GDC is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

GDC 2022 Session Viewer

View, browse and sort the ever-growing list of sessions by pass type, topic, format and viewing experience. Use the experience filter to view sessions and roundtables that will be available on the virtual GDC event platform. Virtual sessions will be available to watch on-demand through April 1st, 2022 at 5pm PT. All days/times are displayed in Pacific Time.

Use the Viewing Experience filter to see which sessions will be available on-site, on the virtual platform, or both:

  • In-Person: offered on-site, not available within the virtual platform. Check the session’s listing to see if it will be recorded for GDC Vault after the conference.
  • Virtual: offered in the virtual platform at its scheduled time.
  • In-Person/Virtual: offered onsite and the recording will be available to watch-on-demand within 36 hours of the session start time on the virtual platform until April 1st at 5pm PT
  • In-Person/Virtual Livestream: offered on-site and will be livestreamed to watch on the virtual platform at its scheduled time. The recording of the video will be available to watch-on-demand within 36 hours of the session start time on the virtual platform until April 1st at 5pm PT.

All registered attendees will be able to build their personal schedule in the virtual GDC event platform and mobile app. Download the Informa Tech Events app to gain access to the Game Developers Conference 2022 virtually. Login with the email address you used to register.

Sign In Create Account Export | Need Help?
All Sessions Speakers My Schedule

Independent Games Summit Session: Getting Players Emotionally Invested in Procedural Characters in 'Wildermyth'

Nate Austin  (Co-Owner, Worldwalker Games, LLC)

Location: Room 2009, West Hall

Date: Monday, March 21

Time: 10:50 am - 11:50 am

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass, Independent Games Summit Pass - Get your pass now!

Topic: Independent Games

Format: Session

Viewing Experience: In-Person

Vault Recording: Video

Audience Level: No

What makes a player get attached to a character? Particularly a generated one? Wildermyth uses a host of techniques to encourage emotional investment in procedurally generated characters, and we've worked hard to avoid moments that push players away from that connection.

In this talk, Nate will go over how each aspect of the game bends towards this one goal, of creating memorable, relatable, even iconic heroes, and encouraging the player to love them. We'll cover specific techniques used, including how our procedural narrative system works. Almost equally important is avoiding the pitfalls, such as breach of trust, acting out of character, or rage quits, and we'll cover examples of how we overcame each of these.

Takeaway

Attendees will learn concrete techniques used in Wildermyth to encourage emotional investment in procedurally generated characters. See how game design, art, and narrative work together to pull the player in, and equally importantly, avoid pushing them out.

Intended Audience

The target audience is generally familiar with concepts of procedural generation, technical knowledge not required.