We all know that Bungie has been toiling away at something new, their successor to the Halo franchise, for quite some time. Yet we still know very little. But in just a little over two months, attendees of this year's Game Developers Conference will be the first lucky group to hear substantive details, or so it is assumed.
One of the panels that has just been spotted on the schedule, by All Games Beta, is titled Brave New World: New Bungie IP. Here's the description, verbatim:
DESCRIPTION: Two decades of success in the gaming industry is no small feat, but after ten years of Halo, Bungie found themselves faced with a tremendous challenge: to build a whole new world, filled with even more amazing mysteries, places, creatures, and opportunities for player investment. For the first time ever, Bungie creative directors will discuss their world building techniques, from concept to production. Attendees will walk away with key insights into Bungie's battle-tested design process. They'll get a glimpse of the brave new world that has been built, a place where the next ten years of great Bungie adventures will unfold.
TAKEAWAY: In a presentation filled with concept art and design case studies, attendees will learn about Bungie's world building pillars, and see how these were put to use to create Bungie's next great universe of games.
INTENDED AUDIENCE: While the talk is focused on art and design collaboration, takeaways will be useful for members of all game development disciplines who are eager to improve their team's world building process. There are no prerequisites.
As for who will be giving the presentation, Joe Staten, listed as writer and design director, and Christopher Barrett, credited as art director, are both listed.
You can forget about E3, PAX, and all the rest; GDC has long remained the favorite conference for most working professionals, since it's a chance for game makers to get down and dirty about their craft. There is little doubt that Brave New World will be one of the hottest tickets at the show.
GDC 2013 takes place this year March 25-29. No specific day or time has been given for the panel.
