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GDC Festival of Gaming
March 9-13, 2026
Moscone CenterSan Francisco, CA
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Agenda

Your Festival lineup starts here. Browse and filter by Pass Type, Track, Format, Audience Level, and (new this year) Tags!

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Mar 09 Monday | 9:00 am
GDC 101
Community
Speakers: Sam Warnke  (GDC), Natalie Sam  (GDC)
Location: Room 211, South Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Track: Special Event
Mar 09 Monday | 10:30 am
'Clair Obscur: Expedition 33': An Audio Postmortem
Community
Speakers: Raphael Joffres  (Sandfall Interactive), Maxance Playez  (Sandfall Interactive), Olivier Penchenier  (Sandfall Interactive)
Location: Room 2003, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: Entry-Level
Track: Audio, Game & Production Technology
Format: Lecture
Balancing TCGs with Power Sorting
Tabletop SummitCommunity
Speaker: Nate Heiss  (Heiss Games LLC)
Location: Room 3018, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: Intermediate
Track: Design
Format: Lecture
Bringing Narrative to 'Disney Dreamlight Valley'
CommunityGame Narrative Summit
Speaker: Josh Labelle  (Gameloft Montreal)
Location: Room 3005, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: All
Track: Narrative & Performance
Format: Lecture
Machine Learning Forum: Ask the Experts
CommunityMachine Learning SummitSignature Session
Speakers: Martin Singh-Blom  (Embark Studios), Alessandro Sestini  (Electronic Arts, SEED), Alexis Rolland  (Ubisoft, La Forge), Alexandre Moufarek  (Google DeepMind), Zhen Zhai  (Blizzard Entertainment), Julien Merceron  (Orion Productions)
Location: Room 3004, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: All
Track: Game & Production Technology
Format: Forum
Tools Roundtable Day 1: Engineering
CommunityTools Summit
Speaker: Geoff Evans  (Nvidia)
Location: Room 314, South Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: All
Track: Game & Production Technology
Format: Roundtable
UX Mobile Porting Challenges in 'Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown' Case Study
AccessibilityCommunityUX Summit
Speaker: Alexis Denance  (Ubisoft Da Nang)
Location: Room 3002, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: All
Track: Design
Format: Lecture
VFX Roundtable Day 1
Visual Effects SummitCommunity
Speakers: Jason Keyser  (VFX Apprentice), Ellie Koorlander  (Creative Assembly)
Location: Room 312, South Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: All
Track: Visual Development
Format: Roundtable
XR in 2026: The State of the Industry + Community Networking
Future Realities SummitCommunity
Speaker: Dana Ware  (Hidden Realities/The VOID)
Location: Room 215, South Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: Intermediate
Track: Game & Production Technology
Format: Forum
Mar 09 Monday | 11:50 am
Creating a Culture of Sustainability in Tabletop Games
CommunityTabletop Summit
Speaker: Carol Mertz  (Independent/Green Games Guide)
Location: Room 3018, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: All
Track: Culture & Sustainability, Design
Format: Lecture
Etudes and Actors: Owlcat's Tooling for Highly Branched Narrative
Community
Speaker: Alexey Drobyshevsky  (Owlcat Games)
Location: Room 2010, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: Intermediate
Track: Narrative & Performance
From Beautiful to Playable: Texture Compression Secrets Every Game Artist Should Know
Visual Effects SummitCommunity
Speaker: Jad Deeb  (Jin&Jaw LTD)
Location: Room 2001, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: Entry-Level
Track: Visual Development, Design
Format: Lecture
Generative Recommender Post-Trained by Reinforcement Learning in Video Games
CommunityMachine Learning Summit
Speaker: Dong Fang  (LIGHTSPEED STUDIOS)
Location: Room 3004, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: Advanced
Track: Game & Production Technology
Format: Lecture
Mar 09 Monday | 1:30 pm
