Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
myGDC
Supervising UnitEndorsing Units
Organizing/Co-Organizing Units
Supporting Units
GDC China 2009 Speakers
Paul Boustead
Director for Interactive Voice Technologies, Dolby Australia
As the Director for Interactive Voice technologies at Dolby Australia Paul leads a team that is developing surround sound voice communication services for networked games. Before joining Dolby he was a founder and Chief Technology Officer of SV Corporation (SVC) which developed “Spatial Voice” communications tools for massively multiplayer games. In 2000 he received a PhD from the University of Wollongong and subsequently worked there as an academic concentrating on research related to the distribution of real-time multimedia over the Internet and networked games.
Session: Integrating Dolby Axon in-game Voice into Games
Simon Carless
Chairman, Independent Games Festival; Editorial Director, Game Developer Magazine & Gamasutra.com
Simon Carless is the Chairman of the Independent Games Festival and Editorial Director of the Think Services Game Group, overseeing both Game Developer magazine and Gamasutra.com. He has previously worked as a writer/editor for tech site Slashdot, and as a game designer for companies such as Eidos Interactive and Atari.
Session: Independent Games In The West: Market Trends
Roc Chen
Senior Game Music Composer, Lead Composer of Roc Music Studio Inc.
A rising composer star for video games, films and TV series, Roc Chen started taking classical piano lessons at the age of 4 in local conservatory of music. Roc has proceeded to China Central Conservatory of Music before his final graduation from China University of Electronic Science and Technology. Then, Roc has been fortunate in getting lessons and professional advices from Hollywood masters such as Batman Orchestrator Scott Smalley as well as Oscar Winner Mr. Hans Zimmer (Composer of Kung Fu Panda, Gladiator). Roc has been working with many of the top game developers in China. Roc has also been frequently interviewed by mainstream media including Music4Games, Popsoft, 17173, to name only a few, for his music achievement. He is also working with Spider-Man 2 recording artist, World of Warcraft & Gears of War orchestra. He was appointed chief mentor of composers at Intel Computer Clubhouse of China. His book on Adobe Audition 2.0 Music Production has also been published by Chinese People's Post Publishing House and has since quickly become a best seller. He is also the first and only Chinese game music composer whose soundtracks are on sale on iTunes. Till now, Roc Chen has scored for over 100 video games.
Session: How to Use Music to Add Value to Your Games
Tony Chen
Online Business Development Manager, Take Two Asia
Tony Chen has worked in the Chinese game industry for more than 12 years and various roles. His first job was project manager at Ubisoft Shanghai, where his team was responsible for researching original game concepts with Chinese cultural elements. With a specialty in designing and project management, by the end of Year 2000 Tony founded Magus Soft, one of the leading mobile game developers/publishers in China and later portfolio company of Mforma. Serving as VP & Creative Director, he was directly responsible for studio management, designs and implementation of creative directions in all projects, and publishing business of games. After six years of working in Beijing he moved back to Shanghai, his hometown, to join EA China for publishing of FIFA Online 2 and NBA Street Online. And he is currently online business development manager of Take Two Asia, overseeing online game licensing and partnerships in the region.
Session: Panel Discussion: Chinese Indie Game Outlook and Opportunity
Ken Chou
Creative Director of Concept Art House
As the Creative Director of Concept Art House, Ken is responsible for art direction on external development and IP visualization. Since 2007, Ken has contributed to many of the most recognized brands in digital entertainment including World of Warcraft, Command and Conquer, Dungeons and Dragons, Everquest, Star Wars, and numerous other titles.
In his extensive career in digital entertainment, Ken has worked for some of the largest companies in China such as Shanda, Network Science Technologies, Xiangyi digital Co. and The9 Limited. He served as the art director and conceptual designer on some of the best known MMORPG titles in China including 'Three Kingdom' and 'Crystal Age'.
Ken is the primary artist on 'Daomu', a graphic novel based on the national best-selling novel ‘Dao Mu Bi Ji’. Daomu is to be published in China in October of 2009 and then worldwide in 2010 under Image Comics.
