PDF File - SIEGE!

Welcome back everyone! To all of you who are returning guests, panelists, andvolunteers, thank you very much for helping make last year such a great success. To thoseof you joining us for the first time, welcome and thank you. This non-profit convention ishere for your benefit and exists only with your help, interest, and support.The Georgia Game Developers Association (www.ggda.org) is a non-profit organizationdedicated to the support and promotion of/supporting and promoting the game industry inthe state of Georgia. Formerly a part of the IGDA (and now working with their support),we split off several years ago to better focus on the industry needs of Atlanta-based andGeorgia-based companies and schools. Through SIEGE we address the needs of theentire South. Our chapter is composed entirely of volunteers from local game developers,colleges, and businesses with an interest in game development - and now you.One of the aspects of SIEGE07 was the help and respect shown at every step betweenotherwise competing institutions – a true demonstration of “Southern hospitality.” Localcolleges came together to promote the good of the state and their students, concentratingon success in the global market. Game industry professionals came out to share their tips,tools, and experiences with each other and local start-ups. Representatives of the State ofGeorgia (most notably Asante Brandford and Bill Thompson), have been at our side tofind out about our needs and to better promote this burgeoning economic sector. In such awelcoming atmosphere, it is no wonder that the local game industry is flourishing.This year we are very excited to bring you many panels that we hope you will enjoyand benefit. We also bring you a cohesive theme of the year: ‘Experimental Games.’ Alot of our focus will be towards the latest tools, techniques, concerns, and design ideasapplicable to our industry. Some of these concepts have just been implemented. Some arejust emerging out of academia. Some are speculations or inspirations. This year we arefocusing on the future, and we hope to lay the groundwork for the game industry to thrivehere in the Southeast.Welcome to all of you joining us, welcome to our corner of the world, and thank youfor being a part of this network we call SIEGE!Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Plenary Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2, 4, 6, 8Contests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Portfolio Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5College & Career Fair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 5Network Lunches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2, 6SIEGE Parties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Panel Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-9Conference Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-11SIEGE Speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-23SIEGE 2009 Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Hotel Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Back CoverSouthern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008 1

RegistrationSIEGE registration is located in the Hyatt Regency Suiteslobby. It is open during the following hours:Friday, Oct. 3: 3 pm – 9 pmSaturday, Oct. 4: 9 am – 7 pmSunday, Oct. 5: 9 am – noonSIEGE Admission, General, 3-DayPrice: $ 95.00SIEGE Admission, GGDA Bronze, 3-DayPrice: $ 55.00SIEGE Admission, General, 1-DayPrice: $ 45.00SIEGE Admission, General Student, 3-DayPrice: $ 35.00SIEGE Admission, GGDA Student, 3-DayPrice: $ 25.00SIEGE Admission, Student, 1-DayPrice: $ 20.00SIEGE VIP UpgradePrice: $ 325.00Plenary SessionsSIEGE’s plenary sessions bring together some of the leadingthinkers and figures in the gaming industry to debate, argue andchallenge the audience. Bring your assumptions, your beliefsand your questions, and prepare to have them all dealt with.Friday (5 - 6:30 PM)The Game Industry’s Cutting EdgeAsante Bradford, Rich Taylor, Blake LewinSaturday (2 - 3:30 PM) Games:Design: The Good, the Bad, and the ExceptionalDaniel Greenberg, Brenda Brathwaite, Ian BogostSunday (10 am - noon)MMOs: Shaping Virtual WorldsCelia Pierce, Sam Lewis, Scott Zier, Justin AchilliPress RoomMembers of the press and authorized bloggers are welcometo use the SIEGE press room for interviews, Internet access andmore. Please pick up press room information at the registrationdesk when you get your press credentials.Network LunchesSaturday, noon to 1:30 pmWant to meet other artists, programmers, writers,designers, audio engineers and gaming business people? Joinus for a networking lunch with your peers. Be prepared todiscuss major issues in your field, hot topics in the industry,and network, network, network.Artists: Atlanta IProgrammers: Atlanta IIDesigners / Writers: MariettaAudio: Where else - the barPartiesThanks to our sponsors, we have a number of excellentparties for you to enjoy.SIEGE Opening Night Party Sponsored by CCP:MMO giant CCP is hosting SIEGE’s opening night blast.Join us at 8 pm Friday for food, drinks, music and muchmore. The CCP/White Wolf team has earned an excellentreputation for its parties, and we’re sure that this one willonly add to the legend.Sweet Suite Night Parties: A number of our sponsorsare renting suites for Saturday night, and opening the roomsto SIEGE attendees. Get a first-hand look at what theseorganizations are up to. A list of known parties will beavailable at SIEGE registration Saturday.ConcertSaturday night features SIEGE’s first-ever concert withBit Brigade in Atlanta I and II. Bit Brigade meticulouslyreplicates every musical cue, cutscene and boss battle inperfect syncronization with master gamer Noah McCarthy’sinspiring speed-trial run of each level. Composed of membersof roadwarrior (both stateside and abroad) mathrock bandsCinemechanica and We Versus The Shark, Bit Brigadeelevates game music to its proper place in the foreground ofepic technical rock and plays the games like they don’t needthe extra lives. Which, for the record, they don’t.2 Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008

on evaluating potential investments, and learn about Georgiastate tax incentives for investment in content production.The mission of CECIL [Committee on EntertainmentCapital, Investment, and Legislation] is to serve the state ofGeorgia as a standing body of expert advisors for continuedgrowth and maturation of the entertainment industry througheducation, implementation and employment of capital,investment, and legislation.(Suite 3)Roundtable: Writing for Game Design(Design)Moderator: Daniel Greenberg, Bill BridgesJoin us for our first round table, a discussion of what ittakes to create an interesting and interactive story, as well ashow to get the rest of your team working with you.Saturday (5:30 – 6:30 PM):(Georgia)Hi-Rez: Global Agenda Character Pipeline(Design)Speakers: Chuk Vinson, Sean McBride, Daniel Lilleberg,Mick LarkinsTechnology has been constantly expanding, providingmore powerful tools for creating art. But are artists keepingup? We will look at what it takes to use these tools andcreate the next generation of art content.(Atlanta I)Education for Games(Education)Speakers: Daniel Cazan, Bob Burnside, Michael McCoy,John SharpIn a continuation of last year’s panel, we invite youto join educators from various institutes as we discuss thechallenges we face in game design education. How do webetter prepare the waves of future game designers, artists,and programmers? And if you are a developer, please stopby and tell us what we are doing right, wrong, and what youwould love to see us do better!(Atlanta II)Games for Adults (M)(M for Mature)Speakers: Brenda Brathwaite, Daniel GreenbergAmid steady controversy, the adult side of the gameindustry carries on undaunted as it has since the first timeusers could type to each other in a MUD (and before). Ourpanelists discuss the history of adult content in games, fromthe past, the present, and the future. Note: mature subjectmatter will be discussed. This session is intended for adults.(Marietta)AIA: Graduates – First Days in Industry(Student)Speakers: Kunal Mehta, Vincent LombardoGetting close to graduation and a little nervous? ArtInstitute of Atlanta graduates discuss their transition fromstudents to professionals in the game industry, including alltheir shocks and successes, and give you advice on what iscoming up for you. (And if you recently graduated fromanother school, by all means stop by and share your tips andexperiences!)(Suite 1)Advergaming(Business)Speakers: Clinton Lowe, Dov Jacobson, Jose Acosta, BradMerrittAdvertising and games connect in several ways,including games that contain advertisements and games thatare advertisements themselves. Join our panelists as theyexplore the various ties between advertising and the gameindustry, how to make money off of those ties, and what toavoid when attempting to bring the advertisement and gameindustries together.(Suite 2)Roundtable: New Developers,New Audiences(E for Everyone)Moderators: George Skleres, Joe SaulterMore people are playing games than ever before, anddevelopers who ignore these new fans do so at their ownrisk. This is especially true since many of these new fans arebecoming developers as well. Men, women, gays, straights,blacks, whites, grays ... these are your fans, coworkers (andmaybe even yourself). Join this wide-ranging discussion ofthe new constituencies in gaming and how you can workwith them, for them, and under them.Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008 7

