Sponsored Sessions at GDC 2013
Game Developers Conference, San Francisco—This conference had many technical sessions presenting at the Dev Days. The usual suspects included Intel with their perceptual computing and UltraBook groups, Google, Facebook, Unity Technologies, Imagination Technologies, Microsoft, Samsung, Amazon Web Services, Xsens, ARM, Sony Entertainment, Autodesk, AMD, Nvidia, and Adobe.
In these sessions, the sponsors talked about the inner secrets of their hardware and software products, with emphasis on the buried capabilities that need unlocking for better performance. The topics included details on SDKs, processor architectures, mobile platforms and cloud enhancements, sensors and actuators, and others.
Hardware companies described their hardware and the techniques for optimization. The game engine companies reviewed asset stores, rendering, and integrating other tools into the workflow. The console companies gave out hints for reducing the programming complexity for their machines.
These companies all wanted the developers to use their platform, to the exclusion of others. For the mobile markets, this strategy makes sense, since most of the smart phones and tablets use common processors and graphics accelerators. The ARM hegemony and Imagination engines are ubiquitous.
All of the presenters at least mentioned issues like the requirements for a successful game, and the need for good business practices in the process of developing, producing, and distributing new games. They also noted that the various platforms are slightly amenable to cross-platform development, and a generic game development with customizable wrappers is easier than making all-new code for each machine.
The software companies talked about workflows and integrating various tools into a pipeline for greater efficiency. The ability to create complex and interesting images is limited only by the developer’s time and imagination. The future potential for more detail and greater realism mainly depends upon advances in the underlying hardware, both for the creation and playing of the games. Some presenters looked into the future and saw new user interfaces, greater realism, and more immersive games.
