GDTW 2004	International Game Design and Technology Workshop Liverpool 15-16 November Keynote and Guest Speakers Bios and Presentation Titles http://www.cms.livjm.ac.uk/gdtw/
Ernest W. Adams Game Designer, Author and Consultant	Bio: Ernest Adams is a game design consultant, author, teacher, and a member of the International Hobo design consortium. He is the founder and the first Chairperson of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). He has been in the game industry for 15 years, and was most recently employed as a lead designer at Bullfrog Productions on the Dungeon Keeper series. For several years before that he was the audio/video producer on the Madden NFL Football product line at Electronic Arts. Mr. Adams is the author of two books, Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design (with Andrew Rollings) and Break Into the Game Industry: How to Get a Job Making Video Games. He also writes the popular Designer's Notebook columns for the Gamasutra developers' webzine. His website is at http://www.designersnotebook.com. Title: Exploring the Fringes: Interactive Entertainment for the 21st Century This lecture is a survey of the various activities taking place on the fringes of the commercial video game industry. Many are experimental, and could lead the way to new forms of interactive entertainment that will be significant in the new century. Among the areas examined are the formal art world; the machinima movement; the demo scene; the interactive fiction movement; text MUDs and MUSHes; and the use of computer games for particular ends other than entertainment: religious, health education, subversion, political propaganda, and so on. Illustrated with numerous slides.
Chris Bateman MD International Hobo	Bio: Chris Bateman is Managing Director of International Hobo, a specialist company in the field of market-oriented game design and narrative. He has worked in game design for over a decade, originally with tabletop role playing games, and later in computer entertainment after completing a Masters degree in Artificial Intelligence/Cognitive Science. He has two published novels, and his games include Discworld Noir, Ghost Master and Kult: Heretic Kingdoms. He is a co-ordinator of both the IGDA North West UK, and the IGDA Game Writers special interest group. International Hobo recently published its groundbreaking DGD1 audience model, based on cutting edge research. Title: Designing for Different Play Styles What do different players want from their games? To investigate such a question requires some means to treat the audience as a statistical group, rather than a set of unique individuals, and the usual means of doing this is an audience model. This talk discusses the different play styles identified by the DGD1 model, which applied Myers-Briggs type theory to identify four distinct play styles (Conqueror, Manager, Wanderer and Participant), each sub-divided into groups based upon degree of play-experience. Learning to look at the nature of the audience through the lens of a specific audience model gives us tools to think about game design in terms of the player needs, and meeting diverse player needs is the key to success in the competitive games market.
Nick Burton Senior Software Engineer Rare Limited	Bio: Nick Burton is a Senior Software Engineer at Rare Ltd. A UK-based videogame developer which, over the course of the past two decades, has grown into a huge creative force behind today’s consoles and become a household name to gamesplayers worldwide. From the 8-bit 80s classics of Ultimate Play The Game to 90s breakout title Donkey Kong Country and other, more recent international blockbusters, Rare has hit many peaks, won many awards, covered many systems and always stayed true to its reputation for quality throughout its distinguished lifespan. Most recently of all, a highly-publicised alliance with Microsoft Game Studios has helped the company to define a clear future course within the industry developing for the Xbox console and its successor, and its at this landmark evolutionary point Rare stands today. After completing an Honours Degree in Computing Systems at The Nottingham Trent University in 1994, Nick spent another 4 years at NTU researching 3D Volume Visualization and Surface Reconstruction. In 1998 Nick left this research role and moved into the Games Industry as a Software Engineer at Rare Ltd. where he now works as a Senior Engineer on a development team. With programming experience on the Nintendo 64, GameCube and Microsoft Xbox his main areas of expertise are graphical FX and game polish, he is also interested in AI and Quality Assurance. Nick recently completed work on ‘StarFox Adventures’ and is now working on ‘Kameo: Elements of Power’. Title: Working in the Games industry: A Rare experience Rare is widely regarded as one of the most secretive developers in the world and working for them has often been the stuff of rumour, hearsay and games industry legend. For the first time Rare is lifting the vale of secrecy to explain how they make such great games and how they work differently to other developers. Nick and Nic will cover how Rare is structured, how Rare approach game and technology creation and what it’s like to work in this environment. With a large Q&A session this is your chance to find out what you always wanted to know so come prepared.
