For the first time, the Game Developers Conference Austin (GDC Austin) hosts the Independent Games Summit and the all-new iPhone Games Summit. The iPhone Games Summit will bring together top game developers from around the world to share ideas, best practices and discuss the future of the bourgeoning iPhone and iPod touch mobile platform. Making its Austin debut, the Independent Games Summit features lectures and postmortems from some of the most notable indie game creators in the country. Presented by Think Services, GDC Austin returns with two day Game Writers, Game Audio, iPhone Games and Independent Games Summits proceeded by three days of main conference content focused on connected games; online games, virtual worlds, and social networking game play. The event takes place at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas September 15-18, 2009.
The iPhone Games Summit highlights the best of iPhone development covering business, marketing and key design tenets behind successful iPhone games. The two day summit will provide overviews and deep-dive technical sessions with expert advice on topics ranging from app optimization and touch interface lessons through iPhone OS 3.0 features, Objective-C tips and more. Sessions will be announced early July. The Advisory Board for the Summit include local Austin-area iPhone developer Brian Greenstone, founder and president of Enigmo creator Pangea Software, Snappy Touch's Noel Llopis, creator of notable iPhone app Flower Garden as well as Simon Carless, Editorial Director of Gamasutra.com and Game Developer Magazine.
The Independent Games Summit (IGS), making its Austin debut after successful iterations at the Game Developers Conference in 2008 and 2009, is composed of informative lectures and some rants to teach and refine the craft of development for small teams with big dreams and tiny budgets. The IGS will highlight the brightest and the best of indie development, with discussions surrounding business models and methods, promotion and marketing, deep game design techniques and inspirational case studies. Sessions will be announced early July. The Advisory Board for the Summit includes local Austin-area independent developers Adam Saltsman, Paper Moon, Cave Story WiiWare contributor, and Brandon Boyer, editor of indie-friendly BoingBoing-affiliated game site Offworld.com. In addition, the three main Advisory Board members of GDC San Francisco's yearly Independent Games Summit, Flashbang Studios' Matthew Wegner and Steve Swink, and IGF Chairman Simon Carless, are also helping to oversee the event.
"GDC Austin has long prided itself on its unique, forward thinking and independent spirit," says Izora de Lillard, event director at Think Services Game Group. "It makes perfect sense that the Independent Games Summit and the iPhone Games Summit would find a home in the heart of one of the most indie-minded towns — Austin. I can't wait to see how the amazing innovations shown here will influence games in the future."
Rounding out the 2009 GDC Austin Summits roster are the Game Audio Summit, designed to elevate game audio development education and strengthen the community, and the Game Writers Summit, dedicated to the art and craft of game writing, game narrative and interactive storytelling.
To learn more about the 2009 GDC Austin Summit line-up and Advisors, please visit GDCAustin.com.