Savannah, Ga. - The Savannah College of Art and Design will host its sixth annual Game Developers eXchange April 16 in Savannah, Ga. GDX is an all-day event bringing together game developers, educators, and students with experts to share their behind-the-scenes knowledge of the game industry. The keynote speaker at this year’s conference is Richard Taylor, director and designer at Electronic Arts.
Peter Weishar, dean for the SCAD School of Film, Digital Media and Performing Arts, describes GDX 2010 as an opportunity for the university’s students and the local community to have access to leading artists and creatives in the gaming industry. “With computer graphics icon, Richard Taylor, as the keynote, along with speakers like Luis Cataldi of KAOS Studios, and leading academics,” says Weishar, “this years conference promises to be enlightening, current, engaging and inspiring to both young artists and industry professionals.”
The conference offers attendees access to leading professionals in the gaming industry, who will discuss a mix of game art and game design. The game art sessions will focus on the purely aesthetic angle of game development. Sessions will range from the role of cinematic sequences, to the pre-visualization process, to the importance of editing and post-production in games. The game design sessions will concentrate on entertainment-based technology start-up, designing virtual worlds, augmented reality and immersion, and social platforms. Game writers will also converse about the importance of story, script, setting and themes.
GDX 2010 will also allow conference participants the opportunity to engage some of the most notable and innovative designers and academics scheduled to speak, including Marty Stoltz, cinematic director at Big Huge Games; Leo Chan, director of technology for content production at EA Sports in Vancouver, Canada; Matthew Harwood, sound designer at KAOS Studios; Jeff Chamberlain, project lead for Blizzard Entertainment Inc.'s cinematics department; Cyril Guichard, art studio supervisor at Electrotank; Steven E. Jones, professor of English and co-director of the Center for Textual Studies and Digital Humanities at Loyola University Chicago; along with Sari Gilbert and Tony Tseng, SCAD interactive design and game development professors.