Valve at GDC 2019

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The Game Developers Conference 2019 is practically around the corner, with doors opening March 18th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA.

Below are the currently known sessions that Valve will be participating in.

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Brain-Computer Interfaces: One Possible Future for How We Play with Mike Ambinder

"While a speculative technology at the present time, advances in Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) research are beginning to shed light on how players may interact with games in the future. While current interaction patterns are restricted to interpretations of mouse, keyboard, gamepad, and gestural controls, future generations of interfaces may include the ability to interpret neurological signals in ways that promise quicker and more sensitive actions, much wider arrays of possible inputs, real-time adaptation of game state to a player's internal state, and qualitatively different kinds of gameplay experiences. This talk covers both the near-term and long-term outlook of BCI research for the game industry but with an emphasis on how technologies stemming from this research can benefit developers in the present day."

Spatial Audio in 'Budget Cuts': A VR Stealth Game with Lakulish Antani

"The developers behind the VR stealth game 'Budget Cuts' discuss how they used Steam Audio to implement advanced spatial audio features for their title. The talk provides specific examples of spatial audio technology and how it enhances gameplay and immersion, including: HRTF-based binaural rendering for locating enemies; occlusion and transmission for modeling how sound is affected by vents or other openings; and real-time physics-based reverb for modeling smooth variations and subtle details in environmental reverb. The talk also discusses how the needs of the game informed improvements in how Steam Audio integrates with Budget Cuts' game engine, Unity. Finally, the talk discusses some of the limitations in audio engine architecture when it comes to advanced spatial audio technology, and offers some suggestions for addressing them."

Interactive Story Without Challenge Mechanics: The Design of 'Firewatch' with Chris Remo

"What is the role of design in a game that doesn't include combat, puzzles, or other traditional mechanical challenges? Can the story itself be the gameplay? On 'Firewatch', the developers set out to create a compelling story that unfolded in real time and allowed for player-centric interactivity and responsiveness, without allowing the player to ever "fail." In this talk, game designer and composer Chris Remo will discuss the ways in which the team succeeded (and came up short) in making deep interactive narrative design a vital part of 'Firewatch', a pillar they are continuing to build on in their upcoming project, 'In the Valley of Gods'."

Audio Bootcamp XVIII: Interactive Music/VR Audio Implementation with Emily Ridgway

"This session outlines techniques to achieve immersive audio coverage in your 3D game or VR project quickly and to a high level of quality. Emily will cover both basic and detailed implementation strategies that allow sound designers and non-sound designers to scale audio quality according to their constraints. Examples will be demonstrated in Unity. "

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We'll be keeping this thread up-to-date with all of the known Valve participants.