Games Developers eXchange  |  Women in Games International Conference

Game Developers eXchange

Keynote Speaker: Michael Capps, Ph.D., president, Epic Games Inc. Michael Capps is the president of Epic Games, based in Cary, N.C. Epic's recent game "Gears of War" broke all sales records on Xbox 360 and won multiple "Game of the Year" awards, and Epic was awarded "Studio of the Year" at the 2006 Video Game Awards. It’s been a good year. Epic is also responsible for the Unreal Engine, three-time winner of Game Developer magazine's Front Line award. The Unreal Engine provides the underlying technology for dozens of games ranging from"Splinter Cell" to "Harry Potter." Prior to entering the game industry, Capps served as a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. He specialized in defense and entertainment collaboration, virtual reality and computer graphics. For his work in these areas, he was one of 50 graphics pioneers interviewed for the ACM SIGGRAPH documentary, "The Story of Computer Graphics." A departmental honoree in mathematics and creative writing, Capps graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Carolina. He holds master's degrees in computer science and electrical engineering from the University of North Carolina and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a doctorate in computer science from the Naval Postgraduate School.
Brenda Brathwaite, game designer and professor, Savannah College of Art and Design As a 24-year veteran of the video game industry, Brenda Brathwaite is a game designer, game consultant and professor of game design at Savannah College of Art and Design. She has worked on 21 published titles, including "Playboy: The Mansion" and the award-winning "Wizardry" and"Jagged Alliance" series. Brathwaite is a frequent speaker in the game development community, and previously delivered this lecture at the Game Developers Conference 2006, the Montreal Game Summit and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology among others. Brathwaite is the founder and chair of the International Game Developers Association's Sex SIG. She is active in the IGDA and in issues of censorship, legislation, retail rating awareness and sexuality within video games. Her book "Sex in Video Games" was released by Thomson Learning in September 2006.
Christopher Klaus, Kaneva Christopher Klaus is the founder and CEO of Kaneva Inc. and is highly regarded as one of the youngest and brightest Internet pioneers of our time as well as a philanthropist and community leader. At Kaneva (Latin for “canvas”), Klaus is leading the charge to be the first to unify a 3-D virtual world with the 2-D Web -- tightly integrating social networking, collaborative communities and shared media (video/film, photos, music and games) in an immersive 3-D environment. Kaneva, a virtual entertainment world, has been built on Kaneva’s own massively multi-player online (MMO) game engine. Prior to Kaneva, Klaus founded and served as the chief security advisor of Internet Security Systems Inc., a company he created in 1994 and sold to IBM for more than $1 billion in 2006. Appointed by Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, Klaus currently sits on the Film, Video and Music Advisory Commission where he plays an active role in helping define legislation to support the number of films and games made in Georgia. He is a game advisor to American Intercontinental University, serves on the SCAD Board of Visitors and the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Technology Marketing Council as well as the boards of VerticalOne, the Georgia Game Developers Association, Georgia Tech Advisory Board, and the Georgia Tech College of Computing.
Jeb Havens, lead game designer, 1st Playable Productions LLC Jeb Havens is a lead designer at 1st Playable Productions in Troy, N.Y. A designer on "Playboy: The Mansion" and lead designer on the "Private Party" expansion pack, Havens worked on two serious game projects prior to his most recent project, leading the design of the "Marvel Trading Card" game for Nintendo DS. He also is lead designer on an unannounced DS title. Havens is active in issues of diversity, especially lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender representation in the industry and in video games, having led a LGBT developers roundtable at the Game Developers Conference for the past two years. He has spoken and written about diversity, gender, sexuality and game design at various conferences, including the Future Play Conference, the Women in Games International Conference, the Sex and Games Conference, and the Game Developers Conference. Havens is a published puzzle writer and award-winning board game designer, as well as a playwright. He has had readings in New York City and Chicago in addition to one full Off-Broadway production.
Pat Helbig, director of career services, Savannah College of Art and Design Pat Helbig is exceptionally qualified to provide insights on creating a "personal marketing plan" to ensure that you not only target the right executive audience to meet, but that you present yourself articulately and with confidence. Her perspective and suggestions come from her years as senior vice president/general manager with American Express, her role as a partner in two start-up/dot.com ventures, as a board member for a privately held, Atlanta-based software company, and her years with consulting industry leader, McKinsey and Company, among other business experience. Helbig earned her M.B.A. at The University of Chicago and her B.S. at New York University, where she majored in economics, finance and organizational design.
Andrew Hieronymi, professor, Savannah College of Art and Design Andrew Hieronymi's recent work focuses on the boundaries between games and art in physical environments. Collaborating with architects, writers and artists, he has worked with media such as video, urban design, CD-ROM authoring, Web design and installation art and has been developing game-related projects for more than a decade. He has exhibited internationally in art venues and media festivals such as ARS Electronica, SIGGRAPH, FILE Sao Paulo, Microwavefest and Futureplay. Hieronymi received an M.F.A. from the University of California at Los Angeles, and a Diploma of Fine Arts from Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Geneva, Switzerland.
