[url=http://www.bungie.net/7_GDC-2013-InformationLivestream-HUB-Missed-it-Watch/en/Forum/Post?id=60082712#referred-Destiny]Last year at GDC[/url], we had Christopher Barrett and Joseph Staten guide us through the 7 pillars and outline of Destiny. This year, Bungie plans to show off a bit more closely (right before the summer beta), the customizable character design of Destiny. [url=http://www.gdconf.com/news/go_behind_the_scenes_of_the_ch.html]Link To Announcement[/url] [url=http://schedule.gdconf.com/session-id/826151]Event 1: Building Customizable Characters for Bungie's Destiny[/url] Click to expand [spoiler][b]Event Description[/b] With the increasing complexity and fidelity of character content, player customization is an ever-present challenge facing many game developers. Destiny's player customization system is highly ambitious and unlike anything seen in a first-person shooter thus far. This talk focuses on the tools and process Bungie built to create a large variety of high-quality character content, with a system that makes the most out of the art created, allows for continued growth and expandability over the lifetime of the franchise, and gives artists the ability to make strong visual impacts quickly and easily. [b]Takeaway[/b] After this talk, you will have a better understanding of the challenges a highly customizable player system presents, and a clear example of how Bungie chose to face these problems, including where we succeeded and where we failed. [b]Intended Audience[/b] This talk is for technical artists, art directors, character leads, tools developers or investment designers whose projects call for a highly customizable player character, a world filled with unique NPCs, or to simply build large amounts of character content in an efficient way.[/spoiler] [url=http://schedule.gdconf.com/session-id/826386]Event 2: Designing the Bungie Animation Workflow[/url] Click to expand [spoiler][b]Event Description[/b] In this animation presentation, we'll be discussing the scope of our latest game Destiny, the challenges our team faced, and the solutions we discovered.We'll break down what it means to animate an immersive character performance, with a focus on efficiency, and Bungie's high quality bar. We'll describe how we rig, create, and solve animation playback in Maya, and in our game engine. We'll demonstrate our process and our findings by giving you a behind the scenes look at our secret Bungie sauce. You will get to see footage in raw form before it becomes the shiny, polished game released into the wild. [b]Takeaway[/b] The viewer will have the opportunity to learn from our experiences creating animation for Destiny. They should expect to walk away from this talk with some new workflow tricks and a better understanding of Bungie's approach to animation. [b]Intended Audience[/b] Animators of any skill level will be able to leave this talk with some valuable information. Engineers and producers may also appreciate the perspectives presented here.[/spoiler] [url=http://schedule.gdconf.com/session-id/826446]Event 3: Face Animation Retargeting in Destiny[/url] Click to expand [spoiler][b]Event Description[/b] In Face Animation Retargeting in Destiny, we'll explain how we were able to achieve high-quality face animation in our real-time cinematics. -We'll show how 42 player-selectable heads shared one animation across different alien/robot races and genders. -We'll explain how the way we parameterized our data allowed us to future-proof our rigs, giving our animators and -performance-capture technology more flexibility to grow in the future. -We'll explain the philosophy that influenced our topology design and bone layout. -We'll cover the tools and rig controls we built for our animators. -We'll cover some early approaches we tried and why they didn't work for us. -Lastly, we'll demonstrate art techniques and processes adapted from computer animated film that were instrumental for achieving higher-quality face rigging. [b]Takeaway[/b] You'll learn how Bungie designed a pipeline to share animation among a variety of faces, including how to design high-quality face rigs and how to properly parameterize your data for maximum quality and flexibility. You'll also learn techniques to improve quality regardless of your face animation technology or pipeline. [b]Intended Audience[/b] Character riggers and animation engineers will find useful information on building face animation pipelines; character modelers and animators will find ways to improve their craft as well. It's helpful to have a basic understanding of face rigging and animation.