Jun 10
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Speaker Archives
SV IGDA Game Technology and Career Night at Google
March 16 6:30PM
Greetings Game and Technology People! Wednesday March 16, the Silicon Valley Chapter of the International Game Developers Association is proud to present a night of new game and application related Technologies, Tools, Platforms and Game Demos lead off by a talk by Google Game Developer Liason Ian Ni-Lewis. But that is not all! We will also have a few things good for the soul and your career — a talk from the Game Industries premier connector Career Visionary Mary-Margaret Walker.
After the talks much of the evening will be devoted to interactive time at tables where you can chat directly with some of the game industries leading established and new and upcoming companies. Companies are here to show their latest tools, game demos and technologies for you to test drive. Some are also looking for potential team members.
Who Is this event for? — Game industry professionals and technology professionals (web clients/server and mobile and console developers). If you are interested in looking at new technologies, platforms and talking directly to companies developing and in some cases looking for new team members then this event is crafted for you.
Speakers:
Ian Ni-Lewis, Developer Advocate for Games at Google. From client platforms such as Android, Google TV, and Chrome, to services like App Engine andYouTube,Google technology enables hundreds of titles each year. Ian will talk about these platforms and about the directions Google would like to take gaming in the future.
Mary-Margaret Walker: CEO Mary-Margaret Network. If there was ever a hub of information about the game industry it would be Mary-Margaret Walker. She will be here tonight gracing us with her wisdom and accumulated deep experience in game industry careers. Her topic is career enlightenment, useful for any time of life and experience. There will be time for all important Q&A with Mary-Margaret.
A big thank you to Ken Humphries whose talents not only include deep management knowledge of the game industry and great advisor help but he also faithfully comes and videos many SV IGDA events.
Here is the video of Google’s Developer Advocate Ian Ni-Lewis
Here is the video of Mary-Margaret Walker of the Mary-Margaret Network
Wednesday April 7 – Red Octane (Guitar Hero), Blackpoint and dSonic Studio Co-Founders on “the Business of Being Creative”
Gone are the days, if they ever really existed, where creatives could count on being sponsored by a large studio for their entire careers. By choice or necessity we may have to create our own.
Ever wondered what is the secret to founding and keeping a creative studio alive? Unfortunately there’s no magic lantern you can rub, yet there are many aspects of that “business” thing that involve creativity, which you might – god forbid – enjoy.
We have the founders of a game, graphic and sound studios here to share the stresses, the sucesses and the inflection points for the unexpected. Walk away inspired and apply some points to ease your own journey.
Bios:
Kai Huang, co-founder of Red Octane and its President and CEO since 1999. Publishers of the popular Guitar Hero franchise, RedOctane was acquired by Activision in June 2006. Prior to RedOctane, Mr. Huang was co-founder and CEO of Adux Software, a software company developing solutions for the server appliance market and prior to that, he was a consultant with Accenture. Mr. Huang holds a BA in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley
Alejandro Gil, co-founder of Blackpoint Studios. Alejandro has been working on television, film and games for nearly 15 years, starting his career in real time Broadcast TV back in Spain and transition to film and commercials after his arrival to Los Angeles in 1998 in the middle of ‘El Nino’ storm. He moved north to join EA at the beginning of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and then spent 4 intense years as founder and creative director at Blackpoint Studios.He joined EA for a second term, to help finish Godfather 2 and is now Lead Environment Artist at a brand new studio opened by Activision.
Simon Amarasingham, co-founder and CEO of dSonic Inc., a company that has been creating audio for games for 10 years including titles such as Brutal Legend, Bioshock, and Farmville. Starting from amongst a sea of competitors, dSonic has grown to become one of the game industry’s premier suppliers of audio for games. Prior to his dSonic days Simon did a little programming during the dot com boom and composed music and sound effects as an independent contractor both in the US and Australia.When: April 7, 6:30pm
Where: Cogswell Polytechnical College
Who: Three Fabulous Studio Founders – Game, Graphic and Sound.
