Pax (Penny Arcade Expo) is yet another great games conference/festival. PAX 2010, in Seattle runs 9/3 – 9/5. from the site, “PAX is a three-day game festival for tabletop, videogame, and PC gamers. We call it a festival because in addition to dedicated tournaments and freeplay areas we’ve got nerdcore concerts, panel discussions, the weekend-long Omegathon event, and an exhibitor hall filled with booths displaying the latest from top game publishers and developers. Even with all this amazing content the best part of PAX is hanging out with other people who know their shit when it comes to games.”
Here are some highlights via Ian Schrieber and the IGDA Education community for PAX. There’s some good content here, but I’m holding out for a few other conferences:
Developer Lounge (310)
Saturday September 4th 12:00pm – 1:00pm
What Videogame School Is Right For Me?
This panel includes representatives from as many game dev programs as we can muster. The point is to get the panel talking about what their programs are like and what kind of student finds them a good fit.
Moderator: Jeannie Novak, Lead Author & Series Editor, Game Development Essentials
Panel:
- Jeremy Gibson, University of Southern
- California (USC)
- Patrick Pennefather Great Northern Way
- James Portnow DigiPen Institute of Technology
- José P. Zagal DePaul University
Developer Lounge (310)
Saturday September 4th 1:30pm – 2:30pm
Getting a Game Industry Internship
This panel features representatives from game companies that run
active, ongoing internship programs, and perhaps one or two current
interns. This panel focuses on what it’s like to be an intern at a
game company and how to get this kind of job.
Moderator: Brett Ellinger , Head of Game Education, Digipen
Panel:
- Sue Bohle The Bohle Company
- David Chiu Intel
- Jim Rivers Obsidian Entertainment
- Jessica Blair Sandstorm
- TBD Digipen Student
- James Seaman Topware
Developer Lounge (310)
Saturday September 4th 3:00pm – 4:00pm
Game Devs Aren’t Just Programmers
Representatives from design, localization, audio, writing, marketing,
artists, producers, etc. fill this panel, moderated by a programmer.
The point is to describe what these non-programming jobs are, how they
participate in making games, and how tech-heavy this kind of job is or
is not.
Moderator: Tom Buscaglia , Board Member, IGDA
Panel:
- Jeff Royle AMD
- Kate Edwards Englobe
- Michael Csurics Brand X Audio
- Peter Alau Digital Extremes
- Ben Johnson fmr. Rockstar San Diego
Developer Lounge (310)
Saturday September 4th 4:00pm – 5:00pm
Rise of the Indie Game Developer
iPhone and console dlc have opened up new distribution paths for indie
game developers. A panel of well-spoken, in-the-trenches game devs
answer questions from the audience (and from questions submitted
online ahead of time).
Moderator: Gordon Bellamy, acting Executive Director, IGDA
Panel:
- Rob Jagnow Lazy 8 Studios
- Pete Jones Dark Energy
- Bob Berry Uber Entertainment
- Dino Patti Playdead
- Michael Wilford Twist Pixel Games
