Countdown to GDC Online!

Although convention season is officially over, there is one more conference this year that fans of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ may want to keep an eye on: GDC Online.

GDC Online (formerly labeled Austin GDC) kicks off Monday, October 5th, and is one of several GDC-branded conferences held around the world for those involved in the game industry. This one, held in Austin, has always had an “online” skew to it, so they finally recognized that with an official name change this year.

While it’s not a consumer show, several key BioWare staffers will be presenting at the conference, which gives us hope that we may learn some new insight about TOR, even if it’s not stated directly.

The 4 sessions in which BioWare will be represented are:

How Online Gaming Has Adopted The Grind – Thursday October 7, 11:00AM
Damion Schubert, Principle Lead Systems Designer, BioWare Austin

‘The grind’ isn’t just whacking rats in men-in-tights fantasy MMOs anymore. Like a plague, it has escaped that genre, and now infects other genres, ranging from Web and Facebook games all the way to triple-A XBox titles. This talk will explore the grind, why so many designers turn to it like a crutch, and in what situations grindy gameplay may actually improve your game.

Lessons Learned Creating Team Cultures – Thursday October 7, 11:00AM
Gordon Walton, Co-Studio Director, BioWare Austin

Every team has its own unique culture, and culture will have a material effect on the results your team produces. Environment and context combined with how you acculturate incoming people will affect how your team culture evolves. This roundtable is for sharing experiences in creating and shaping team cultures.

Strategies For Running An MMO From Launch And Beyond – Friday October 8, 9:30AM
Rich Vogel, Co-Studio Director, BioWare Austin (panel w/others)

Launching MMOs is hard enough, much less keeping them viable after their first year. Acquisition and retention are the two most important levers that are used to keep an online game alive and viable. This panel will discuss strategies that help move these two levers. On the panel are people who have been running MMOs for more than five years. What are their secrets to successfully running and maintaining these MMOs for so long?

You Studied Game Design, Now What? – Friday October 8, 1:30PM
Kyle Garner, World Designer, BioWare Austin (panel w/others)

A program of game design-related studies is only one piece of the puzzle when developing a career in games. A panel of design professors and professionals from Guildhall, Richland College, BioWare and Madison Media Institute will discuss what students need to know during and following their education to enter the game industry.

Seeing as how this conference is in Austin, BioWare’s own backyard, we’re holding out hope that maybe they’re planning something special. I don’t think there will be any big reveals necessarily, but a little something to give a nod to their peers in the industry.

In any case, Ask A Jedi will be there covering all 4 days of the event, bringing you every word of the presenters, so we can all pine over them and decide if anything juicy was revealed! Also… we’re hope to get a few special surprises lined up as well… more info to come ;)

If you’ve never been there, Austin is a fun town with great food and a great live music scene. And by the grace of the music gods, this year GDC coincides with Austin City Limits. Needless to say, parties will be attended. If you’re going, let us know where you’ll be hanging out!