One of the great things about Game Design Expo is that it gives us a chance to lift the cover off the games we make and the games we play.

In fact, this year’s Industry Speaker Day presentations on Saturday, April 10, 2010 promise to shed light on high-profile and smaller-but-buzzworthy titles alike. Games like Mass Effect 2, ModNation Racers, Alpha Protocol, and Dead Rising 2.

Tickets are on sale now for Industry Speaker Day (visit gamedesignexpo.com to book yours now), and as we look forward to this year’s speakers, we also thought it’d be a good chance to take a glance at the games they’re behind.

Mass Effect 2
At Game Design Expo: Get Your Game Out Of My Movie! Interactive Narrative Design in Mass Effect 2
Release Date: in stores now!
The Buzz: Since the game’s release in January, the response from critics and gamers has been… how to put this… ridiculously over-the-top good. ME2 improved on its predecessor in just about every way, and it’s an early candidate for Game of the Year. If BioWare didn’t already have the respect of just about everybody, it sure would now. At Game Design Expo, Mass Effect 2‘s Lead Cinematic Designer Armando Troisi will discuss the innovative interactive storytelling that’s at the core of the game’s success. (Ahem… we also hear his talk at GDC was standing-room-only.)

ModNation Racers
At Game Design Expo: Anonymity to Superstardom: Making User-Generated Content Fast and Fun
Release Date: May
The Buzz: It’s best described as the Little Big Planet for the kart racing set, and that’s enough to get a lot of gamers salivating. ModNation Racers promises a huge amount of user-generated wackiness and an awful lot of cute. It’s not difficult to see how kart racers could prove to be fertile ground for creative gamers, and developer United Front Games’ William Ho will touch on exactly that – how game designers can tap into the limitless creative power of its audience to produce an experience unlike any other.

Alpha Protocol
At Game Design Expo: Crafting the Perfect Challenge
Release Date: June
The Buzz: “Spy RPG,” full stop. What else needs saying? This title fromObsidian Entertainment is one of those “why didn’t I think of that?” concepts – players guide the main character through the twists and turns of the espionage world, making the kinds of tough decisions you’d expect in any good spy thriller. (Who doesn’t want to take a character and model him after their favourite “JB” – Jack Bauer, James Bond, and Jason Bourne?) The word of mouth on Alpha Protocol has been steady, and now that it has a release date, we’ll be hearing a lot more. Lead Systems Designer Matt MacLean will use Alpha Protocol‘s development to illustrate his talk about challenges, rewards, learning curves, and more – i.e. the bread and butter for any game designer.

Dead Rising 2
At Game Design Expo: Re-Raising the Dead – Sequeling Dead Rising 2
Release Date: August
The Buzz: There was a lot to like about the first Dead Rising - taking a golf club to a teeming horde of zombies has a certain intrinsic je ne sais quoi. Considering the likelihood that the sequel’s developer, Blue Castle Games, will iron out the first game’s minor kinks (like its frustrating save system), there’s already a lot of buzz for this installment’s summer release. Creative Director Jason Leigh and Level Director Josh Bridge will be lifting the cover off the sequel’s development at Game Design Expo, sharing their unique insight into the challenges of creating a follow-up to a fan-favourite title.

TRON: Evolution
At Game Design Expo: The Modern Role of a Game Designer and the Importance of the Team Voice
Release Date: November
The Buzz: Details are sparse for now – except for a launch trailer from December – but it’s TRON, so you know there’s talk. We wouldn’t expect Propaganda Games Design Director Chris Whiteside to reveal too much at Game Design Expo, but he will be exploring the ways a game design team works – and works successfully – which, in a medium like this, is about as important as it gets!

We’d be remiss, of course, if we didn’t also mention Tyler Sigman (Big Sandwich Games), whose presentation is called Game Mechanic Throwdown – sort of a big-picture palate cleanser that bring us back to the basics of what make amazing games… well, amazing. And the panel, which features, among others, Saints Row 2‘s David Bowring, and is moderated by Victor Lucas of The Electric Playground. The panel is a major highlight of Game Design Expo every year.

Tickets for Industry Speaker Day are still available. Visit gamedesignexpo.com for details and to register.