Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, founders of Penny Arcade (AKA PAX) have came a long way from their Mead (Spokane, WA) roots. Now they are even going to have a pre-PAX Prime Game Dev conference.
Many of the game industry’s leading figures will present panels on the art of game development at PAX Dev on Wednesday, August 24 and Thursday, August 25 (the two days preceding PAX Prime) at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel.
Speakers from the digital and pen/paper game world will explore the craft of game development with their peers in this intimate event. All marketing, bizdev and PR are banned from the event to ensure an open and honest environment. The full schedule of session can be found at http://dev.paxsite.com/schedule.php
Some Sessions Topics
- Why Roger Ebert Was Right – John Scott Tynes of Microsoft – An examination of how as game designers we have almost entirely failed to integrate games with stories. It’s time to blow it all up and start over!
- Not Waving but Drowning: Networked Multiplayer Indie Game Architecture – Chris Hecker of Spy Party – A lecture for developers seriously considering throwing their lives away to make their indie game work over the internet with a somewhat modern set of features and reasonable level of polish and scalability.
- The Price Tag – Daniel James of Three Rings – Look at the choices we make as developers; and those that may be made for us when games meet the audience and business meets the market.
- Are They Dead Yet? – Post-mortem of “Orcs Must Die!” that examines the great and, uh, not-so-great decisions along the way.
- PuzzleCraft: How to Design Every Puzzle Type Ever – Mike Selinker of Lone Shark Games – Discussion of the placement and purpose of puzzles (electronic and tabletop), the effects they have on players’ psyche and the process of creating elegant and creative challenges.
- From the Cubicle to the Basement: Corporate Devs Go Indie – A frank and open discussion with a panel of game developers have left successful careers in the traditional studio model to go out on their own as indies.
Tickets cost $329 and can be purchased at http://dev.paxsite.com/registration.php.