Jeremy Chatelaine Process Engineer- Argonaut Games Plc	Bio: Jeremy Chatelaine is a multi-talented programmer who loves turning ideas into reality. He has a long experience in game development and was involved in several successful games. He stated his career in the game industry in 1997, as Beta tester, then as designer, for Ubi-Soft in France. Later in 2000 he was involved as Programmer on a game called 'Beach Volley‘ for Carapace in France. Among other experiences, Jeremy worked at Lionhead Studio on the highly successful Black & White, he was also an XBox Live Programmer on the racing game Carve, and more recently as workflow engineer on one of the last EA title Catwoman. These last 2 projects were completed while working with Argonaut Games Plc. He was also speaker at GDC2003 where he did a talk on “Enabling Data Driven Tuning Via Existing Tools”. You can find his webpage at www.Kamron.net. When not hard at work programming, Jeremy likes to relax … by programming at home. Title: Love & Hate - Working in the video game industry Experiences in working for LionHead, Argonaut and Ubisoft and in the development of Catwoman, Carve and Black&White.
Jason Chown Head Programmer SCEE - Liverpool	Bio: Jason has been in the games industry for 17 years working on all areas of games development. He has previously worked at Microprose and Ocean in Manchester and have been at Studio Liverpool (previously Psygnosis) for seven years, primarily leading the F1 team. As head programmer Jason now also works with the Wipeout and technology teams. He is interested in all areas of games software, from vector unit assembly to server-side databases, but has recently been concentrating on building the technology and support teams which are most need for the next generation of games. Title: Large Game Programming Teams As games get more complicated and our expectations ever higher, game teams are getting bigger. I will be talking about what it is like to work in such a team, and what tools and processes are needed to prevent disaster.
Dino Dini MD Abundant Software	Bio: Dino Dini is game designer and managing director of the development company Abundant Software. Dino is most noted for being the creator of two extremely successful sports game brands - Kickoff and Player Manager. These redefined the football action and management games, and have influenced virtually all football (soccer) games ever since. Dino worked on a new football game to be published by Microprose from 1995 to 1996. And in 1996, Dino went to the United States in order to gain experience of corporate game development and management Working as Group Leader and briefly as Project Manager, Dino helped Z-Axis ship Three Lions, the number one hit fully 3D soccer game published by Take 2 Interactive. This title was released under various different names in Europe, and also as Alexi Lalas International Soccer in the USA Later Dino worked at Universal Studios directing prototype work for a project called "Monster Movie". From 2000 to 2001, Dino worked at 3DO. He directed the development of "Vegas Games 2000" for Playstation, he did fire-fighting work on the hit game "Army Men Sarge's Heroes" for Nintendo 64" and also on "Family Game Pack" for Playstation, Dino also directed the Groovy Bunch Of Games product for the PC, which included a new game design by Dino, "Box Battles"; and finally at 3DO, Dino operated as "Studio Engineer", to encourage code sharing and programming standards between tech leads at the company. Dino also worked for a THQ studio, where he was given the task of directing the creation of a triple. Dino returned to England in April 2001, and founded his new company Abundant Software. Title: Dino Dini On Gameplay There has been a surge of interest in recent years in what is coined retro gaming. There could be many reasons for this – however it seems that at least one of them is that modern games just aren’t as fun as the old games. Is it nostalgia, is it more to it? What is lacking in modern games, generally? If it’s a question of gameplay (and I believe that it is) then just what is gameplay? What can we do to improve gameplay in our games? I will try to scratch the surface of these questions. Gameplay is the very thing that marks out our entertainment medium from every other entertainment medium. It’s what is left when you take away graphics, audio, story, special effects and marketing gimmicks. Any game created in the past, even if 2D, can be recreated in any new form, such as 3D, and still at a fundamental level have the same gamplay – which means it should be at least as much fun as the original game. So why doesn’t this seem to have happened with modern games? They’ve got more complex, with better graphics, audio, and stories, but are they really more fun? In this talk I will talk about: 1. How gameplay is the most important aspect of video game production, yet how it is undervalued and not properly addressed or understood in the industry at the moment. 2. Take a look at what gameplay actually means. 3. The importance of constraints to the creative process. 4. Consider how better development of gameplay can be achieved, and how it relates to game design.