Session: Preparing a Leading Chinese IP for Videogame Development - the Daomubiji Case Study
Tobias Dahl
Senior Lead Animator, Dice EA
Tobias has worked on six game titles and has six years of working experience in the game industry - all of them as an animator or a lead animator. He has been working on everything from in-game to cinematic animations. Currently, he works with DICE/EA developing popular titles like BATTLEFIELD and MIRROR'S EDGE. He's had a long and unique experience creating first person games and now, with the ground-breaking game, MIRROR'S EDGE, he's animated and created systems to have moves never seen in a first person game before. He is currently lead animator for the entire DICE studio.
Session: Creating First Person Movement for MIRROR'S EDGE
Ross Dannenberg
Partner, Banner & Witcoff, Ltd
Ross Dannenberg is a partner with Banner & Witcoff, Ltd, and handles a wide-range of intellectual property issues, with experience in Internet, e-commerce, telecommunications, and computer software-related issues. With a background in computer science, Ross has prepared and prosecuted thousands of patent applications in a variety of technical fields, and also has experience with IP protection of video games, including patent and copyright protection, copyright clearance, and licensing, and has experience with entertainment, copyright, trademark and domain name related matters. Mr. Dannenberg is an adjunct copyrights professor at George Mason University School of Law, is Editor-in-Chief of the PatentArcade.com, and is Chair of the ABA’s IP Section Committee on Computer Games and Virtual Worlds. While working on board cruise ships, Ross designed a custom level for Duke Nukem 3D patterned after the Lido and Promenade decks!
Session: Legal 101: Developing Games for the Global Market
Greg DeBeer
Dialogue Manager, Sony Computer Entertainment America
Greg is dialog manager for SCEA in Foster City, CA. Recent credits include GOD OF WAR, GOD OF WAR II, LAIR, THE SYPHON FILTER series and many more.
Session: From Script to Implementation
Mark DeLoura
Videogame Technology Consultant
Mark is creator of the Game Programming Gems series of books, and a long-time game industry technology veteran. He is currently doing CTO-level game technology consulting, from studio, pipeline and concept analysis to shared technology strategy. He has a passion for making game development more streamlined, efficient, and accessible. Most recently, Mark was VP Technology for GreenScreen Interactive. Mark has also served in a variety of technology leadership roles at Nintendo, Sony, and Ubisoft, and as editor-in-chief of Game Developer magazine.
Session: Choosing the Game Engine That Is Right for You
Hugh de Loayza
VP of Business Development, Zynga
As Zynga's VP of Business Development, Hugh de Loayza handles mergers and acquisitions for both content deals as well as developer acquisition. De Loayza is a games industry veteran having served as senior director of business development for Oberon Media building partnerships with EA/POGO, United Online, Verizon, ATT, Hewlett Packard and Hasbro. Prior to Oberon, de Loayza was the director of content development for Pogo.com and responsible for launching the Pogo ToGo downloadable games business as well as managing production for Pogo.com. He started working in the industry at Sony Online Entertainment where he produced Jeopardy! Online, Wheel of Fortune Online and The Dating Game online.
Session: Social Networking – Lessons Learned
Troy Dunniway
VP of Game Development, Globex Studios
Troy Dunniway is an award-winning video game designer, director, and producer and has had a lead role in companies such as Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Westwood Studios, Ubisoft, Insomniac Games, Midway, and many other companies the last 18 years. Troy has been the creative lead on over 50 titles, including top titles like: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas, Munch's Oddysee, Fable, Ratchet: Deadlocked, TNA Wrestling and Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. His projects have won numerous Game of the Year and Game Design of the Year awards. Troy has shipped games for every console and in almost every genre, giving him a variety of experience in third-party independent development, first-party internal development, and publishing. He has experience designing hard core console titles, casual titles, massively multiplayer games, online games, handheld games and almost every genre of game you can imagine. Troy is currently the VP of Game Development for Globex Studios an MMO developer and publisher based in China and the US.
Session: Minimizing Risk in Production
Halldor joined CCP in 2005 as CTO, bringing nearly a decade of experience in various software engineering and programming roles at Atari/Midway, Electronic Arts and Maxis. As lead programmer or key contributor for a number of console games for systems ranging from Nintendo 64 to Sony's PlayStation2 and Microsoft Xbox, his list of credits include the highly successful SIMS 2 and SIMS: BUSTIN' OUT. His commitment to improving the development process at CCP is evident with the continued success of EVE Online. Halldor holds a B.Sc. degree in Theoretical Physics from the University of Iceland.
