David Jones keynoting Develop 2009

Whilst the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco attracts some big names such as Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima, the UK won't be left wanting for its premier annual game-development conference, Develop.

This year David Jones will be delivering a keynote speech on how to make great games, having previously spoken at last year's GDC. Last year's Develop lineup saw BioShock creative director Ken Levine revealing that 2K Boston hires less virgins, Bungie discussing where Halo's AI will go next, Media Molecule's Alex Evans uncovering some of the challenges in developing Little Big Planet, and Rockstar Games winning the overall grand-prix prize as part of the Develop awards ceremony.

Jones is best known for his work as founder of DMA design, which created both the Lemmings and GTA franchises. More recently he launched Crackdown with his new company Realtime Worlds, and is currently developing the online All Points Bulletin. More about the game, which is commonly known as APB, will be revealed at the conference. Speaking to Develop organizers, he spoke highly of the upcoming event: "I'm looking forward to coming to Brighton as it's a great opportunity to share some of my experiences of making games--both good and not so good--plus tell a few of Realtime Worlds' stories to my fellow developers."

Besides Jones, the Develop 2009 lineup will include Jason Avent from Disney's Black Rock Studios, Martyn Brown from Team 17, and Limvirak Chea from Google. This year will also see the addition of a new part of the conference titled "Evolve" that will focus on new technologies including mobile, XBLA, and social gaming, which David himself predicted would be the way forward back in 2004.

The Develop conference is due to take place at the Hilton Metropole in Brighton from July 14-16, 2009. The new Evolve section will run on July 14 and alongside Develop on July 15. GameSpot UK will be there in force, so stay tuned for more news as the event approaches and from Brighton when the time comes.