From Gamasutra:

The organizers of next month’s GDC Canada event in Vancouver are offering free Main Conference passes to Canadian game developers laid off in the last twelve months to help them return to the game industry.

Continuing a similar program conducted during GDC Canada 2009, and recognizing the toll the recession has taken on elements of the mainstream video game industry, a special page on the GDC Canada website details the offer’s specifics.

To qualify, prospective attendees must have been laid off from a Canadian video game or creative/digital arts company within the past 12 months, not be currently full-time employed, and provide their Canadian Record of Employment document at GDC Canada onsite registration to validate your status.

They will also need to pre-register now for the May 6th-7th event at the Vancouver Convention Center by following the instructions on the GDC Canada page devoted to the subject. Only a limited amount of these passes are available.

[…]

Read the full article on Gamasutra…

Anyone from Montreal going this year?

From Gamasutra:

For its GDC 2010 edition in San Francisco, game business networking event Game Connection will introduce its Level Up promotion, granting free admission to five independent studios.

Game Connection, a "speed dating event for business-focused game makers," occurs every year in Lyon, France and in San Francisco, California concurrently with Game Developers Conference, but until this year its Level Up program was only conducted for the Lyon edition. This year’s event runs March 8-10 in San Francisco’s Moscone Center.

Until January 25, Game Connection organizers will be taking applications at the official site from independent studios less than two years old. Selected studios will receive a full access pass (worth roughly $6,500), including a private meeting room. The program is open only to first-time Game Connection attendees. […]

Read the full story Gamasutra.

Game Developers Conference 2010 organizers have announced its first set of Main Conference lectures for the March 9th-13th event, with Uncharted 2, Braid and Brutal Legend-specific talks already confirmed.

An initial set of talks for the Audio, Business, Design, Production, Art, and Programming tracks for next March’s event are now viewable in GDC 2010’s schedule-building app or via the official Game Developers Conference website.

Organizers of the industry-leading San Francisco-based event (part of Think Services, as is this website) will be highlighting track-specific talks gradually over the next few weeks, but some of the notable lectures already posted include:

- Among Friends – An Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Post-Mortem (Production Track)
In this postmortem, Naughty Dog co-lead game designer Richard Lemarchand examines what went right and wrong in the creation of the critically acclaimed PS3 title, "…in expanding our gameplay through the use of new traversal, combat and AI technologies, introducing characters that shed new light on our hero Nathan Drake, and tackling our first foray into multiplayer in four years."

- Rock Show VFX – The Effects That Bring Brutal Legend to Life (Art Track)
Two of Double Fine’s key employees — lead platform programmer Peter Demoreuille and technical/VFX artist Drew Skillman — will discuss the making of the visual effects for action-adventure Brutal Legend, covering "the design and most commonly relied upon features of our particle rendering, simulation, effects timeline and climate packages."

[…]

Read the rest at Gamasutra

And concerning a GDC discount for IGDA members:

From IGDA:

We are delighted to continue our partnership with GDC in San Francisco March 9 – 13, 2010.  GDC is one of the focal points for our industry and this year looks to be as good, if not better, than previous years in terms of the educational content and networking opportunities available to IGDA members.

The IGDA offers a number of programs throughout the GDC event, and I wanted to take a few moments to walk through them with those of you planning to attend this remarkable event.

IGDA Member Discount:  This year the IGDA and GDC have agreed to increase the member discount to $75 off the registration rates.  As a member of the IGDA you should contact the IGDA staff, via email: joda@igda.org or via phone: +1 856.423.2990 and obtain your registration discount code.  You will need to enter this code during registration to obtain your discount.  GDC is using a new registration system which no longer ties directly into the IGDA membership list.  Each discount code is unique, so please call for yours today, and don’t share your code with anyone else, or it won’t work for the second user.

The call for submissions to present content for lectures, roundtables and panel sessions for the 2010 Game Developers Conference® Canada (GDC Canada) is now open through midnight, Tuesday, January 5, 2010. GDC Canada serves as a nexus point for established and promising young studios to learn best practices for developing new global titles and understanding emerging digital distribution models. The second annual GDC Canada is presented by Reboot Communications and Think Services, the organizers of the industry-leading Game Developers Conference. GDC Canada 2010 will return to the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC from May 6-7, 2010.

…

The session formats for this year’s content include 25 and 60 minute lectures, panels, and roundtables. The GDC Canada advisory board will rate sessions based on the criteria of concept, depth, organization, credentials and takeaway. The topics for this year include:

• Business/Production
• Digital Distribution
• Game Design
• iPhone Games
• Programming
• Social and Casual Games
• Visual Arts

Source

Game Developer magazine’s editors have launched the 2009 State Of Game Development purchasing survey, with an all-access GDC 2010 pass as incentive for completing the questions.

The survey covers topics such as company size, market sectors worked in and tools used, and should be filled out by any current professional game developer. Select results will be published in an upcoming issue of Game Developer magazine and made available in a Game Developer Research report.

In appreciation of the time and effort taken, once participants complete the survey, their name will be entered into a drawing to win one All-Access Conference Pass to Game Developers Conference in San Francisco in March 2010.

Source

He was toiling away in a Montreal game studio Artificial Mind and Movement, one of many working on some movie-based game. The game he’d been working on it in his own time was up for two awards at the Independent Games Festival at GDC. That game was Fez.

The game stars 2D fez-hat-wearing Gomez on an adventure on a 3D platform world. The pixelated title looks like something you could have played as a kid, but didn’t — you poor bastard. Blame the M.C. Escher-esque level design and a 2D-3D platform perspective shift.

“I’m pretty sure Fez could have been made on a SNES without the 3D graphics,” says Fish. “The world rotation thing could have totally been faked by having 4 parallel 2D levels that you ‘rotate’. The gameplay here really doesn’t depend on the modern tech.” What it does depend on is some fancy programming from lead programmer Renaud Bédard.

Update: Here is a teaser video of the game Fez:

During the Game Critics Rant during GDC, former IGDA Executive Director Jason Della Rocca took a swipe at the game developers he served for nearly a decade. Recently, he posted the speech on his blog, much of it appearing as a faux apology.

"Serving the IGDA for the past 9 years has been extremely rewarding and challenging. I helped to get a lot done, but somehow feel that I failed the community," started Della Rocca’s rant. "Sorry for being too focused on the nuts and bolts, with my head down in execution. I just didn’t spend enough time on the big picture vision stuff. It’s scary, and easy to avoid when you’re just ‘busy’ doing stuff."

Ubi Montreal’s Yannis Mallat, Far Cry 2 lead Clint Hocking, POP producer Ben Mattes, and EndWar director Michael De Plater discuss the French publisher’s approach to film-game cross-pollination.

The first day of the 2009 Game Developers Conference Monday saw some of Ubisoft’s leading lights gather for an informal panel. On Monday evening, Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat, Far Cry 2 creative director Clint Hocking, Prince of Persia producer Ben Mattes, and EndWar creative director Michael De Plater perched on barstools in a chic restaurant atop the Moscone Center to face a small group of reporters.

Specifically, the quartet had gathered to discuss the growing convergence of games and films. The subject is particularly dear to Ubisoft’s corporate heart, as it has been laying the groundwork to begin film efforts itself. Last year, the company purchased the license to make movies–and any other media properties–based on the Tom Clancy brand. Shortly thereafter, it bought Hybride, the Montreal-based effects house behind Sin City, 300, and Snakes on a Plane.