Session: From Evolution to Revolution: Upgrading the Graphics Engine of EVE Online
Carla Engelbrecht Fisher
Children's Technology Developer/Author, Teachers College, Columbia University
Carla works as a children's technology developer, game designer, educational researcher, and author. She is a doctoral candidate at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she studies technology and its relationship with human cognition and development, particularly as it applies to children and games. Through the course of her career, she has worked for Highlights for Children, PBS KIDS Interactive, Sesame Workshop, and a host of other children's media groups to produce and consult on interactive content that includes a wide variety of games and educational Web sites. Carla also holds a master's degree in media studies from the New School University and has, on occasion, been known to make balloon animals and hats.
Zhiren Fu
GM & Secretary of the Party Committee, Leadership of Information & Networking Department , Shanghai Telecommunication, Senior Engineer
Zhiren Fu was graduated from China University of Technology in 1994. He was the Computer Application Development/Project Team Leader. He was the Data Information Technology Management/Assistant Chief Engineer in the Chief Engineer Office, Shanghai Tele. Now he acts as the member of IP Application & Value-added Telecommunication Technology Committee, China Telecom Association, the member of Committee of Science and Technology, China Telecom Group and the member of Expert Advisory Board of Telecommunication Network Technology.
Session: Industry Integration and Value Session on Game World Online
Luis Gimenez
Graphics Architect, Visual Computing Group, Intel Corporation
Luis Gimenez is a Platform Architect at Intel’s Visual Computing Group. Since join Intel in 1991, Gimenez has held technical and management positions including manager of Information Technology Innovation and Research for Americas and manager of the Americas Region IT. Luis participated in several factory start-ups and managed the IT start up for Intel Costa Rica. In 2000 Gimenez won an Intel Achievement Award for setting a new standard on downtime and speed for SAP upgrades worldwide, and in 2005 he won the IT Excellence Award for the work in the IT Intel Innovation Centre. Luis also teaches “Managing IT for Business Value” at the Graduate School of Management at University of California Davis. Gimenez holds a title of Electronic Engineer from the University of Mendoza Argentina, an MBA and Masters on Economics from ESEADE Argentina and a Masters of International Management from Thunderbird Arizona.
Session: Optimizing 3D Games for Intel Integrated Graphics Architecture
Mack Growen
GM, Playfish China
Mack Growen moved to China in 2001 to co-found and CEO Mezzme Ltd, one of the pioneers and later leading WVAS companies in China. In 2004, Growen worked with eSports, as CEO for the Chinese national CS team, and thereafter in 2005 with the Swedish game company Jadestone Group AB as director of BD for China, licensing browser based games, such as Championship Manager Online, to Chinese operators. In 2006, he started Spiced Bits Ltd., offering outsourced development of 3D to mobile games to western publishers. Growen joined leading social games developer Playfish in 2008 as GM for Playfish’s China entity, and VP at Playfish Ltd.
Session: Social Games - Lessons From The Revolution
Sheng Guo
Application Engineer, Developer Relations Division, Intel Software and Services Group
Sheng Guo is an application engineer in Intel Developer Relations Division within the Software and Services Group (SSG) working on optimizing applications to take advantage of the latest Intel software and hardware innovations. Sheng specializes in software design and optimization in massive multi-player online games, enterprise anti-virus software, web services and office applications, etc. He holds a Master degree in Computer Science from the University of Nanjing, China.
Session: Developing Parallel Game Engine
Chris Hecker
Formerly Technology Fellow at Maxis
Chris focuses on solving hard problems at the intersection of gameplay, aesthetics, and engineering. He is an outspoken advocate for pushing the current boundaries of design and interactivity, in the hope that games will eventually achieve their full potential as a medium. To this end he helps organize the Indie Game Jam and the Experimental Gameplay Workshop, and his recent work at Maxis is centered on using proceduralism to enhance player creativity and agency. Chris has been on the advisory board for the Game Developers Conference for many years and is a regular speaker at the GDC, Siggraph, and other conferences.
Session: Meaning, Aesthetics, and User-Generated Content
Norihiko Hibino
CEO, Composer and Producer, GEM Impact, Inc.
