Awesome Game Talks

A curated collection of resources and projects focused on Game Talks.

Table of Contents

• GDC Talks
• TED Talks
• Other Talks
• Podcasts
• Playlist of Conferences / Lectures
• Lists

GDC Talks

• [2016] Overwatch - The Elusive Goal: Play by Sound: Scott Lawlor, Tomas Neumann (Blizzard)
• [2015] How to Make Your Game Just Completely Hilarious: The Stanley Parable: William Pugh (Roberts & Co Bunsen Outlet Limited)
• [2015] Classic Game Postmortem: Loom: Brian Moriarty (WPI)
• [2015] Hearthstone: How to Create an Immersive User Interface: Derek Sakamoto (Blizzard)
• [2015] Scroll Back: The Theory and Practice of Cameras in Side-Scrollers: Itay Keren (Untame)
• [2015] A Live Art Demonstration of Creating Worlds through Design Thinking: Feng Zhu (Feng Zhu Design)
• [2014] Hearthstone: 10 Bits of Design Wisdom: Eric Dodds (Blizzard)
• [2014] Level Design in a Day: Decisions That Matter - Meaningful Choice in Game and Level Design: Matthias Worch (2K Games)
• [2014] There and Dad Again - The Octodad: Dadliest Catch Postmortem: John Murphy, Phil Tibitoski (Young Horses)
• [2014] TwitchPlayedPokemon: An Analysis of the Experimental Interactive Phenomenon: Alex Leavitt (USC)
• [2014] Narrative Legos: Ken Levine (Irrational Games)
• [2014] Antichamber: An Overnight Success, Seven Years in the Making: Alexander Bruce
• [2014] Antichamber: Three Years of Hardcore Iteration: Alexander Bruce
• [2014] A Study in Transparency: How Board Games Matter: Soren Johnson (Mohawk Games)
• [2014] Hearts and Minds: Frank Lantz (NYU Game Center)
• [2014] Interpreting Feedback and Maintaining Your Vision: Andy Nguyen (Pocketwatch Games)
• [2014] Why Is Gone Home a Game?: Steve Gaynor (The Fullbright Company)
• [2014] Jiro Dreams of Game Design: Brenda Romero (UC Santa Cruz)
• [2014] Preserving a Sense of Discovery in the Age of Spoilers: James Crawford (Twinbeard Studios)
• [2014] Animation Bootcamp: An Indie Approach to Procedural Animation: David Rosen (Wolfire Games)
• [2014, Europe] Super Time Force: Solving the Time Travel Paradox: Kenneth Yeung (Capy Games)
• [2014] Enhancing Sportsmanship in Online Games: Jeffrey Lin (Riot Games)
• [2014] The Art of The Witness: Luis Antonio (Thekla Inc)
• [2014] Building the Content that Drives the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Economy: Bronwen Grimes (Valve)
• [2013] Classic Game Postmortem: Myst: Robyn Miller (Zoo Break Gun Club)
• [2013, Europe] #1ReasonToBe: Annakaisa Kultima, Auriea Harvey, Brenda Romero, Zuraida Buter, Henrike aka Riker Lode, Siobhan Reddy, Leigh Alexander (Panel)
• [2013] Obsessive-Compulsive Development: Retro/Grade Postmortem: Matt Gilgenbach (24 Caret Games)
• [2013] The Western Games That Conquered China: Henry Fong (Yodo1)
• [2013] Designing Journey: Jenova Chen (thatgamecompany)
• [2013] AI Postmortems: Assassin’s Creed III, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and Warframe: Daniel Brewer, Alex Cheng, Richard Dumas, Aleissia Laidacker (Panel)
• [2013] Building the Touchy-Feely World of Tearaway: Rex Crowle (Media Molecule)
• [2012] A Theory of Fun 10 Years Later: Raph Koster (Playdom)
• [2012] Attention, Not Immersion: Making Your Games Better with Psychology and Playtesting, the Uncharted Way: Richard Lemarchand (Naughty Dog)
• [2012] Classic Game Postmortem: Harvest Moon: Yasuhiro Wada (Toy Box, Inc.)
• [2012] The 5 Domains of Play: Applying Psychology’s Big 5 Motivation Domains to Games: Jason VandenBerghe (Ubisoft)
• [2012] Creating a Sequel to a Game That Doesn’t Need One: Chet Faliszek, Erik Wolpaw (Valve)
• [2012] How I Got My Mom to Play Through Plants vs. Zombies: George Fan (PopCap)
• [2011] Design in Detail: Tuning the Muzzle Velocity of the Plasma Rifle Bolt on Legendary Difficulty Across the HALO Franchise: Jaime Griesemer (Bungie)
• [2011] Dynamics: The State of the Art: Clint Hocking (LucasArts)
• [2011] Life and Death and Middle Pair: Go, Poker and the Sublime: Frank Lantz (Zynga)
• [2011] The Road Ahead: Cliff Bleszinski (Epic Games)
• [2011] Truth in Game Design: Jonathan Blow (Number None, Inc.)
• [2010] Design in Detail: Changing the Time Between Shots for the Sniper Rifle from 0.5 to 0.7 Seconds for Halo 3: Jaime Griesemer (Bungie)
• [2010, Keynote] Everything You Know is Wrong: by Sid Meier (Firaxis Games)
• [2009] Everything I Learned About Level Design I Learned from Disneyland: Scott Rogers (THQ)
• [2009] Helping Your Players Feel Smart: Puzzles as User Interface: Randy Smith (Tiger Style)
• [2007] Indie Prototyping: Jonathan Blow (Number None, Inc.)
• [2007] Innovation in Indie Games: Kyle Gabler, Jenova Chen, Jon Mak, Jon Blow (Panel)
• [2000] It’s Great to be Back! Fast Code, Game Programming, and Other Thoughts from 20 (Minus Two) Years in the Trenches: Michael Abrash (Rad Game Tools)