Saturday (7-8 PM):(Georgia)White Wolf: Narrative and Sandbox Worlds(Design)Speakers: Bill Bridges, Joseph CarrikerIn the roleplaying community, one of the most widelyrecognized is the World of Darkness. It has spawnednumerous paper-and-pencil games, unique systems fordifferent times and locations in history, multiple computergames, a TV show and many different series of books. WhiteWolf explain their approaches and the challenges of creatingpersistent immersive worlds and providing rich open-endedexperiences.(Atlanta I)XNA Games(Programming)Speaker: R. CameronSo what is XNA? Is it a game engine? A library? Aninterface? Our presenter will start at the beginning to showyou how to use XNA to build the games that you craveso much and provide you with the resources to go evenfurther.(Atlanta II)AIA Gallery Show(Students / Art)Moderators: Daniel CazanConcept art, levels, games – come and relax as youlook through work created by students at The Art Instituteof Atlanta. They will be waiting there to welcome yourfeedback, field your questions, and demonstrate their talent.See work created by freshman up to seniors and alumni, 2Dand 3D artists, individuals and teams, all assembled andwaiting for you. Yes, we are open late.(Suite 3)Audio Roundtable: Do Yours Go To 11?(Audio)Speaker: Chris Rickwood, Matt PiersallWhy does the audio in your game suck? The worldof game audio can sometimes be a complicated one full ofdesign challenges and implementation problems. At thisroundtable, we discuss a variety of ways to overcome theseproblems and brainstorm techniques to turn your audioproblems into creativity catalysts.Sunday, October 5thSunday (10-12 PM):(Pavilion)Plenary:MMOs: Shaping Virtual Worlds(E for Everyone)Speakers: Celia Pierce, Sam Lewis, Scott Zier, JustinAchilliThere are games, and then there are Games. Our panelistsdiscuss the various challenges they have encountered creatingworlds on massive scales, building sustainable communities,and planning for systems that have to be maintained andupdated.(Suite 1)Sue Bohle(Business)Speaker: Sue BohleJoin PR guru Sue Bohle for this wide-ranging discussionof the game industry. Sue Bohle’s expertise reaches into everyaspect of the industry, and her clients run the gamut from itsbiggest players to the smallest. This high-level session willgive you new insight into our business and passion.Sunday (12:30-1:30 PM):(Georgia)Getting Serious about Game Design(Design)Speakers: Ian Bogost, Deborah ThomasAll play and no work misses a lot of the potential of a veryimmersive medium. Our panelists discuss Serious Gamesin the modern game industry, ranging from applicationsand practical examples to thoughts on where this industry8 Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008

is going. The wide range of creative options may surpriseyou!(Atlanta I)Game Design Improv (12-3:30 PM)(Students)Moderator: Brenda. Brathwaite, Ian SchreiberGame designers of all experience levels are invited forthis fast-paced, comedic and challenging workshop that willstretch your mind, your design skills and quite possibly giveyou an idea for your next great game. Groups will take ona variety of game design challenges based on new, existingand terrifying IP as they wrestle with associated constraints.The workshop ends with the much hyped “Iron DesignerChallenge” where teams will take on the impossible - and doit anyway. Based on attendee vote, only one group will reignas SIEGE’s Iron Designers.Why? The value of a game designer lies in his or herability to turn anything into a game and any problem intoa viable and fun solution. In fact, that’s where much of thepossibility for innovation lies.(Atlanta II)Graphics Programming(Programming)Speakers: Nathan Hanish, Jin Pei, Ed HobbsSpore has released its editor and has many of us excitedagain about procedural art – our panelists give practicaltips of where to start, the applications of programming todirectly creating art, and may even share some new ideasand examples regarding tools and algorithms!(Marietta)Game Art, Design, and the Law(Business)Speakers: Andrew Greenberg, Thomas Mihill, RobHassettWorried about the long arm of the law, or perhapswondering how it can protect you? Our panelists discussissues of ratings, copyrights, contracts, and more – becausewhat you don’t know CAN hurt you!Sunday (2:00-3:00 PM):(Georgia)Designing Games for Kids(Design)Speakers: Deborah Thomas, George SkleresWith the average game player’s age now well into the30s, it can be easy to forget the original gamers - children. Inthis panel we discuss games aimed towards kids - what theyplay, how to design for them, and what considerations youmay have to keep in mind.(Atlanta I)Game Design Improv (12-3:30 PM) continued(Student)(Atlanta II)Humanity and ALgorithms – Future of AI(Programming)Speakers: Ken Lightner, Nathan Hanish, Lou DeSetto,Ontaňon Santi, Dean LawsonWe have come a long way from the days when ghostsmoved around a maze chasing the player, but how far? Whatare the latest approaches to artificial intelligence (in gamesand otherwise), and what is in development now.(Marietta)Game Industry in the Southeast(E for Everyone)Speaker: Clinton Lowe, Asante Bradford, Mike TinneyDid you know that the State of Georgia is a SIEGEsponsor and has just offered even bigger tax breaks for gamecompanies? Or how many schools throughout the Southeastare offering game art and programming training? Haveyou heard of the Georgia Game Developers Association?While many people look to California and Austin for newsabout the game industry, the southeast has been growing inleaps and bounds, embracing developers with open arms– find out about the opportunities in Georgia for education,developers, jobs, investments, and all of your other gameindustry needs!Sunday (4:30 PM):(Pavilion)SIEGE Town Hall / GGDA Annual Meeting(E for Everyone)Moderator: Andrew GreenbergBring your thoughts, comments, praise, criticisms andmore as we wrap up SIEGE08, plan for SIEGE09, andannounce our contest winners. We look forward to anythingyou may want to share.Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008 9

ROOMFriday5:00-6:30Friday7:00-8:00Saturday10:00-12:00Saturday12:00-2:00Saturday2:00-3:30PavilionGeorgiaAtlanta IPlenary:The GameIndustry’sCutting Edge(E for Everyone)Getting a Jobin the GameIndustry(Student)Planning toSucceed(Design)How to:Hack a Game(Programming)College and Career Fair(Student)Hi-Rez:A Producer’sPerspective:Getting into theIndustry(Student)Microsoft:Silverlight(Design)PortfolioReview(E for Everyone)Network LunchArtist:Atlanta IPlenary:Design - TheGood, the Bad,and theExceptional(E for Everyone)Atlanta IILifedrawingto Imagination(Art)The Suit ComesOff: CasualGaming(Design)Programmers:Atlanta IIMariettaSound DesignJam Session(Audio)How to:Art intoUnreal 3by AIA(Art)Designers /Writers: MariettaSuite 1Pitch Panel(Business)Selling the FullPackage(Business)Suite 210 Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008

Saturday4:00-5:00Saturday5:30-6:30Saturday7:00-8:00Sunday10:00-12:00Sunday12:30-1:30Sunday2:00-3:00InteractiveStories ThroughLevel Design(Design/Art)Plenary :MMOs: ShapingVirtual Worlds?(E for Everyone)ExperimentalGame Technology(E for Everyone)HiRez:Global AgendaCharacterCreation(Art)CCP-White Wolf:Narrative andSandbox Worlds(Design)Getting‘Serious’ aboutGame Design(E for Everyone)Designing Gamesfor Kids(Design)Concept Artand Gaming(Art)Educationfor Games(E for Everyone)XNA Games(Programming)Game Design Improv(Student)Feisty Engines:The OpenSource(Programming)Games forAdults, 18+(M for Mature)AIA GalleryShow8-11 PM(E for Everyone)GraphicsProgramming(Programming)Humanity andALgorithms –Future of AI(Programming)AIA: Modelingwith ZBrush(Art)AIA:Graduates– First Daysin Industry(Student)Game Art,Design, andthe Law(Business)Game Industry inthe Southeast(E for Everyone)CECIL(Business)Advergaming(Business)Sue Bohle(Business)Roundtable:Writing forGame Design(Design)Roundtable:New Developers,New Audiences(E for Everyone)Roundtable:Do Yours Goto 11?(Audio/Design)Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008 11

