Opening Plenary Speaker

 

 
  Valerie Steeves
 
  Associate Professor, Department of Criminology
  University of Ottawa  

 

 

Valerie Steeves is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of Ottawa. Valerie has spoken and written extensively on human rights and technology issues, and is an internationally recognized expert on children's online privacy. As the lead researcher for the Media Awareness Network's Young Canadians in a Wired World research project, she is measuring the effect of new media on young people's privacy and social relationships. She is also the principal investigator for The eGirls Project, which examines the performance of gender on social networking sites.

Game Design Super Battle: Panel Speakers 

 
  Jason Della Rocca

  Senior Consultant
  Perimeter Partners

 

 

Jason is the founder of Perimeter Partners, a consultancy that provides strategic level guidance and expertise to companies and organizations on the boundary, or perimeter, of the game industry.  Jason has been a member of the game industry for more than a decade, and has worked at IGDA, CMP, Quazal, Matrox Graphics, Silicon Graphics and Price Waterhouse. He blogs at www.realitypanic.com.

 

  Clint Hocking

  Creative Director
  LucasArts 

 

Clint Hocking entered the game industry working for Ubisoft Montreal in July of 2001, when he began his career as a Level Designer, Game Designer and Scriptwriter on the original Splinter Cell. Along with writer JT Petty, Clint was honoured for his writing work on the title with the first-ever Game Developer’s Choice Award for Excellence in Scriptwriting. Clint continued as Lead Level Designer, Scriptwriter, and Creative Director on Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory – the highest rated Splinter Cell to date with an aggregate review score of 94%. Clint then worked as Creative Director on the innovative and acclaimed Far Cry 2.

In 2010, Clint left Ubisoft and moved to San Francisco where he is currently working as a Creative Director for LucasArts.

  Caryl Shaw

  Executive Producer
  Callaway Digital Arts

Caryl Shaw recently joined Callaway Digital Arts in San Francisco, CA as an Executive Producer, managing the production staff as well as related production efforts from design/concept to release and through "live" updates of lifestyle and kids apps. Prior to joining CDA, Caryl was responsible for the ongoing development of ngmoco:) freemium games like We Rule, Godfinger and We City. Before ngmoco:), Caryl was a Senior Producer at EA/Maxis and worked on The Sims, SimCity and Spore

franchises as the Lead Online Producer. Having worked on websites, online applications, and video games for over 15 years, Caryl has a unique perspective of the industry, where it's been, and where it's going. 

Closing Plenary Speaker

  Ken Perlin

  Professor of Computer Science
  New York University

Ken is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at New York University, and directs the NYU Games For Learning Institute. He was a founding Director of the Media Research Laboratory as well as Director of the NYU Center for Advanced Technology, and has been a featured artist at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Ken received an Academy Award for Technical Achievement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his noise and turbulence procedural texturing techniques, which are widely used in feature films and television. He is also the recipient of the 2008 ACM/SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Achievement Award, the NYC Mayor's award for excellence in Science and Technology and the Sokol award for outstanding Science faculty at NYU, and a Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation.