Hear ye, hear ye, game developers and enthusiasts alike!

The GDAP (Game Developer’s Association of the Philippines), IGDA (Independent Game Developers Association) and the College of St. Benilde is proud to announce this year’s Philippine Game Development Festival, a two day celebration of the Pinoy game developer spirit.

The 2011 Philippine Game Development Festival is a two-day developer conference to be held this coming December 9 and 10 at the College of St. Benilde. Now on its second year, the event celebrates the creativity of the country’s game development stream, showcasing talents from all around the country as well as providing workshops and conferences for those who wish to learn how to develop games or the intricacies of the industry.

Below is the official announcement released last September 21st:

The Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP) is proud to announce this year’s Philippine Game Development Festival (PGDF), to be held at the campus of the De La Salle-College of St. Benilde on December 9 – 10, 2011. Now on its second year, the PGDF is the leading conference in the Philippines for game development professionals, educators and industry stakeholders, targeting over 1000 delegates from all over the country.

The conference will include 2-day long training summit by local and international speakers.

Notable speakers include: Barry Lyndon Verastigue who will speak about 3D modeling for games; Mars Balicasan who will talk on Facebook related games, Unity 3D, Game Production and 3D game development; and Sean Hammond on 3D game development.

The conference is open to all students, game development professionals, educators and businesses. Those interested in attending will need to pre-register due to limits in space. Registration rates will be announced soon through www.gdap.org.ph.

Mr. Ongkingco says that educators and students who will attend the summit are expected to explore experimental and inventive educational approaches that they may bring back to their offices or schools. “Bringing them together with experienced professionals greatly improve the whole game development industry in the long run,” he adds. He is also grateful that many game development professionals are very willing to learn, share their ideas and great achievements.

A comprehensive media campaign is rolled out to promote the event, including a TV interview with selected members from the Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP) and the PGDF this July 20 by The Workplace.

STIR – INSPIRE – IGNITE

This year’s event slogan is “stir, inspire, and ignite” , and as such will feature creations from various sectors of the industry, as well as game creations by various college students showcased on the conference’s Game On! event with the desire to stimulate the country’s game development industry.

The event also features development workshops held by people hailing from various local companies and independent groups. These workshops cover different regions of development, ranging from programming, design, art to production.

Game On!

Game On! is a collegiate game development competition that opened its doors last October 3. Game creations from different college groups will be showcased in the event.

The theme this year is Philippine folklore, and each game will be judged based on the following criterias:

i.      Gameplay

ii.      Visuals and Sounds

iii.      Uniqueness of Concept

iv.      Replay Value

v.      Overall Appeal

All of the participants will receive souvenir shirts from Anino Games Inc. and GDAP. One entry will receive the People’s Choice awards and will receive medals plus bonus points to its overall score, and the Grand Champion will bag a 15,000 peso cash prize along with a trophy, medals and internship on a GDAP company of choice.

Annual Awards

Perhaps the PGDF’s most notable event this year is its Annual Awards, a celebration of the Pinoy game developer spirit.

The event showcases a number of entries nominated by the community for different categories. The categories are:

• Cultural Award – Recognizes the best game that best promotes Filipino culture, lifestyle, and history.
• Innovation Award – Recognizes the best game that pushes the boundaries of design and technology to deliver a unique and most outstanding experience to players.
• Best PC/Mac Game – Recognizes the best game on PC/Mac devices in terms of design, quality, creativity, and innovation.
• Best Handheld/Mobile Game – Recognizes the best game on handheld/mobile devices in terms of design, quality, creativity, and innovation.
• Best Browser-based Game – Recognizes the best browser-based game in terms of design, quality, creativity, and innovation.
• Best Indie Game – Recognizes the best game by any independent developer. Game may be playable through mobile or desktop device.

Game development lectures and workshops

Registration