Michal AdamMichal’s project and teammanagement skills are crucial toher role as the Associate Produceron Global Agenda, along withher main responsibilities atHi-Rez of managing the pressand public relations for boththe Studio and Global Agenda.Michal honed her experience inpublic relations with her workfor the Israeli Foreign Ministry where she coordinatedpress conferences for international politicians and executedprograms for public events relating to affairs in the MiddleEast. Michal is also a member of the Atlanta EntertainmentSociety’s DigiTainment task force, a collaborative initiativeto band together Georgia’s growing entertainment industry.Michal graduated from the University of Arizona’s HonorsCollege where she majored in International Studies. Michalalso does all of the motion capture for the female charactersin Global Agenda (look out for her signature drop-kickaction in the game!).Tom BiondolilloA fantasy digital painter/illustrator, Tom Biondolillohas worked through the years for such companies as TSR,WOTC, FASA, AEG, Steve Jackson Games, Hasbro, GTInteractive, Resaurus Toys, Dark Horse comics and Caliber/Desperado comics where he’s painted, illustrated, inked,penciled, written, and designed. He has recently worked onCCP/White Wolf’s many lines, including Vampire V:TEScards, Mage, and Scion illustrating and painting.Ian BogostDr. Ian Bogost is a videogame designer, critic, andresearcher. He is Assistant Professor at the Georgia Instituteof Technology and Founding Partner at Persuasive GamesLLC. His research and writing considers video games asan expressive medium, and his creative practice focuses ongames about social and political issues.Bogost is author of Unit Operations: An Approach toVideogame Criticism (MIT Press 2006), recently listedamong “50 books for everyone in the game industry,” andof Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames(MIT Press 2007), along with several other books and manyother writings. He is a popular speaker and widely consideredan influential thinker and doer in the videogame industry andresearch community.Bogost’s videogames about social and political issuescover topics as varied as airport security, disaffected workers,the petroleum industry, suburban errands, and tort reform. Hisgames have been played by millions of people and exhibitedinternationally at venues including Laboral Centro de Arte(Madrid), Fournos Centre for Digital Culture (Athens), EyebeamCenter (New York), Slamdance Guerilla Game Festival (ParkCity), the Israeli Center for Digital Art (Holon) and TheAustralian Centre for the Moving Image (Melbourne).Bogost is currently co-authoring a book on the Atari2600 along with a number of new videogames for thatplatform. He is also completing a game about the politicsof nutrition, commissioned by PBS and the iTVS, anddesigning editorial “newsgames” in a groundbreaking gamepublishing relationship with the New York Times. Bogostholds a Bachelors degree in Philosophy and ComparativeLiterature from the University of Southern California, and aMasters and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from UCLA.Sue BohleSue Bohle is a highly regarded public relationsprofessional who has been providing hands on, seniorlevel counsel to game and other interactive entertainmentcompanies since 1983. She has been the lead speakeron PR for the game industry at the The Game DevelopersConference (GDC) six times and the author of the marketingchapter for a new textbook on getting into the video gameindustry.Sue started her career at Burson-Marsteller, the world’slargest public relations agency. She was then hired by the J.Walter Thompson Co. to help the firm develop a PR presencein Los Angeles. Within three years, she became JWT’s firstvice president on the West Coast and a year later, the firstwoman in Los Angeles to be named general manager of anoffice of an international PR firm. Later, she also headedthe Los Angeles office of Ketchum Communications. Shefounded The Bohle Company in 1979.Throughout its existence, The Bohle Company has wonnumerous PR awards, including two Silver Anvils, a BronzeAward from Paul Holmes and its winning REpism awardwas voted “Best of Show” by the Los Angeles Chapter ofPRSA.In 1991, Sue was elected to the College of Fellows,PRSA, an honor bestowed on less than one percent of PRprofessionals judged to be role models in the industry. Shelater served as secretary/treasurer, chair elect and chair ofthis prestigious organization.In 1999, Sue was named one of the “Top 50 Most12 Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008

Powerful Women in PR” by PR Week trade magazine. In2001, it was noted that she was one of 37 women headingTop 100 PR agencies.Sue has held various positions for the Public RelationsSociety of America (PRSA). She is a past chairman of theCounselors Academy, a national organization of heads ofagencies; past president of the Los Angeles Chapter, PRSA;and currently serves on the PRSA National Board. An expertin marketing PR and crisis communications, Sue is quotedfrequently in textbooks on PR.Sue holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree fromMedill School of Journalism, Northwestern University. In1997, she was named a charter member of Medill’s Hall ofAchievement, honoring alumni who have become leaders intheir professions.Adam BoyesAdam Boyes is a 12 year games industry veteran whois now helping build Capcom’s Product Development teamin the US. In addition, Adam has been tasked with findingCapcom cutting edge and skillful development teams topartner with and see those new associations through tofruition. He also heads up all of the games in developmentout of the Capcom US office.Asante BradfordAsante Bradford is theDigital Entertainment Liaisonfor the Georgia Film, Music andVideo division of the GeorgiaDepartment of EconomicDevelopment. Asante will helppromote the growth of the videogame industry as well as identifyinitiatives that will help growbusinesses for the state of Georgiain video game development, film & music. He will also helpeducate potential prospects and clients information about theGeorgia Entertainment Industry Incentives Act.Asante was the founder of a game center entertainmentarcade which provided gaming, training, and web access onstate-of-the-art equipment in a LAN environment. He wasalso responsible for establishing educational programming,game licensing and acquisition as well as planning videogame tournaments in the southeast for companies such asEA Sports, Red Octane and Microsoft.His area of concentration with the Georgia Film, Musicand Video office is to increase the impact of video gamedevelopment for the State of Georgia as well as being adedicated liaison to assist with promotions, logistics andbusiness development for attracting game developmentcompanies outside the state to relocate in Georgia.Brenda BrathwaiteA 25 year veteran of the video game industry, BrendaBrathwaite is an award-winning game designer and professorof game development and interactive design at the SavannahCollege of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia. She hasworked on 22 internationally known titles, including “DefJam: Icon”, “Playboy: The Mansion”, “Dungeons & Dragons:Heroes”, the award-winning “Wizardry” series and the awardwinning“Jagged Alliance” series of video games.In 2006, Brathwaite was named one of the 100 mostinfluential women in the game industry by Next Generationmagazine and her peers, and Nerve magazine cited her asa “New Radical” - one of “the 50 artists, actors, authors,activists and icons who are making the world a morestimulating place”. In the spring of 2007, she was awarded thePresidential Fellowship at Savannah College of Art and Design todevelop an exhibit and presentation titled, “What You Don’t KnowAbout Video Games…”. The project is slated for a Fall 2007debut. Most recently, Next Generation labeled her an “outstandingfemale developer” in an article highlighting key female developers.Brathwaite was one of just five women selected.Brathwaite is an active member of the International GameDevelopers Association and a passionate anti-censorshipadvocate and a proponent of parental rating awareness.Her book, Sex in Video Games was released by ThomsonLearning in September 2006.She is a regular speaker at universities and conferences,most recently the Idea City Conference 2007, Game DevelopersConference 2007, Montreal Games Summit 2006, GameDevelopers Conference 2006, Future Play 2005, Game DevelopersConference 2005, and the Women in Games Conference (a partof the Austin Games Conference) 2005. She has lectured at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology, The Guildhall at SouthernMethodist University and Clarkson University.Bill BridgesBill Bridges is an MMO game designer at CCP NA |White Wolf. He is the co-creator of the “Fading Suns” sciencefiction game universe, and is the lead designer of the awardwinningStorytelling system rules for all of White Wolf’sWorld of Darkness games. He designed and developedthe award-winning games “Mage: The Awakening” and“Promethean: The Created”, and developed “Werewolf: theApocalypse”. His novels include “The Silver Crown” and“Last Battle”. He has also written for Chaosium, and helpeddevelop Last Unicorn’s “Star Trek: The Next Generation”and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” roleplaying games. Heco-wrote the scripts for Viacom’s interactive horror movie“Dracula Unleashed”, Interplay’s “Starfleet Academy”, andcontributed to world design for Segasoft’s “Emperor of theFading Suns”. He is an advisor for the Mythic ImaginationInstitute and co-chairs the content committee for Atlanta’sMythic Journeys conferences.Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008 13