Newton Lee Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Computers in Entertainment Senior Producer at Disney Online Adjunct Faculty Member at Woodbury University Former Bell Labs Researcher	Bio: Newton Lee is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Computers in Entertainment magazine, a senior producer at Disney Online, an adjunct faculty member at Woodbury University, and a former Bell Labs researcher. Lee founded the Disney Online Technology Forums and has developed over 100 games and activities since 1996 for award-winning web sites Disney.com and Disney's Blast, as well as enhanced-TV programs for ABC's "Summer Jam Concert" and Disney Channel's "In Concert." A pioneer on CD-ROM development, Lee created one of the first object-oriented scripting languages and cross-platform multimedia compilers for interactive CD-ROMs. He co-developed 11 CD-ROM titles including the award-winning bestsellers "The Lion King Animated Storybook" and "Lamp Chop Loves Music." He and his colleagues received the 1995 Michigan's Leading Edge Technologies Award. Lee has served as a juror for the 2003 Emmy Awards for Advanced Media Technology. He has won two community development awards from the California Junior Chamber of Commerce, and four Disney VoluntEARS project leader awards. He has published two novels, a book chapter in "Machine Learning and Uncertain Reasoning" (Academic Press 1990), and dozens of research papers on software applications in medical science, national security, quality control, telecommunication, library science, and new media. Lee holds a B.S. and M.S. in computer science from Virginia Tech, an electrical engineering degree and honorary doctorate from Vincennes University. He currently serves on the Strategic Advisory Council at the Virginia Tech Computer Science Department, the Multimedia/Web Design Advisory Board of the Art Institute of California, the IMSC Board of Councilors at USC, the WINMEC Media Entertainment Advisory Board at UCLA, and the Beijing Multimedia Industry Association Advisory Board. Title: Computer in Entertainment
Craig Lindley Professor of Computer Entertainment at the Institution for Engineering, Art and New Media at the University of Gotland in Sweden	Bio: Prof. Craig Lindley PhD 1997, MAppSc 1991, has an extensive scientific research background specialising in the areas of knowledge based systems, artificial intelligence, autonomous agents, digital media systems, game design and believable expressive characters. He has a PhD in computing science, and has worked as a technical researcher, a technical R&D project leader and a project manager for many research projects conducted in collaboration with industry partners. Most of his research experience has been conducted while working for the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). In recent years he has been involved in research on computer game forms, characterisation, narrative and believable agents in virtual environments, and has developed both 2D and 3D game engines. After recently working as the Research Manager within the Zero-Game Studio, an applied game research studio within the Interactive Institute in Sweden, he is now Professor of the Institution for Engineering, Art and New Media at the University of Gotland in Sweden. Title: Trans-Reality Gaming  Trans-reality games are games that take advantage of pervasive, mobile, ubiquitous, location-based and mixed reality technical infrastructures to deliver new modes of game play experience in which the different contexts of staging are integrated within a unified game space that crosses over technical borders. The development of trans-reality games involves meeting specific design challenges concerning variations between the roles of technology and the player in different game staging environments. The result must be a design methodology in which diverse demands upon and opportunities for player creativity are integrated within the mechanics of a specific trans-reality game design.
