GDC Austin to Feature IPhone Games Summit

The Game Developers Conference (GDC) Austin is set to return to the Austin Convention Center in Austin Texas in September. When it does, the even will include the inaugural iPhone Games Summit, offering a focus for iPhone and iPod touch game developers. GDC Austin takes place from September 15 - 18, 2009.

GDC Austin, presented by Think Services, is an offshoot of the "main" GDC that happens in San Francisco, Calif. It gathers together game developers who attend two day Game Writers and Game Audio summits. New to the track this year is iPhone games and the Independent Games Summit, a carryover from the San Francisco event. Three days of main conference content help developers share best practices and learn more about "connected" games, online games, virtual worlds and social networking game play.

The iPhone Games Summit highlights the business of iPhone game development, along with marketing and "key design tenets" behind successful iPhone games. Topics range from app optimization and touch interface lessons, iPhone OS 3.0 tips, Objective-C tips and other information -- Think Services will announce sessions in early July.

The advisory board for the iPhone Games Summit include Brian Greenstone, president of Pangea Software, maker of Enigmo, Cro-Mag Rally and other popular iPhone games; Snappy Touch's Noel Llopis, maker of Flower Garden; and Simon Carless, editorial director of Gamasutra.com and Game Developer magazine.