Heading to GDC 2025? Here are our top picks from a packed lineup of panels, talks, and tutorials.
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) returns to the Moscone Center in San Francisco next week, featuring hundreds of sessions covering all aspects of video game development, from audio and narrative to design and programming.
The annual conference is firmly established as the premier event for the games industry. GDC attracts programmers, artists, producers, independent developers, and publishers, all eager to network, exchange insights and learn about the latest advancements in game development.
It’s no secret that attending GDC comes with challenges. The high cost of passes, travel, and accommodation – not to mention San Francisco’s well-documented accessibility issues – can make it difficult for some developers to attend. Still, for those who can, the benefits are undeniable. In recent years, GDC organisers have also taken steps to make attendance more accessible to developers from underrepresented backgrounds. A new initiative 2025 is GDC Nights, an after-hours event designed to provide a safe, welcoming, and enjoyable space for attendees to socialise and connect.
The conference also hosts two major industry awards. The Game Developers Choice Awards honours the industry’s most innovative games and development teams, while the Independent Games Festival Awards celebrates groundbreaking indie games, giving smaller studios the recognition they deserve.
With so many talks and panels on offer, planning a GDC schedule can feel overwhelming. To help, we’ve selected 15 session highlights.
15 Must-See Sessions at GDC 2025
Independent Games Summit: Teabag in First: How ‘Thank Goodness You’re Here!’ Does Comedy
Coal Supper’s Will Todd and James Carbutt break down the design of ‘comedy slapformer’ Thank Goodness You’re Here!. They’ll share insights into comedy writing, game design, and the structured production process that kept the game’s dense humour from overwhelming development.
- Speaker: James Carbutt (Coal Supper), Will Todd (Coal Supper)
- Track: Independent Games
- Day: Monday
Independent Games Summit: You Are Not Alone
This microtalk session offers personal stories from three indie developers who challenge industry norms. If you’ve ever felt like an outsider, faced setbacks, or questioned your place in the games industry, this panel should provide insight and inspo in equal measure.
- Speakers: Renee Gittins (Stumbling Cat), Neha Patel (Freelance), Julia Minamata (Independent)
- Track: Independent Games
- Day: Monday
Advanced Graphics Summit: ‘Marvel Rivals’: Creating a Real-Time Interactive Dr. Strange’s Portal
Marvel Rivals brings Doctor Strange’s portals to life, but at a technical cost. Tieyi Zhang’s talk covers how Unreal Engine’s rendering pipeline was customised for real-time, interactive portals while optimising performance for competitive play.
- Speaker: Tieyi Zhang (Netease Games)
- Track: Programming
- Day: Monday
Level Design Summit: ‘Silent Hill 2’: The Mystery of the Remake
How do you remake a classic while preserving its essence? The Silent Hill 2 remake’s level designer reveals the challenges of adapting an iconic game, balancing changes, and enhancing environmental storytelling.
- Speaker: Anna Oporska-Szybisz (Bloober Team)
- Track: Design
- Day: Tuesday
Technical Artist Summit: ‘Dragon’s Dogma 2’: The Hidden World of Rigging and Cloth Simulation
Dragon’s Dogma 2‘s rigging director, Petr Zapotocky, details Capcom’s innovations in character rigging and cloth simulation. Discover how the development team balanced flexibility for the character editor with generating realistic cloth and hair physics.
- Speaker: Petr Zapotocky (Capcom)
- Track: Visual Arts
- Day: Tuesday
From Symphony to Scoundrel: Adaptive Music in ‘Star Wars: Outlaws’
Ubisoft’s Star Wars: Outlaws needed dynamic music while staying true to the franchise’s orchestral roots. This talk by Wilbert Roget II explores how the audio team balanced interactivity with traditional scoring, developing a system that enhances the open-world experience without compromising cinematic authenticity.
- Speaker: Wilbert Roget II (RogetMusic)
- Track: Audio
- Day: Wednesday
‘Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown’: Making a Modern Metroidvania Both Challenging and Accessible
Another talk from Ubisoft on one of 2024’s best games. Updating Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown as a Metroidvania presented Ubisoft Montpellier with a challenge: balancing difficulty with accessibility. This talk reveals how the – now tragically disbanded – development team leveraged accessibility to refine core gameplay, deepen combat mechanics, and ensure a rewarding player experience.
