August Meetup - Featuring Adam Saltsman (creator of Canabalt)

For our next event, we're very excited to feature Adam Saltsman (http://adamatomic.com/) (aka Adam 'Atomic'). He's a founder of Semi Secret Software (http://www.semisecretsoftware.com/) and the creator of many iconic indie games, including Canabalt and Hundreds. Adam will discuss PR and marketing techniques for games. In particular, he'll provide tips for individuals or small studios that have limited resources, but who still want to effectively promote their titles.

Adam has a long history in indie game development as a coder, designer, and artist. This experience has given him many opportunities to learn the best techniques for getting the attention of game journalists, reviewers, and players. Several of his titles have experienced wide press coverage and brisk sales, so he certainly seems to be doing something right!

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Semi Secret's most recent release was the minimalist puzzle game Hundreds (for iOS and Android), which came out in January. It received much critical praise and reached #3 on the App Store's iPad game charts. Probably the most well-known Semi Secret project is Canabalt, a continuous runner game released in 2009 as a Flash title. It featured retro graphics and was eventually reworked for iPhone, iPad, Android, and even the Chrome Web Store. Other notable Semi Secret games include Gravity Hook (originally from 2008 and later released in an "HD" iOS version) and Wurdle (a word game for iOS).

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In addition to his Semi Secret titles, Adam has also worked on a number of commercial and experimental projects. He was hired by Lionsgate to create Girl on Fire, a pixelated continuous runner for iOS promoting The Hunger Games film. And in late 2012, he created Dikembe Mutombo's 4 1/2 Weeks to Save the World, a quirky advergame about the famous basketball player, Old Spice, and the Mayan apocalypse. In June of this year, Adam released Capsule, a claustrophic, minimalist, Atari-style spaceship survival game. And he has several exciting projects currently underway, including a co-production with Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi and a collaboration with Alec Holowka (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Holowka) tentatively titled Grave.

Schedule for this event:

• 6:30pm - Arrival and socializing

• 7:00pm - Adam Saltsman talk begins

• 7:45pm - Audience questions

• 8:15pm - More socializing

Supported by Rackspace

Thanks to Rackspace, the event will include free pizza and beer. Rackspace is a Texas company (based in San Antonio) and they're happy to help with any cloud services for your game. For more info, please visit http://www.rackspace.com/

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