[/spoiler] [url=http://schedule.gdconf.com/session-id/828075]Event 4: Evolving Bungie's Production Practices for a Brave New World[/url] Click to expand [spoiler][b]Event Description[/b] Bungie is a company that has more than doubled its size since going independent and moving on from Halo. In their effort to build a new IP and universe in Destiny, they have also rebuilt their software engine from the ground up and embraced multiplatform, cross-generational console development. These events have led Bungie through a state of transformative change on a level never before experienced by the developer.This talk will present three concepts which have deeply influenced Bungie's production philosophy and reveal specific production practices adopted in response to these challenges. [b]Takeaway[/b] Attendees will learn specific techniques and processes Bungie used to help guide it through the most rapid growth period in the company's history. Including how internal milestones are set for a large AAA game team, as well as the scheduling framework used to scope and track progress on Destiny. [b]Intended Audience[/b] The intended audience for this talk are leaders, managers and producers of teams that are experiencing rapid growth or other forms of transformative change. A solid grasp of production fundamentals including scheduling methodologies like Agile and Waterfall is an asset, but not a prerequisite.[/spoiler] [url=http://schedule.gdconf.com/session-id/827592]Event 5: Killer Portfolio or Portfolio Killer: Part 1 - Advice from Industry Artists[/url] Click to expand [spoiler][b]Event Description[/b] This is a two-part program consisting of a panel discussion with five art directors and lead artists from Epic, Firaxis, 343, Irrational and Bungie. The panel session will focus on the dos and don'ts of getting your portfolio noticed. Panelists will discuss common mistakes that most artists make, as well as some of the more unique approaches they have seen. Audience participation is encouraged during the Q&A session. The panel discussion will be followed by a three-hour session of individual portfolio reviews. [b]Takeaway[/b] Attendees will come away from this talk with a better understanding of how to tailor their portfolio to get noticed, as well as a better understanding of common hiring practices and typical things that art directors look for in an applicant.[/spoiler] [quote][b]FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT GDC[/b][/quote] [quote][u][b]Q&A Section[/b][/u] - [i]Click spoiler for answer[/i]* [b]What is the Game Developer's Conference?[/b] [spoiler][url=http://www.gdconf.com/aboutgdc/]Description Link[/url] The GDC attracts over 23,000 attendees, and is the primary forum where programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision-makers and others involved in the development of interactive games gather to exchange ideas and shape the future of the industry. The GDC is produced by the UBM Tech Game Network. This market defining conference features over 400 lectures, panels, tutorials and round-table discussions on a comprehensive selection of game development topics taught by leading industry experts. In addition, the GDC expo showcases all of the most relevant game development tools, platforms and services helping to drive the industry forward. The conference also features the sixteenth annual Independent Games Festival, the longest-running and largest festival relating to independent games worldwide, where original games compete for the attention of the publishing community, and the fourteenth annual Game Developers Choice Awards, the premier accolades for peer-recognition in the digital games industry. [/spoiler] [b]When is GDC 2014?[/b] [spoiler]GDC 2014 takes place March 17th - 21st.[/spoiler] [b]So it's like E3 then right? [/b] [spoiler]No. GDC is for the developers to showcase project components and areas of their work via roundtable discussion, powerpoint slides and bad jokes. If you're hoping for flashing lights, game trailers and dancers to hype up the presentations, you're in the wrong place.[/spoiler] [b]Has Bungie said anything about their GDC presentation already? [/b] [spoiler]In the [url=http://www.bungie.net/en/News/News?aid=11440]Bungie Weekly Update 2/28/14[/url], DeeJ answered the following question regarding GDC: [b]Q:[/b][i]"When do you guys gear up for GDC? Can we expect something big this year?"[/i] [b]A:[/b] [i]"That all depends on how curious you are. The Game Developers Conference is where alpha geeks converge to discuss their craft. We’re sending six of ours. They’re pulling back their respective curtains to show off the buttons and levers that will drive things like your face, your armor, your career search, and our development processes. In the words of Bruce Wayne, it’s all a bit technical.."[/i][/spoiler] [b]How many presentations is Bungie showing?[/b] [spoiler]Currently, five. I will update this thread if more are announced or shown.[/spoiler] [b]How do I watch Bungie's presentation!?[/b] [spoiler][url]https://twitter.com/Bungie/status/445997952285171712[/url][/spoiler][/quote]