contribution and team strength. Some of the lessons learned by the Uncharted team during the course of their first great adventure into PlayStation 3 territory will be used to highlight the differences between preproduction and full production, and to show how staying focused on your goals helps to ensure that you ship a great game.
PRODUCTION KEYNOTE
10:00 - 10:50, Thursday, 31 July
Welcome To Our World 2008 - A Rare Insight To Rare's Celebrated Audio Department's Inner Workings
The Rare Audio Team: Robin Beanland, Dave Wise, Steve Burke
From Conkers Bad Fur Day through Donkey Kong Country and Banjo Kazoonie to Kameo, Rare's stunning softography features some awesome audio. In a develop coup, the award-winning audio team discuss their overall approach to creating videogame music, sound and dialogue covering audio design, scheduling and resourcing, technical implementation, realising creativity and delivering humour effectively.
AUDIO SESSION
11:00 - 12:00, Thursday, 31 July
CODING KEYNOTE
Halo AI Retrospective: Eight Years of Work on 30 Seconds of Fun
Damian Isla, Bungie Software
A look back on the last 8 years (?!) of AI development on the Halo trilogy. A lot has changed in the game industry since "Halo: Combat Evolved" came out on the original Xbox. What has changed between then and now? How has our AI design and implementation evolved in that time? Where was the dream achieved and the promise delivered, and where did we fall flat on our face? What were the series' overall contributions to the field? Lastly, the fight is finished, but the million-dollar question were left with is: where does (Bungie) AI go from here?
CODING KEYNOTE
11:00 - 12:00, Thursday, 31 July
What is PLAY?
Tatsuya Suzuki, Sony Computer Entertainment Japan & Jun Fukiji, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
What are the differences between the games now and then? What in the first place 'Play'? The media artist and the game developer from an innovative puzzle game Echochrome will talk about what part of the game they believe the developers should use their strength on and what part they should have courage to cut off. The presentation will also include the chemistry made out of cross-industrial collaboration and the idea of 'online canvas'.
DESIGN SESSION
11:00 - 12:00, Thursday, 31 July
Secrets of Process Excellence: The Latest Evidence from Industry Leaders
Jonathan Sapsed, Juan Mateos-Garcia, Andrew Grantham, CENTRIM, University of Brighton
This session reports on the findings of a 2-year research project that has investigated the balance between creativity and formal processes. In partnership with 8 companies 4 of which are former Develop Award winners and nominees, the session will highlight the typical 'Hot Spots' (problem areas) and 'Cool Spots' (areas of creativity and excellence) that need special attention. Drawing on the experience of the company partners, the session will show how these Hot Spots and Cool Spots can be anticipated and managed. The objective of the project is to develop a prototype methodology to help the industry upgrade collectively.
PRODUCTION SESSION
11:00 - 12:00, Thursday, 31 July
The Truth About Developing Video Games on Time
Andrew Eades, Relentless Software
When you gather together a bunch of industry veterans who have collectively contributed to the production of 100s of video games including annual stalwarts such as Madden, FIFA etc, youd expect them to be able to agree on how long it takes to make a video game. At GDC earlier this year, I was at such a meeting of minds and the conclusion was that nobody knew; it was impossible to know and I was daft to think that we should have figured it out by now. So in this session, I will investigate the truth about making games on time.
BUSINESS SESSION
11:00 - 11:40, Thursday, 31 July
Audio For Multiplayer & Beyond - Mixing Case Studies From Battlefield: Bad Company & Frostbite
David Moellerstedt, Head Of Audio, DICE
With player environments allowing up to 24 protagonists to blast each other with a variety of noisy weaponry, cacophony is always a clear and present danger. In an enlightening look at his teams work, Mllerstedt will draw on examples from Battlefield: Bad Company and also Frostbite to explain their approach to logically selecting and balancing the loudest sounds for each player, the solutions used to deal with perceived loudness generally including how to portray extremely loud sounds like explosions and gunshots at a quiet listening level and also thoughts on making game audio translate effectively to all consumer playback environments.
AUDIO SESSION
11:00 - 12:00, Thursday, 31 July
Before Pixels and Polygons: Using Traditional Art Techniques to Guide Development
Cumron Ashtiani, Midway Newcastle
Cumron Ashtiani, studio Art Director at Midway, talks about the use of traditional art techniques to guide the creative development of games.,Starting with initial concept, mood sheets and architectural design through to illustrating key mission moments and special FX using techniques such as paintovers and video reference to guide the artists and designers during production.,This talk is designed to help concept artists, lead artists and art directors share and maintain the project vision with their colleagues and teams.,,This talk is aimed at anyone who is interested in art direction and conceptual design.
