Over the years, Game Developers Conference (GDC) event was established as an important event in the industry, due to cycles of conferences for professionals discussing the future recreational, technical, graphic or economic sector of games.

Once again it was time for developers, producers, manufacturers, programmers, designers, artists, audio professionals, insiders and journalists to convene in Los Angeles, CA for three days action packed, game-centric days from November 5 – November 7. Both conferences  produced by UBM Tech, the 2013 edition of the App Developers Conference (ADC) and GDC Next event saw the evolution of the theme–instead of MMO and online gaming (the heart of GDC Online), GDC Next intends to treat especially mobile gaming (on smartphones and tablets), social games (on social networks) or independent games.

Known in long form as the Game Developers Conference, GDC is considered the largest and longest running professionals-only event in the gaming industry. This is where deals are made, new games brought to life and new systems taken on test runs.

Now in its 26th year, the 4,000-attendee strong show helps to set the tone for the indie gaming industry the whole year long. While lesser-known developers and manufacturers are given a stage all their own at GDC, this year will be markedly different thanks to two major new systems – Sony PS4 and Microsoft Xbox One.

Future of digital interactivity

Both ADC and GDC Next brought the leaders in their respective sectors to share best practices and help developers hone their craft by providing valuable insights into the future of digital interactivity. Overall, the conference hosted more than 170 speakers in over 150 sessions of influential and distinguished companies within industries apps, games and entertainment. The ADC talk was given by speakers from Evernote, Netflix, Pandora, Tumblr and more, while GDC Next talk presented by Double Fine Productions, Google, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Ouya, Ubisoft, Walt Disney Imagineering and more others.

This year GDC Next features the emergence and evolution of eSports, financing options for independent game developers, the value of live player feedback, and how new technology trends current will be overwritten for a more creative game development. Developers and participants showcase multi-screen and multi-platform applications, new opportunities with mobile technology, monetization in emerging markets, opportunities for design unique applications with sensors on mobile devices design, and much more.

Game and app development

As part of the commitment of the organizers of the conference in game development, visitors had have the opportunity to take part in the Windows QuickStart Challenge in the Microsoft Developer Lounge. One of the exciting challenges is to design an App using the Rapid2D Engine, which is now one of the first game engines in the world to be running Windows 8.1.

Rapid2D is a Game Engine specifically designed for the production of Windows Store apps. The Engine uses C++ language, which provides developers to produce high content games with physics, visual effects, sound, particle systems, collision control, animated sprites, and much more.

Microsoft’s Team Dakota held an hour long Project Spark panel at the event. Soren Hannibal, technical director at Project Spark developer Team Dakota, shared that the game development platform will offer simple wizards, game-creation walkthroughs that ask players what kind of worlds they want to build — canyons, mountains, forests and deserts and what kind of creatures they want to inhabit that world. The development team is aiming to create a stage where game developers can create the most impressive levels and give them a design portfolio.

The show organizers presented yet-to-debut games as the “GDC Next 10” including games like Broken Age, Counterspy, D4, Doki Doki Universe, Project Eternity, Project Spark, Storyteller, Super Time Force, Supernauts and Wayward Manor from major publishers.