Presented By: The Silicon Valley IGDA — linkedin, facebook, google group
Cost: Free and you must register here
Agenda:
6:30 – 7:00 Refreshments, socializing
7:00 – 7: 15 Intros, Abert Chen (Cogswell) & Ann Burkett (SV IGDA)
7:15 – 7:45 Simon Amarasingham of dSonic, special prepared talk
7:45 – 8:00 Refreshments, Socializing break
8:00 – 9:00 Panel with Kai Huang, Alejandro Gil, and Simon Amarasingham, then Q&A.
9:00 – 9:30 Socializing/Networking and byes
March 22 Zynga’s Farmville Creative Mastermind and Traffichoney on Keys to Viral Game Success
NOTE: Registration is full for this event. If you previously registered through Eventbrite see you there!
Join us March 22 at 6pm for the “Keys to Viral Game Success”
Whether you a web, mobile or console game designer or developer you know that going viral is a critical key to success. Virality is a puzzle you must continually solve and plan for. No games seem to be solving this puzzle more succesfully than some of the social games which don’t even have state of the art graphics or gameplay. Join us to hear Mark Skaggs, the lead man behind the largest game on Facebook Farmville whose previous work also included such hits as Red Alert II with EA, and Sana Choudary, Chief social strategy consultant at Traffichoney, a company that consults with and creates social games for the largest traditional game companies as they discuss keys to virality and how those apply to both social and other games.
We plan to finish with an interactive Q&A so designers and developers can get a chance to get some brief direct opinions or strategies on some of their own game & app virality issues.
You can view articles and more information about Mark and Sana at:
Mark Skaggs accepting prize on behalf of Farmville
Sana Choudary on Casual Games and Facebook
Zynga’s Skaggs On Social Games’ Developer Appeal
http://traffichoney.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/sanachoudary
When: March 22 6p-9pm, 2010
Where: Hacker Dojo
Register: http://sgf2010march22.eventbrite.com/
Speaker Bios:
Mark Skaggs is an award winning game developer and most recently known for creating the world-wide phenomena, “FarmVille” for Zynga.
With a career spanning 17 years, 2 AIAS awards, 4 console transitions and a track record of creating games which have sold over 16 million copies at retail, Skaggs is also known for creating multi-million selling RTS games such as “Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2”, “Command and Conquer: Generals” and “Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth”.
Skaggs joined Zynga in 2008 and is currently Vice President of Product Development, leading the charge to create new and interesting games in the social gaming space.
Sana Choudary is Founder/Chief Virality and Social Game Strategy consultant at Traffichoney. Sana works with game companies who are having the challenge of understanding how to build social games. Traffichoney helps them optimize virality and engagement to build popular social games.
Sponsors:
refreshment sponsor courtesy of Zynga
Friday, December 4th at Stanford — Steve Meretzky and Dave Castelnuovo on “New Media and Games”
Silicon Valley International Game Developers Association (SVIGDA) siliconvalleyigda.org
in collaboration with the Business Association of Stanford Entrepeneurial Students (BASES) bases.stanford.edu
present:
Games and (new) New Media,
Speakers:
Steve Meretzky, VP Game Design, Playdom, and
Dave Castelnuovo, cofounder Bolt Interactive.
Logistics:
Free entry, but seating is limited.
6:30PM Friday, December 04, 2009
Jordan Hall, Stanford University
room 420-040
Go downstairs, or around to the back entranc
Steve Meretzky: adventure game luminary, currently VP Game Design at Playdom, publisher of Mobsters. Number one game on Myspace.
It’s hard to have a serious conversation about gaming without mention of Steve. It’s also hard to have a humorous conversation about gaming without mention of him.
Steve’s contributions to the industry began in 1981 at the legendary adventure game company Infocom, where his titles included Planetfall, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy (a collaboration with Douglas Adams), Leather Goddesses of Phobos and Zork Zero. Prior to joining Playdom, Steve co-founded Boffo Games and held senior creative posts at Blue
Fang Games, Floodgate Entertainment and WorldWinner.com. Over his prolific career,
Steve also consulted with teams at Activision, Blizzard, Disney, EA, Harmonix, Hasbro and Legend, to name a few. A former board member of IGDA, Steve is co-organizer of the annual
Casual Games Summit at the GDC and the annual Game Designers Workshop. Steve holds a BS in construction project management from MIT, but otherwise assures us that he did not waste his four years there.
