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Charlie Cleveland (Game Director, Unknown Worlds)
Location: Room 3016, West Hall
Date: Wednesday, March 20
Time: 9:00 am - 10:00 am
Pass Type: All Access, GDC Conference + Summits, GDC Conference - Get your pass now!
Topic: Design
Format: Session
Tutorials: N/A
Vault Recording: Video
Audience Level: All
This talk will cover the design of 'Subnautica' and how it created feelings of exploration, discovery and the unknown. Starting with creating and adhering to specific design pillars and capturing emotion in the initial prototypes and the prototyping process, then through studies of game features big and small, including the hows and whys of its crafting system, embracing player phobias, mysterious tooltips and adding structure to a sandbox through radio signals. Also covered are examples of story beats that didn't overly direct or guide the player and how it's possible to reframe problems when development is stuck.
Design tools and inspiration for finding your game's "heart". Examples of overcoming one's initial ideas or preconceptions, showing how to take ideas from the whole team and your community. A case study showing how focusing on your game's core can help it reach its potential.
Game designers, team leads and anyone that's directing design or development of a game. Knowledge of general game development and Steam Early Access is assumed.