The organizers of PAX Prime passed along some of the sessions that attendees of PAX DEV can expect when it runs August 24 & 25 at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel in Seattle Washington. PAX DEV is a two-day event sponsored by the organizers of PAX that puts the spotlight on game developers and content creators. Tickets cost $329 and can be purchased at http://dev.paxsite.com/registration.php .

Organizers claim that this event is meant to be an honest and open forum for game developers. They claim that "all marketing, bizdev and PR are banned from the event to ensure an open and honest environment."

While the full schedule of sessions can be found here , below is a small sample of what attendees can expect:

Why Roger Ebert Was Right – John Scott Tynes of Microsoft - An examination of how as game designers we have almost entirely failed to integrate games with stories. It's time to blow it all up and start over!

Not Waving but Drowning: Networked Multiplayer Indie Game Architecture – Chris Hecker of Spy Party – A lecture for developers seriously considering throwing their lives away to make their indie game work over the internet with a somewhat modern set of features and reasonable level of polish and scalability.

The Price Tag – Daniel James of Three Rings – Look at the choices we make as developers; and those that may be made for us when games meet the audience and business meets the market.

Are They Dead Yet? – Post-mortem of "Orcs Must Die!" that examines the great and, uh, not-so-great decisions along the way.

PuzzleCraft: How to Design Every Puzzle Type Ever – Mike Selinker of Lone Shark Games – Discussion of the placement and purpose of puzzles (electronic and tabletop), the effects they have on players' psyche and the process of creating elegant and creative challenges.

From the Cubicle to the Basement: Corporate Devs Go Indie – A frank and open discussion with a panel of game developers have left successful careers in the traditional studio model to go out on their own as indies.