GDC 2023: Game Tools Developer Guide

Originally published on The Toolsmiths.

Part of the annual series; see the 2022 guide.

At GDC 2023, you’ll find yourself searching in a vast ocean of over 700 sessions, tutorials, and events. While 386 of these contain the coveted keyword “tool,” (or other variants), sorting through them all to pinpoint the ones that cater to your needs can be quite a daunting task. On this page, you will find a compiled and curated list of sessions that will serve as your ultimate Tools dev guide to navigating the waters of GDC 2023. Whether you’re attending in person or planning to watch the latest session on the GDC Vault, this list will ensure that you make the most out of your GDC 2023 experience.

Note: Some talks that are mentioned here are not 100% tool-centered, but in any case, can provide inspiration and a different perspective. Understanding how the users of our tools work is paramount for the success of our tools.

If you don’t have a lot of time or just want Game Dev Tool-centered sessions - don’t miss the Tools Summit, Tools Roundtables, and Tools Design Roundtables. These sessions are organized by Geoff Evans, Robin-Yann Storm, and David Lightbown to bring you the best Tool Centered Talks and Discussions from experts around the industry.

Key Words & Key Roles

I have tried to make navigating this list easier by providing helper labels that will hint what Tool Developer roles might be interested in this session. Just use the find feature of your web browser and type one of the following key terms.

Here is the list of roles that you can use to search:

DCC Tool Dev
Tool UX/UI Designer
Pipeline Dev
Build
Tool Lead
Dev Support/Production Engineer
Tools QA

Furthermore, you can search the list by using the following keywords:

Programming
UX
Workflows
Pipeline
VFX
Visual Arts
Production

Design
AI
Procedural
Machine Learning
Visual Arts

How to use this list

If you are going to GDC, you can follow the links in the list below to create a schedule for yourself. Alternatively, if you already have a plan, you can check and make sure you don’t miss out on anything you would enjoy.
If you are not going, you can still look forward to watching sessions that you want to see in the GDC Vault.

Sessions marked with Toolsmiths icon - point to sessions that you should consider going to because you are 100% guaranteed to find insight as a Tools Developer.