Nic Makin Senior Software Engineer Rare Limited	Bio: Nic completed a Masters Degree in Software Engineering at UMIST in 2000 before starting his career in the Games Industry as a Software Engineer at Rare Ltd. During his time at Rare, Nic has been involved in Tools, AI, Gameplay and Character Control programming on both the Nintendo GameCube and the Microsoft Xbox, becoming a Senior Software Engineer specialising in Character Control and Gameplay. Nic has worked on the forthcoming game ‘Kameo: Elements of Power’ and now spends his time working on an as yet undisclosed project. Title: Working in the Games industry: A Rare experience Rare is widely regarded as one of the most secretive developers in the world and working for them has often been the stuff of rumour, hearsay and games industry legend. For the first time Rare is lifting the vale of secrecy to explain how they make such great games and how they work differently to other developers. Nick and Nic will cover how Rare is structured, how Rare approach game and technology creation and what it’s like to work in this environment. With a large Q&A session this is your chance to find out what you always wanted to know so come prepared.
Andrew Oliver Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer of Blitz Games	Bio: Andrew Oliver is the co-founder of Blitz Games, along with his twin brother Philip, and is now the Chief Technical Officer of the company. They began writing games in the mid-80s and had huge success with both the Dizzy and Simulator series of games, helping to establish Codemasters in the process. In 1990 they formed Interactive Studios which then became Blitz Games in 1999. Blitz has worked with the industry's major publishing partners including Atari, Microsoft, THQ, Disney, Eidos and Universal on a range of highly successful mass-market titles such as Taz: Wanted, Chicken Run, Fuzion Frenzy, The Mummy Returns, Frogger 2, Lilo & Stitch and Zapper. The company recently released Bad Boys II and their second Fairly OddParents game, and is currently working on a range of high-profile but as yet unannounced new games. Title: Nature or Nurture: What brings a great character to life? Andrew Oliver from leading game developer Blitz Games looks at what makes a video game character truly great. Comparing the progression of character design with that in the film and TV industry, Andrew will take an interesting and amusing look through over 100 years of character design, breaking down the key ingredients that bring great characters to life. What gives a character personality? What makes them engaging, original and, most of all, fun to control? Andrew will use his two decades of experience in the games industry to shed light on the pleasures and pitfalls of bringing characters to life in an interactive setting.
Jesse Schell Chairperson, IGDA Professor of Entertainment Technology, Carnegie Mellon University CEO, Schell Games	Bio: Jesse Schell currently holds the title of Professor of Entertainment Technology (specializing in Game Design) at Carnegie Mellon University. Before that, he was Creative Director at the Walt Disney Imagineering VR Studio, where he worked for seven years as designer, programmer, and manager on several projects for Disney theme parks and DisneyQuest (Disney's chain of VR entertainment centers). He has been lead designer for Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Buccaneer's Gold, a virtual reality attraction at the DisneyQuest interactive theme park in Orlando, Florida, which won a Thea from the Themed Entertainment Association. His most recent work at Disney involved the design of Disney’s Toontown Online MMORPG. He has a BSCS from Rensselaer, and an MSIN degree from Carnegie Mellon. Jesse has also served on the board of directors for the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, and is Chairperson at the International Game Developers Association (www.igda.org). He is also the coordinator of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the International Game Developers Association. Schell opened Schell Games in Pittsburgh's South Side in July. Jesse Schell has been named to the 2004 TR100 list of the world's 100 Top Young Innovators by Technology Review, MIT's magazine of innovation. http://www.cmu.edu/cmnews/extra/040921_tr.html Title: The Art of Game Design - Understanding Entertainment: Story and Gameplay are One  Historically, stories have been single-threaded experiences that can be enjoyed by an individual, and games have been experiences with many possible outcomes that are enjoyed by a group. The introduction of the single-player computer game challenged these paradigms. Early computer games were simply traditional games, such as tic-tac-toe, or chess, but with the computer acting as opponent. In the mid-seventies, adventure games with storylines began to appear that let the player become the main character in the story. Thousands of experiments combining story and gameplay began to take place. Some used computers and electronics, others used pencil and paper. Some were brilliant successes, others were dismal failures. The one thing these experiments proved was that experiences could be created that had elements of both story and gameplay. This fact seriously called into question the assumption that stories and games are governed by different sets of rules. In fact, if we look deeply enough, we find common principles that underlie both story and game based entertainment. This presentation shows that understanding these fundamental elements provides insight that can help one to create great entertainment of any type.
