March Meetup - Lauren Ellis (Ignis Studios) & Jennifer Bullard (Captivate)

After a short break, we’re back with another event! This one will feature two speakers, both of whom are women with unique perspectives on game development. Lauren Ellis, of Austin-based Ignis Studios, will discuss UX design for games. And Jennifer Bullard, of IGDA Austin and the Captivate Conference, will provide a framework to assess the business case for tackling development goals.

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Lauren comes to game development via an unlikely path. She’s been a professional web designer and creative director for the past 8 years. For her day job, she’s part of a digital agency located in downtown Austin called Masonry (http://builtbymasonry.com/). In 2012, Lauren started Ignis Studios (http://ignisstudios.com/), along with her husband and brother. Lauren leads the charge as the game designer, lead artist, lead animator, and writer, as well as handling all business development, social media, marketing, and some C# coding.

Ignis Studios’ original goal was to create a monster catching RPG, despite having no previous experience in game development. While that game (Deozoa: Legends of Eden) has not yet been released, the team has since moved on to several other projects. In May 2014, they released a mobile puzzle game called Mosaic based on the vintage hand-held game Lights Out. It features a minimalist art style and meditative soundtrack, and has garnered over 30k downloads across three mobile platforms.

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Currently, Ignis is in the process of releasing a dinosaur breeding game called Terrible Dinos (for phones and tablets). Lauren’s talk will focus on how to discover your creative voice through user experience (aka UX) design. While this term is most often used in relation to mobile apps and websites, more games are now embracing the value of UX design. She’ll examine what goes into game UX and how to best convey your unique voice through your game’s UX.

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In addition, we’ll hear a short talk by Jennifer Bullard, Director of Programs for Austin’s Captivate Conference (http://www.captivateconference.com/). Jennifer has over 15 years of experience in the game industry and has shipped more than 20 titles, having worked as a QA tester, designer, and producer. Her credits include Heroes of Might & Magic III - IV and several Sims II expansions. Jennifer has served as leader of IGDA-Austin (http://austingamedevs.org/) for several years and recently founded the Captivate Conference, which is focused on helping creators learn how to earn a living through their art.

Jennifer will discuss the question “Why should we?” — In development, it’s easy to jump into what and how something should be done. It’s harder to determine why it should be done. This talk will provide a framework for deciding whether or not the work will meet the needs of your business.

Schedule for this event:
• 6:30pm - Arrival and socializing
• 7:00pm - Intro and announcements
• 7:10pm - Lauren Ellis talk
• 7:40pm - Q&A
• 8:00pm - Jennifer Bullard talk
• 8:10pm - Q&A
• 8:20pm - More socializing