A few weeks ago, Sony announced the PlayStation Experience event will be happening in Las Vegas. Last Friday, Sony has announced that there will be 20 panels detailing aspects of game design and what goes into making a game.

From the triple A games like Uncharted, to the indie games like N++, it seems there is something for everyone to enjoy. The panels are:

• Actors and Their Voices: Casting Characters – This will show what it takes to find the right actor for the right role. It will include a voice over session from God of War and The Last of Us. Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson are expected to appear with more coming soon.
• Choice Matters – A Telltale Games Panel – Telltale Games, the developers behind The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead, will talk about the past, present, and future of adventure games. They will also talk about how consequences affect the games they make by player choices.
•  Far Cry 4: From the Developer’s Mind to the Gamer’s Imagination – There will be a rare behind the scenes look at the creation of Far Cry 4 as well as an exclusive peek of what is next in store for Far Cry 4.
• God of War Retrospective – Santa Monica Studios will dish out never-before-heard stories about the God of War franchise as it kicks off its ten year anniversary. They will also talk more about the creation of the first game in the series. Panelists have not been announced yet.
• Good vs Evil in F2P Game Design – Designers of the free-to-play games that are on PlayStation 4 will discuss game design and how to make sure the games they create don’t become a Pay to Win model.

• How to Become a Game Designer (or How to Consider It) – Doug Holder (Naughty Dog), Quentin Cobb (Naughty Dog), Parker Hamilton (Sucker Punch), Ramone Russell (San Diego Studios), and Massimo Guarini (Ovosonico) will discuss what it means to be a game designer and how to become one.

• Inside the Dev Studio – World Wide Studios, whose credits include The Last of Us by Naughty Dog, God of War by Santa Monica Studios, LittleBigPlanet by Media Molecule, Gran Turismo by Polyphony-Digital, the FPS series Killzone by Guerrilla Games, and MLB The Show by San Diego Studios, will talk about the history of the industry, rise and fall of concepts, and share behind the scenes stories. Panelists will include Neil Druckmann (Naughty Dog), Cory Barlog (Sony Santa Monica), Nathan Fox (Sucker Punch), Pete Smight (Sony Xdev), Dylan Cuthbert (Q-Games), and it will be moderated by Scott Rohde (SCEA WWS).

 

 

• It Came to Japan! Working in the Japanese Game Industry – Jake Kazdal (17-bit), Dylan Cuthbert (Q-Games), Massimo Guarini (Ovosonico), and Brad Douglas (SCEI) will discuss what is like working in the game industry in Japan and how to get started there.

• LittleBigPlanet Retrospective – Behind-the-scenes footage will show how LittleBigPlanet was created, and Sumo Digital will talk about what they plan on bringing into the franchise with LittleBigPlanet 3 as it arrives to the PlayStation 4.

• Music Magic: How Your Favorite Game Soundtracks Are Made – SCEA Music Supervisors and Composers will show you how they make the music to your favorite games. Also, there will be an exclusive debut from the score for The Order: 1886. Panelists and special guests will be announced soon.

• Modeling Nathan Drake: Bringing an Iconic Character to the PlayStation 4 – Frank Tzeng, Yibing Jiang, Colin Thomas, Ryan Trowbridge, and Ashley Swidowski from Naughty Dog will show how they make PlayStation 3 Nathan Drake to PlayStation 4 Nathan Drake.

• Naughty Dog 30th Anniversary – Naughty Dog will present and full-length documentary about the 30 year history the studio.

• Pick Up and Slay: The Journey of Diablo III to PlayStation 4 – Key developers from Blizzard will give a behind-the-scenes look of how they brought Diablo III to PlayStation 4 and show what is coming in the future.

• Prototype to Product from Santa Monica External Development – Indie Developers will discuss the process of prototype to final product. Panelists will be announced soon.

• Putting the Plus Plus in N++ – The Metanet Software team will talk about how to make a modern platformer and how to create a level editor and how players can share their own levels.

• Salt and Sanctuary: A Love of Darkness – See what it takes to take what you love and make a job out of it. This panel will go through years of studio history and video game culture and show off the bold, brave, and fearless as they create the games they want to create.

• Story Time – This will be an AMA (Ask Me Anything) featuring PlayStation leaders Shuhei “Shu” Yoshida, Adam Boyes, and Scott Rohde.

• Storytelling in Video Games – An Ever Evolving Model – Neil Druckmann (Naughty Dog), Tim Schafer (Double Fine), Rex Crowle (Media Molecule), Ru Weerasuriya (Ready at Dawn), and Until Dawn creative director, Raul (Tequila Works), will show the different angles a story is told and how to connect with the audience.

• The Art of Creating Surprise & Discovery in Games – Sony is keeping this one a secret until day of show.

• The Last of Us Multiplayer: An Inside Look – Erin Daly, Quentin Cobb, Elisabetta Silli, Robert Ryan, and Anthony Newman from Naughty Dog will show and tell the challenges they took to create The Last of Us Multiplayer, including the add-ons, DLC, and how they make sure everything is balanced correctly.

The PlayStation Experience event will be on December 6th and 7th in Las Vegas. If you happen to get tickets, you get to even play some of the big games coming to 2015 including Tearaway Unfolded from Media Molecule, Dying Light from Techland, Battlefield: Hardline from DICE, and Mortal Kombat X from Netherrealm Studios. If you can’t make it, certain parts will be streamed.

My Opinion:

This doesn’t feel much as a celebration of the PlayStation brand, but more of a celebration of game development. If it does what I hope it does, we will see how games are really developed. So far, the closest one I’ve seen something like that was from the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Limited Edition documentary called Hideo Kojima’s Gene. It was the best documentary of the development of a game. That isn’t like every other behind the scenes look of a game. It’s more raw than you would expect. If you are remotely interested in game development, or just wanted to see what it’s like, I highly suggest watching that. As for the PlayStation Experience, Naughty Dog having such a huge presence makes me think that we will see some major gameplay from Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.

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Jesse Webster is a Senior Writer at MONG and is waiting patiently on Persona Q. You can find him on Twitter.