Game Connect: Asia Pacific 2007 Conference Program| Thursday 15 November | Friday 16 November | Saturday 17 November | ||
| Skills Forum Investment Forum GDAA AGM |
Conference Day One |
EXPO | Conference Day Two |
EXPO |
| Welcome Reception 6.00-8.00pm Venue: Exhibition Hall, Melbourne Convention Centre |
Gamers Night, 6:30-10:00pm Venue: WahWah Lounge, level 1, 185 Lonsdale St, Melbourne |
GDAA Annual Awards 7.00 - 11.30pm Venue: Grand Hyatt Tickets @ $150.00 Purchase a ticket>> |
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THURSDAY, November 15, 2007
10:00am - 12:30pm: Investment Forum
Chairperson: Tom Crago
Panel Members are:
• Federal Government Representative (TBA)
• Warren Currell, Canadian Game Developer
• Craig Blair, Banker
• IEAA Publisher Representative, Chris Hanlon
• Australian Game Developer, Mike Fegan
• Investment Analyst, Tom Parkinson
This Forum will examine the issues surrounding the need for more investment into the interactive entertainment industry and in particular, how the industry can attract more investment into the games industry. Warren Currell will describe the developments and experience of the Canadian games industry and how the government tax rebate skyrocketed the industry, with game developers increasing both employment, production and becoming internationally more competitive. A fascinating insight into how governments can help industry grow through simple fiscal measures. Craig Blair will examine the process and criteria required to attract more investment into the games industry. Craig’s experience in private equity and investment banking will provide the necessary impetus and motivation to equip the industry to pursue its campaign to attract more investment funds. Followed by the Investment Forum Panel, members will give an overview of the issues that need to be addressed in attracting more investment into the games industry.
1:30 - 4:00pm: Skills Forum
Chairperson: Greg Bondar
• Adrian Janson, VITTA President, Director ICT, Melbourne High School
• Australian Game Developer, David Giles from Tantalus Interactive
• Professor (Dr) Katherine Blashki, Chair New Media Technologies, Deakin 
University
• Matt Curtis, Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE)
• John Moss, Qantm College
• Justin Brow, Senior Research Associate, 60Sox, Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation (iCi), Queensland University of Technology
• Eve Penford-Dennis, Women in Games
• Mark Wilson, Digital Media Design, TAFESA Adelaide North
"Gimme a job, I'm a Game Geek!: the skills shortage in the Australian Games Industry". Professor (Dr) Katherine Blashki,
Chair of New Media Technologies,
Deakin University.
Katherine will explore some of the issues that contribute to the current skills crisis, exposing some of the myths and attempting some solutions along the way. Followed by the panel presentations and discussion.
5:00 - 6:00pm: GDAA AGM
Room Howqua 3, Melbourne Convention Centre, 2 Clarendon Street, South Bank 3006
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FRIDAY, November 16, 2007
| 8:00am - 12:00pm: REGISTRATION | ||
| 9:30am - 10:30pm: Official Conference Opening and KEYNOTE 1 | ||
| EXHIBITION OPEN | ||
| 10:30 - 11:00am: Morning Tea 11:00am - 12:00pm Session Times |
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| Turbocharge Your PS3 Development Phil Davies, Sony Computer Entertainment This talk will cover some of the latest best practices for writing code for the PLAYSTATION®3. The main focus will be using the SPUs, and will cover a variety of techniques where using the SPUs could improve the performance of your game. Audience: Programmers  |
The Pitching Process TODAY Careen Yap, Konami Brian Christian, Konami Understand the process of pitching your game concept and company to publishers today. Learn the various stages of the pitching process, which decision makers will evaluate your submission and who has the final say. A must attend for all studio managers looking to break into the international market and mature studios that may need to update their approach. Audience: Managers, Producers |
Development Challenges of Next-Gen title Hellgate: London Dave Glenn, Flagship Studios Flagship Studios will showcase their unique implementation of 3ds Max in the development of next-gen title Hellgate: London. Standardizing on a 3ds Max-based pipeline, a tool they knew well from their work on the Diablo franchise while at Blizzard, helped the Flagship Studio team accelerate their development cycle on Hellgate: London. An overview of how Flagship approached the challenge of building a randomized 3D world using both customized and built-in 3ds Max features will be presented. Audience: Artists Sponsored by Autodesk and their Technology Partners, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard |
| 12:00 - 12:10pm: Break 12:10 - 1:10pm: Session Times |
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| Playing the Spread Jason Della Rocca, IGDA An exploration of value generation and economic motivations behind games based on different forms of intellectual property. Why do publishers rely heavily on licenses? Are franchises /sequels less risky? Why no love for original ideas? Audience: Everyone |
Multicore Programming, Two Years Later Pete Isensee, Microsoft Two years ago, the games industry was dominated by single-core machines and haunted by the necessity of going multicore. To help smooth the way for Xbox 360 developers, the Xbox performance team rolled out a set of recommendations for getting the most out of a multicore processor. How well have those recommendations stood up over the last two years? What have we learned since unleashing the Xbox 360 on the world? This talk discusses threading models we’ve seen in shipping titles, suggests an updated set of best practices for multithreading, and presents some techniques for moving multithreaded code from the console to the less predictable world of multicore PCs. Audience: Programmers |
