Fanfest 2014 - My Schedule

Fanfest is about to begin.  One thing I've learned over the years going to gaming conventions is to go in with a plan.  Following the plan exactly isn't required, but at least I can make sure I don't miss something important.  So I've listed my planned schedule, not only as a reminder to myself I can reference from my iPhone, but to show what I think is important.



Thursday

12:00 - Game Design Panel (Tranquility) - Meet all the game designers of EVE Online in one place to get their insights on the world of designing and maintain.ng the vast universe of EVE.

13:00 - Economy: Into the Second Decade (Tranquility) - The annual lecture on the EVE economy presents a general overview of the economy since last Fanfest and how player-driven analysis might change the EVE economy in the second decade of EVE Online.

14:00 - Ship and Module Balancing (Tranquility) - Our annual round-up on the state of balance in EVE Online.  We'll look at what's happened this year and what may be coming in the future.

15:00 - Third Party Developer Tools Update (Serenity) - A status update on the roadmap for our developer tools such as the EVE API, Static Data and Image exports, and CREST.  This session is a combined presentation and roundtable.

16:00 - Team Gridlock Talks Performance (Serenity) - From performance analysis tooling to how solar systems get load balanced, this talk covers the work Team Gridlock does in order to give the best performance the EVE Online servers can provide.

17:00 - Fanfest Welcome & EVE:Valkyre Keynote (Tranquility) - CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson welcomes everyone to Fanfest and then hands the stage over to Executive Producer Owen O'Brien to talk about where we've been, where we are, and where we're going with EVE: Valkyrie.


Friday

11:00 - From Evidence to Bans (Singularity) - Security at CCP and in EVE Online: what it means for you, a peek at its inner workings, and who does it.  We will provide an update on rules regarding botting and RMT, advice regarding scams, and some tips on how to secure your in-game assets.  This will also be the first time ever we provide some insight into our out of game security efforts.

12:00 - From Evidence to Bans (Round Table 2/Dodixie) - This is your chance to get answers to all your security-related questions.  Bring your questions and suggestions about game and information security to all members of the security team.

13:00 - DUST 514 Keynote (Tranquility) - Executive Producer Jean-Charles Gaudechon (CCP Rouge) shares what the future holds for the game.

14:00 - Whole Team Quality: A Case Study (Serenity) - CCP Goliath and CCP Paradox will be going over the interesting approach that EVE Online has taken with QA over the last three years, and how it has changed both development practices and attitudes, using examples from Team Superfriends and others.

15:00 - Intelligence Tools (Round Table 2/Dodixie) - A chance to speak with EVE Online designers and discuss all things related to the role and scope of intelligence gathering.  An open discussion about the past, present, and future use of tools such as local, map, scanner, and whatever else comes to mind.

16:00 - B-R5: From the Eyes of the Aggressor (Serenity) - The events leading up to B-R5RB and the FC's perspecctive as it happened.  This is a player-hosted session.

17:00 - EVE Online Keynote (Tranquility) - Hear about the latest news and plans for EVE Online.  Upcoming features will be shown live for the first time and the development team will share what's ahead for EVE.


Saturday

12:00 - Making EVE: Valkyrie a Full Game (Tranquility) - Take a look at the roadmap and future plans for EVE: Valkyrie, and experience how a small virtual reality demo evolves into a full-fledged game.

13:00 - EVE Vision (Round Table 3/Amarr) - Join us in an open discussion on the future vision of EVE Online.  You may also want to use this opportunity to meet up with CCP Scarpia, EVE's new Lead Game Designer.

14:00 - Industry Panel (Tranquility) - The EVE Online developers have been busy in the past few months working on revamping industry.  Join key members of the feature team to discuss the goals, design decisions, and changes to mechanics and overall user experience of this headline in-development feature.

15:00 - Deploying Pluggable Space Things (Singularity) - Over the long lifetime of an MMO's development, steps are often taken to prevent code from growing savage and unruly.  When we introduced the new Mobile Structures in Rubicon, we developed a new framework known internally as Space Components.  We will go over the back ground, development, and some interesting results of the brave new world of space plugins.

16:00 - A Study of Geometry in EVE Online (Serenity) - EVE University will be teaching a class on the importance of understanding geometry in EVE Online.  Subjects covered will include: cynos on stations, instant undocks, long and short undock stations, shape of acceleration gates, meaning of "zero distance," smartbombers on stargates, default shape of grids, and boundaries of deadspaces.  This is a player-hosted panel.

17:00 - CCP Presents (Tranquility) - Find out from CEO Hilmar and his all-star guests about the future of EVE Online, DUST 514, EVE: Valkyrie, and CCP.