GDC 2013 concludes with improved attendance

Organizers of the 2013 Game Developers Conference welcomed a record 23,000 industry professionals at last week's conference in San Francisco's Moscone Center. That's about 500 more than in 2012.

The 2013 conference kicked off with two days of tutorials and summits focused on specific emerging platforms and topics, including a newly introduced Free to Play Design & Business Summit, the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit, and the Independent Games Summit.

The main conference included the 10th and final edition of the Game Design Challenge, for which this year's theme was "Humanity's Last Game." Independent game designer Jason Rohrer won the competition with his game proposal, A Game for Someone, a board game locked away in a titanium tube and buried in the Nevada Desert. Kojima Productions' Hideo Kojima revealed and shared first looks for Metal Gear Solid 5 during a talk on the Design/Visual Arts Track, and also confirmed plans for a new development office in Los Angeles.

Additionally, several hardware details were shown off at this year's event for platforms and devices including Oculus Rift, PlayJam's GameStick, Ouya and Sony's PlayStation 4 next-gen console.

GDC 2013 also hosted the 15th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) and the 13th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCAs). Cart Life creator Richard Hofmeier won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize award at the IGF and its associated $30,000 grand prize, as well as the award for Narrative and the Nuovo Award for Innovation. At the Game Developers Choice Awards, thatgamecompany's Journey won six of the evening's eleven main awards, including Best Audio, Best Game Design, Best Visual Arts, Best Downloadable Game, the Innovation Award, and the coveted Game of the Year Award.

Organizers have said that GDC 2014 will return to the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco from Monday, March 17 to Friday, March 21, 2014, with the call for submissions to open this summer.

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