Keynote Speaker |
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Kimberly Voll – Riot Games | Kimberly Voll specializes in the science of interaction, holding a PhD in computer science and an honours degree in cognitive science. Across her career, Kim has worked in areas ranging from game design to artificial intelligence to UX to education. Currently a senior technical designer at Riot Games working on League of Legends, Kim’s work has also spanned companies like Microsoft, Relic Entertainment, EA, Google, and more. Separately, she has been a long-time indie, most recently shipping Fantastic Contraption for VR (Vive and Oculus Touch) and ROCKETSROCKETSROCKETS. Prior to moving full time to industry, Kim was also a professor of computer science (and cognitive science) at the University of British Columbia, and later the Centre for Digital Media. Over the past 4 years, Kim has spent much of her time creating and helping others bring experiences to the latest-gen VR hardware. |
Guest Speakers |
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John Caddell – President of Omna Games Inc.
| Their first game, Campo Bello, is currently on sale in Cracker Barrel stores throughout the US. |
M. Joshua Cauller – Owner of M. Joshua Makes Trailers | M. Joshua Cauller crafts game trailers around player stories. He utilizes his 5 years of experience in games journalism – as well as his two-decades in video production and advertising to present trailers that capture players’ imagination. |
Drew Davidson – Director of Entertainment Technology Center at CMU | Drew Davidson is a professor, producer, and player of interactive media. His background spans academic, industry, and professional worlds and he is interested in stories and transformational experiences across texts, comics, games, and other media. He explores the art, design, and science of making media that matters, working to expand our notions of what media are capable of doing, and what we are capable of doing with media. He is the Director of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University and the Founding Editor of ETC Press and its Well Played series and journal. |
Michael Edmonds – Head of Education for Amazon Game Services |
Michael Edmonds is a policy specialist and industry employment researcher with over twenty-five years of experience in entertainment arts and video game development. Prior to Amazon, he launched the Autodesk Media and Entertainment Division’s educational initiatives and ran their outreach programs for over a decade. He’s consulted for Logitech, SoftImage, the Foundry, and more recently, ran global education policy and outreach at Unity Tehnologies, Inc. prior to his move to Amazon. Edmonds has testified for the California State Assembly’s Committee On Critical Issues in support of the state’s entertainment economy, and with various state departments of education, accreditation boards, NGOs, the US Department of Education, Congress, and the White House on issues of technology, econominc development, and employment. He is the recipient of two congressional awards for technical innovation and public service.
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Alex Gilbert – CEO of Red Queen Gaming |
Alex is an entrepreneur with a background in corporate strategy and an undying love for video games. As a graduate of Villanova University’s MBA Program, Alex has learned to take a holistic approach to developing a sustainable business model for Red Queen. He is dedicated to helping players create amazing tools for video games. Alex previously consulted in corporate strategy and managed regional operations for a national defense company. He enjoys playing Overwatch and lives in New Jersey with his wife, daughter, and samoyed puppy.
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Steve Guynup – Director of Hayfield Isovista
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Dr. Steve Guynup is an award winning digital artist, VR theorist, multimedia professional, and teacher. His creative works are a deep fusion of art and technology and have been presented at diverse events including SIGGRAPH, CHI, Creativity & Cognition, FILE, DiGRA, Sloan C, Immersion, the Arts Festival of Atlanta, and the William Blake Symposium. As a multimedia professional, Dr. Guynup built multi-million dollar training software for companies like UPS, Weyerhauser, CSX Rail, and Georgia Pacific. He currently teaches game design online for AiP-OD, works with young artists, and continues to explore 3D virtual design.
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Bobby Klein – Student of Harrisburg University
| Hello, I’m Bobby Klein, soon to be interactive media graduate of Harrisburg University of Science and Technology. In the interactive media program I have concentrated on game production and design. I have worked on a lot of different types of game projects ranging from serious games about migraines and walking through minefields to small games built in less than two hours such as Clicky Ball Yeah and Existential Crisis Simulator. I will be discussing the story of the first game that I designed, developed with a friend, and then released; Bouncy Box Yeah. |
Amanda Lange – Technical Evangelist at Microsoft
| Amanda Lange is a Technical Evangelist for Microsoft in the Philadelphia area. She is also a part-time video game critic for the web site Tap Repeatedly. In the past, she has worked on projects with Michigan State University, West Virginia University, and Schell Games studios in Pittsburgh. She is a gamer, artist, and rounded developer who is interested in health, app development, design, mixed reality and virtual reality, and unique applications for the Internet of Things. |
Greg Loring-Albright – Plain Sight Game Company | Greg Lorgin-Albright makes and plays analog games. From working in promotions & development with Chicago’s Waxwing Puzzle Co., to making an asymmetrical tabletop card game about Moby Dick, to writing about Settlers of Catan for the Journal of Analog Game Studies; he finds games and play fascinating. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film and Media Studies from Swarthmore College. He lives and works in Harrisburg, PA. |
Luke Peterschmidt – Founder of Fun to 11 | Luke Peterschmidt has been a professional in the gaming industry for the last 24 years as a game designer, brand manager, fortune 500 consultant, paid speaker, and executive. He currently services his clients through his consulting firm Geek Dynasty, continues to produce crowdfunded gaming products as a co-owner of Fun to 11, and teaches Critical Game Analysis at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in central PA. He’s best known for his work on Bakugan and his ability to write bios that are both informative and end with the word pancake. |
Jason Strohm – Founder of Two Sisters in the Wild |
Jason Strohm and his daughters, Athia (age 15) and Maia (age 11), have been creating educational card games for the last three years. Starting with the approach that educational games shouldn’t reinvent the wheel just for educational purposes, the Strohm’s first game, WILD: North East North America, is a food chain game that uses colors and symbols to identify the various links between environments, plants, invertebrates, and animals. Their second game, EDGE of EXTINCTION: The Educational Trading Card Game, uses a similar approach found in Collectable Card Games, where deck building and card combinations are important to gameplay. Jason works as Clarion University of Pennsylvania’s web designer / developer. Athia and Maia are students at Clarion-Limestone School District.
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