The Savannah College of Art and Design hosts the fifth annual Game Developers eXchange April 16 – 17 in Savannah, Ga. The two-day event brings together game developers, educators and students with experts to share their behind-the-scenes knowledge of the game industry. GDX 2009 features four areas of interest in game development: game art, game design, level design and audio.

SCAD professor, game designer and chair of the interactive design and game development program, Brenda Brathwaite describes GDX as a Southern conference like no other. “The great majority of our speakers have been invited to speak at the prestigious Game Developers Conference,” says Brathwaite. “There is truly no other conference in the Southeast quite like this one. We’re exceptionally pleased to bring this talent here.”

Conference participants can expect entertaining and informative lectures, discussions, interactive design workshops, a reception and the chance to catch up on new and exciting developments in the industry. Additionally, GDX offers attendees access to some of the most dynamic and innovative professionals in the gaming industry. “We bring together the industry’s brightest stars to an intimate setting where they can exchange ideas with each other and a broad cross-section of students, academicians and fans,” Brathwaite said.

More than 20 industry professionals will be on-hand to share their expertise and knowledge. Among this year’s list of distinguished guests are industry giants Clint Hocking, Design Director of Ubisoft, and George “Fat Man” Sanger of Team Fat. The two join art-game genius Jason Rohrer as keynoters for the event. Other speakers include Andrew Bains, senior level designer of the “Gears of War” series from Epic Games; Jason Arnone, art manager at Harmonix; Richard Dansky of Red Storm Entertainment; Susanne Meiler of Destineer Studios and Mark Nelson of Big Huge Games.