Norihiko Hibino is a composer and performer based in Tokyo, Japan. After graduating from Osaka University with a degree in human science, he attended the prestigious Berklee College of Music where he graduated with a degree in jazz composition. Hibino relocated to Kansas City, making a name for himself as a solo jazz musician before moving back to Japan in 2000 to work in the gaming industry. At Konami, Hibino contributed extensively to the Metal Gear Solid franchise as well as titles in the Yu-Gi-Oh, Boktai, and Zone of the Enders series. Hibino was awarded a G.A.N.G. award in 2004 for his work on the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater single, Snake Eater. Having established himself in game audio in Japan, Hibino left Konami in 2005 to start his own audio production studio called GEM Impact. Employing the talents of several composers, Hibino has been a pioneer in the movement towards multi-composer studios in Japan, providing high-quality music in a fast and economical manner for titles such as Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and the upcoming Ninja Blade.
Session: The Business Of Game Audio: Turning Music Into Money
Hua Huang
Founder & CEO, Youyi Co.Ltd.
Mr. Huang, the founder and CEO of Guangzhou Youzhiyi Information Technology Co.Ltd, is one of forerunners in china webgame industry, from two thousand year, he started to deal with development and operation of webgame, once served in Netease and EA as producer and operation director and other duties. His main works include Westward Journey Online 2 and Fantasy Westward Journey, operations in China region which are better than WOW by Bllizard, and has set many NO.1 records in china webgame history. So far, the users of Westward Journey Online2 and Fantasy Westward Journey has accumulated more than 300 million. From 2008, Mr. Huang starts to access the webgames and community games. Currently, Youyi Co.Ltd. which is leaded by him, is trying its best to operate over 20 kinds of webgame, and the social community from the webgames which is developed by themselves has got over 1.7 million registered users.
Session: The Trend & Future of Domestic Webgames' R&D
Aaron Hsu
CEO and Chairman, XPEC Entertainment Inc.
Mr. Aaron Hsu, who is the CEO and Chairman of XPEC Entertainment Inc, was once a famous journalist in Taiwan and hosted a very popular radio program. He has successfully led XPEC to collaborate with industry leaders such as NAMCOBANDAI Games, Activision, SEGA and completed development projects on Xbox 360, Xbox, PS2, PS3, PSP, NDS, Wii, and PC online platforms. Successful projects include Dreamwork's animation title "Kung Fu Panda" on Wii and PS2. Mr. Hsu has been elected the Chairman of Taiwanese Gaming Promotion Alliance earlier this year.
Billy Hsu provides industry analysis, studio evaluation, and management consulting for investors and game companies in the greater China region. Prior to DJL, Billy held various managerial positions at game and technology companies, including Electronic Arts (EA), Portola Dimensional Systems, and Autodesk. While working at EA, Billy built the Sims console franchise in US and then EA China Studio in Shanghai. Billy is a recognized expert in building and managing game studios for PC, Console to Online platform. He led AAA titles development such as SimCity, The Sims, and Pogo China. Billy speaks frequently at SIGGRAPH and other game and animation related events.
Session: Panel Discussion: Chinese Indie Game Outlook and Opportunity
Steve Jeong
Director and Division Head, Overseas Business, NHN
Steve Jeong is in charge of the overseas business development in the field of game and domestic channeling service, PC café, in-game ads. Since 1995, He accomplished the business development about the USA and Europe in Humax and worked as a business development expert for the overseas area. From 2007, He is not only in charge of the abroad cooperation for the game but also in charge of the overseas business development and undertaking a field of publishing service from the NHN’s game global strategy.
Session: Keys to Overseas Success for Asian Online Games
David Kalina
Owner and Principal Engineer, Tiger Style
David Kalina is the principal engineer and co-owner of Tiger Style, the indie studio behind the iPhone hit Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor. In December 2008, David joined forces with Randy Smith (EA, Ion Storm) and started Tiger Style, an independent collective of talented designers, artists, and musicians on a mission to build compelling and unique game experiences for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Previously, David spent his first 10 years in the game industry working as an AI programmer for major publishers (Ubi Soft, Eidos, Midway) on big-budget action games (Splinter Cell, Deus Ex: Invisible War, Thief: Deadly Shadows). David currently lives in beautiful Austin, Texas, where he is known to enjoy bicycling, indie rock shows, and throwing the occasional karaoke BBQ.