ART & ANIMATION SESSION
12:00 - 12:30, Thursday, 31 July
The Deaf Leading The Blind. Understanding Why Our Clients Care Less About Our Work Than We Do Is The Key To Making Them Care More
Ciaran Walsh, Audio Director, Zoe Mode
Audio developers often feel that their work is undervalued by their clients - producers, publishers, the press and even the public. In a candid and thought-provoking session, Ciaran Walsh explores the disconnect between the visual culture of games and the audio community's desire to be taken seriously.
AUDIO SESSION
12:00 - 13:00, Thursday, 31 July
The Opinion Jam 3.0
Ste Curran, Zoe Mode
Ten industry luminaries railing against the system, three minutes apiece, barely competent hosts and a rowdy crowd fired up by the crisp sea air and the thought of booze: welcome to The Opinon Jam, where you're all devil's advocates and the cowering competitor at the front is just another fool begging for destruction. Ste Curran leads the baying mob. Previous winners: Katie Ellwood vs Air Conditioning; Ellie Gibson vs Women in Games. Who's next?
DESIGN SESSION
12:40 - 13:20, Thursday, 31 July
Let There Be Life: Conveying Emotion & Characterisation Through Audio
Adele Cutting, Electronic Arts
Cutting will examine the audio teams relationship with the script and scriptwriter, reflecting on her critically acclaimed work on EAs Harry Potter videogame series. She will discuss the space required to create emotion together the role of minor characters and how their reactions to main characters can be managed and deployed effectively. Exploring character development - including the use of musical themes and signature sound FX - she will also look at how animators and audio artists can work together to bring incidental characters to life.
AUDIO SESSION
13:00 - 14:00, Thursday, 31 July
ART KEYNOTE
Framestore and The Golden Compass: The Tools and Techniques of Visual Effects
Andy Lomas, Framestore
Are we really seeing a convergence between games and film? A look the tools and techniques used at Framestore for their Oscar and BAFTA winning visual effects work on The Golden Compass.
ART & ANIMATION KEYNOTE
13:00 - 14:00, Thursday, 31 July
Game Censorship in Britain: What Really Happened with Manhunt 2, and Why Your Game Could be Next
Vincent Scheurer, Sarassin LLP
This lecture describes how Manhunt 2 came to be banned in the UK, and the litigation that followed. In particular, it focuses on the specific reasons used by the BBFC to justify the ban. The lecture explains why this case has very serious ramifications for all games developers, and why other games are vulnerable to being banned in the future. The lecture also considers potential future developments in the field of censorship of video games after publication of the Byron Review.
BUSINESS SESSION
13:00 - 14:00, Thursday, 31 July
Physical Gaming and Cameras: Out of the Lab and into the Living Room
Diarmid Campbell, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Diarmid talks about camera-based games such as those using the EyeToy and the PlayStation Eye. He looks at many different techniques that can applied to analysing video images such as image differencing, optical flow, chamfer matching and face tracking. He explains how they work, ways in which they can be used as a game mechanic and where they can fail. The presentation will be illustrated with plenty of videos and live demos to keep you awake. It looks at techniques from past games but also those from games currently in development and those on the horizon.
CODING SESSION
13:00 - 14:00, Thursday, 31 July
Army of Fun: The Team that Created PATAPON
Atsushi Ii, Pyramid & Junichi Yoshizawa, Sony Computer Entertainment Japan
Atsushi Ii, also known as Ejun and the director of PATAPON will look back his two years development of the game. The man behind PATAPON project talks about the principles that he learnt through those years: what makes games 'fun' and how to get ideas required to create innovative games with many case studies from the actual game development. The Q&A session after the lecture has another speaker Junichi Yoshizawa from Sony Computer Entertainment's Japan studio.
DESIGN SESSION
13:00 - 14:00, Thursday, 31 July
Thursday, 31 July
The Brighton Brainstorm: Solving the Game Industry's Biggest Challenges
Jason Della Rocca, IGDA
Tired of watching from the sidelines as our beloved game industry wrestles with formidable challenges and threats? Full of ideas on how these challenges can be tackled and resolved - or insights on which things are the real problems to focus on?
Come roll up your sleeves and take part in the "Brighton Brainstorm", a fully interactive session to discuss and explore the challenges facing the game industry - be they about the art, science or business of games and game development. Come ready to share your opinions and dive deep into lively debate. Notes will be taken; lists will be made; action will be taken!
WORLD VISION SESSION
14:10 - 14:40, Thursday, 31 July
Sonic Stories: Using The Next-Generation Mindset To Harness Creativity And Evolve The Art And Craft Of Videogame Audio
Chris Sweetman, Splash Damage
An exploration of pre-production techniques and how thinking outside the box can enable audio artists to use next generation hardware to break free of age old conventions, and truly paint a sonic picture.