Bob BurnsideBob Burnside, Associate Dean, School of Technology,DeVry University. Dean Burnside has been an engineer,accountant, soldier, banker, teacher, entrepreneur, and now aDean at a national university. His interest in gaming predatespc’s and consoles! The first game he wrote was an auto-play(not interactive) horse race, written in COBOL that ran onan IBM mainframe. Bob now leads the Bachelor of ScienceDegree in Game and Simulation Programming at DeVryUniversity for the Atlanta area. Dean Burnside is dedicated toassisting students into becoming effective game developers.Rob CameronRob Cameron is a Developer Evangelist with MicrosoftCorporation based out of Atlanta, Georgia. As part of Microsoft’sCommunications Sector DPE team, Rob focuses on enterprisedevelopment tools and technologies for large wireline, wireless,satellite, cable, and media & entertainment companies. Rob coauthoredBuilding ASP.NET Server Controls published byApress and recently authored the BizTalk Operations chapterfor Pro BizTalk Server 2006 also published by Apress. He hasa Master’s Degree in Information Technology Managementand a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science.Daniel CazanDaniel Cazan, Lead Faculty,Game Art and Design at the ArtInstitute of Atlanta, has beenworking diligently to strengthenthe presence of the game industryin Georgia for over four years.In the past Daniel has been theAtlanta Chapter Coordinator forthe Georgia Game DevelopersAssociation, has worked as ArtLead for Waveform Studios, worked as a contract artist formultiple game studios, and has developed courses for bothSavannah College of Art and Design (online) and the ArtInstitute of Atlanta. His educational background includesa BS in Computer Science from the University of Georgia(Yamacraw certified), an MFA in Computer Art from theSavannah College of Art and Design (with focuses onLevel Design and Procedural Graphics), and he is currentlypursuing an MS in Computer Science at the Georgia Instituteof Technology (with specializations in Computer Graphicsand Artificial Intelligence).Stewart ChisamStewart Chisam is Vice President, Game Operations for Hi-Rez Studios, an independent developer of on-line games basedin Alpharetta, GA. He is responsible for IT Operations, Support,Community Management and Financial Operations/Billing forGlobal Agenda, a massive, multi-player online game currentlyin early end-user testing. Prior to joining Hi-Rez, Stewart spent12 years in the enterprise software space. As Chief TechnologyOfficer of BlueCube Software, and subsequently Senior VicePresident of Technology at RedPrairie Corporation, Stewart builtthe global hosting and support operations for a software-as-aservicemerchandising and workforce management solution usedby many of the world’s largest retail and hospitality companies. AtRadiant Systems, Stewart served in a variety of senior technicalroles as the company expanded globally and grew from under$30 million in annual revenues to over $150 million.Stewartholds a bachelor of arts in Economics from the University ofNorth Carolina in Chapel Hill. He lives in Forsyth County withhis wife Amy, and two children, Ben, 5, and Meredith, 3.Little known fact: Stewart refuses to comment on the subject,but he is legally prohibited from entering the local gas station,Wrigley Field’s visitor dugout, and the Yvette Moore Fine ArtGallery in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.Lou DesettoLou began his career writing PC strategy games in highschool. He attended GA Tech for Bachelors and Masters inComputer Science, specializing in AI and 3D graphics. As oneof the pioneer members of the development team at Hi-RezStudios, Lou is now responsible for AI, statistics, and web- basedconfiguration tools.Lou has spent most of the last decade on business applicationsof AI and graphics and established his own consulting company:Timely Development. His favorite games include Team Fortress2 and Civilization.Little known fact: Lou actually asked his wife for a C++ GUIbook for Christmas, confirming the PC user stereotype illustratedin the Mac vs. PC commercials.John GibsonJohn became involved in game development whenhe answered an advertisement for an amateur soundengineer. With several years of professional experience insound engineering and music performance, including aninternationally released album on which he performed, comixedand co-produced; John decided to put his skills to useworking on computer games.The first project he worked on was an Internetmodification of the game Quake II, entitled SOG. For thisventure he composed, performed, recorded, and producedall of the music, as well as created numerous sound effects.After SOG, John went on to create “The Third Reich,” anUnreal Tournament modification with a World War II theme,where he acted as Lead Programmer and Sound Engineer.With “The Third Reich” completed, John decided toexpand his horizons and began work on a modification14 Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008

of Unreal Tournament 2003 entitled “Red Orchestra”. Itwas here that John honed his skills as a programmer andleader as he organized a group of highly talented amateurprogrammers, artists and designers from around the globe.This project would go on to compete in Nvidia’s “$1,000,000Make Something Unreal” contest co-sponsored by Epic.After seven years of working for the General ElectricCorporation as an engineer, John accepted his firstcommercial position in the game industry as a programmerfor the MOVES Institute on the America’s Army game forthe PC.When the team won the MSU contest, John wasinstrumental in creating Tripwire Interactive LLC alongwith the other key players in the original team. From thispoint, John led the company as Tripwire raised the fundingto produce the retail game and accelerated into the fast-trackdevelopment required to bring the Red Orchestra franchiseto market. With the distribution deal over Steam signedwith Valve, followed by the in-store distribution deal withDestineer, the scene was set for the launch of “Red Orchestra:Ostfront 41-45” in March 2006.Today, John is a major contributor to the development ofone of the world’s most played on-line games and Presidentof one of the most successful game start-ups in recent years.The game is still the top-selling third-party game on Steamtoday.Andrew GreenbergAndrew Greenberg, bestknown for designing computergames and roleplaying games,co-created the “Fading Suns”roleplaying and computer games,recently developed “Rapture d20”,and was the original developerof White Wolf’s “Vampire: TheMasquerade”. He has credits onmore than 50 White Wolf productsand more than 20 HDI books. He has also worked on productswith other roleplaying game companies, including “Star TrekNext Generation” and “Deep Space Nine”. His computer gamecredits include Dracula Unleashed, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,Emperor of the Fading Suns, Warhammer 40K: Final Liberation,Merchant Prince II, Mall Tycoon, Dungeon Lords, and more.He began teaching game design at the Art Instituteof Atlanta in 2006, and serves on the International GameDevelopers Association Curriculum Committee. He regularlywrites for publications as diverse as Prick Magazine and theMatthew Bender legal reference series. Very active with avariety of causes and organizations, in 2006 he co-chairedboth the Environmental Design Research Association andMythic Journeys conventions in Atlanta, and coordinated theHuman Forum in Puerto Rico.Daniel GreenbergDaniel is a videogame scriptwriter, design consultant, andvoiceover director. His latest games include “Crysis”, “The Lordof the Rings Online” , and the newly announced MMORPG basedon the Cartoon Network characters, “FusionFall”.Daniel has been a freelance game industry professionalfor over fifteen years and a full-time game designer since theearly 1980s, when he put himself through school writing forDungeons and Dragons and other paper RPGs.Daniel Greenberg’s clients include game companies onthree continents-- publishers like Electronic Arts, Activision,Bethesda Softworks, Midway, Vivendi Universal Games,Disney, Atari/Infogrames, TSR, and Apple.His work has been praised in reviews by both the gameindustry press and by mass market publications. Critics havecalled his games “an atmospheric triumph,” and “complexand elegant.” “The multi-pronged story is a masterpiece”,“an epic RPG in the best sense of the word”, “sheer beautyand shining quality”, “a heart-wrenching storyline” and“beautiful, strong story elements.”His games have sold millions of copies and wonnumerous awards. He specializes in helping companies fullyutilize licensed properties and has developed game designs,game scripts, and scripting systems for licenses like “TheLord of the Rings”, “Star Wars”, “X-Men”, “Star Trek”,“Dungeons and Dragons”, “Watchmen”, “Vampire: TheMasquerade”, and many more.Todd HarrisTodd Harris submitted his firstcomputer game to the Universityof North Carolina at Chapel Hillas part of his college application,since writing games was morefun than writing essays. Afterobtaining his BS in ComputerScience from the same university,Todd entered the softwareengineering industry, eventuallymanaging next-generationProduct Development efforts at NCR, Radiant Systems,and BlueCube Software. BlueCube developed an onlinetechnology platform and international hosting capabilities,technology and services that are directly applicable tothe development, deployment, and service challenges ofmassively multiplayer online games.With over 15 years of technology leadership experience,Todd is the Executive Producer of the action MMO GlobalAgenda and is an active contributor to the growingGeorgia gaming industry, including advising area game andart schools on their programs.Little known fact: Todd has transformed the internalChinese martial art of Tai Chi into his own tactical way ofmaintaining health and tranquility within Hi-Rez Studios.This is commonly referred to as Todd Chi.Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008 15