Session: From AAA To Indie: Tiger Style and The Making of Spider
Clinton Keith
Founder, Clinton Keith Consulting
Clinton Keith introduced Scrum and agile to the game development industry in 2003 as the CTO of High Moon Studios. Since then he has become dedicated to helping game developers adopt Scrum as a Certified Scrum Trainer and agile coach. Over the course of 23 years, Clinton has gone from programming avionics for advanced fighter jets to working on video games that put one of today's hottest studios on the map. Previously Clinton worked as director of product development/lead programmer at Angel Studios, now renamed Rock Star San Diego. There, he helped the company double its staff while directing the development of their hit racing game franchises, starting with their first blockbuster MIDTOWN MADNESS. By creating new engineering tools and production processes that improved execution rates, Clinton helped Angel become the only studio to deliver two complete titles for PS2's launch, top-ten sellers MIDNIGHT CLUB and SMUGGLER'S RUN, followed by successful sequels to both series as well as additional hit titles.
Sessions: Agile Game Development with Scrum Tutorial & Certified ScrumMaster for Video Game Development Course
Mikael Lagre
Engineer, Dice EA
Mikael has been working in the game industry for 3 years now – all 3 years at EA DICE. Mirror’s Edge was his first game project where he worked as an animation programmer and took a big part in innovating the first person movement and helping create the animations system and gameplay for Faith. He also worked on the DLC support for Mirror’s Edge. Mikael is currently working on the Battlefield franchise with PC version support for Battlefield 1943 and Battlefield Bad Company 2.
Session: Creating First Person Movement for MIRROR'S EDGE
David Larsson
Lead Engineer, Illuminate Labs
David has been with Illuminate Labs since 2004. He has been involved in most parts of the development of Beast and Turtle and is currently in the process of starting up Illuminate Labs US business.
Session: State of the Art Light Mapping
Nicole Lazzaro
Founder and President, XEO Design, Inc.
Nicole, founder and president of XEODesign, Inc., is an award-winning interface designer and the leading authority on emotion and the player experience. She has eighteen years of expertise in Player Experience Design for mass-market entertainment products. Voted by Gamasutra as one of the Top 20 women working in video games, she has improved the player experiences for more than 40 million people including several Myst and Diner Dash games. She has helped expand the game industry's emotional palette beyond the stereotypical range of anger, frustration, and fear. Her clients including Sony, EA, Ubisoft, Sega, PlayFirst, The Cartoon Network, Disney, LeapFrog, Mattel, Monolith, Xfire, D.I.C.E, Leap Frog, Ugobe, The Learning Company, Broderbund, Roxio, Cisco, Go Pets, Sierra Online, and Maxis. She has a BA degree in Psychology from Stanford University where she also studied filmmaking and computer programming.
Free white papers on emotion and the fun of games here: www.xeodesign.com/whyweplaygames
Session: Creating an MSO: Viral Emotions and the Keys to Social Play
Matthew Le Merle
Chairman & President of Evertold
Matthew Le Merle is Chairman and President of Evertold, a San Francisco and Shanghai based company that focuses on bringing the best of Chinese intellectual properties to new digital entertainment formats.
For 25 years Matthew has been an active investor, executive and advisor to entertainment, consumer and technology companies in the US, Europe and Asia.
In addition to his role at Evertold, Matthew is a Director of Concept Art House, Chairman of MindFuse, Director of Qube Learning, Trium Group and Rainmakers Private Equity, and an investor in Mavericks Surf Ventures, Telltale, and Unknown Worlds Entertainment.
Matthew is a regular speaker at GDC San Francisco and other industry events and is a member of the Academy for Interactive Arts & Sciences.
