Game Developers Conference 2025: Bringing High Quality, Open Source Development Tools to GDC
On March 17, we launched Elements 3.0, a revolutionary open-source framework poised to simplify backend services development, at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2025 in San Francisco.
With Elements, we are offering a newly released open source framework that provides the flexibility and scalability teams need. Whether it’s seamless multiplayer implementation, rapid iteration cycles, or cross-platform consistency, our tools are built to empower developers to focus on creativity rather than getting bogged down with bulky infrastructure.
Representing Namazu Studios, we had the fantastic opportunity to engage with an array of game studios, vendors, and publishers at GDC. From indie studios to industry giants, we discussed everything from the continued presence of AI as a development tool; the extensibility of Elements open-source design; and the usurpation of the “Hero Shooter” genre by NetEase’s Marvel Rivals over long-time favorite in Overwatch.
The conversations we had with studios made it clear: developers are looking for solutions that simplify their workflows and reduce the overhead of managing live services, which can become costly.
Patrick Twohig, one of our founders, emphasizes this in the company’s mission: “Elements is designed to democratize game development, empowering developers of all sizes to build robust connected games without the traditional complexities and costs.”
“For instance, we designed Elements’ local SDK to allow you to use your preferred IDE to debug code and step through server-side logic on your local machine. This enables you to seamlessly build and run new extensions on your local machine with full IDE support including breakpoints and expressions.”
Publisher discussions and panels at GDC further reinforced the demand in our industry for accessible, high-performance backend solutions. Scalable, cost-effective server solutions with built-in cross-platform authentication are no longer a luxury but a necessity. Uninhibited scaling has always been a concern for large publishers, particularly on launch days, and Elements provides the necessary horizontal scaling to alleviate that anxiety.
Keith Hudnall, our co-founder, was thrilled with the positive response to Elements’ open source release: “Our goal is to create a tool that can be used by anybody without worrying about the price tag or learning the dark sorceries of network code. We’ve had lots of positive feedback from everyone that we met at GDC, and I’m looking forward to seeing what people build with Elements!”
To those with whom we were able to speak, thanks for meeting with us! We’ll be in touch as we continue to refine and expand our offerings based on the valuable insights gathered at GDC.
We want to extend our thanks to the sponsors of GDC – Epic Games, Microsoft, Xsolla, Tencent, Meta, Google, WeMade, PICO, and Unity – for their support in making this event possible. Their contributions ensured a seamless and enriching experience for all attendees.
We’re following up this momentum with a trip to the Live Service Gaming North America Summit, where we’ll continue to advocate for democratized game development tools.
If you’re a developer looking to simplify your backend and scale your game with ease, join our Discord to stay updated, test our latest builds, and connect with like-minded creators.
The future of game development is more open, accessible, and collaborative than ever—let’s build it together!