Rob HassettRob is an attorney with thelaw firm of Casey Gilson P.C. inAtlanta, GA. He practices in theareas of technology, entertainmentand corporate law. He frequentlyrepresents companies that arelicensing, selling or acquiringintellectual property.Rob is a founding boardmember of the recently formedIntellectual Property Law Section of the Atlanta Bar Association. Rob is the co-author of Volume 5 on Internet and InteractiveMedia Law of LexisNexis’ 10 volume treatise on EntertainmentLaw Contracts. For 1998-1999 he was Co-Chair and for 1999-2001 was Chair of the Subcommittee on Policies for ManagingGeneric Top Level Domains of the Special Committee onTrademarks and the Internet of the Intellectual PropertyLaw Section of the American Bar Association. He teachesInformation Security Law in the Professional EducationProgram at Georgia Tech. Rob has served on the Boards ofSERIS and IMAGE. Rob was the Chairman and co-founderof the 1995 Atlanta Interactive Media Expo. He has writtennumerous articles which have been published concerningsoftware, entertainment, internet, copyright, and trademarklaw. He has also given numerous presentations in these areas.He has, from time to time, appeared on television programs todiscuss issues relating to Internet law.Rob has been listed as a “Super Lawyer” in the Georgiaedition of Law and Policy Magazine most years since it wasstarted in 2004. Rob has also been named as a “Fellow” bythe highly selective Knights of the Bar.Rob graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technologywith a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering. Whileattending Georgia Tech, he was a co-op for the GeorgiaPower Company. He attended law school at the Universityof Georgia where he was a member of the editorial board ofthe Law Review and graduated cum laude.Ed HobbsEd has been a game programmer for the past 26 years.He has been the lead programmer on eight published games,including ‘Seafox’ and the ‘Castles of Doctor Creep.’ Hehas published on platforms from the Apple II to the PC, withstops for Atari and Commodore along the way. He currentlywrites casual games under the brand of Cat’s Eye Games.Cliff JacobsonCliff Jacobson is the Lead Engineer at VisioneeringGames, an Atlanta-based company specializing in casualgames and its flagship www.prizewagon.com free pokerwebsite. Cliff has been developing web applications for over16 Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 200810 years, and loves to share his passion for the technologywith an audience.Dov JacobsonDov Jacobson joined theprofessional game industry in 1979developing experimental onlinegames for Time Warner, and coinopgames for Mafia-funded startups.As head of Turner Interactivein the 90’s, he was responsiblefor several briefly celebratedmainstream titles. Currently hisstudio, GamesThatWork, createsgames for publishers (Vivendi, Viacom) , advertisers(CocaCola) and for the US military (Air Force, Navy).Dov frequently leads a Game Development studio courseat NYU.Nathan JerpeNathan Jerpe is a freelance software engineer based outof Atlanta who has recently turned to game development. Heis the author of Legerdemain, a surrealistic computer roleplayinggame that has been featured on Metafilter, Play ThisThing!, Games Radar, TIGSource, and numerous other blogsaround the web. Nathan holds a BS in Electrical Engineeringfrom Loyola College in Maryland and an MS in ElectricalEngineering from Clemson University, where he taughtlaboratory courses in electronics and circuit design andserved as a disc jockey for WSBF-FM. His current interestsinclude the development of browser-based games, interactivefiction, narrative design, postmodern and experimentalliterature, and broaching new ways of storytelling throughelectronic media.Nathan KnaackNathan is responsible for all of Global Agenda’sfiction, elaborating on world locations, storyline, andthe overall theme of the game. He’s also part of thedesign team, using the Unreal 3 editor to create trainingmaps, cinematic encounters, and mission logic. Otherduties include writing, voice acting, scripts, and artificialintelligence routines.Raised and educated in Michigan, Nathan earned aBA in English Literature from Oakland University beforerelocating to Georgia to become the Lead Designer, LeadCreative Writer, and Community Manager for RapidReality Studios. Prior to joining Hi-Rez, he also servedas the official proofreader for CCP Studios and has beenpublished twice by Sword and Sorcery Studios, a branchof White Wolf Publishing.

His favorite aspect of Hi-Rez Studios is the casualatmosphere, but all that goes out the window when it’stime to play Global Agenda; once he logs in, Nathan is allbusiness as he dominates with the medic class, valiantlykeeping his teammates alive while unleashing insidiouspoisons on his helpless victims. Other than destroyinginnocent playtesters and outmatched coworkers in GlobalAgenda, his interests include motorcycles, science fictionnovels, role-playing games, music from the U.K., and theDetroit Red Wings. His favorite games include Fallout2, Company of Heroes, World of Warcraft, Eve Online,and Battlefield 2142.Little known fact: Nathan spends most of his freetime writing short autobiographical summaries.Benn R. KonsynskiBenn R. Konsynski is theGeorge S. Craft DistinguishedProfessor of BusinessAdministration for Decision &Information Analysis. He arrivedat the Goizueta Business Schoolin 1992. Professor Konsynski iscurrently the Information Systems,Doctoral Chair for the Decisionand Information Analysis area.He currently teaches in the Executive MBA, Doctoral IS,and, Evening MBA programs. Prior to Goizueta, he spent 7years on the faculty at the Harvard Business School. While atHarvard, he taught in the MBA and Executive MBA programs.Prior to Harvard, he was a Professor at the University ofArizona, where he was co-founder of the university’s multimilliondollar group-decision support laboratory. He holds aPh.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University. He wasalso named Baxter Research Fellow at Harvard, and HewlettFellow at The Carter Center.Professor Konsynski specializes in issues of digitalcommerce and information technology in relationships acrossorganizations. This work involves extensive domestic andinternational fieldwork on inter-organizational systems,electronic data interchange (EDI), channel systems, electronicintegration, information partnerships, and the digitalmarketplace. He has employed extensive domestic andinternational fieldwork as a basis for analysis of best practiceand theory development in these rapidly developing areas.He is the author of “Information Systems and DecisionProcesses”. He has published in such diverse journals asManagement Science, Communications of the ACM, HarvardBusiness Review, IEEE Transactions on Communications,MIS Quarterly, Journal of MIS, Data Communications,Decision Science, Decision Support Systems, InformationSystems, and IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.While at Harvard he wrote many cases involving EDI, ISpartnerships and the digital marketplace. Benn has served inthe past as a consultant on management and technology issueswith many organizations. Some of the companies include,UPS, IBM, TESSCO Technologies, Harbinger, AT&T,Northern Trust, Texas Instruments, U.S. Army, Digital,Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, MicroAge,Ernst and Young, the Bank of Montreal, Plasti-line, J.C.Penney, Aetna Insurance Company, Turner BroadcastingCorporation, and Dillard’s Department Stores. He serveson the board of directors at TESSCO Technologies, Miller-Zell, Nu-Bridges, The Management Education Alliance, andother companies and non-profit institutions.Mick LarkinsAs a technical artist, Mick’s primary responsibilitiesare programming the animation and physics systems withinGlobal Agenda. Mick also works to create tools for theartists and audio team as well as character-centric gameplayfeatures. Mick holds a Masters of Fine Arts in DigitalProduction Arts from Clemson University and received hisBS in Computer Science from Furman University. He haspublished three books on Maya: Mastering Maya 7, Maya8 at a Glance, and Mastering Maya 8.5. His past work alsoincludes working on various multimedia projects with majormusicians.Within Global Agenda, Mick pwns using the ReconSpecialist class and especially enjoys deceiving enemiesusing stealth and decoys. While his favorite genre of gamingis the first-person shooter, his latest obsession is drummingin the Rock Band series. Mick’s other obsessions includemusic and cooking.Little known fact: Mick bravely struggles against anincurable addiction to the mango custard desert served at thelocal Indian restaurant.Dean LawsonDean Lawson has worked in the industry for the past13 years primarily as a programmer but also as a designer,project lead and director of programming. He has workedon 10+ shipped titles including SimCity Societies, CaesarIV, Majesty, Risk, and a number of online board gameconversions for Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast. Dean iscurrently a Professor of Game Design and Programming atSavannah College of Art and Design.Blake LewinBlake Lewin is Vice President of media and entertainmentplatforms for Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS, Inc.)Platform R&D Group. Lewin is the inventor of GameTap,Turner’s first broadband entertainment network, and wasresponsible for its design and development. He was executiveSouthern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008 17