"War - it's not just a game." Applying large scale MilAero development best practice to computer game development. Davyd Norris, IBM There are many parallels between computer game development and large Miltary or Aerospace development projects. Both involve reactive real-time systems, high performance computing, and state-of-the-art graphics, both make use of parallel processing and advanced hardware platforms, and both involve processing massive amounts of data. In addition, they both are often deployed to limited resource systems where target based testing is extremely difficult or simulators are prohibitively expensive. This session will investigate how tools and techniques that are common in Military or Aerospace projects may also be of use in the gaming industry. Audience: Producers, Leads |
| 1:10- 2:10pm: Lunch 2:10 - 3:10pm: Session Times |
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| The Japanese Sound Hitoshi Sakimoto, Composer This sessions focuses on the music and sound effects created in the Japanese game developer scene today. The talk also discusses the pros and cons of using traditional musical instruments or synthesizers. Audience: Audio Designers, Composers |
Session Title TBA Susan O’Connor Audience: Writers, Designers |
7 months, 7 people, 7 million units: Mobile production in the spotlight Ronald Haupt, Firemint The presentation will cover 4 case studies of recent projects, measuring key differences in timelines, production cost and planning. It will demonstrate how varied mobile production can be with regards to different projects. In summary, mobile production offers options not easily found elsewhere. Audience: Producers, Managers |
| 3:10 - 3:20pm: Break 3:20 - 4:20pm: Session Times |
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| Widening your Audience: Casual Games, Hardcore Appeal Steve Fawkner, Infinite Interactive The lead designer of Puzzle Quest discusses some of the methods he used to make a casual game appeal to hardcore players. Audience: Managers, Producers |
Next-Gen Character Creation at Epic Games Chris Wells, Epic Games Epic Games uses Autodesk tools in their pipeline to create content for games such as Gears of War and Unreal Tournament. Today, creating content for next-gen games involves a lot more preparation. Chris Wells, Senior Character Artist, will go over the real-world process for next-gen character creation and some of the time saving tricks they use at Epic Games. Audience: Artists Sponsored by Autodesk and their Technology Partners, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard |
Brain-computer interface technology |
| 4:20 - 4:50pm: Afternoon Tea 4:50 - 5:50pm: Session Times |
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The Difficulty of Drawing |
Online options for PS3 games Paul Holman, Sony Computer Entertainment The spectrum of online opportunities for PS3 games is wide - the last year have seen the release of a broad range of PLAYSTATION®Network SDK facilities, HOME and Digital Download options for games. Find out all the latest information, and a glimpse into the future. Audience: Managers, Producers, Designers |
Game Prototyping: for who? for what? |
| 6:30 - 10:00pm: Gamers Night, Venue: WahWah Lounge, level 1, 185 Lonsdale St, Melbourne. Cost: No cost - show conference pass for entry. Sponsored by Red Mile Entertainment. | ||
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SATURDAY, November 17, 2007
| 8:00am - 12:00pm: REGISTRATION | ||
| EXHIBITION OPEN | ||
| 9:30 - 10:30am: Session Times | ||
State Government Initiatives for Startups and Existing Game Development Companies
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Effective Game Programming for Windows Vista Pete Isensee, Microsoft Gaming on Windows is entering a new era. With the introduction of Windows Vista, Direct3D 10, and Games for Windows – LIVE, the opportunities and challenges abound. This talk examines common issues and considerations for dealing effectively with Vista, 64-bit Windows, migrating graphics engines to Direct3D 10, and developing online games that integrate with the LIVE service. Audience: Programmers |
More! Secret Alchemy For Creating Outstanding Next Gen Visuals Adam Myhill, Pandemic Kirk Gibbons, Pandemic This presentation will explore the creative process and technologies behind visually stunning games. The demands of the consumer are ever growing, more complex, more realistic, more lifelike. More work. Two of Pandemic Studios’ graphics team discuss the ways to get the most out of the current platforms and create the wow factor the public craves. The talk concludes with an amazing onslaught of highly secret industry-leading tips and tricks. Audience: Artists |
| 10:30 - 11:00am: Break 11:00 - 12:00pm: Session Times |
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| MMO Fever - The Next Gold Rush Scott Brown, NetDevil Hermann Peterscheck, NetDevil Since the release of World of Warcraft, the MMO world has been set ablaze with exploding numbers of developers and financial backers. Most of these are looking to make "the next WoW" - that elusive gold mine that can pay out untold riches. The speakers will focus on the tools needed to prospect in this new environment, what is possible and how it can be done on a small or large budget. Audience: Managers, Producers |
