OGDE 2015: Full Schedule

10:30am EST

Production of Eternity

Brandon Adler (Lead Producer, Pillars of Eternity) gives a production-focused talk as he goes over what worked (and what didn't) when it came to making a huge game on a Kickstarter budget.

Speakers

Brandon Adler

Saturday November 7, 2015 10:30am - 11:30am EST
Main Theater

Presentation

11:00am EST

New High Score! Unity Leaderboards in the Cloud

Do you have a Unity game, but wish that you could make it multiplayer, or add an online high score table? In this talk, you will learn how to connect a Unity game to Azure Mobile Services using the BitRave Unity plugin. Follow along as I create a leaderboard on Azure and connect to it from my video game to update high scores and share them with players around the world.

Speakers

Sarah Sexton

Microsoft

Sarah Sexton is a dedicated advocate for technology, committed to highlighting strengths and seeing more women and minorities get involved in video game development. She is a co-founder of Voxelles, a group for women developers in Chicago. She is most passionate about diversity, inclusion... Read More →

Saturday November 7, 2015 11:00am - 12:00pm EST
Mezzanine West

Presentation

11:00am EST

Procedural Content Creation for Games: What is fun?

How do we reason about what good game content is or is not? What is “fun”? In this talk, I will talk about research we are doing in the Computer Science & Engineer Department at The Ohio State University, as well as the procedural framework we have built for the game Recovery Rapids. Topics will include reasoning about what makes a good maze, river creation, tiling, progression and themes. Generating content does not necessarily lead to content with a purpose (is this map fair, etc.) or good content (everything is a fractal). Common techniques for game content generation include search-based methods, including genetic search, which are at times random, and rule-based method which may constrain the design.

Speakers

Roger Crawfis

Roger Crawfis is CEO/CIO for Games That Move You, Pbc. He is also an Associate Professor with tenure at The Ohio State University in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. He holds adjunct positions in the Biomedical Engineering Department, and the Advanced Computing... Read More →

Saturday November 7, 2015 11:00am - 12:00pm EST
Mezzanine East

Presentation

11:45am EST

Product to Service - The Holy $%@! Launch Awakening

Before we released Guns of Icarus, our mindset had been us working in a room, focused on making games. Our end goal for a game was to release the game. At the dawn of Guns of Icarus’s release, which was under terrible circumstances in the eye of a hurricane, we were rudely awakened and unprepared about life after launch of an online multiplayer game. From creating an ethos of support and a vision for our community, to learning how to solve myriad of support issues and building a framework for collecting and acting on player ideas and feedback, we managed to sustain and foster a small but vibrant community. Nothing came easy, and this goal of this talk is to share our experiences and lessons learned through it all.

Speakers

Howard Tsao

Howard Tsao is the Team Lead of Muse Games, an independent game studio located in New York City that exclusively uses Unity3D to develop across desktop and mobile platforms. Their projects include Guns of Icarus, a bad publisher and hurricane survivor, a multiple award winner, and... Read More →

Saturday November 7, 2015 11:45am - 12:45pm EST
Main Theater

Presentation

12:15pm EST

Frozen Codebase Post-mortem

Frozen Codebase (FCB) was a midwest-based game studio formed in 2006 and closed in 2011. FCB produced games for major publishers and organizations- the likes of Konami, Activision, Cartoon Network and THQ. Although there were no home-runs, the studio shipped over six projects in only five years. FCB achieved notoriety with it's title "Metalocolypse: Dethgame", which would peak the company at 28 employees and a one year commitment: yet never shipped. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. This talk explores the highlights of forming an independent game studio in the midwest: the lessons learned, the pitfalls, the glory, the code, the beer, and all the cheese you could want.

Speakers

Ben Geisler

CEO, Thawed Codebase

Geisler was the founder and President of Frozen Codebaseand is now CEO of Thawed Codebase LLC. Thawed Codebase is aWisconsin-based independent game developer which specializes in staffsupplementation of large game projects. Recent projects included MortalKombat X, Batman Arkham... Read More →

Saturday November 7, 2015 12:15pm - 1:15pm EST
Mezzanine East

Presentation

1:30pm EST

AbleGamers - Why Accessibility Matters

Craig from the AbleGamers Foundation will focus on the importance of accessibility in games, and what to keep in mind during development.

Speakers

Craig Kaufman

Saturday November 7, 2015 1:30pm - 2:30pm EST
Mezzanine East

Presentation

1:30pm EST

Video Games: The Artistic Medium of the 21st Century

Video Games are arguably the most important artistic medium of the 21st century. This talk, organized by the Video Game Art Gallery of Chicago, Illinois, aims to increase the cultural understanding and appreciation of that medium. Join the VGA Gallery's President Ross A. Hersemann as he shares contemporary examples of of how games incorporate a myriad of creative expressions ranging from the aesthetic to the technical. This talk will demonstrate how games represent a new, nuanced, and breathtaking art form which merits further study and development.

