[dorkbotsea-announce] Re: December Dorkbot: Innovation in Games!

[shelly at hive-mind.com]

Reminder!  tonight....see you there!

On 11/29/06, shelly at hive-mind.com <shellyhivemind at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> ************************PLEASE FORWARD FREELY*********************
>
> * *
>
> *WHAT: December DORKBOT: Innovation in Games*
>
> WHEN: Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006*, *7:30 PM (7:00 for a bit of socializing!)
>
> WHERE: Center for Contemporary Arts (CoCA), 410 Dexter Ave N, Seattle
>
> ADMISSION: Free, all ages and species, but support CoCA by buying drinks
> at their lovely bar!
>
>
>
>
> ******************************************************************************
>
> Greetings, Dorks! On Wednesday, December 6th at 7:30 PM at the Center of
> Contemporary Art (CoCA), we will have three fabulous presentations about
> innovation in games!
>
> * *
>
> *Jordan Weisman* and *Elan Lee* from *42 Entertainment* will discuss their
> innovative approach to immersive, participatory entertainment, *James
> Gwertzman* from *PopCap Games Inc.* will share techniques for creating
> casual games, and *Ruth Fruland,* the Regional Coordinator for *Games for
> Change* will provide an overview of using games and game concepts for social
> change.
>
> * *
>
> Doors will be open at 7:00 if you want to show up early, have a drink at
> CoCA's bar, and chat with your fellow dorks!   If you would like to take
> the mic for a few moments at "open dork" after the presentations let me
> know.
>
>
>
> Please find more information about our presenters below; http://dorkbot
> .org/dorkbotsea will also have full information about the talks shortly.
> Please send any questions or comments to me, Shelly, your Dork Overlord, at
> shellyhivemind at gmail.com.
>
>
>
> Looking forward to seeing you all on the 6th! Special thanks to CoCA (http://www.cocaseattle.org)
> for providing a venue!
>
>
> ******************************************************************************
>
> More about the presenters:
>
>
>
> *Jordan Weisman*, 42 Entertainment, CEO ( http://42entertainment.com)
>
> A creative visionary in the entertainment and media world for the past 25
> years, Jordan is responsible for driving 42's overall creative vision and
> steering conceptual development on behalf of 42's clients and partners. In
> this role, Jordan provides hands-on direction to all 42's creative teams.
>
> The creative motivating force behind the founding and success of a number
> of companies, Jordan launched his career in 1980 when he co-founded FASA
> Corp., and led the design and creation of game lines such as BattleTech,
> Shadowrun, and Crimson Skies. In 1987, Jordan and his partners founded VWE,
> and built the world's first virtual reality entertainment venue, The
> BattleTech Center. In 1992, members of the Disney family acquired a majority
> stake in VWE.  In 1995 Jordan founded FASA Interactive to develop
> MechWarrior, a PC game that ultimately sold more than 11 million units.
> Microsoft acquired FASA Interactive in 1999 and Jordan assumed the role of
> Creative Director of Microsoft's Entertainment Division.   In 2000, Jordan
> and Dawne Weisman founded WizKids, creating collectable miniatures games
> such as Mage Knight, Marvel HeroClix, and MechWarrior: Dark Age. Retail
> sales for WizKids products topped $100 million in 2002. In 2003, Jordan sold
> WizKids to The Topps Company.
>
> Jordan has won over one hundred awards during his career, including
> election to the game designer's hall of fame by the Academy of Adventure
> Gaming Arts & Design, and selection as Pacific Northwest Entrepreneur of the
> Year for 2003 by Ernst & Young.
>
>
>
> *Elan Lee*, 42 Entertainment, Vice President, Experience Design (
> http://42entertainment.com)
>
> Elan has pioneered numerous breakthroughs in the area of entertainment and
> immersive gaming in his career. At 42, he is responsible for crafting the
> audience experience on innovative new projects, and also plays a key role in
> the creation of the company's content-driven platforms.  Elan started his
> career as a character designer at Industrial Light and Magic, where he
> worked on several motion pictures. In 1998 he became lead game designer at
> Microsoft Game Studios, designing and directing games for the PC and Xbox.
> Elan has served as Director and Lead Designer on numerous projects including
> Steven Spielberg's AI experience, "The Beast", and "ilovebees".
>
> Elan's work has been featured in numerous publications around the world.
> As a pioneer in the field of immersive gaming, and interactive experiences,
> Elan is a frequent speaker at forums including the Game Developer's
> Conference, The Alternative Gaming Forum, and Intel Research Laboratories.
>
>
>
> *James Gwertzman* , Director of Business Development, PopCap Games, Inc. (
> http://www.popcap.com)
>
> You should be making casual games!
>
> The casual game industry has erupted out of nowhere in the past few years
> to become a major piece of the overall game industry, with revenues
> projected to top $1B by 2008. Small, addictive, fun, and aggressively
> mass-market, casual games are not only good business but they're also
> incredibly fun to produce. Who wants to spend years being part of a 100+
> person team building a giant "blockbuster" game that will cost so much to
> build that its publisher is unwilling to take any creative risks, when you
> could be producing the equivalent of an "art house" film – a small, tight,
> creative game that will live and die in the market entirely by the merits of
> its actual game-play? And quite literally do so at home in the garage, with
> a very real chance at being successful?
>
> Come to this talk to learn more about casual games, and also to get an
> overview of tools & resources available to you for free to help get you
> started creating the next great gaming masterpiece at home in your free
> time. James Gwertzman is the Director of Business Development for PopCap
> games, one of the leading casual game developers and publishers, but he's
> also got first-hand experience as an "indie" developer in this space, having
> co-founded Sprout Games (a small and successful casual game developer) prior
> to its acquisition by PopCap. As part of this talk James will also share
> some of the techniques that PopCap uses in developing its own best-selling
> casual games such as Bejeweled or Zuma.
>
> * *
>
> *Ruth Fruland* , Ph.D., Research Associate, Human Interface Technology Lab
> (HITL), and Regional Coordinator, Games for Change
>
> Ruth Fruland is the Northwest Coordinator of the national Games for Change
> organization, a subset of the Serious Games movement, and for several years
> have been spearheading a group called GaSworks, which is an informal group
> of people who share an interest in Games and Simulations in Education in the
> Puget Sound area. Her presentation will include some of the games and game
> concepts that people in this group have developed, in addition to what else
> is out there, or is on the horizon.  Check out the Games for Change and
> Serious Games websites at:
>
> http://www.gamesforchange.org / and
> http://www.seriousgames.org/index2.html
>
>
>
>
>
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