4th ANNUAL PRACTICE CONFERENCE

Nov 14 - 16, 2014

Game design in detail

Welcome to PRACTICE: Game Design in Detail. Where game designers of every stripe butt heads, share ideas, and break bread together.

PRACTICE is an annual event that takes a close look at the concrete challenges of game design, bridging dialog across industries. Where else can a console developer discuss level design with a tabletop RPG writer? Or an iPhone puzzle creator debate economy balancing with collectable card game designer? Or a professional sports official share secrets with an experimental indie game artist? No other conference brings together such a diverse group of game designers for high-level dialog.

We explore the day-t0-day, nuts and bolts practice of game design – where the rubber of design ideas and methods meets the road of meaningful, playable games. Join us for three days of lectures and panels, workshops and discussions, mixed with plenty of game-playing and socializing.

For extensive videos from past years, check out our archive here.

PRACTICE in the press

The first two years of PRACTICE included an amazing lineup of speakers, from paper game legends like Richard Garfield and Renier Knitizia to videogame's newest stars like Manveer Heir and Matt Boch. Below is some of our favorite coverage from past years:

Unwinnable – Game Design for the Player
Gamasutra – The Immense Responsibility of Creating Value for Players
Kill Screen – For Us, By Us.
Gamasutra - In Depth The Nature And Purpose Of PRACTICE At NYU.
Destructoid – Game Design in Detail Impressions.
Kotaku – If Video Game Developers Could Redesign Football.
Gamasutra – Irrational’s Gaynor On Better Storytelling Player Freedom Through Gating.

Three Questions with a Game Designer

Game Center MFA students ask the speakers and panelists three questions about their design process, philopshy and strategies. Check here for more interviews as they come in.

An intimate gathering of top designers

PRACTICE is designed for a high-level exchange of ideas among professional game designers. Game design is a complex multi-threaded discipline, and PRACTICE is a unique opportunity to understand and refine what we do when we design games.

Lectures

Each year PRACTICE features presentations from a variety of expert and accomplished game designers. Speakers focus on design challenges and solutions in a wide range of games, from AAA videogames to collectable card games, to indie experiments to military simulations.

Watch a video of Robert Yang's lecture from PRACTICE 2013. More lectures are on our vimeo page.

Panels

In addition to individual speakers, PRACTICE features panels organized around topics of interest to working game designers. These panels allow speakers to exchange ideas more freely with each other and the attendees.

Open Problem Session

Open Problems is a high-energy "open mic" session in which any conference attendee can present a work or idea in progress for discussion and feedback.

Socializing

The best conversations often take place outside of the scheduled sessions, and PRACTICE features receptions, parties, and plenty of time for unstructured interaction.

Speakers

Jonathan Blow

Holly Gramazio

Jake Elliot & Tamas Kemenczy

Samantha Kalman

Deirdra Kiai

Drew Murray

John Popadiuk

Asher Volmer

Colleen Macklin

David Kanaga

Zach Gage

Shawn Snelling & Sal Garozzo

Lukas Litzsinger

Speaker Bios