Game Developer Symposium

8 days and counting! This is shorter notice than normal for us, but we have a great event for you! The name of the event may not sound exciting, but the event surely will be! We promised you more diverse event choices and greater frequency, and this is the beginning of us delivering on that promise we made to you. We are going to have several different types of events, and instead of once a month as in the past, we will now be hosting/organizing 2-3 events per month!

This is the first of our new event offerings. Game Developer Symposium sounds fancy and intimidating to some, but this event is open to any of the following: amateur, professional, or aspiring game developers, gamers, musicians, graphic designers, coders, animators, sound technicians, hardware developers, marketers, storytellers, writers, etc.. Some of the above may seem surprising to you, but so will this fact: the gaming industry is bigger than the movie industry! It takes a team to create games with all the different elements involved, and there are many roles to play: from musicians to create background music, to graphic designers for creating compelling characters for play, and the overall look and feel of the game. All skill sets and experience are valid. Even if you are just a gamer and fan, game developers have roles for you as beta testers. The gaming industry pie is so big and lucrative, there is more than enough for all to share.
Come to this event to learn more about the gaming industry from multiple perspectives. We will have game developers, professors, and lawyers to help describe the opportunities and challenges in the gaming industry, and ways to promote and protect the game or work you create.
You may have never thought of game development as a career, but we are here to change your mind. Come and learn how you can get involved in the industry and profit from it. Games are not just for kids anymore. Games are being used in education, the military, medicine, and law enforcement. Flight simulators, and confrontation simulators (law enforcement) are used for training purposes. Games, simulators, and other tests are used in the medical field for therapy, rehabilitation, and training as well. So the opportunities abound in this industry and the speakers below will help you navigate your way and answer any questions you may have:

James Casey: Assistant Professor: Computer Game Design Program
Senior Project Director: VSGI

Email: jcasey9@gmu.edu

James has over 12 years of experience developing video games. He has extensive knowledge in the production and live management of games working on titles from Mythic Entertainment, Bioware, EA, and EA Mobile. James worked in a number of roles including customer service, design, content lead, and producer. The majority of his tenure in the industry was in the producer role with production experience on Live and in-development titles. His portfolio of work includes such PC titles as Dark Age of Camelot, Ultima Online, Imperator Online, Warhammer Online: Age of Chaos, Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes as well as the mobile titles Ultima Forever and Dungeon Keeper. As well, James worked on a number of prototype projects and co-development titles for the studio and helped to lead the transition to mobile for the studio. He’s earned his Master and Bachelor degrees in Business Administration as well as a creative writing minor.

Chris Totten:
Game Designer in Residence at the
Department of Art at American University

Chris Totten, game artist in residence, is an independent game developer and founder of Pie For Breakfast Studios. He is also the chair of the Washington DC chapter of the International Game Developers Association. Totten is an active writer in the game industry, with articles featured in IGDA Perspectives, GameCareerGuide, and Gamasutra as well as two books: Game Character Creation in Blender and Unity (Wiley 2012) and An Architectural Approach to Level Design (CRC, 2014.) He has also spoken at GDC China, Dakota State University's Workshop on Integrated Design in Games, East Coast Game Conference, Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) conference, and Games For Change. He has a Masters Degree in Architecture from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Degrees:
Master of Architecture - Digital Media Concentration Bachelor of Science - Architecture

Callen Shaw:

Full-time indie game developer with several titles to his name. He has sold games on Xbox and other platforms, and has launched successful Kickstarter campaigns.

James Gatto:

Partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Jim Gatto created and is the leader of the law firm's Social Media & Games team and leader of the Open Source team. He leverages his unique combination of nearly 30 years of IP experience, business insights and attention to technology trends to help companies develop IP and other legal strategies that are aligned with their business objectives. His practice focuses on all aspects of intellectual property, internet and technology law, including patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret and open source. Mr. Gatto advises clients of all sizes (start-ups to Fortune 100 companies) on key legal and business issues relating to the use of social media, video games, social games and online gambling (gamblification), virtual goods and currency, social networks, virtual worlds, mirror worlds, augmented reality, open source user-generated content, location-based services and gamification.

He has extensive experience advising internet and social media companies on business and legal strategies relating to virtual goods and virtual currency, developing IP protection and monetization strategies, handling terms of service and end user license agreements, development, licensing and partnership agreements, developing DMCA policies, handling DMCA enforcement, privacy and COPPA policies and much more.

Over the years he has had leading roles in a number of national and local legal and technology-related industry organizations. Mr. Gatto is frequently invited to speak at leading business and legal conferences in the U.S. and internationally. Mr. Gatto mentors many start-ups, directly and through some leading accelerators such as Founders Institute, Yetizen and Northern VA Tech Council’s FastTrac. He is a regular contributor to SocialGamesLaw.com, Pillsbury's blog that addresses business and legal issues that affect social media applications, technologies and business models. He has also appeared as a featured guest on Bloomberg television and the Fox Business Network.

We are really lucky to have such an impressive panel. So if you want to learn more about the gaming industry, from the opportunities to the precautions, please carve time out of your schedule to attend. Food and drink will be provided in addition to the food for thought. So come learn more and network with industry insiders for a new career, side-project, or additional income. Maybe you can help create the next Candy Crush or Minecraft with the intellectual and human resources provided at this event. Schedule:

5:30pm - Meet and greet, drink and snack.

6:00-6:15pm Introduction by James Gatto

6:15 - 6:30pm Chris Totten

6:30- 6:45pm Callen Shaw

6:45-7:00pm James Casey

7:00- 7:30 Closing Comments by James Gatto before Q&A session for the entire panel.

7:30-8:30 Networking, eating, drinking, and game demos (actually play some games) by Callen Shaw and others. Food, drink, information, inspiration, entertainment, and connections, what more could you ask for? Do not this this rare opportunity!!!!