Video: Why game designers should study dance, music & comedy

"Dancers are brilliant at telling a story and making an emotional connection through action," said writer Susan O'Connor at GDC 2014 last year.

"Dancers are brilliant at telling a story and making an emotional connection through action," said writer Susan O'Connor at GDC 2014 last year. "Dancing is just a game with rules."

O'Connor is a veteran writer who's worked on games like Bioshock, Tomb Raider and (the now-cancelled) Star Wars 1313 . She was one of many speakers at the GDC's Microtalks panel, but her quick five-minute talk (titled simply "Game Development is Hard") called on game developers to seek fresh inspiration in dance, music and comedy.

Her argument? Dance, music and comedy all feature artists using timing and motion to create connections with people and elicit emotional reactions. Study how they use sound and movement, argues O'Connor, and you might learn something about how to make more engaging games.

It was an intriguing talk, and now you can watch O'Connor's brief segment of the full panel over on the GDC Vault's official YouTube channel .

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vaultand its new YouTube channeloffers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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