TED Talks

http://www.ted.com/topics/gaming

• [2015, TED]  Physical Therapy Is Boring — Play A Game Instead: Cosmin Mihaiu
• [2015, TEDxTokyo] Play This Game To Come Up With Original ideas: Shimpei Takahashi
• [2013, TEDGlobal] Massively Multi-Player… Thumb-Wrestling?: Jane McGonigal (Institute for the Future)
• [2012, TEDGlobal] The Game That Can Give You 10 Extra Years Of Life: Jane McGonigal
• [2012, TEDxCHUV] Your Brain On Video Games: Daphne Bavelier (University of Geneva)
• [2012, TEDxPhoenix] Gaming For Understanding: Brenda Romero (Loot Drop)
• [2011, TEDxKids@Brussels] How Games Make Kids Smarter: Gabe Zichermann (Author)
• [2010, TEDGlobal] 7 Ways Games Reward The Brain: Tom Chatfield
• [2010, TEDxBoston] The Game Layer On Top Of The World: Seth Priebatsch
• [2010, TEDGlobal] Meet Milo, The Virtual Boy: Peter Molyneux
• [2010, TED] Gaming Can Make A Better World: Jane McGonigal (Institute for the Future)
• [2009, EG] The Art of Puzzles Scott Kim (Discover Magazine)
• [2009, Serious Play] Play is More than Just Fun: Stuart Brown (National Institute for Play)
• [1998, TED] Games for Girls: Brenda Laurel (California College of the Arts)
• [2007, TED] Spore, Birth of a Game:Will Wright (Maxis)
• [2006, TED] Are Games Better than Liife?: David Perry (Gaikai)

