The GC Developers Conference (GCDC), Europe's leading developers conference, closed today with a record attendance of over 900 (650 delegates in 2006). Coming from over 35 countries, the attendees finished the final day with an inspiring keynote on creativity from Tim Schafer, information about creating international communities for games, and a post-mortem of the mega-hit TitanQuest.
Sixty percent of the attendees came from abroad to this year's GCDC, the majority of which came from North America and the UK, the leading countries in game development. The conference also included a significant number of developers from Eastern Europe demonstrating the conference's growing reach across Europe as well.
Tim Schafer (DoubleFine), the creative mind behind such acclaimed hits as Psychonauts, Grim Fandango, and Full Throttle, spoke on the challenges and methods of interjecting creativity into modern game design. His keynote illustrated the need for new ways to bring creativity to the industry, while managing the risks of taking chances.
Brian Sullivan (Iron Lore) was quoted after his post-mortem presentation of TitanQuest saying, "For me, GCDC is the best conference in the world, and the fact that it is in Europe makes it even more exotic. I really liked the variety of speakers and feel GCDC is a very good platform for developers."
Peter Larsen (Electronic Arts), Teut Weidemann (Consultant Online Entertainment), Thomas Jansen (Turtle Entertainment), and Frederic Descamps (X-Fire), spoke on the topic of creating international communities. The panelists presented methods of building and maintaining communities and explained how to utilize fans to grow your company.
Among the speakers of GCDC this year were Michael Capps (USA, President, Epic Games), Julian Eggebrecht (USA, President & Lead Director/Producer, Factor 5), Noah Falstein (USA, President, The Inspiracy), Alexander Fernández (NL, CEO, Streamline Studios B.V.), Hector Fernández (NL, CEO, Streamline Studios B.V.), David S. Freeman (USA, President, Freeman Group), Megan Gaiser (President/CEO, Her Interactive Inc.), Tony Goodman (USA, General Manager, Ensemble Studios), Fred Hasson (UK, CEO, TIGA), Vlad Ihora (Sweden, Head of Gaming Community, TeliaSonera Internation Carrier), Jennifer MacLean (USA, Vice President/General Manager, Comcast Interactive Media), Mark Morris (UK, Managing Director, Introversion Software Ltd.), Mark Rein (USA, Vice President, Epic Games), Jeff Strain (USA, CEO, ArenaNet), Brian Sullivan (USA, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Iron Lore Entertainment), and Bob Wallace (USA, Principal, Strategic Alternatives).
The next GCDC will take place in Leipzig from 18th - 20th August, 2008.
