As GDC, the world’s largest conference for game developers, returns to San Francisco, Microsoft and Xbox will be on hand to engage and empower developers, publishers and technology partners across the industry. We’re committed to supporting game developers on any platform, anywhere in the world, and at every stage of development. Our message is simple: Microsoft and Xbox are here to power your games and empower your teams.
The event takes place from March 18th to 22nd Xbox Lobby Lounge at Moscone Center South is a must-see – an easy meeting place and a first step to learning more about the ID@Xbox publishing program, the Developer Acceleration Program (DAP) for underrepresented developers, Azure cloud gaming services, and everything else developers need possibly.
GDC features dozens of speakers from Xbox, Activision, Blizzard, King and Zenimax who will demonstrate groundbreaking in-game innovations and share community-building strategies. Microsoft’s technology teams, with support from partners, will also host sessions highlighting new tools, software and services to help increase developer velocity, increase player engagement and help developers grow. Details of the conference program can be found below.
Xbox sponsors that too Independent Games Festival (IGF) and ours Xbox gaming for everyone Employee communities come together to host a networking event for underrepresented developers and their allies. We hope you can join us for the G4E event on Thursday, March 21st from 11am to 4pm at the Minna Gallery (111 Minna St. in San Francisco), just minutes from the Moscone Center. To learn more and register for the event, please read our full GDC 2024 Gaming for Everyone Community Networking Lounge & Scholarship Program announcement.
Monday March 18th
Skyscraper Zombies: Further development of the “Call of Duty” systems for giant AI
Speaker: Andrew Hoyt (Gameplay Engineer, Treyarch)
Date: Monday March 18th
Time: 3:50 p.m. – 4:20 p.m
Tuesday March 19th
H2O in H3LL: The different forms of water in Diablo IV
Speaker: Aaron Aikman (senior technical artist, graphics, Blizzard Entertainment)
Date: Tuesday March 19th
Time: 10:50 a.m. – 11:50 a.m
The synergy of architecture and construction technology in game art and design
Speaker: Joshua Haun (Expert Environment Artist, Activision)
Date: Tuesday March 19th
Time: 10:50 a.m. – 11:50 a.m
The Harvest of 10 Years of Success: How Farm Heroes Saga has served its players with excellence for a decade
Speaker: Sabrina Carmona (VP Head of Farm Heroes Saga, King)
Date: Tuesday March 19th
Time: 2:40 p.m. – 3:40 p.m
Audio Summit: How do you get casual gamers to turn on their audio?
Speaker: Dominique Devoucoux (Head of Audio, King)
Date: Tuesday March 19th
Time: 4:40 p.m. – 5:10 p.m
Wednesday March 20th
We develop Hi-Fi RUSH “backwards” and find our positive gameplay loop
Speaker: John Johanas (Game Director, Tango Gameworks)
Date: Wednesday March 20th
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m
The first 30 years of “Warcraft”: The creation of a gaming universe
Speaker: John Hight (Franchise General Manager, Warcraft Franchise, Blizzard Entertainment)
Date: Wednesday March 20th
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m
The Pillars of Hell: Realizing Diablo IV’s Artistic Vision
Speaker: John Mueller (Art Director, Blizzard Entertainment)
Date: Wednesday March 20th
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m
Sugary Stats: What We’ve Learned About Candy Crush’s Content After 10 Years and Over 15,000 Levels
Speaker: Jan Wedekind (Head of Central Insights, King) and Xavier Guardiola (Data Science Director, King)
Date: Wednesday March 20th
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m
Xbox’s Product Inclusion Framework and Inclusive Growth Doorways
Speaker: Katy Jo Wright (Senior Director, Gaming for All, Microsoft)
Date: Wednesday March 20th
Time: 12:30 – 1:30 p.m
Automated testing of shader code
Speaker: Keith Stockdale (Senior Software Engineer, Rare Ltd)
Date: Wednesday March 20th
Time: 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m
Diablo IV – Audio Systems Deep Dive “Living Audio”
Speaker: Kris Giampa (Audio Director, Blizzard Entertainment) and Michael Bartnett (Software Engineer, Blizzard Entertainment)
Date: Wednesday March 20th
Time: 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m
Optimize game development workflows with Visual Studio and AI
Speaker: David Li (Game Developer Product Manager, Microsoft) and Greg Denton (Principal Product Manager, Microsoft)
Date: Wednesday March 20th
Time: 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m
Everything about Azure and OpenAI for game development
Speaker: Jon Kefaloukos (Strategic Account Director Gaming at Azure, Microsoft) and Uthappa Kattera Chengappa (Lead Cloud Solution Architect Gaming at Azure, Microsoft)
Date: Wednesday March 20th
Time: 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m
10 years in Tamriel: Success of The Elder Scrolls
Speaker: Matt Firor (Studio Director/President, ZeniMax Online Studios)
Date: Wednesday March 20th
Time: 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m
3D toon rendering in Hi-Fi RUSH
Speaker: Kosuke Tanaka (senior graphics programmer, Tango Gameworks) and Takashi Komada (graphics/physics programmer, Tango Gameworks)
Date: Wednesday March 20th
Time: 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m
The view from above: Designing compelling quests for “Diablo IV”.
Speaker: Harrison Pink (Senior Quest Designer II, Blizzard Entertainment)
Date: Wednesday March 20th
Time: 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m
Thursday March 21st
“Diablo IV”: The Art of the Open World Sanctuary
Speaker: 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 21st
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m
Leveling Up: How AI’s Transformative Role in Level Automation Production Drives Business Value in “Candy Crush Saga.”
Speaker: Anna Hernandelius (Product Director Content, King) and Sahar Asadi (Director of AI Labs, King)
Date: Thursday March 21st
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m
Keeping online communities healthy
Speaker: 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 21st
Time: 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m
DirectX State of the Union with working diagrams and introduction of DirectSR
Speaker: 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 21st
Time: 12:45 – 1:45 p.m
Minecraft players at the center of the big data universe
Speaker: Francisco Rius (Head of Data at Mojang Studios)
Date: Thursday March 21st
Time: 12:45 – 1:45 p.m
MergeBot: Activision’s Merge and Resolve infrastructure
Speaker: Damianos Gkouzkouris (senior tools engineer, Activision)
Date: Thursday March 21st
Time: 3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m
How PlayFab contributed to the success of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Speaker: CJ Williams (Director of Product Management Microsoft Game Creator Services, Microsoft) and Rob Fox (Designer and Producer Gun Interactive, Gun Interactive)
Date: Thursday March 21st
Time: 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m
Operation Innovation: How Xbox uses military talent in gaming
Speaker: 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 21st
Time: 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m
Friday March 22nd
Game Career Seminar: Who are you? Create your profile outside of work
Speaker: Ashley Poprik (Author, High Moon Studios)
Date: Friday March 22nd
Time: 10:10 a.m. – 10:40 a.m
Shipping Diablo IV
Speaker: Michael Bybee (Head of Production, Blizzard Entertainment) and Tiffany Wat (Head of Production, Blizzard Entertainment)
Date: Friday March 22nd
Time: 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m
Build the Minecraft Creator Platform block by block
Speaker: Kayla Kinnunen (Executive Producer, Mojang Studios)
Date: Friday March 22nd
Time: 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m
Comprehensive art performance at “Diablo IV”
Speaker: Evan Edwards (Senior Technical Artist I, Graphics, Blizzard Entertainment)
Date: Friday March 22nd
Time: 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m
Visual Effects Roundtable Day 3
Speaker: Gabriel Boileau (VFX artist, Activision Blizzard)
Date: Friday March 22nd
Time: 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m
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