producer on Cyan Worlds’ Myst Online:URU Live and onTBS virtual worlds launched within Kaneva; has filed threepatents for Turner on iTV and broadband systems; has ledthe production and management of web and interactive TVapplications on various emerging platforms over the past17 years; and has licensed and produced CD-ROMs andgames such as Hell Cab, Dinotopia, The Pagemaster andCarl Sagan’s Murmurs of Earth. Early in his career, Lewinwas a musician with a Bachelor of Arts degree in musiccomposition, a minor in electronic music, and an associate’sdegree in audio technology from Indiana University. Lewinworked for inventor Emmett Chapman (The Chapman Stick),did transcriptions for artists such as Frank Zappa and AllanHoldsworth, and served as music coordinator for majormotion pictures, including Thelma and Louise, CompanyBusiness and Man In The Moon.Sam LewisSam’s design credits start with paper games and includethe “DC Heroes”, BattleTech, Renegade Legion, Earthdawnand Shadowrun lines . He was series editor for 3 novellines, and produced CG segments for the BattleTech cartoonshow.Starting in 1995, Sam ran Kesmai Corporation’s liveservice, GameStorm . He also was a producer for EA.Com.At Sony Online Entertainment, Sam worked on StarWars Galaxies both as a senior systems designer and contentdesigner.Sam is currently the Lead Game Designer for CartoonNetwork’s upcoming MMO. Sam received his BA and MBAfrom Northwestern University in economics in 1981 and1983 respectively.Ken LightnerCTO and part owner of Blue Heat Games, Ken Lightnerhas over 15 years of experience writing, designing, andprogramming games. Ken most recently completed theofficially licensed Major League Baseball game for mobilephone devices, which includes daily roster updates and anew, replay of recent games feature. He currently workson the design and programming of the recently announcedRailroad Tycoon Mobile for Oasys.Originally, Ken helped found Holistic Design wherehe worked as a third party developer for leading publisherslike “S.S.I.”, “Take Two Interactive”, “Microprose”, and“Segasoft”. His numerous PC credits include Best Buytop ten selling “Mall Tycoon”, “Final Liberation - EpicWarhammer 40K”, “Emperor of the Fading Suns”, andstrategy game of the year, “Machiavelli the Prince”.He now helps Blue Heat Games develop titles as diverse as“MLB 2007”, “Snoop Dog Boxing”, “NBA 5 on 5 Basketball2006”, “Jimmy Neutron Mobile Adventures”, and “TwoScoop Twist”. Ken also has credits in the paper game industryincluding the “Noble Armada” miniature game and the RealLife Roleplaying line at Holistic. His fiction work appeared inthe horror anthology, Book of All Flesh, by Eden Studios.Daniel LillebergDaniel is the Lead Animator at Hi-Rez Studios,responsible for animation and animation design. He hasworked in animation for more than 10 years, primarily ingames but also in television, advertising, and architecture.His game titles include Wizards and Warriors, DungeonLords, Unreal 2, and NBA Basketball 2006. The collaborativecreative process and the exceptional crew are his favoritethings about working at Hi-Rez.A Recon agent in Global Agenda, speed and stealth meanyou likely won’t see him often, but his preference for meleeweaponry mean when you do see him, it will be up closeand personal, usually involving his sword and your head.Beyond Global Agenda, Daniel enjoys RTS, FPS, RPG, andsports games. His interests outside gaming include sports,music, reading, and beer-snobbery.Little known fact: Daniel can climb anything, andhaving displayed that ability in front of Erez, he is beingforced to join next year’s version of American Gladiators.That’s unbelievable Hulkster!Cliff LovetteFor over 25 years as an entertainment attorney, CliffLovette has represented recording artists, record companies,independent motion picture producers, writers, and otherentertainment clients. For 6 years, Cliff was SR VP ofBusiness & Legal Affairs of LaFace Records, reporting tomulti-Grammy producers Antonio “LA” Reid and Kenny“Babyface” Edmonds. Currently, Cliff heads The LovetteEntertainment Law Group Ltd, a boutique entertainmentlaw firm in Atlanta, servicing various clients such as Usher,Organized Noize Productions, The Estate of Lisa Lopes, Darp(Dallas Austin’s production company), Fathom Studios (ananimated feature-length film studio) and other independentfilm and digital media producers and radio and televisionpersonalities. Prior to working at LaFace, Cliff was a seniorassociate of the law firm Katz, Smith & Cohen, where hehad primary responsibility for over dozen entertainmentclients and handled legal work for Jimmy Buffet, B. B. King,Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.Cliff is also leading Atlanta’s bid effort to secure TeatroZinzanni’s location of a cirque/cabaret dinner theatre in whatwill become Atlanta’s new downtown theatre district. Cliff isalso writing the screenplay based upon the story of a Sovieteracircus that was abandoned in the United States aroundthe time the USSR collapsed. Cliff is a board member of theEntertainment & Sports Section of the Georgia State Bar.Recently, Cliff was acknowledge as the 9th most influential18 Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008

music industry power broker in Atlanta by a local newspaper.Cliff is a founding executive member of CECIL (an adhoc Georgia-based Committee on Entertainment, Capitol,Investment & Legislation) which is tasked with improvingGeorgia tax incentive legislation for the Film, TV, GameDevelopment and Music industries and attracting investmentfunding for local production. Cliff is also on the ExecutiveBoard of The Entertainment & Sports Section of the StateBar of Georgia and a member of various other professionalassociations such as Georgia Production Partnership, and Womenin Film & Television, NARAS (the Grammy Organization).Clinton LoweMr. Lowe is chief executiveofficer of C. Allen Lowe & Associates,LLC, an executive consulting andventure catalyst firm.Mr. Lowe is co-founder ofVisioneering Holdings, Inc., and itsrespective subsidiaries: VisioneeringGames, Inc., SNAP e-Media, Inc.,and PrizeWagon, Inc. VisioneeringGames is an engineering firm thatcreates casual games for Internetdestinations. SNAP e-Mediarepresents a diverse group of Internet publishers and engagesadvertisers to provide highly-targeted Internet advertisingbrokerage and reporting services. PrizeWagon is a premierInternet destination where players enjoy free games withreal prizes.Mr. Lowe is co-founder and chairman of the GeorgiaGame Developers’ Association, Inc., a non-profit tradeassociation for the video game industry in Georgia. He’s alsoa director of the International Game Developers’ AssociationAtlanta Chapter Advisory Board. Mr. Lowe works closelywith government, academic, and corporate associates to createand improve economic opportunities for the industry. Mr.Lowe is a member of Georgia’s Committee on EntertainmentCapital, Investment, and Legislation (CECIL).In 2000, Mr. Lowe co-founded Mergato Studios, a videogame development studio that won 1st place in an internationalcompetition in August 2003. In 1993, he co-founded AdvancedPlanning Systems, Inc., manufacturer of OptiPlan, a softwaretool for supply and demand forecasting and logistics planning.Mr. Lowe holds a masters degree in businessadministration from Kennesaw State University, a mastersdegree in computer science from Southern Polytechnic StateUniversity, and a bachelor degree in computer informationsystems from DeVry University.Marcus MatthewsMarcus is the CEO and founder of Blue Heat Games andhas a wealth of gaming and Internet experience. Blue Heatis one of the largest independentmobile game developmentstudios in the US. Blue Heathas shipped over 30 games sinceits founding in 2001 and clientshave included Sega Mobile, EASports Mobile, and Sony PicturesWireless. Prior to starting BlueHeat, Marcus ran Sega Sports,a $100 million business unit. Inthat role, Marcus was responsiblefor all sports games for the launchof Dreamcast, which included NFL 2K, NBA 2K and NHL2K. Marcus was also the Director of Product Developmentfor ZapMedia, an Internet hardware and software media centerfor the living room. Before joining Sega in 1996, Marcusworked at IBM’s Multimedia Publishing Studio and TurnerBroadcasting’s games group and produced products involvingTurner entities such as Castle Rock, New Line Cinema,and Hanna Barbera. Marcus received a BS in Industrial andSystems Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1992.Sean McBrideSean is a Senior Character Artist at Hi-Rez Studios inAlpharetta. His is responsible for all the steps of characterdevelopment from modeling to final in-game asset, andmaking sure all character assets adhere to the standards thatare set Global Agenda. Sean contributed to multiple modprojects before finding his way into the industry, with titlessuch as Guild Wars and Sega Rally Revo, despite no formaltraining. He recently published a book with WordwarePublishing called Essential 3DS Max 2008.While playing Global Agenda, Sean enjoys playingRecon specializing in sniping and bionic augmentationgiving him the ability to leap over large obstacles, gettingbehind the enemy, and systematically removing them one byone. Some of his favorite games include the ID collection,Half-Life, Diablo, Baldur’s Gate, and Zelda. His favoritething about working at Hi-Rez is being able to develop agame with a private company that’s driven by the love ofthe game, not the money that it could make and arbitrarydeadlines set by publishers.Michael McCoyMichael McCoy, faculty at The Guildhall at SMU, is a10 year veteran of the game industry with six titles under hisbelt. He entered the game design profession with InteractiveMagic where he designed the iF-22 and iF/A-18 flight sims,as well as produced and designed iF-22 Persian Gulf. Fromthere, Michael joined Sinister Games where he finisheddesigning Shadow Company, before transferring to UbiSoftMontreal, Sinister’s parent company. In Montreal Michaeldesigned the extremely successful Rainbow Six 3 series:Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008 19

Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield and Rainbow Six 3: Xbox. Hismost successful title to date is Rainbow Six 3: Xbox, whichsold over 1,000,000 copies worldwide and earned numerousaccolades including “Best Game of Show” at Microsoft’sEurope X03. Other notable accomplishments include beinginterviewed in Marc Saltzman’s Game Design: Secret’s ofthe Sages published in 2002.Michael completed his undergraduate degree at LouisianaState University before earning a master’s degree in atmosphericscience at The Ohio State University in Columbus.Brad MerrittAs Lead Game Designerfor Cartoon Network’s GamesStudio, Brad Merritt has designedand directed dozens of gamesfor CartoonNetwork.com andAdultSwim.com. While workingin the web design industry, Bradstarted creating Flash games in1999. He lives with his wife inAtlanta, where he is the organizerof the Atlanta Game DeveloperMeetup and has served as a guestinstructor at the Art Institute of Atlanta.Joel MiddendorfJoel is skilled in reverse engineering, and developed oneof the best Nintendo64 emulators, 1964. Joel continues towork in emulation here at Turner working on such systemsas the Sega Saturn. Besides emulation proper, Joel also hasdetailed knowledge on the topic of dynamic recompilers alaSun’s HotSpot JVM.Thomas MihillThomas J. Mihill is a litigator at Fellows LaBriola LLP,an Atlanta litigation firm. Mr. Mihill’s practice encompasses awide range of complex business disputes, with an emphasis onintellectual property. Mr. Mihill has represented individuals andcorporations in both bringing and defending against trademarkand copyright infringement claims, trade secret violations,and cybersquatting actions. In the area of video games andvirtual worlds, Mr. Mihill has counseled and represented gamedevelopers and publishers in intellectual property and businessmatters.Mr. Mihill has tried cases and represented clients at thestate and federal level, in Georgia and nationwide. Mr. Mihillis a member of the IGDA and GGDA, as well as the AmericanBar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the State Bar ofGeorgia, the Atlanta Bar Association, and the Cobb County BarAssociation.20 Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008Danny MillerDanny Miller is a Flash gamedeveloper and designer based inAtlanta, Georgia. He is the founderof K2xL LLC. Since 2001, hisgames on his website www.k2xl.com have been played millions oftimes by millions of players fromaround the world.In 2005, Danny was selectedas the Editor’s Choice Winner andvoted People’s Choice Winnerin the Macromedia Student Innovation Award Contest inthe Interactive Media category, for his Flash puzzle gamePsychopath. His games are featured on thousands of casualgaming websites. Recently, Danny’s work was also featuredin the Atlanta Journal Constitution and USA Today’s TechSpace. His games have been written about in online magazinessuch as The PCMagazine, The Daily Candy, Channel 4 (UK),Jayisgames, BlogCritics, and countless more. His most recentgame, Boomshine, has been played over 10 million times andwas the proud recipient of two awards from the casual gamingwebsite Kongregate.com.In addition to creating games, Danny writes for multipleblogs and consults for various businesses. He is currentlydeveloping games and writing game designs for variousgaming and adver-gaming companies around the world.Celia PearceCelia Pearce has been designing and writing aboutinteractive media, attractions and games since 1983. She isthe author of The Interactive Book: A Guide to the InteractiveRevolution (Macmillan 1997), as well as numerous papers andarticles on game design and culture. She received her Ph.D. in2006 at the SMARTLab Centre, then located at Central SaintMartins College of Art and Design, London. She currentlyholds a position as Assistant Professor in the School ofLiterature, Communication and Culture at the Georgia Instituteof Technology, where she directs the Experimental Game Laband the Emergent Game Group. She is co-founder of Ludica, awomen’s game collective and co-editor/author, along with RonMeiners, of the Virtual Cultures blog . She is also festival chairfor Indiecade, an upcoming festival of independent games.Matt PiersallMatt Piersall started his career at anime giant FUNimationcomposing music and doing sound effect design for trailers andpromotional videos. He had always wanted to get in to videogames and fortunately found a small contract job at TerminalReality which landed him an opportunity to work with RetroStudios. After working with Retro Studios, Chris Sabat andPiersall started Okratron 5000 based in Dallas, Texas. Togetherthey created sounds and did voice over for countless titles.

In 2007 Piersall started GL33k and moved the sound designoperation to Austin where he and his band of misfits currentlywail, make sweet sounds, and party (verb).”JP RheaJP Rhea is a storyteller...notjust a writer or illustrator, buta visual artist. Like our earlyancestors, it is his desire to tellour myths and lore, our triumphsand tragedies, through a visualmedium. Instead of painting oncave walls, Rhea uses the printedpage and the silver screen.His photo-illustrations havebeen featured in the Mind’s EyeTheatre Journals #1 & #4, and in the following White WolfPublishing, Inc. books: Oblivion, Wraith: The Oblivion, 2nded., The Long Night, The Shining Host, Laws of the Hunt,and Laws of Elysium. His short story Cradle was featuredin the Atlanta Outworlder’s collaborative project, releasedat Dragon*Con 2003. In 2004 & 2005 at Dragon*Con heread selected excerpts of his screenplay, The Obelisk ofCormnia.Rhea currently has his action/adventure screenplay incirculation and has a short-film screenplay called The LupianLexicon in pre-production that he will produce and direct.One of his latest projects was working as a World-BuildingGM for the MMO game Hero’s Journey by Simutronics(http://www.play.net/hj) and honing his skills as a 3-D artistand visual storyteller.Chris RickwoodChris Rickwood is an awardwinning composer known forcreating dramatic musical scoresfor video games, film, andtelevision. Rickwood’s work canbe heard worldwide on a varietyof mediums for clients such asActivision, THQ, Microsoft,Cartoon Network, Capcom, andNintendo. He began his careerby composing intense orchestralcues for several game titles including “Evil Dead: Hail tothe King”, “BloodRayne”, and “Maximo: Ghosts to Glory”.Since then, Rickwood has composed over 20 scores forCartoon Network New Media, contributed music and soundfor several PC games including “Law and Order: CriminalIntent”, “Civil War: Bull Run”, and “The Apprentice: LosAngeles”, and experimented with other gaming mediumssuch as mobile phones and video poker machines.hired to produce the new Monday Night Football themefor ESPN. More of his music was released on AssociatedProduction Music’s Endgame music library and has beenplaced in television broadcasts for ABC Family, G4TV, andFox. Recently, Rickwood was asked to contribute music tothe CD release, Best of the Best: A Tribute To Game Music,alongside some of the premier talent in the video gameindustry.Currently, Rickwood is working on several projectsincluding Hi-Rez Studio’s spy-fi MMO, Global Agenda, anext generation RPG for Microsoft, and other titles comingto XBox 360, PS3, and the Wii.Rickwood serves on the Advisory Board for the GameAudio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.). Local to Atlanta, he serveson the Advisory Board of the International Game DevelopersAssociation Atlanta Chapter and the Board of Directors forthe Georgia Game Developers Association. Always opento sharing his knowledge, Rickwood participates on theAdvisory Board for Atlantic International University’s (AIU)Game Design program and the Advisory Committee for theArt Institute of Atlanta’s Game Art and Design Program.Ian SchreiberIan Schreiber has been in the game industry since theyear 2000, first as a programmer and then as a game designer.He has worked on five published titles, and two serious gamesimulations. Ian has taught game design and developmentcourses at Ohio University, Columbus State CommunityCollege, and Savannah College of Art and Design.John SharpJohn Sharp is an interaction designer, graphic designerand educator. He has been involved in art and design fortwenty years in a variety of media: interaction design, games,print design, motion graphics, and radio & club DJing.Today, John is a professor in the Interactive Design & GameDevelopment department and the Art History departmentat the Savannah College of Art and Design-Atlanta. John isalso a partner in Supercosm, where he helps clients entertain,educate and organize interactive experiences. His work hasbeen recognized by ID Magazine, the Art Director’s Cluband the Webby Awards.James SimpsonJames Simpson has been dreaming of writing games sincehe first touched his Atari 400. He began his career in gamingby studying C/C++ programming as part of B.S. in computerinformation systems at DeVry Institute of Technology. Jamesfollowed this up by teaching himself a variety of 3D art tools,and is currently pursuing a B.A. in Game Art and Designat The Art Institute of Atlanta. As part of this he has beenworking with Autodesk’s Maya and 3dsMax programs anda variety of engines such as Unreal 2004 and Unreal 3. Hisfirst published game with WildTangent was called “Invasion:In 2006, Rickwood was invited to the team of composersSouthern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008 21

