The Hidden Door guide to GDC 2026
Our bags are packed with stickers, hand-drawn posters, craft supplies, and walking shoes. That can only mean one thing: we’re headed to San Francisco for GDC!
Along with the Festival of Gaming itself, we’ve got a lot of fun events on our itinerary in San Francisco! Let us know if you’ll also be at the Chief Tech Omnium roundtable luncheon hosted by our friends at Makers Fund or the Gamesbeat Crossfire event. If you’re eagerly revising and color-coding your GDC schedule, consider adding some of these events to the agenda. They’re lovingly hand-picked by the Hidden Door team members who will be attending this year’s celebration. Oh, and speaking of celebrations, our good pals from Roguelike Celebration are going to be at GDC. Read on to learn more about the where, when, and who.
But first, some shameless self-promotion
The State of AI-Native Games
Wednesday, March 11, 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm, in Room 2001, West Hall
Obviously, this talk is at the top of our list, because Hidden Door’s CEO + co-founder, Hilary, is co-presenting! She’ll be onstage with Eleanor Todd, founder and CEO of Fablegate, to deliver a fast-paced tour of the emergent AI game landscape. The presentation will cover voice-activated vampire games, dating sim escape rooms, social media-flavored RPGs and more. Add it to your schedule, and we’ll see you there!
For your convenience, we’ve ordered the rest of our must-see GDC programming by date + time. And! Throughout the festival, check out alt.ctrl.GDC, a showcase of alternative controllers! This curated expo brings alternative hardware and the accompanying games to players. Get your hands on innovative gameplay experiences that reimagine how we play. More information here.
Monday
The Rise of Independent Game Journalism
Monday, March 9
Time: 3:10 pm - 4:10 pm
Speakers:
Dean Takahashi (Editorial Director, GamesBeat)
Jeff Grubb (President and Owner, Giant Bomb)
Nathan Grayson (Cofounder and reporter, Aftermath)
Perrin Kaplan (Partner and Co-Founder, Zebra Partners)
Stephen Totilo (Gaming Reporter, Game File)
This panel focuses on the challenges in contemporary games coverage, and the ways community support can mitigate those obstacles. Intended for developers, publishers, and any professionals in the games industry, this panel is an optimistic look at the current + future generations of independent journalism.
Game Designer's Notebook
Monday, March 9
3:10 pm - 4:10 pm
Speakers:
Kenny Shea Dinkin (Creative Executive; formerly King, Candy Crush)
Rohit Crasta (Lead Game Designer, The New York Times)
Jesse Schell (CEO, Schell Games)
A veritable smorgasbord of usable, interesting, bite-size tips. Seasoned game designers give microtalks that can be immediately useful to any game designers in the audience.
What's New in Game History: 2026
Monday, March 9
Time: 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Speakers:
Laine Nooney (Associate Professor, New York University)
Phil Salvador (Library Director, Video Game History Foundation)
TreaAndrea Russworm (Professor and Microsoft Endowed Chair, University of Southern California)
Jason Scott (Software Curator and Free-Range Archivist, Internet Archive)
Wes Fenlon (Senior Editor, PC Gamer)
Cher voice Do you believe in life after launch (after launch) (after launch)? If you work in the games industry, if you love games, if you're an academic or historian...then you will probably enjoy this panel on how games are published, preserved, documented and remembered.
Tuesday
It's Not in the Writer's Manual: Q&A for New Writers
Tuesday, March 10
Time: 10:30 am - 11:30 am
Speakers:
Toiya Kristen Finley (Narrative Designer/Game Writer/Editor, Schnoodle Media, LLC)
Nessa Cannon (Game Writer and Narrative Designer, Independent)
Matthew Weise (Narrative Designer & Writer, Fiction Control)
Ashley Ruhl (Narrative Director, Broadsword Online Games)
Andrea Saravia Perez (Narrative Designer & Writer, Deviant Games)
If you're a professional game writer, a game-writer-in-training, or someone who works with writers, this forum might be for you! Questions will range from the procedural ("How can I adapt my comic-writing experience into writing for games?") to the existential ("What does it mean to 'make it' in games writing?"). It’s not in the manual…but it IS here.