Davey Jackson, director of educational sales, GarageGames Davey Jackson joined GarageGames in July 2005 as director of educational sales. He is a leader in presenting the advantages of using games to teach and in teaching game design. GarageGames is a unique Internet publishing label for independent games and game makers. GarageGames consists of a band of professional game developers committed to publishing truly original and exciting games and technology on its own terms. The company wants to give any and all game makers the opportunity to publish their games, find their audiences and perhaps make their fortunes. An avid gamer, Jackson started playing computer games on an Apple IIC at age 5. Utilizing educational games throughout his K-12 schooling helped Jackson to overcome learning disabilities.
Darius Kazemi, data analyst, Turbine Inc. Darius Kazemi runs Orbus Gameworks, a startup that is building gameplay data metrics tools to help developers keep track of what their players are doing in-game. Before Orbus, Kazemi did gameplay metrics at Turbine Inc. for MMORPGs including "Dungeons and Dragons Online" and "Lord of the Rings Online." He is also a technology officer for the IGDA Education SIG, a committee member for the Boston Postmortem, and spends a good deal of his free time giving advice on how to break into the game industry.
Tad Leckman, chair, visual effects department, Savannah College of Art and Design Tad Leckman has more than 10 years of experience working in visual effects, starting as a model maker for commercials and ending up at Industrial Light and Magic, where he acted as desktop systems manager, production manager for the "Rebel Mac Unit," and previsualization supervisor for the ILM art department. In 2002, Leckman transformed his hobby of teaching, writing and lecturing about visual effects into a full-time career. He is now the chair of the visual effects department at the Savannah College of Art and Design and has also taught at New York University's Center for Advanced Digital Applications and Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
Kyle Machulis, programmer, Linden Lab ("Second Life") Kyle Machulis spends his days making virtual worlds for Linden Lab, the creators of the "Second Life" platform, and his nights sitting in front of his computer running blogs on multiple subjects (including user interfaces, robotics and social interactions in online social settings and virtual worlds) with the firm belief that someone on the Internet cares about what he has to say. Machulis also works on many projects involving immersive environment and alternative input research. Living by his favorite mantra, "as free as possible," he works to create immersion in video games and virtual worlds through the absolute cheapest, easiest means possible. Working with no research budget, he enjoys proving the fact that simple user interface additions to a very complex computer-generated world can create new kinds of emergent play and interaction.
Sheri Graner Ray, president, Sirena Software; senior game designer/author Sheri Graner Ray is author of the book "Gender Inclusive Game Design — Expanding the Market." She has served as the co-chair for the Women in Game Development SIG of the IGDA for four years and has been a spokesperson for the female game player for many years. In 2004 she was the chair of the Women's Game Conference, the first game conference to specifically address the issues of women and games. Graner Ray has served as a design consultant to Cartoon Network and as senior game designer with Sony Online Entertainment. Before coming to Sony, she served as president of her own studio, Sirena Software, and prior to that as director of product development for Her Interactive, where she began her research into females and computer games. She has also worked for Origin Systems as a writer and designer on the Ultima PC series.
Tracy Rosenthal-Newsom, senior producer, Harmonix Music Systems Tracy Rosenthal-Newsom is a senior producer at Harmonix. A 12-year veteran in the games industry and a 13-year veteran in the film industry, Rosenthal-Newsom has extensive experience leading game development teams and film production crews. During her more than six years at Harmonix she has worked as a producer on "Guitar Hero 2," project lead on the "Karaoke Revolution" series and producer on "FreQuency and Amplitude." Prior to joining Harmonix, Rosenthal-Newsom produced and designed arcade games for Disney Imagineering and children’s games for Disney Interactive. As a member of the Directors Guild of America, she worked as an assistant director on such major motion pictures as "The Fabulous Baker Boys," "Dead Again,""Beethoven," "On Deadly Ground" and more.
Jim Spoto, CG supervisor, Electronic Arts Jim Spoto is a CG supervisor at Electronic Arts Tiburon, in Orlando, Fla. Since joining Tiburon as a digital artist in 1995, he has led graphics and content development for numerous titles, including "NCAA Football," "NASCAR Racing," and the best-selling "Madden NFL" series. A lifelong gamer and programmer, he most recently helped lead EA in developing new processes and technologies for next-generation systems. He has contributed to many gaming and graphics industry conferences, including VES, SIGGRAPH, GDC, IDMAA and E3, and has worked with industry partners such as Autodesk (formerly Alias) on their Maya Game Advisory Committee. In addition to his 14 years of experience in art, graphics and multimedia, Spoto has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Central Florida.