Session: Preparing a Leading Chinese IP for Videogame Development - the Daomubiji Case Study
Kevin Li
Exec. Director of ACTIVISION China
Mr. Kevin Li is the Exec. Director of ACTIVISION China and be in charge of the strategy growth in Greater China. Kevin joined UWINK (NASDAQ: UWNK), a Nolan Bushnell’s game company for video game production after turned back from L.A. in 2000. In 2003, Kevin founded Studios Qin, focusing on the production of MMOG and Console Online games. Studios Qin raised $4m VC in 2005 and was acquired by Vivendi Games in 2006. Kevin was named as the MD of the new born Sierra Online Shanghai. In 2008, after the M&A of Vivendi Games and Activision, Kevin was named Strategy Growth Director, Greater China of ACTIVISION. Mr. Kevin Li is a 9 years veteran of online game & video game production. Kevin used to help uWink to ship over 30 video games, and volumes of XBOX360 Live Arcade and PlayStation 3 Network games including Arcadian Warriors, Carcassonne, Lost City, Mini Golf Adventure, Gin Rummy, Cribbage and PC MMOG - Creature Hunter Online. Kevin earned an international MBA degree in Hong Kong University.
Session: How to Prepare Your Studio/Game to Attract Investors/Publishers?
Xuan Li
Director of Development of Concept Art House
Xuan Li is the Director of Development at Concept Art House where he is responsible for developing marketing strategies and building relationships in China.
Xuan was the online marketing manager at MediaZone.com, one of the largest on-line entertainment content broadcasting firms. At MediaZone, Xuan oversaw marketing activities for top-tier sports events, such as Wimbledon, the French Open, Indy500, the Rugby World Cup, and the 2008 Olympics for NBC. Xuan led his team to acquire over 300,000 new users on its online broadcasting service. Following the strategic partnership between MediaZone and AOL, Xuan and his team managed the on-line media strategy for Media Zone and AOL China.
In 2008, Xuan spearheaded relationships with China’s largest and most successful internet and entertainment media companies such as Sina.com, Tenccent.com (over 200 million users), CCTV, Shanghai Media Group, and Hairun, China’s largest TV content producer.
Session: Preparing a Leading Chinese IP for Videogame Development - the Daomubiji Case Study
ALI (Yanqing Li)
President, China Game
ALI (Yanqing Li) is the first game producer to get the personal interview of CCTV channel, senior career manager of the game industry and the founder of the biggest chinese website for console and PC games--YOUXIA (www.ali213.net) and YOUXIA GAME GROUP. He was in charge of the senior executive officer of NETEASE and SINA. In 2003, he created T2CN GAME GROUP as the president, imported and published over 10 MMO games and developed the domestic MMO games like The House of Flying Daggers. Under his leading, PRISTONTALE, WEST JOURNEY 2, FREE STYLE and more than dozens of games got huge success in China. In 2008, he left T2CN GAME GROUP in the case of having fulfilled the entrustment of the directorate then established China Game Group which is invested by Finet Group and took up the post of president. Currently the company is operating WARAGE and other MMORPG games, and at mean time, he is also leading 3 teams working on the developing of domestic MMO projects.
Session: Integrate the R&D and Operating – Grasp the Overall Chinese Online Game Market Situation
Wonder Lin
General Manager, BU1,XPEC Entertainment
Wonder Lin has been contributing in the Entertainment Content Industry for more than 14 years. 6 years in XPEC, she is playing the important role on business development and international branding & marketing. Now XPEC is the most reliable partner in a long vision among the west and oriental game companies. Also has great awareness in the international market with high value of the reputation. XPEC is the licensed developer for all platforms on Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. Including Kung Fu Panda with Activision and Bounty Hounds with Bandai Namco, XPEC has been delivering more than 17 game titles on both console and PC online platforms.
Yunfeng Lin
Chief Designer of Fantasy Studio,Online Game Department, Netease
As a fanatic hardcore gamer, who started to play MUD since mid 90s’ and has been heavily attracted to the presence of the interaction between humans in the game, the speaker tried to join the gamemaster team to experience being the "god" in the game. Starting his career in the game industry in 2001 by working on single-player game development, then he began to work on online game development after completing two titles. In 2003, he joined Netease and worked in the core design team of the online game Dreams in West, and from 2006 he has been working as the lead designer until now.
