Today is the start of Naughty Dog’s sessions at the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, and is the world’s largest professionals-only game industry event. Every spring, developers and professionals alike have access to learning, inspiration, and networking for the creators of computer, console, handheld, mobile, and online games.

Panels

Naughty Dog is featured in three panels today, which we’ll summarize from Arne’s post on the Naughty Dog blog here:

Thursday (March 11, 2010) 1:30pm – 2:30pm

Among Friends – An Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Post-Mortem
Richard Lemarchand (Game Designer, Naughty Dog)
Room 134, North Hall

UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves‘ Co-Lead Game Designer Richard Lemarchand will candidly describe how we tackled the problems Naughty Dog faced, and how the studio’s philosophy of collaboration, open communication and investment of responsibility in the people who create the game allowed Naughty Dog to surpass the accomplishment of their first PlayStation 3 hit. He will also discuss how our small studio of around one hundred people tackled the issues we faced in executing our most complex production yet, giving practical examples and telling interesting stories of crisis points overcome and valuable lessons learned.

Thursday (March 11, 2010) 3:00pm – 4:00pm

Behind the Scenes: Uncharted 2’s Unique Cinematic Production Process
Josh Scherr (Cinematics Animation Lead, Naughty Dog), Amy Hennig (Creative Director, Naughty Dog, Inc.)
Room 303, South Hall

The development and production process behind the acclaimed characters and cinematics in UNCHARTED 2 is labor-intensive and demands both time and flexibility. But there’s a method to Naughty Dog’s madness, and in this session, they’ll be sharing what’s different and unique about our approach, covering both the how, and more importantly, the why behind that process. Topics they’ll cover include casting, motion capture production, writing, our animation pipeline, and how we adapted our process for an ambitious production scope and demanding schedule.

Thursday (March 11, 2010) 4:30pm – 5:30pm

Micro or Massive: It’s Fricking Tough to Achieve a Vision
Baiyon Tomohisa Kuramitsu (Artist/Musician, PixelJunk/Q-Games), Richard Lemarchand (Game Designer, Naughty Dog)
Room 135, North Hall

In this session, Baiyon, graphic artist and composer on PixelJunk Eden, and Richard Lemarchand, lead designer on UNCHARTED 2, will lead a lively discussion on the inherent similarities of artistic endeavor, even on two projects as different in style and scope as UNCHARTED and PixelJunk Eden. This is a talk about artistry as much as it is about the speakers’ specific games, and should prove to be a vital cross-cultural look into the nature of creativity and process in games.

Awards

After today’s sessions close, the Naughty Dog team will attend the Game Developers Choice Awards, and if history is on their side, they’ll come home with a few more awards for UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves. Stay tuned for more info as we’ll cover the Game Developer Choice Awards later tonight.

Careers

As Arne explains in another Naughty Dog Blog post, Naughty Dog has its own booth at the GDC Career Pavilion this year. If you’re curious about what it’s like to work at Naughty Dog, or you’re seeking employment and Naughty Dog is a place you think you may be a good fit for, stop by their booth (#2415 in the GDC Career Pavilion) to say hello and ask questions.