The Last Stand”, followed up by a series of contract projectswith various gaming studios such as Cartoon Network. Atthe moment he owns the game company ‘Cellbloc Studios’,contracting to create various casual games.George SkleresGeorge Skleres earned a B.A. in Game Design and hasworked in the game industry for the past four years, focusingin Flash casual games and games for kids. His credits includeboth game design and programming on multiple titles forclients such as Kaiser Permanente and Digital Dream Forge.He is currently a game designer and Flash developer atModo Sports, LLC, where he handles all in-house gamedevelopment as well as manages external game developmentteams. He has been a proud member of the IGDA since thebeginning of his education and volunteers his time for theGDC whenever he can. When not creating games, Georgespends his spare time reading science fiction and fantasynovels or playing multiplayer games with friends. His currentfavorite games are Rock Band 2, Super Smash Bros Brawl,and most recently Spore.Rich TaylorRich Taylor, a former senior executive with the MotionPicture Association of America (MPAA) and aide toCongressman Jim Chapman (D-TX), is the EntertainmentSoftware Association’s (ESA) new Senior Vice President forCommunications and Research.Taylor served as a Senior Vice President for the MPAA,the global voice and advocate of the American motionpicture, home video and television industries. During histenure with MPAA, Taylor was the overall head of theorganization’s communications department under formerMPAA President Jack Valenti. In that capacity, he wasresponsible for overseeing all aspects of the Motion PictureAssociation of America’s press and communications efforts,while serving as the primary spokesman and senior strategistfor the American motion picture industry.Prior to joining MPAA, Taylor was a Senior Associatewith Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide in Washington,DC. While there, Taylor spearheaded a number of nationalcampaigns on behalf of agency clients.The ESA is the U.S. association dedicated to servingthe business and public affairs needs of the companiespublishing interactive games for video game consoles,handheld devices, personal computers, and the Internet. ESAmembers collectively account for more than 90 percent ofthe $7.4 billion in entertainment software sales in the U.S.in 2006, and billions more in export sales of entertainmentsoftware. For more information about the ESA, please visitwww.theESA.com.Deborah ThomasDeborah Thomas is the founder of SillyMonkey LLC,a boutique training company specializing in innovativegames and activities. They design custom board games, cardgames, electronic games, video games and other interactivemultimedia training components for instructor-led sessions,as well as, eLearning, mobile learning, social networks andvirtual worlds. They offer high quality training services to animpressive list of global clients that includes manufacturing,insurance, telecom, health, retail, software, pharmaceuticals,manufacturing, and financial services.Bill ThompsonBill Thompson is the divisiondirector of Georgia’s Film, Video& Music Office. He is responsiblefor developing marketing and salesstrategies that will grow and enhanceGeorgia’s entertainment industry.A communications industryveteran with over 25 yearsexperience in the film, video andtelevision arenas, Bill has worked in28 countries on five continents andin 44 U.S. states. His clients have included television networks,Hollywood studios, advertising agencies, production companies,institutions and Fortune 100 corporations. Bill was very involvedin numerous projects during the Centennial Olympic Gamesin Atlanta and in 2005 produced several projects for the BrandAtlanta campaign, Coca-Cola and General Electric.Bill was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1998 forproducing the Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards show,and has won an MTV music video award, several TellyAwards, a Cable Atlanta ‘Best Original Series’ Award andan International Television Association Award. He is amember of numerous professional organizations includingthe Georgia Production Partnership, Media CommunicationsAssociation International, IMAGE Film/Video Center,Women in Film and Television, and is on the Board ofGovernors of the National Academy of Television Arts andSciences. He received the Outstanding Alumnus of the YearAward from Georgia State University in 2001 and is a pastBoard member of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival.Bill holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees inCommunications from Georgia State University.CHUK VinsonCHUK directs the art pipeline and art style for GlobalAgenda, assuring that all art meets gameplay requirementswhile maintaining a consistent Global Agenda style. Hisresponsibilities include developing concept art, overall artdirection, pipeline architecture, art integration, art systemsdevelopment, and oversight of advertising art materials.22 Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008

He also creates many of theSpecial Effects used in GlobalAgenda. While playing the game,Chuk enjoys wreaking havocwith strange and exciting newcharacter builds and wailing onpeople in melee. Prior to joiningHi-Rez Studios, Chuk worked onUnreal 2, Wizards & Warriorsand Dungeon Lords at HeuristicPark. Some of his favoritegames include Guardian Heroes,Starcraft, the Soul Calibur Series (especially IV), Diablo II,and Castle Crashers. Other interests include beer, PC games,art, food and beer. Chuk holds a BFA in computer Art fromthe Savannah College of Art and Design.Les WilsonMr. Wilson is the founding member of Licensed 2Thrill, LLC, the Atlanta based Licensing agency that wasresponsible for implementing the international licensingprogram for Animated Family Films. In two short yearsLicensed 2 Thrill has built an impressive list of clients byfocusing on the independent animation studios and currentlyrepresents, Animated Family Films, Eternal Pictures, DeosAnimation Studios, EPL Interactive, Cinema Scene and TheToney Watkins Company.From the mid 1970s until the late 1990s, Wilson servedas President of Wilson Marketing, a promotional marketingagency in Atlanta Georgia. The agencies’ clients consistedof The Coca-Cola Company, The Kellogg Company,Valvoline Motor Oil and Shell Oil, USA. During his tenurehe was instrumental in the development of the national rollout program for the introduction of Diet Coke, The Coca-Cola Olympic Pin Trading Program and the developmentof the Kellogg’s NASCAR Team. In 1994 the agency wasaward the prestigious “REGGIE” award for producing oneof the 10 Best Promotions of the Year. The award winningpromotion was a cross promotion between NBC and TheKellogg Company. It was featured by “Ad Age Magazine”as arguably the largest promotion in history.Mr. Wilson received his MBA from Southern PolytechnicUniversity in Marietta Georgia and holds a Bachelor ofScience Degree from Jacksonville State University inJacksonville, Alabama. He has served in the US Army as aMilitary Policeman during the Vietnam conflict.He can be reached at 770-664-6430 or via e-mail atles@licensed2thrill.com. This e-mail address is beingprotected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled toview it.Cover ArtThe cover art by JP Rhea was inspired bt Nathan Jerpe’ssurrealistic computer role-playing game Legerdemain.Register Now for SIEGE09and Get the Lowest Rates!Oct. 2 - 4, 2009This is your chance to lock in the cheapest rates for nextyear’s SIEGE. Right now weekend rates for professionalsare only $55 and student rates are $25. You must be a studentnext year to qualify for the student rate, and GGDA membersget discounts. Visit us at registration for more information.Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008 23

24 Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo 2008