Art Leadership Roundtable (multiple sessions)
Tuesday, March 10
Time: 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm
This roundtable is an open discussion forum on all topics related to creative leadership. Moderated by Keith Self-Ballard (Senior Manager of Creative, PlayStation Studios), the conversation is open to all attendees, and industry veterans are strongly encouraged to attend to share their experiences. Wednesday's session will be held from 3:10pm - 4:10pm, and Thursday's session is 4:30pm - 5:30pm.
Designing Crush-Worthy Characters in 'Love and Deepspace'
Tuesday, March 10
Time: 10:30 am - 11:30 am
Speaker: Xianzi Feng (Art Director, Infold Games (Papergames))
One secret to the commercial + critical success of "Love and Deepspace" is its character design. Distinctive visual and narrative cues, nuanced backstories, and other "crush-worthy" details bring these characters to life, and you can use those same principles in your own work.
Wednesday
The Attention Equation: How Gaming Wins Consumer Focus and What Comes Next
Wednesday, March 11
Time: 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Speakers:
Kabir Ahuja (Senior Partner, McKinsey & Co.)
Ichiro Otobe (Sr. Client Advisor, McKinsey & Co.)
Itamar Benedy (CEO, Anzu.io)
Moritz Baier-Lentz (Partner; Head of Gaming & Interactive Media, Lightspeed Venture Partners)
Part social trend discussion, part strategy session, and part technology update, this panel puts the focus on players. What's capturing, and holding, their attention? How are emerging technologies like generative AI shifting the development process? Developers and publishers will walk away from this session with a better understanding of how to serve audiences.
Stop, Collaborate, and Listen: How to be an Actor's Favorite Director
Wednesday, March 11
Time: 1:50 pm - 2:50 pm
Cissy Jones (Founder, Ethovox)
Phillipe Bosher (Actor)
Yuri Lowenthal (Actor)
Elias Toufexis (Actor)
Courtenay Taylor (Actor/Director)
Celeb sighting! This is an all-star panel of actors from Baldur's Gate 3, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Marvel's Spider-Man, Resident Evil and Starfield. If you work with actors to meet your narrative goals, this panel is a must-see. You'll learn how to direct, produce, write and design with actors in mind. Or, if you're trying to incorporate principles from the multimedia landscape into games.
Melting Hearts and Quenching Thirst Roundtable, Day 1: Romance
Wednesday, March 11
Time: 1:50 pm - 2:50 pm
Moderators:
Souha Al-Samkari (Vice-President, Truant Pixel)
Michelle Clough (Game Writer/Editor/Partner, Talespinners)
Love, intimacy, emotion, relationships, and anything your players may encounter in a romance game will be a part of this two-day panel! Session one focuses on falling in love and how to craft a swoon-worthy romantic narrative, while the second session, on Thursday from 4:30 to 5:30, is centered around sexual content in games.
Thursday
Roguelike Celebration @ GDC
Thursday, March 12
Time: 12:30 PM
See, we told you the Roguelike Celebration folks would be at GDC! Keep your eyes peeled for Rourke (Hidden Door colleague, festival crew, friend of the blog) & the rest of the organizing crew in Yerba Buena Gardens (North corner). They’ll have coffee, hot teas, bagels and spreads, and they’ll be ready to chat! Rourke said she’s looking forward to playing Skull and Witch Hunt with her fellow festival crew.
Wicked Problems: Balancing Complex Systems
Thursday, March 12
Time: 2:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Tackle complex design problems hands-on in this workshop, facilitated by Eric Zimmerman (Game Designer & Arts Professor, NYU Game Center). Designers and developers of any experience level are welcome, and any type of game background, too. RPGs, MOBAs, CCGs, strategy games and roguelikes can all benefit from the lessons you’ll learn by participating. Be prepared to play!
Ahhhhhhh now we REALLY can't wait for GDC. Come and find us during the week, and maybe you'll walk away with some Narrator stickers! :)
Posted Mar 6, 2026, 8:41 PM UTC