AUDIO SESSION
14:30 - 15:30, Thursday, 31 July
Fable 2 Art Showcase
Ian Lovett & John McCormack, Lionhead Studios
Maturing the distinctively lush look of Fable1 was very high on Lionheads wish list for Fable 2. Now with the game nearing completion and instantly recognisable, Ian Lovett and John McCormack discuss the inspirations and processes which led to Fable 2s unique visual style. This talk will start at the very beginning of the games development, looking at the diverse sources that the art team drew upon to nail the games art style They progress to look at the early concept work and how it led to the game as it looks on screen today. As with any next gen game there were a number of technical as well as artistic challenges and these will also be explained and examined.
ART & ANIMATION SESSION
14:30 - 15:30, Thursday, 31 July
Edge Panel: Doing it yourself
Alex Wiltshire, Edge Magazine, Jeff Minter, Llamasoft, Paul Preece and Sean Cooper
In these days of 200-person dev teams and $50m budgets, the lone game coder is less visible than ever. But they're still out there -- amateurs and professionals alike working with new tools and technologies to bring their singular visions to significant audiences. In this session Edge brings together Llamasoft's Jeff Minter, Paul Preece (creator of time-sink spectacular Desktop Tower Defense) and Sean Cooper (the ex-Bullfrog coder who now makes the Flash-based Boxhead series) to discuss the highs and lows of going it alone. How do their experiences today compare to the good old days of bedroom coding? Which technologies and methodologies make their games possible? How do commercial publishers and platform owners regard them? And will there always be room in the industry for small concerns such as theirs?
CODING SESSION
14:30 - 15:30, Thursday, 31 July
Stop Guessing, You're Crap At It: Design and Production by Numbers
Caspar Field, Relentless Software
Metrics is one of the industrys buzzwords, but what does it really mean for you and your game? How can you use metrics to quickly gather a mountain of useful data and once youve got it, what the hell do you do with it? This talk will show you some concrete, practical examples of metrics at work and play, using simple tools such as XML, Excel, and one of those internet-things.
PRODUCTION SESSION
14:30 - 15:30, Thursday, 31 July
The A-to-Zubo of Innovation: How Bright Light said No, No, No to get a Yes
Harvey Elliott, Electronic Arts
Two years ago, EAs UK studio (now known as EA Bright Light) bucked the EA conventions and concepted a new IP, just for children and just for one platform. As the game finishes production this month, this session revisits those early days in the life of Zubo, examining the creative process from initial IP generation through the realisation phase - and some of the challenges the team faced to bring their baby to life.
BUSINESS SESSION
14:30 - 15:30, Thursday, 31 July
Games Up? The UK Video Games Development Industry in a Global Context
Ian Livingstone, Eidos, David Braben, Frontier Development, Sarah Chudley, Bizarre Creations, Chris Deering, Richard Wilson, TIGA
The Games Up? Campaign is a collaboration between TIGA, ELSPA and a number of the UKs leading independent developers. David Braben, Chairman of Frontier and spokesperson for the campaign will be speaking about the UK Video Gaming Industry in a global context and outlining the Games Up? objectives on working with Government to increase skills and funding. He will be examining our relative advantages and disadvantages versus key competitors worldwide including Europe and North America. He will also outline the critical issues facing the UK games development industry such as the lack of suitably skilled graduates entering the industry, the brain drain? to competition games development territories and a UK taxation regime that hampers our ability to compete in the international marketplace.
WORLD VISION SESSION
14:40 - 15:20, Thursday, 31 July
What We Might Learn From 80 Years of Movie Sound.... The Storytelling Power of Sound
Paul Moore, (Creative Director, Ardmore Sound whose credits include A 21st Century Portrait, Breakfast On Pluto, Zidane, Shrooms etc) & Tom Johnson, (Twice Oscar-winning Sound Re-recording Mixer Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, Beowulf, There Will Be Blood, Children Of Men)
As videogames increasingly draw inspiration from the rich heritage of movie sound design, two vastly experienced film practitioners examine how sound can be used to underpin emotional narrative, also exploring the fact that some of the best film sound is not necessarily the most technologically advanced sound i.e. the most recent or most overwhelming. Moore and Johnson will demonstrate how sound in the right hands can be a hugely effectively storyteller in its own right.
AUDIO SESSION
15:30 - 16:10, Thursday, 31 July
Room For Improvement: Strategies For More Successful Game Audio Production
Garry Taylor, Audio Manager, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Cambridge
What are the issues that will affect the way we create soundtracks for games in the future? How can we improve our quality of work and the way in which we deliver it? Drawing on his considerable experience on titles such as Heavenly Sword, The Getaway and Gran Turismo, Taylor will focus on four important areas of game audio - production, dialogue, sound design and dynamic mixing - discussing key issues associated with each discipline, and looking to the future, will explore the potential for new and better ways of working.