Titles include
Infocom
- Planetfall (1983)
- Sorcerer (1984)
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1984) w/Douglas Adams
- A Mind Forever Voyaging (1985)
- Leather Goddesses of Phobos (1986)
- Stationfall (1987), Infocom
- Zork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz (1988)
- Lane Mastodon vs. the Blubbermen (1988)
Activision
- Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating
Inconvenience from Planet X! (1992),
(under the “Infocom” label)
Legend Entertainment
- Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All The Girls (1990)
- Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer’s Appliance (1991)
- Spellcasting 301: Spring Break (1992)
- Superhero League of Hoboken (1994)
Boffo Games
- Hodj ‘n’ Podj (1995), Virgin Interactive Entertainment
- The Space Bar (1997), Rocket Science Games, SegaSoft
WorldWinner
- Word Cubes (2001)
- SwapIt! (2003)
- Skillgammon (2004)
- Haunted Mine (2004)
- Paint Buckets (2005)
- …more than 25 more…
Awards:
Game Developers Conference, Winner of the Game Design Challenge (2008)
British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Best Online Game
(2005):
Hitchhiker’s Guide (20th anniversary edition)
PC Gamer One of the 10 Funniest PC Games of All Time (2003):
Hitchiker’s Guide
PC Gamer One of the 10 Sexiest PC Games of All Time (2003): Leather
Goddesses
+ 40 More…
Dave Castelnuovo cofounder Bolt Interactive.
Title: Pocket God
Number one game on the iPhone for numerous weeks.
Dave Castelnuovo is a veteran flash developer, entrepreneur and consultant, and is half the team behind the iPhone sensation Pocket
God. Castelnuovo founded Bolt Creative in 2001 as a flash development company and game studio,
and helped to lead the indie charge onto the iPhone in 2008 and 2009. Castelnuovo has worked with a variety of internet technology companies
throughout his career, as well as leading game publishers such as Electronic Arts.
Moderator: Joseph Gilby
Titles include:
Vice President Product Development for Looking Glass Studios
- System Shock 2, EP
- Thief: The Dark Project, Thief II: The Metal Age,Thief (Gold) EP
- Flight Unlimited II+ III EP
Vice President of Game Development, Flipside Inc. publisher of:
- Hoyle series multiplayer online games,
- You Don’t Know Jack: Louder! Faster! Funnier!
- a plethora of downloadable casual games
Introduction: Ann Burkett
Chair SVIGDA
Noah Falstein
On our Game Project Connection Night the Silicon Valley IGDA was graced by an incredible speech by Noah Falstein. There are several portions to this with something for everybody and an extremely informative Q&A at the end. The whole speech in it’s entirety is here. Enjoy!
You can see more of the many people of the
Silicon Valley IGDA Game Project Connection Night here
Want more videos and speakers? More videos of speakers here at our Game Demo Nights
**********************Original Event Post************************
Special Guest Speaker Noah Falstein Monday May 18
Great news!
Noah Falstein is scheduled to come and speak at our Project Connection event! Noah Falstein is among the premier game designers in the world. He is also an industry veteran from the arcade industry and Lucas Arts as well as Dreamworks Interactive. If you feel like times are tough now, talk to him about the collapse of the arcade industry and perhaps your perspective will be shifted. This is a lifetime innovator, his recent work includes implementing groundbreaking techniques. What others dream about, Noah does. If you are into game design at all, or serious games, this one is for you. So come already!
Noah will among other things talk about his recent work on serious games on the the Cisco Mind Share game and a glimpse of a new Mata Hari game in the works. There will also be a question and answer session at the end for Noah, after which we will have time for people to walk around and be inspired to connect, gasp, face to face and not electronically, on Game Project Connection Night described below.
<div><strong>Cost:</strong> <a href=”http://bizofcreative.eventbrite.com/” target=”_blank”>Free, register here however to assure a space
</a></div>
Gone are the days, if they ever really existed, where creatives could count on being sponsored by a large studio for their entire careers. By choice or necessity we may have to create our own.
