Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is the conference in English?

A: Ja! Natürlich. Over the last couple of years we have held the conference in Paris, with the majority of the audience coming from outside of France to attend the event. This year the conference will be in the beautiful city of Vienna, Austria.

Q: I’m not a professional game developer. Can I come?

A: Of course! Students and programmers from different industries are more than welcome. In fact, you’ll learn a great deal from the presentations if you’re not yet working as a game developer, and the people working in industry are easy to approach and talk to! Last year, almost a quarter of the audience wasn’t actively working in the games industry.

Q: What time does it start and finish? I need to book plane tickets.

A: You should ideally aim to arrive on the 17th in the evening. Alternatively, come for the weekend and spend the Monday at the Behavior Tree Workshop or wandering the city. There’s a nice reception starting at 19:00 with posters & demos, and you’ll be able to pre-register. The main conference starts at around 9:00 on the 18th (with registration taking place just before), and finishes around 18:00 on the 19th. If you must arrive late the first day or leave early the second day, that’s fine; there’ll be people around for registration if you need them. However, don’t kick yourself later for missing great sessions or networking opportunities!

Q: I hear there are workshop/symposium on the 17th and 20th. What are they about?

A: There are two separate workshop days on either side of the main conference this year. The day before the main conference brings together veteran game developers for a standalone workshop looking at the application of Behavior Trees in today’s AAA games. Behavior trees are the gold standard in AI decision making in today’s games, and we will go deep into their application and implementation. You don’t want to miss this one.

On the day after the main conference, you will have the opportunity to attend the world’s most comprehensive and in-depth set of presentations on the topic of procedural animation, ranging from the low-level technology to the process of crafting motion.

Q: What about social events?

A:The first evening features the official AiGameDev.com party, so keep September 17th completely free. On the second evening after the conference, there will be people still around for drinks.

Q: How does the discount work for being a student?

A: You’ll need to email us before you pay from your university or college email account, so we can verify your story! Then we’ll send you a link to the lowest price tickets for you to register.

Q: Will this be useful to me as a researcher / academic?

A: Absolutely! We’ve realized over the last few years of running AiGameDev.com, since there are so many theoretical outlets for academia, what can benefit research the most is an understanding of what professional developers are already doing in industry. It’s happened recently on multiple occasions that cutting-edge white papers are independently reinventing techniques that were used by developers a few years ago. Practical conferences like this are our solution.

Q: Why is it so cheap? What’s the catch?

A: There are a limited number of places and you will have to get your own lunch! That aside, there’s no catch. We’re partnering with the University of Vienna and they are providing the amphitheatre; the rest of the event is organized by people & speakers who are genuinely passionate about their topic. We “sold-out” for each of the last three years and found that this model works very well — even better than the most expensive conferences — to the benefit of everyone in the game AI community!

Q: Is the venue easy to find?

A: The University of Vienna is in the heart of the city and is easily accessible by public transport (map). It’s also well signpost and there will be banners and people standing outside for the event itself. We’ll also email you with detailed instructions to find the exact building; once you’ve registered you’ll be on the attendee mailing list, as long as you didn’t request to unsubscribe.

Q: Where can I buy the tickets?

A: Just visit the official store and click on the ticket you’d like to buy: Bronze, Silver and Gold — depending on availability. You’ll then be required to login using your AiGameDev.com account. Click on Checkout and then type in your credit card details!