Successful Game Audio Mick Gordon, Game Audio Australia This session will share thoughts and experiences on how to develop a great sounding game. Both audio people and non-audio people are invited as the goal for this talk is to clear up some of the ‘grey area’ that is Game Audio. Both sides of the fence will have something to take away from this session and topics covered will include soundscape direction, working with contractors, liaising with non-audio team members and audio tools. There will also be case studies showing the difference between great audio, and ‘noises in the game’. Audience: Audio Designers, Producers, Designers |
Deus ex machina? or How Developers Play God in MMORPGs Adam Simpson, Simpson Solicitors A discussion on how contracts control virtual worlds and particularly intellectual property rights in user generated content. Audience: Managers |
| 12:00 - 12:10pm: Break 12:10 - 1:10pm: Session Times |
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| Bulletproofing your build chain using Open Source Tools Andrew Bailey, Tantalus Media Using Scons, Schematron and CruiseControl in the art build pipeline. Audience: Programmers |
Postmortem: Bioshock Martin Slater, 2K Australia Will Marshall, 2K Australia A post-mortem on the critically acclaimed Bioshock, with a focus on the production challenges of working with multiple associates based around the globe. He will discuss the challenges involved in producing top quality (and top selling!) titles for the global market which frequently include working with multiple partners located overseas which is particularly relevant for Australian studios. Audience: Managers, Producers, Leads |
One World: Developing Story and Gameplay Together Matt Costello, Writer This will be a highly interactive presentation that explores, from one long-time practitioner’s point of view, essential ways that ‘story’ is built. It exposes key story elements we all should be looking at when working in games and then – through real exercises – how gameplay changes significantly when ‘story’ is introduced. The goal: that story and interactivity are best ‘built’ together. Through a variety of exercises, the audience experiences how ‘story’ can change the nature, importance, and meaning of any and all gameplay and interactivity. What was once merely fun, can turn deadly serious, now turned crucial with the addition of key story elements. Not really a lecture….this presentation will use the audience itself to bring home all its points in a visceral, memorable way. Audience: Writers, Designers Sponsored by AFTRS |
| 1:10 - 2:10pm: Lunch 2:10 - 3:10pm: Session Times |
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| Mobile Games: The new old-school? Mark Angelli, Firemint Mark Angeli will share his experiences moving from traditional console design to the future of gaming... mobile and handheld. The presentation will discuss the brief and dynamic history of mobile games as well as their limitless future potential (3 billion mobile users compared to less than 500 million combined console owners). Mark will analyse the restrictions and surprising freedoms offered in mobile, using real case studies. He will also take challenges from and fight any willing game developer. Audience: Designers |
Performance Analysis Tools for PS3 Neil Brown, Sony Computer Entertainment This talk will cover two of the PLAYSTATION®3’s performance analysis tools, SN Tuner and GCM Replay. Both how to use the tools and how to interpret the data will be included. Audience: Programmers |
Standing out from the Demo Crowd Keith Steury, UsabilityOne This talk will present recent research conducted on gamers’ experience with game demos and provide practical recommendations for making demos more compelling. Audience: Producers, Designers |
| 3:10 - 3:20pm: Break 3:20 - 4:20pm: Session Times |
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| The Changing Role of the Lead Designer Morgan Jaffit, Pandemic Of all the roles associated with game development, Designer is the least clearly defined and the most rapidly evolving. The responsibilities of the Lead Designer have changed dramatically over the last decade as team sizes and game complexity increases. Morgan discusses the impact of these changes and ways to deal with them. Audience: Designers |
CEO Roundtable Host: Mike Fegan, IRG Participants: Robert Murray, Firemint Bill McIntosh, Torus Mike Fegan hosts a table of local studio managers and owners keen to share their experiences and tips with new and existing development studios, and students interested in the industry. In this session audience members get to pick the brains of successful CEOs. This is an interactive session so bring a list of questions. Audience: Managers, Students |
A Baker’s Dozen: 13 Tools and Technologies for Your Next Game Pete Isensee, Microsoft June, August, November … It seems like the Xbox 360 XDK and DirectX SDK are coming out all the time, filled with new features, new tools and new technology. Which new features are most important? Which ones will help you get your next release out on time, looking and sounding spectacular? Which ones will save you from sleepless nights and let you spend more time putting the fun in the game? This talk covers the latest technology and tools from Microsoft and why you should consider them for your next project. Audience: Producers and Technical Directors |
| 4:20 - 4:50pm: Break | ||
| 4:50 - 5:50pm: PlayStation 3 vs Wii vs Xbox 360 : Which console will deliver the great games of the future? Participants: Tony Albrecht, Cameron Dunn, David Hewitt | ||
| 5:50 - 6:00pm: Conference closing and presentation of the Independent Game Awards | ||
Fury
Auran
Heatseeker
IR Gurus
Equestrian Challenge
IR Gurus
Bioshock
Irrational Games Australia