Ever wondered what is the secret to founding and keeping a creative studio alive? Unfortunately there’s no magic lantern you can rub, yet there are many aspects of that “business” thing that involve creativity, which you might – god forbid – enjoy.
We have the founders of a game, graphic and sound studios here to share the stresses, the sucesses and the inflection points for the unexpected. Walk away inspired and apply some points to ease your own journey.
</div>
<p style=”text-decoration: underline;”><strong>Bios: </strong></p>
<div style=”margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”><strong> <img style=”float: left; margin-right: 5px; margin-bottom: 10px;” src=”http://eventbrite-s3.s3.amazonaws.com/eventlogos/929519/kaihuang200.jpg” alt=”Kaiandposters” width=”200″ height=”134″ />Kai Huang</strong>, co-founder of Red Octane and its President and CEO since 1999. Publishers of the popular Guitar Hero franchise, RedOctane was acquired by Activision in June 2006. Prior to RedOctane, Mr. Huang was co-founder and CEO of Adux Software, a software company developing solutions for the server appliance market and prior to that, he was a consultant with Accenture. Mr. Huang holds a BA in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley</div>
<div style=”clear: both; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”><strong><img style=”float: left; clear: both; margin-right: 5px; margin-bottom: 10px;” src=”http://eventbrite-s3.s3.amazonaws.com/eventlogos/929519/blackpointstudios200.png” alt=”blackpointstudiopics” width=”200″ height=”99″ />Alejandro Gil</strong>, co-founder of Blackpoint Studios. Alejandro has been working on television, film and games for nearly 15 years, starting his career in real time Broadcast TV back in Spain and transition to film and commercials after his arrival to Los Angeles in 1998 in the middle of ‘El Nino’ storm. He moved north to join EA at the beginning of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and then spent 4 intense years as founder and creative director at Blackpoint Studios.He joined EA for a second term, to help finish Godfather 2 and is now Lead Environment Artist at a brand new studio opened by Activision.</div>
<div style=”clear: both; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”><strong> </strong><strong> <img style=”float: left; margin-right: 5px; margin-bottom: 10px;” src=”http://eventbrite-s3.s3.amazonaws.com/eventlogos/929519/simonplayingkeyboard150.jpg” alt=”simonjammin” width=”150″ height=”179″ /> Simon Amarasingham</strong>, co-founder and CEO of dSonic Inc., a company that has been creating audio for games for 10 years including titles such as Brutal Legend, Bioshock, and Farmville. Starting from amongst a sea of competitors, dSonic has grown to become one of the game industry’s premier suppliers of audio for games. Prior to his dSonic days Simon did a little programming during the dot com boom and composed music and sound effects as an independent contractor both in the US and Australia.</div>
<div style=”clear: both;”>
<strong>When:</strong> April 7, 6:30pm
<strong>Where:</strong> <a id=”seyh” title=”Cogswell Polytechnical College” href=”http://www.cogswell.edu/directions.htm”>Cogswell Polytechnical College</a>
<strong>Who:</strong> Three Fabulous Studio Founders – Game, Graphic and Sound.
<strong>Presented By:</strong> The <a id=”s03q” title=”Silicon Valley IGDA” href=”../../”>Silicon Valley IGDA</a> — <a id=”jg7s” title=”linkedin” href=”http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1853608″>linkedin</a>, <a href=”http://www.facebook.com/pages/Silicon-Valley-IGDA/114203156958?”>facebook</a>, <a id=”pt6s” title=”google group” href=”http://groups.google.com/group/svigda/subscribe?”>google group</a>
<strong>Cost:</strong> <a href=”http://bizofcreative.eventbrite.com/” target=”_blank”>Free and you must register here</a>
<strong>Agenda:</strong>
6:30 – 7:00 Refreshments, socializing
7:00 – 7: 15 Intros, Abert Chen (Cogswell) & Ann Burkett (SV IGDA)
7:15 – 7:45 Simon Amarasingham of dSonic, special prepared talk
7:45 – 8:00 Refreshments, Socializing break
8:00 – 9:00 Panel with Kai Huang, Alejandro Gil, and Simon Amarasingham, then Q&A.
9:00 – 9:30 Socializing/Networking and byes
</div>