Marc Wilding Studio General Manager, Acclaim Studios	Bio: Marc has been in the games industry for 22 years. He started his career as a programmer at Imagine Software where he developed 18 titles for Commodore 64, Atari ST & Commodore Amiga. Marc moved into development management full time in 1989. He has held the following positions: Development Manager at Odin Computer Graphics a games publisher and developer. Managing Director for Eldritch the Cat Ltd a game development studio, Development Manager at Europress Software an educational software publisher, Senior Projects Manager/Vice President of Development at Software Creations and currenty Studio General Manager for Acclaim Studios Manchester. Marc has worked with external developers, managed all development in private and public listed development companies and also in a publisher internal studio giving him a vast range of experience in all forms of development management. Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was founded in 1987 as a Delaware corporation, and maintains operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Australia and Japan. We develop, publish, market and distribute, under our brand names, interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sony's PlayStation®2, Microsoft's Xbox(tm), and Nintendo's GameCube(tm) and Game Boy® Advance and, to a lesser extent, personal computer systems. We develop software internally, as well as engaging third parties to develop software on our behalf. Title: Making Games - Passion, Professionalism and Dedication
Sarah Ewen Support Infrastructure / Linux for PlayStation 2 Technology Group / Sony Computer Entertainment Europe London –	Bio: For her sins, Sarah studied at Imperial College, London to gain an MEng in software engineering. While the vast majority of her peers succumbed to the lure of the City and IT/Investment banking industry, Sarah sought out a more interesting career related to open source. Following 18 months working on a toolkit for database backed community websites, Sarah joined SCEE to work exclusively all matters related to the release of the Linux kit for PlayStation 2, where she has dealt with just about anything from tech support to web site development to (the occasional moment of) marketing. All this apparently falls under the job title 'Linux Evangelist'. Sarah now also works on SCEE's own internal developer support systems.  Title: The architectures of PlayStation platforms Throughout the last ten years, the innovation driving Sony Computer Entertainment has created the design of dedicated game consoles which differ dramatically from a general purpose machine. This talk will touch on the differences, the reasons behind these designs, a tour of the hardware, and will also look forward to the highly anticipated PSP platform. Finally we'll look at what development opportunities exist for those not professionally involved in the industry.
Jon Wetherall Development Director at Onteca	Bio: Jon is currently Development Director at Onteca where he has worked at the intersection of Arts, Technology and Training. Recently Jon worked on ‘Another Green World’, a collaboration between Disabled Artists and Computer Game Developers funded by the Arts Council and the ‘Game Plan’ at Media Training North West. Jon was one of the founders of the award winning International Centre for Digital Content where he co-developed the first Digital Games Masters programme in the UK. His experience as a senior computer game programmer at Sony taught him that the most interesting work occurs when Artists and Technologist collaborate. Onteca are committed to Independent Game Development and the discovery of original Game and Narrative mechanisms. Title: Indie Games - do they exist? In the week when Halo 2 became the fastest-selling media product ever in the United States, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas the largest ever opening for a UK media product, games has finally been proclaimed more important than film. Can this claim be true especially when games has no 'indie' sector. Indie film gave us Dog Soldiers, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Woody Allen. Indie music gave us Oasis and Radiohead, indie writing Harry Potter. What does the games industry have to offer from indie production? Twenty years ago idiosyncratic independent content could be produced but now all games have to be seen has potential blockbusters. What can change, are we stuck like this, can the games industry ever be a creative force without strong independents?