Other Talks

• [2015, University of Texas] John D. Carmack at UT Dallas: John D. Carmack (Oculus)
• [2014, Nordic Game] Making of Monument Valley in Unity: Peter Pashley (ustwo)
• [2014, PRACTICE 2014] On Trying to Make Idea-Rich Games: Jonathan Blow (Number None, Inc.)
• [2014, Indievelopment] Attempting Deep Work, Surviving Long Projects: Jonathan Blow (Number None, Inc.)
• [2014, University of Virginia] A Fireside Chat with Rich Hilleman: Rich Hilleman (EA)
• [2014, Tallinn University] Innovation in Game Design: Richard Bartle
• [2013, PRACTICE 2013] Desigining a Legacy Game: Rob Daviau (IronWall Games)
• [2013, BAFTA] From Shodan, to Big Daddy, to Elizabeth: The Evolution of AI Companions: Ken Levine (Irrational Games)
• [2013, Creative Mornings] Game Design: The Medium is the Message: Jonathan Blow (Number None, Inc.)
• [2013, Game Connection Europe] Great Level Design and the Artistic Expression of Mathematics: Hamish Todd
• [2013, Unite Nordic] Sir, You Are Being Proceudrally Generated: Tom Betts, James Carey (Big Robot)
• [2013, INDIGO] The Art of Screenshake: Jan Willem Nijman (Vlambeer)
• [2013, IGDA Seattle] Game Design Tools (I Wish I learned About Sooner): Daniel Cook (Spry Fox)
• [2013, Georgia Tech] Facilitating Stories in Journey: John Nesky (thatgamecompany)
• [2013, PAX East] Mastering Game Mechanics: Brandon DeCoster, Scott Rubin (GeekNights)
• [2012, G.A.N.G Summit] Music Design in Games: Rich Vreeland (Disasterpeace)
• [2012, NY Film Academy] Functional Theory for Game Design: Keith Burgun (Dinofarm Games)
• [2012, Eurogamer Expo] How to Give Yourself a Job in the Games Industry: Chet Faliszek (Valve)
• [2012 - Nordic Game Indie Night] Juice It Or Lose It: Martin Jonasson, Petri Purho (Indie)
• [2012, Indie Connect] Sensible Nonsense: Rami Ismail, Jan Willem Nijman (Vlambeer)
• [2012, George Mason University] Lecture Series: Todd Howard (Bethesda)
• [2011, NYU Game Center] Lecture Series: Portal 2: Erik Wolpaw (Valve)
• [2011, Google Tech Talks] Getting Gamification Right: Sebastian Deterding (PLAIT Lab)
• [2011, Games for Change] G4LI Keynote: Gabe Newell (Valve)
• [2011, Games for Change] Make Games, Not War: Jesse Schell (Schell Games)
• [2011, Berkeley] Programming Aesthetics Learned From Making Independent Games: Jonathan Blow (Number None, Inc.)
• [2011, IndieCade] Designing the Universe: Jonathan Blow, Marc Ten Boch
• [2010, Rice Univerisity] Video Games and the Human Condition: Jonathan Blow (Number None, Inc.)
• [2008, MIGS] Fundamental Conflicts in Contemporary Game Design: Jonathan Blow (Number None, Inc.)
• [2008, Google Tech Talks] Designing a Pandemic: Lessons Learned: Matt Leacock
• [2007, Freeplay] How and Why: Jonathan Blow (Number None, Inc.)
• [2007, MIGS] Design Reboot: Jonathan Blow (Number None, Inc.)
• [2003, Computer History Museum] Lessons from Game Design: Will Wright (Maxis)

Panels

• [2014, PlayStation Experience] How to Become a Game Designer (or How to Consider It) Panel Doug Holder, Quentin Cobb (Naughty Dog), Parker Hamilton (SuckerPunch), Ramone Russell (Sony San Diego), Massimo Giuarni (Ovosonico)

Conferences

• [2014, DICE Europe] 2014 D.I.C.E Europe
• [2014, DICE] 2014 D.I.C.E. Summit
• [2014, Steam Dev Days] Steam Dev Days
• [2014, Unknown Worlds Post Mortems] Game Development Micro-Talks
• [2014, Oculus Connect] Oculus Connect: Developer Sessions
• [2013, DICE Europe] 2013 D.I.C.E Europe
• [2013, DICE] 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit
• [2013 - Now, IndieCade] Indiecade Official Channel
• [2013, PRACTICE] PRACTICE 2013
• [2012 - Now, DigiPen Game Engine Architecture] Game Engine Architecture Club
• [2012 - Now, NYU Poly Game Lab] POLYGAMELAB Official Channel
• [2012, DICE] dicesummit
• [2011, DICE] dicesummit
• [2010, DICE] dicesummit

Lists

• https://twitter.com/GameDevTalks/

Podcasts

Dedicated Podcasts

• A life well wasted: Robert Ashley
• Another Castle: Charles J Pratt (Game Design Advance)
• Brainy Gamer: Michael Abbott
• Game Developers Radio: Joseph Burchett
• The Game Design Round Table: Jon Shafer (Firaxis), Dirk Knemeyer (The New Science, Tomorrow).
• IndieGamePod Interviews with developers about their games.
• Infinite Ammo Podcast: Alec Holowka
• Ludology: Ryan Sturm, Geoff Engelstein
• Podclass: (Digipen)

Talks

• [Episode 93, Collective Podcast] Discussing Monument Valley: Ken Wong (UsTwo Games)