Hey!....You're going to 2013 East Coast Game Conference!

The East Coast Game Conference, the largest gathering of video game professionals on the East Coast, returns for its 5th year!. The conference provides video game professionals, academics and industry with an engaging program and opportunities for networking and collaboration. The conference is presented by the Triangle Game Initiative, a non-profit trade association of video game companies in North Carolina and the International Game Developers Association, a non-profit trade association of video game developers around the world.

The core and focus of the two-day conference are seven simultaneous tracks of talks and panels covering a wide range of game development topics appealing to programmers, artists, designers, producers, students, academics and business executives. The seven tracks are: Design, Programming, Art, Writing, Serious Games, Education, Mobile, and Career.

 

 

 

 

In 2012, more than 1,100 people attended ECGC and this year we are expanding the content with additional tracks, content and speakers from around the world. We are expecting significant growth this year with our new IGDA partnership and are hard at work to bring you a bigger and better ECGC for 2013!

 

Attracting artists, game designers, developers, producers, programmers, industry experts and gamers from Europe and North America, the East Coast Game Conference 2013 promises an in-depth look at the future of gaming, as well as an opportunity to meet and learn from this industry's leading innovators.

 

Whether you want to build your business, network for your career, learn about the newest gaming technologies, sample the latest game or simply enjoy two days of camaraderie with other gamers - ECGC 2013.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Cliff Bleszinski

Former Epic Games
Video game designer
Video Game Designer and Industry Veteran Former Epic Games Design Director Cliff Bleszinski, a 21-year veteran of the video game industry, shipped his first commercial title, "Jazz Jackrabbit" before graduating high school. During his tenure at Epic, Cliff was a key visionary behind the award-winning, multimillion-selling "Unreal" game series and the billion-dollar "Gears of War" franchise, which has eclipsed 19 million copies sold worldwide and crossed over into novels, comics, film, action figures and merchandise. While at Epic Cliff also lent his creative expertise to Epic's games, such as "Fortnite" ChAIR Entertainment's "Infinity Blade" series and multiple unannounced projects, and the scope of his work crossed over into other entertainment sectors as well. Bleszinski is currently on hiatus planning his next personal and professional moves.

Jason Vandenberghe

Ubisoft
Creative Director
Creative Director at Ubisoft, Jason has been making games for over sixteen years, specializing in pain-in-the-ass AAA projects. Having found a home with Ubisoft, he's been having a grand old time. His non-gaming off-hours are spent pursuing a lifelong interest in the human mind, and his efforts to try and translate the Big 5/OCEAN model into game development terms drew a touch more interest than he was expecting. It's all good, though.

Let's not forget the Ladies

Kate Edwards

International Game Developers Association
Executive Director
Kate Edwards is the Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), appointed in December 2012. She is also the founder and principal consultant of Englobe, a Seattle-based consultancy for content culturalization, and a unique hybrid of an applied geographer, writer, and corporate strategist, built upon a passion for global cultures and media technologies. Formerly as Microsoft’s first Geopolitical Strategist in the Geopolitical Strategy team she created and managed, Kate was responsible for protecting against political and cultural content risks across all MS products and locales. In the Microsoft Game Studios, she implemented a “geopolitical quality” review process and was personally responsible for identifying potential issues in all 1st party games between 1995 and 2005. Since leaving Microsoft, she has provided guidance to many companies on a wide range of geopolitical and cultural issues, and she continues to work on games such as Dragon Age 1 and 2, Modern Warfare 3, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dance Central 1 and 2, and Mass Effect 3. Kate is also the founder and former chair of the IGDA's Game Localization Special Interest Group, the co-organizer of the Game Localization Summit at GDC, and is a regular columnist for MultiLingual Computing magazine.

 

MOST INSPIRATIONAL SPEAKER

 

Gerard Merritt

CelleC Games, Inc.
CEO
Gerard C. Merritt is the Innovative Business Professional and Multi-faceted Entrepreneur, behind CelleC Games Incorporated. His Passion and Vision to lead Enthusiasts, and Industrial Corporations into the next generation of gaming technology helped establish CelleC Games Inc. as the leading pioneer in the field of “Serious Game” Development. Gerard’s extensive knowledge and amazing breadth of technological skill has gained him Mastery level accreditations in the Information Technology and Development Industry. His Collaboration with corporations such as Electronic Arts, COMSYS, and Connextions Inc., has successfully created monumental software projects, as well as gaming. Gerard has spearheaded some of the most lucrative and efficient campaigns in the business of technological integration and management. His self, along with his company continues to stay current, in demand and reach the goal set forth to continually educate all developers, students, enthusiasts, and entrepreneurs to an empowered new way of approaching the digital realm. Gerard is the Chief-Executive-Officer of CelleC Games, He has over fifteen years of experience in technology and project management; combining his technical operations knowledge with business savvy to successfully develop and continuously integrate new technologies in software and manufacturing. Gerard possesses the strong ability to provide expert allocation of resource management, project management, requirements analysis, document authoring and testing and has demonstrated a proven track record of maximizing resources, streamlining production and budgets while increasing profit and output margins. Gerard has gained software and manufacturing skill sets while at Lockheed Martin starting as a Software Quality Engineer (and Lead) and matriculating through roles such as Test Engineering, Subcontract Administrator, and Lead Process Engineer from their Operations Leadership Development Program (OLDP) as well as acquired a Green Belt in Lean Six Sigma. He has tactically managed personnel sizes of over thirty onsite, on and offshore sixty plus, throughout the US and globally. He has controlled production line budgets of $40 Million USD and an entrepreneurial enterprise of $1.5 Million USD. In the realm of Lean Six Sigma, Gerard has implemented cost reduction and corporate savings to a total of $1.2Million USD; five months ahead of schedule. A certified expert, with extensive hands on experience in the field, Gerard has poured his talents back into education. His work as a Master’s level Professor in Game Project Management and Production Methodologies empowered his developing an effective curriculum for the course and becoming a notable Author. The textbook “People, Planning, and Production for Video Game Development”, Gerard wrote is a complete zenith and resource for video game production. It has tools, techniques, and philosophies to aid any student, new developer, or gaming professional. The many thoughts and ideas in the book give the reader a number of different vantage points on video game production, in order to address each reader's unique needs. It allows for flexibility in the reader's game development life cycle while still laying out proper guidelines for management. Well educated himself, receiving his Bachelors of Science degree in Electrical Engineering Technology from The University of Central Florida, and an MBA in Marketing Management with Operations Concentration from Crummer School of Business at Rollins College. Gerard has a great wealth of authentic knowledge and command of skills to share. As the CEO of CelleC Games, Inc. founded in 2011; Gerard puts all his knowledge to constructive use for the company’s collaborators and customers. His dynamic skill set and reputation for being professional self-motivated, and creative, continually propels him “Ahead of the Game”. Gerard C. Merritt is a lynchpin unique to the trade; He provides invaluable worth to the technology and gaming industry.