- Speaker: Remi Boutin (Ubisoft)
- Track: Design
- Day: Wednesday
‘Avowed’ Branching Narratives: Shifting from QA Testing to Analyzing
Obsidian’s redefined the role of QA on Avowed, shifting from traditional testers to analysts who work outside the game client to find, correct, and prevent defects. David Benefield’s talk explores how this approach was applied, culminating in sessions where designers and QA Analysts collaborated to fix bugs before they were reported.
- Speaker: David Benefield (Obsidian Entertainment)
- Track: Production & Team Leadership
- Day: Wednesday
‘Arranger’: A Conventions-Breaking Art Direction
When early 2.5D concepts failed, Arranger‘s team reimagined its art style, creating large parallax comic panels that enhanced storytelling while reducing production demands. Art director David Hellman shares how this bold shift redefined the game’s visual identity and player experience.
- Speaker: David Hellman (Furniture & Mattress)
- Track: Visual Arts
- Day: Thursday
Doing It Live: Prototyping in ‘Marvel Snap’
A behind-the-scenes look at the live prototyping process used in developing Marvel Snap. Second Dinner shares their “Speed to Signal” approach, using the game’s new Alliances feature as a case study in rapid prototyping.
- Speaker: Kent-Erik Hagman (Second Dinner Studios)
- Track: Design
- Day: Thursday
#1ReasonToBe
This conference-favourite session returns to highlight the importance of inclusivity and representation in the industry. Women from emerging game development regions share candid insights through eight-minute talks, revealing their #1ReasonToBe in the industry. This session should be a refreshing tonic to the current dispiriting discourse surrounding these issues.
- Speakers: Laia Bee (Pincer Games), Javiera Sepulveda (Kolibri), Kate Edwards (Geogrify/SetJetters), Morgan Baker (Electronic Arts), Liana MacKenzie (Valorous Games, LLC), Hanan Makki (Qindeel Studio)
- Track: Advocacy
- Day: Thursday
Turning Around a Playerbase in Crisis: A ‘Destiny 2’ Case Study
Even popular live-service games hit crisis point. Destiny 2 has faced a few of these moments over the years, leading to the development of a recovery framework that avoids derailing future content. Designer Alan Blaine shares lessons on crisis detection, forming a Player Retention Strike Team, and balancing short-term fixes with long-term development.
- Speaker: Alan Blaine (Bungie)
- Track: Production & Team Leadership
- Day: Thursday
The Making of ‘Astro Bot’
Studio Asobi director Nicolas Doucet shares the 10 key principles behind Astro Bot‘s development – from concept pitch to daily team workflows – revealing how the studio created the game’s many magical moments.
- Speaker: Nicolas Doucet (Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Tracks: Design, Production & Team Leadership
- Day: Thursday
2025 GDC State of the Game Industry Panel
This session discusses the critical issues that are reshaping and threatening game development. Topics include the ethical use of generative AI, the effects of mass layoffs, and funding. The panel aims to address these challenges and explore ways to support developers and their craft.
- Speakers: Roshelle “Ro” Patterson (Extraordinary Friends), Elaine Gómez (Latinx in Gaming), Gordon Bellamy (Gay Gaming Professionals), Bryant Francis (Game Developer), Beth Elderkin (GDC)
- Track: Advocacy
- Day: Thursday
Dressed to Quest: Achieving Dynamic, Efficient Characters in ‘Kingdom Come: Deliverance II’
Kingdom Come: Deliverance set a new standard for RPG character customization, but its sequel demanded even greater efficiency. Gabor Molnar from Warhorse Studios details how it employed optimisations in memory usage, CPU performance, and draw calls while enhancing visuals.
- Speaker: Gabor Molnar (Warhorse Studios)
- Track: Programming
- Day: Friday
What’s New in Game History: 2025
Game history evolves fast, so what’s worth your attention? One of last year’s best panels returns to highlight essential resources, books, videos, essays, exhibitions, and to share an update on the legal factors shaping game preservation.
- Speakers: Laine Nooney (New York University), Phil Salvador (Video Game History Foundation), Kendra Albert (Harvard Cyberlaw Clinic), Jason Scott (Internet Archive), Anne Ladyem McDivitt (Stanford University Libraries and Department of History)
- Track: Advocacy
- Day: Friday
The full conference schedule is available on the GDC 2025 website.
Images: Official GDC Flickr.