Game UX Mindset Masterclass: Principles and Methods
Signature SessionUX SummitCommunity
Speaker: Celia Hodent  (Independent)
Location: Room 3002, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: Intermediate
Track: Design, Team Leadership
Format: Workshop
Mar 09 Monday | 1:50 pm
From Intermediate to Advanced: Charting Your Career in Game Audio
Community
Speakers: Star Victoria Power  (Slide20XX), Ryan Ike  (Independent), Akash Thakkar  (Independent), Katherine Tole  (Plant Based Audio)
Location: Room 2003, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: Intermediate
Track: Audio, Career
Format: Panel
How to Win a VES Award
CommunityVisual Effects Summit
Speakers: David Johnson  (Undertone FX, Inc.), Sandy Lin-Chiang  (Insomniac Games), Eben Cook  (Naughty Dog), Janne Pulkkinen  (Remedy Entertainment)
Location: Room 2001, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: All
Track: Visual Development
Format: Microtalks
Narrative Portfolio Review
Signature SessionCommunityGame Narrative SummitMentorship
Speakers: Anna C. Webster  (Independent), Alexa Ray Corriea  (Gearbox), Ashley Poprik  (Independent), Emma Kidwell  (Independent), John Ryan  (Independent), Laura Michet  (Heart Machine), Sam Maggs  (Critical Role), Alice Camp  (Microfun), Aysha Farah  (Independent), Karrie Shao  (Pacific Drive), Kelsie Mhoon  (Obsidian Entertainment), Nessa Cannon  (Independent), Lis Moberly  (20th Century Games, The Walt Disney Company), Books Schwartz, Sam Winkler  (Gearbox Software)
Location: Room 215, South Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: All
Track: Career, Narrative & Performance
Format: Special Event
Reinforcement Learning in 'FC26': Shipping Human-Like Goalkeepers with a Designer-First Approach
Machine Learning SummitCommunity
Speakers: Alessandro Sestini  (Electronic Arts, SEED), Mike Jones  (Electronic Arts (EA) Canada)
Location: Room 2006, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: All
Track: Game & Production Technology
Format: Lecture
Using Telemetry (the Right Way) is a Game-Changer for Game Tools
CommunityTools Summit
Speaker: David Lightbown  (Ubisoft)
Location: Room 3005, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: Intermediate
Track: Game & Production Technology
Format: Lecture
Mar 09 Monday | 2:50 pm
Bones & Booleans
Animation SummitSignature SessionCommunity
Speakers: Frank Gordon  (Compulsion Games), Nathaniel Winckler  (That's No Moon), Matt Lake  (Independent), Thomas Van Cise  (That's No Moon)
Location: Room 2016, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: All
Track: Visual Development, Game & Production Technology
Format: Special Event
Mar 09 Monday | 3:10 pm
AI Models for 2D Generation
CommunityMachine Learning Summit
Speaker: Alexis Rolland  (Ubisoft, La Forge)
Location: Room 3004, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: Entry-Level
Track: Visual Development
Format: Lecture
Controlled Chaos: 12 Principles of Design for VFX
CommunityVisual Effects Summit
Speaker: Rachel Quitevis  (Beyond-FX)
Location: Room 2001, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: All
Track: Visual Development
Format: Lecture
The Power of Authenticity: Audio Challenges and Successes in 'Civilization VII'
Community
Speakers: Dmytro Nebesh  (Firaxis Games), Geoff Knorr  (Knorr Music LLC), Finn Taylor  (Firaxis Games), Kadet Kuhne  (Firaxis Games)
Location: Room 2003, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: Intermediate
Track: Audio
Format: Microtalks
Mar 09 Monday | 4:30 pm
Audio Directors Roundtable Day 1
Community
Speakers: Adele Cutting  (Soundcuts Ltd), Mari Saastamoinen Minto  (EA DICE)
Location: Room 312, South Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: All
Track: Audio, Team Leadership
Format: Roundtable
Game Audio Programmer Roundtable Day 1
Community
Speakers: Guy Somberg  (Blizzard Entertainment), Tomas Neumann  (CD Projekt Red)
Location: Room 306, South Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: All
Track: Game & Production Technology, Audio
Format: Roundtable