Advanced Graphics Techniques:
Brought to you as a collaboration of the industry’s leading hardware and software vendors, this day-long tutorial provides professional insight on how to create cutting-edge game graphics on the PC platform. Special emphasis is placed on advanced graphics techniques that use modern low-level APIs to produce stunning visuals and achieve speed-of-light performance on contemporary GPUs. These will be delivered by NVIDIA’s and AMD’s demo and developer technology teams as well as some of the top game developers who ship major games into the marketplace. In addition to illustrating the details of rendering advanced real-time visual effects, this tutorial will cover a series of vendor-neutral optimizations that developers need to keep in mind when designing their engines and shaders.
Animation Bootcamp:
Skilled video game animators wield a unique blend of art, design and technical prowess to get the job done, and the Animation Bootcamp is at the forefront of sharing the relevant knowledge with developers everywhere. Bringing together a group of experienced and specialized animation experts across AAA and Indie, this tutorial is a day-long gathering to rally developers from all over the industry, with a focus on deeper discussions into the needs of strong character performances and player communication. The day will go through all facets of animation expertise: “traditional” focused talks on animation process, but also technical achievements, bite-sized tips and tricks, insight into animation culture, and how to best apply all that knowledge to game development. Through various tools and disciplines, this tutorial will show how the unique constraints and demands of game creation, are creating the need for not just great animators, but great game developers.
Art Direction Bootcamp:
The Art Direction Bootcamp is a day-long event in the vein of MGDC tutorials, completely dedicated to art direction and broader artistic vision. Come see the leading artistic forces of the industry share their experience and raise the most important issues of the day. Learn a ton about what really matters in art, and how to build or support a vision and make friends doing it.
Math for Game Programmers:
As gamers and gaming platforms continue to evolve and diversify, so has the complexity and variety of problems facing the modern game programmer. Creating the latest code for graphics, gameplay, animation, physical simulation, and artificial intelligence requires thorough knowledge of the necessary mathematical underpinnings. This tutorial continues the tradition of the Math for Programmers tutorial by presenting two talks on new ways to improve your math library, followed by an afternoon series of tutorial sessions relating to mathematical tips and tricks used in Procedural Content Generation (PCG).
Storytelling Fundamentals:
This dynamic, engaging presentation on the fundamentals of story development is designed for anyone and everyone interested in improving the narrative quality of their games. Hosted by Marvel and Telltale writing veteran Evan Skolnick, this comprehensive tutorial covers narrative structure, vibrant character development, storytelling best practices, and more.
Advanced Agile Game Development Practices:
Agile practices are no longer considered experimental, but mainstream, yet many still struggle with them. In this workshop you will learn and share the successful practices and techniques that agile studios have created over the past decade of it’s application.