Dr. Michael Capps, president of Epic Games, developers of the mega-hit Unreal and Gears of War game franchises, will give a keynote address at the 2011 Game Developers Conference Europe (GDC Europe). The keynote, titled “Size Doesn’t Matter: How Epic Brings AAA Attitude to Every Game, from Gears of War 3 to Infinity Blade,” will provide attendees with insight into how Epic has delivered fun, successful triple-A experiences of all kinds: console blockbusters, mobile games, experimental Internet shareware, and legendary PC shooters. GDC Europe 2011, presented by the UBM TechWeb Game Network, brings the pan-European game development community’s premiere forum for learning, networking and inspiration back to the Congress-Centrum Ost Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany on August 15-17, 2011.
In his keynote, Dr. Capps will enlighten attendees on the distinct similarities between the production of all of Epic’s projects, even when team sizes and budgets on various projects can differ by a factor of ten or more. The talk will cover some of the key learnings to be taken from the similarities in production methodology and pipelines from shared staff and infrastructure, using the upcoming Gears of War 3 as a driving example. Dr. Capps will also analyze how Epic strives for quality, and how company culture reinforces those values to ensure that every game, every time, regardless of size or platform, is triple-A. Finally, Dr. Capps will discuss how the most important shared factor is a team’s attitude: their passion for the game, their desire for the team to be successful, and their pride in the positive response from fans.
Dr. Capps is an advisory board member of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) and serves on the boards of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). Prior to entering the game industry, Dr. Capps worked as a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He specialized in defense and entertainment collaboration, virtual reality, and computer graphics. A departmental honoree in mathematics and creative writing, he graduated summa cum laude from University of North Carolina. He holds master’s degrees in computer science and electrical engineering from the University of North Carolina and MIT, and a doctorate in computer science from the Naval Postgraduate School.
