Austin, Texas - The Independent Game Conference (IGC) -- to be held at the Wyndham Hotel and Conference Center in Austin, Texas, November 29 and 30, 2007 -- announced keynote topics to be presented by Mike Wilson and Harry Miller, CEO and president of Gamecock Media Group, and Richard Garriott, executive producer at NCsoft’s Austin Studio.
The IGC series is designed specifically to provide real-world, immediately useful content combined with partners and exhibitors who provide information and tools that directly benefit the developers themselves. Thursday morning, November 29th will be keynoted by Gamecock Media’s Mike Wilson and Harry Miller. Leading the charge in independent publishing, these two founders of GOD Games have created a new and exciting company that is bringing some of the best independent games to market. Their keynote is titled All The Reasons You Will Fail or Don't Even Think About It. Gamecock Media Group arose from the ashes of Gathering of Developers to – in Mike Wilson’s words – “bring stupid back to the videogame industry in 2007.” Harry Miller and Mike Wilson have greenlit more risky major, original, independent games than anyone might have imagined possible, and have lived to tell the tale… “while getting paid and wearing capes.” The keynote speaker on Friday morning, November 30th is another well-known industry leader Richard Garriott, Executive Producer at NCsoft’s Austin studio, who has been designing computer games for more than 25 years. And he’s seen his share of the good, the bad, and the ugly of game design. In this lecture Research and Game Design – Spending the Time to Get it Right, Garriott will examine design methods that he’s used to create successful IP in the games business. In Tabula Rasa, his most recent game, Garriott spent months researching game fiction and game science. “Research should be the foundation and basis of any successful game design,” says Garriott. “Without it you’re doomed to mediocrity.” Garriott, the creator of Ultima, one of the industry’s top roleplaying game series ever, will talk candidly about what’s missing in game design today and what independent game developers can do as they are designing the next killer app in the games industry. Austin IGC offers two tracks: Technical topics and Business topics. Conference speakers on Technical topics include: Brian Dubose, Bioware; Mike Seal, Slipgate Ironworks; Steven Davis, CEO IT Globalsecure; Mike Duggan, game developer artist and writer; Skylar Kreisher, CEO Olympus Entertainment; Harlan Beverly, CEO Bigfoot Networks; and Ben Long, Noise Buffet. Business topics speakers include: Billy Cain, Critical Mass Interactive; Gordon Bellamy, Double Fusion; Paul Trowe, Evolution Consulting; George Sanger (The Fat Man); Mike McShaffrey, industry consultant and dev studio builder; Zachary Bishop, Hunton & Williams; and a four-person panel on the convergence of Texas government, education, and games community including Katy Daiger, Rodney Gibbs, Peter Raad, and Jim Butler. Game Demo Night is set for Thursday evening, November 29th. All attendees are invited to bring a computer or game machine, and showcase their work and talent in a friendly, fun environment. This open-floor event allows the attendees to play and provide feedback on some of newest original content available, while letting interested partners and publishers view the talents of the creators. The Austin IGC is sponsored by Game Recruiter, Moby Games, GameDaily, Gamedev.net, NCsoft, Bioware, Amaze Entertainment, Critical Mass Interactive, Slipgate Ironworks, Gamecock Media Group, The Casual Games Alliance, Bigfoot Networks, It GlobalSecure, The Guildhall at SMU, The Fat Man, Hunton & Williams, and the Texas Film Commission. Ticket prices are $125 in advance and $150 at the door, and includes free breakfast and lunch each day at the Wyndham Hotel where IGC-discounted room rates are available. For more information about the IGC series, visit www.independentgameconference.com <http://www.independentgameconference.com/> . The ticket sales and sponsorship contact is Mark Chuberka, Show Director, at mark@independentgameconference.com and at 512. 241.0269. Media-related questions and media-only registrations, contact Doug Mealy, Online Marketing and Public Relations, at dmealy@om-pr.com. For more conference information and a list of speakers and sponsorship opportunities, visit www.independentgameconference.com <http://www.independentgameconference.com/> .