Confirmed sessions as of 7/5/18
Art: Creating Rapid Sci-Fi Landscape Concept Art in Photoshop.
Tim Matney. Come learn how to seriously manipulate and combine photos in Photoshop through “photo-bashing” techniques to build awesome sci-fi environments that only you can imagine! This course is suitable for anyone interested in learning how to quickly make realistic concept art and illustration for games, film or TV.
Audio: Adapt or Die: Lessons Learned from a Career in Audio.
I’ll take the audience on a journey through the many jobs I’ve held in my 27-year career, all of which have been audio-related. We’ll make pit stops at a few to discuss how I got that particular gig, the tools I learned and used, and what Big Picture Thing I learned from that job. For example, the Big Picture Lesson I learned from working at CNN Radio is that I don’t like working in news. This discovery guided my job searching years later. I’ll talk about digital audio workstations and how their introduction to the audio world shaped my career from one job to the next. The overall goal is to show how one can create and sustain a career in audio by not limiting one’s goals (don’t say “I will only work for AAA game companies!” – be open minded), by being willing to change and adapt (I’ve had to learn 8 different DAWs), and the skills one should hone to be able to adapt to changing technologies (the one you’re best at). Other concepts include: figuring out what you love, becoming exceptional at one skill, and why being a “Jill of all Trades” is a good thing.
Business: Video Game Publishing Agreements.
David Schulman. Overview of game publication agreements. Important issues from the publisher’s standpoint and from the developer’s standpoint.
Design: Live! Usability Testing.
Sarah Massagee. People will be able to conduct a usability test without biased results and learn how to improve their game with feedback. This will be a live demo of a ux designer giving a usability test. After the test, we will analyze how it was run and how to avoid common errors .
Game Design Improv I & II. Ian Schreiber.
Programming. Indie Experiences in AI. Zane Everett.
Covering the experiences of several indie game developers, this panel will discuss implementing AI at small, independent studios. Topics will include how to start specializing in AI, the most difficult problems tackled, managing scope, and thoughts on the future of game AI with Machine Learning. Attendees will walk away with a general understanding of what it is like to be an AI developer at a small studio.