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View, browse and sort the ever-growing list of sessions by day, pass type, topic, and format. With this Session Viewer, you can view GDC 2023 session details and speakers, and share your favorites via social media. You will be able to build your schedule and access it during the show via export or Mobile App, once live. Sessions do fill up and seating is first come, first serve, so arrive early to sessions that you would like to attend.

AI Summit: Crafting Epic Boss Fights in 'Psychonauts 2'

Rebecca Vessal  (Gameplay Programmer, Double Fine Productions)

Location: Room 2002, West Hall

Date: Tuesday, March 21

Time: 9:30 am - 10:30 am

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass

Topic: Programming

Format: Lecture

Vault Recording: Video

Audience Level: All

Psychonauts 2 is an award-winning adventure story game made by Double Fine Productions. Learn how the team rapidly crafted the game's narrative boss battles using a data-driven and modular pipeline, and learn some tips and tricks on how to quickly iterate boss fights—while empowering everyone on your team in the Unreal engine.

Takeaway

Attendees will learn about the core architecture that consists of a data-driven and modular pipeline to quickly churn out narrative boss battles in an iterative fashion with a very small team. They will learn about some of the unique challenges for a narrative boss battle and Double Fine's unique pipeline, and how it could be even further improved upon. There will also be some general tips and tricks for quickly prototyping boss battles.

Intended Audience

This is for developers who have never made boss battles before, or want to learn about a data-driven and modular approach to boss tech. No prior experience is required, but some experience with Unreal's AI and animation systems is recommended.