AUDIO SESSION
15:45 - 16:45, Thursday, 31 July
Re-rendering Magical Movie Moments in Games
Phil Gray, Traveller's Tales
As a relative newcomer to the games industry, has been lucky enough to work on the cutscenes for some great games based on very well known, classic films and in turn some classic movie moments. Sometimes the project has required an almost verbatim copy of a scene keeping the game play and continuity in mind. Other projects, such as the LEGO games, involved trying put a different, usually a quite silly, spin on the original. In the talk he will review his own work and the animation team's experiences, good and the bad. The session also cover how making these fun and exciting cutscenes work within the games, whilst also not straying too far from the original film scenes which inspired them.
ART & ANIMATION SESSION
15:45 - 16:45, Thursday, 31 July
An Introduction to IP Management and Discovery
William Latham, Games Audit Ltd
Cash in the attic is nothing in comparison to the very real cash that could be sitting in your development company in the form of unprotected intellectual property and copyrights. This presentation will discuss how to carry out an IP audit, how to assess the value of potential IP, patents and copyrights as well as detailing the next steps in the road to intellectual property protection.
BUSINESS SESSION
15:45 - 16:45, Thursday, 31 July
Building World-class Art Tools
Luke Halliwell, Realtime Worlds
As hardware gets more powerful, game art budgets are rising. This session examines how we've addressed the problem with technology at Realtime Worlds, using procedural techniques and substantial investment in art tools. Illustrated with real examples from the development of Crackdown and APB, it will cover best practices for managing the tools development process, architectural issues in designing editors and editor frameworks, new possibilities for procedural content generation, and some pitfalls to avoid. Attendees should leave with new ideas for building world-class tools to make their art department more efficient.
CODING SESSION
15:45 - 16:45, Thursday, 31 July
Getting Emotion into Games: A Practical Guide
Marek Walton, The Mustard Corporation
It isnt often you play a computer game and are truly moved. When it does happen it can be an experience to remind you why you got into games in the first place. So whats the secret? Marek Walton, Director at games writing and designing outfit, The Mustard Corporation, will take you on a journey through some of gamings most powerful story moments to date. Hell examine the techniques used to craft those rarest of gaming experiences and share insights hes learned while working as a writer on different genres and platforms.
DESIGN SESSION
15:45 - 16:45, Thursday, 31 July
Why You Should Care About Alternate Reality Games (ARGs)
Margaret Robertson, Industry Consultant
Alternate Reality Gaming has a short history, but already this strange gaming hybrid is exerting a big pull on audiences and corporate investment alike. ARGs break nearly every rule we think weve learnt about casual game design, and yet they routinely attract players that mainstream games cant reach. Theyre the hardest form of gaming for outsiders to understand or experience, and yet TV channels, book publishers and movie studios are queuing up to commission them. But are they really games at all, or just cumbersome, grandiose marketing campaigns? And if they are games, what can traditional game design learn from their successes and failings? And - either way - could your studio get a slice of this increasingly valuable pie?
WORLD VISION SESSION
16:30 - 17:20, Thursday, 31 July
The 2008 Audio Keynote Panel: A Sound Future What Can Movies & Games Learn From Each Other And How Will Both Linear & Interactive Audio Develop Over The Coming Years?
John Broomhall, Broomhall Projects Ltd,Dan Bardino, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Tom Johnson, Alex Joseph, Nick Wiswell, Bizarre Creations, Adele Cutting, Electronic Arts
AUDIO SESSION
16:30 - 17:20, Thursday, 31 July
Open Mic 2008: The Game Audio Debate & Beer: A Town Hall Session Arising From The Days Proceedings With Beer
All attendees and guests. An opportunity for all delegates and speakers to share their views and engage in debate on the future of game audio. Self-opinionated ranting encouraged.
AUDIO SESSION
17:00 - 17:30, Thursday, 31 July
FINAL SESSION Buzz: The Games Industry Quiz
Host David McCarthy Panelists: Jonathan Smith, Traveller's Tales, Charles Cecil, Revolution Software, Kieran Connell, Rare (more to be added)
They're proven experts, widely quoted by the press, captains of industry, veterans of the business. But what do the most famous names in games really know? We pit four handpicked and sufficiently sporting development notables against each other to find out who'll triumph in the trivia showdown that is the Develop in Brighton Buzz quiz finale. Join us as we strap the contestants into a special version of Relentless Software's popular PlayStation game and ask them questions until their brain bleeds. With proceedings managed by (hitherto) popular journalist David McCarthy and fiendish questions supplied by Michael French and Ed Fear of Develop magazine, this is the one session where no one on stage can pretend to have all the answers...
DESIGN KEYNOTE