Speakers

Ross Hersemann

Ross A. Hersemann is a writer, gamer, and attorney licensed to practice in Illinois. He is an organizer of the Chicago Video Game Law Summit, the founder and alumni advisor of the Video Game Law Society at the John Marshall Law School, the President of the VGA Gallery, the Legislative... Read More →

Saturday November 7, 2015 1:30pm - 2:30pm EST
Mezzanine West

Presentation

4:00pm EST

From Banjo to Yooka-Laylee: A Rare Glimpse into the works of Grant Kirkhope

This unique and Rare one-on-one discussion with Grant, and a room full of his fans and friends, will offer a glimpse into his past as a composer, how he created his iconic sound, and what kind of killer music he will be making in the future! Bring your questions!

There will be moderated open questions being taken during the panel, as long as they fit the appropriate flow of the panel.

Grant Bio: Grant started his career as a composer at Rare Ltd in 1995. Whilst he was there he wrote the music for GoldenEye, Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, Perfect Dark, Banjo-Tooie, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Viva Piñata, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts and Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise.

After leaving Rare in 2008 he moved to the USA and has written music for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse, Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, Desktop Dungeons, The Enchanted Cave 2, A Hat in Time, Hex heroes and Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth.

Grant will be scoring the new game from Playtonic Games code named Project Ukulele.

Speakers

Grant Kirkhope

Grant started his career as a composer at Rare Ltd in 1995. Whilst he was there he wrote the music for GoldenEye, Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, Perfect Dark, Banjo-Tooie, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Viva Piñata, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts and Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise. After... Read More →

Saturday November 7, 2015 4:00pm - 5:00pm EST
Main Theater

Presentation

10:15am EST

The Business of Branding

How and why to establish a digital brand, and the basics of marketing yourself or your business.

Speakers

Jess Brohard

Jess is an eSports event host, interviewer, and Twitch streamer with over five years of experience in the game industry. She graduated in 2010 from the Ohio State University with a degree in computer science and currently resides in Clintonville.

Sunday November 8, 2015 10:15am - 11:15am EST
Main Theater

Presentation

10:30am EST

Entertaining the World – 20 Years of Global Hits

Learn how to make globally successful video games from someone who has done it, repeatedly. For the past two decades, Jason Conaway has helped to develop games that appeal to multiple cultures, are translated into many different languages, and are enjoyed by millions of players across the planet. In this presentation, find out how to level-up your game to reach a global audience.

Speakers

Jason Conaway

Jason Conaway is a senior software engineer at Hypnos Entertainment, where he is currently partnered with Riot Games to help evolve their globally popular game, League of Legends. Jason is also a senior instructor at Game-U, where he teaches students how to make video games. He previously... Read More →

Sunday November 8, 2015 10:30am - 11:30am EST
Mezzanine West

Presentation

11:30am EST

Developing Games with Unity Services

Come take a look how Unity services can help you develop your Unity projects and enable you to take them farther post-release. This presentation will contain all of the information you need to get started with Unity Cloud, Ads, Analytics, Performance, and Build. See just how easy it is (spoiler alert, it's stupid easy) to integrate services and be on your way. You have no more excuses!

Speakers

Mike Geig

Unity Technologies

Mike Geig is both an experienced teacher and game developer, with a foot firmly in both camps. Mike is a Trainer for Unity Technologies where he develops and delivers recorded, live, and onsite learning content. He enjoys loitering and accordions. His Pearson video series, Game... Read More →

Sunday November 8, 2015 11:30am - 12:30pm EST
Main Theater

Presentation

12:00pm EST

MAD SKILLZ FOR DIRECTING DIALOGUE

The dialog director is so much more than traffic cop— you're in charge of how the game speaks to the player. You want authenticity, reality, honesty. Or hilarity! In this presentation, we’ll explore some playful techniques for developing characters, and tricks to help keep your voice actor on track.

When you allow time for your actors to break out of the “good-dog” mode of trying to please you, you give them the freedom to breathe life into their characters. It becomes a fully shared adventure— you have a richer recording experience, and everyone ends up with great audio.

Speakers

DB Cooper

With a pedigree in musical and dramatic theater, DB has been acting and directing for more than 30 years— you’ve heard her in Bioshock 2, Hearthstone, Firefall, and DC Universe Online. She also casts and directs game dialogue, and is a vocal archetype consultant.DB is a staff... Read More →

Sunday November 8, 2015 12:00pm - 1:00pm EST
Mezzanine East

Presentation

3:00pm EST

Mobile 3D Scanning: The Future of Digital Imaging

Hear Brooks discuss the history of Digital Imaging and how his love for 3D Graphics, Video Games, and Consumer Electronics led him to conceptualize Mobile 3D Scanning. Learn why 3D scanning technology matters and get an early glimpse of the next wave of apps, games, and imaging software made possible by this next leap.

Speakers

Brooks Myers

Brooks Myers is the CEO of Knockout Concepts, a Columbus based tech company focused on the development of Custom Software, Proprietary Algorithms, and Cloud Solutions that enable Mobile 3D Scanning.Brooks is a CCAD alum with a background in Industrial Design and Digital Media. After... Read More →

Sunday November 8, 2015 3:00pm - 4:00pm EST
Mezzanine West

Presentation