Session: How to Use Game Design to Reduce the Negative Effect Caused by Bot Programs
Noel Llopis
Founder, Snappy Touch
Noel is following his lifelong dream of being an indie developer. He founded Snappy Touch to focus exclusively on iPhone development, and just released FLOWER GARDEN. He writes about game development regularly, from a monthly column in Game Developer Magazine, to the Game Programming Gems series, or his book C++ for Game Programmers. Noel is also a member of the GDC Advisory Board. Some of his past games include THE BORURNE CONSPIRACY, DARKWATCH, and the MECHASSAULT series. He earned an M.S. in computer science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Session: Squeezing Every Drop Of Performance Out Of The iPhone
Cage Lu
Application Engineer, Developer Relations Division, Intel Software and Services Group
Cage Lu joined Intel from 2005 as an Application Engineer in Developer Relations Division (DRD) under Intel Software and Services Group (SSG). He is working closely with software partners to introduce Intel new technologies, provide technical support and trainings. Cage has several years of software optimization experience, especially on online game clients. Cage graduated from Shanghai JiaoTong University in 2001 and got a Bachelor degree in Biomedical Engineering.
Session: Developing Parallel Game Engine
Brad MacDonald
Art Director, Large Animal Games
Brad has been illustrating and animating since 1989 and living in NYC since 1996. He's worked as a professional political cartoonist, comic book illustrator, animator, product designer, web developer, game designer and video blogger. Past clients have included MTV Networks, Sci-Fi Channel, Tommy Hilfiger, NFL, Nascar, The Gap, Sony Records, RCA Records, Epitaph Records, CNBC, The Ethiopian Commentator, MaMaMedia, The LA Galaxy, the nu-metal band Disturbed, and Nickelodeon. Since joining Large Animal Games in 2000 he has been the Lead Artist or Art Director for over 50 Flash and PC Downloadable games. Four of which, AlphaQUEUE, Rocketbowl, Saints & Sinners Bowling, and Snapshot Adventures have been IGF Finalists. In his free-time he plays with his band, Djinn, casually studies Mandarin and travels as much as possible.
Session: Finding the Artistic Soul of Your Social Network Game
Owen is one of the most experienced and accomplished deal-makers in interactive entertainment and digital media. As Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Electronic Arts, he was responsible for worldwide mergers and acquisitions and business development and led all acquisitions from November 2000 to January 2009. This required that he review virtually every significant company or transaction in the industry, and perform extensive due diligence on a large number of them at least once. Owen brings deep knowledge and disciplined process to the task of finding and identifying opportunities and risks, building sophisticated financial models, and judging talent and product potential in target companies. He also has substantial operating and deal-making experience in Asia. Prior to joining EA, Owen oversaw business development for domestic and international operations of consumer technology company Xenote, was responsible for establishing and managing the Japanese joint venture of Internet pioneer PointCast Inc., and managed business and channel development for the Asia/Pacific region for Apple’s software subsidiary, Claris Corp. He is fluent in Japanese and has spent much of his professional life building and buying companies in Asia and Europe, giving him unique ability to assist portfolio companies in their international product and marketing efforts.
Session: Must Haves and Pitfalls in Publishing Games into Western Markets
Colt McAnlis
Programmer, Blizzard Entertainment
Colt McAnlis is a Graphics Programmer at Blizzard Entertainment. He Previously worked as a graphics and systems programmer at Microsoft Ensemble Studios. During which time he moonlighted as an Adjunct Professor at SMU Guildhall's school for video game development; where he taught video game specific math, physics, rendering and threading courses. Additionally, Colt has received publications in Game Programming Gems 7, and AI Programming Wisdom 4.
Session: Texturing Massive Terrain
American McGee
Founder and Senior Creative Director, Spicy Horse
American McGee is an American game designer. He is currently the Senior Creative Director and Founder of Spicy Horse games. McGee began his career at id Software. He was a level designer for such games as Doom II, Quake, and Quake II. In 1998, he moved to Electronic Arts, where he worked as a Creative Director on many projects and also created American McGee's Alice. In 2000 upon completing Alice, he left EA and began work as an independent game creator. American has been in China since 2004, and currently lives in Shanghai. There, he helped establish video game outsourcing venture Vykarian. Then, in 2006 he announced the formation of a new game development studio Spicy Horse. The studio's first project was "American McGee's Grimm," a unique episodic game produced for GameTap.
Session: Alice 2 - A Case Study of Global Development in China
Paul O'Connor
Brand Director, Appy
Writer, bomb-thrower, and jack-of-all-trades, Paul is responsible for building Appy Entertainment into the next great software brand. He has designed videogames going back to the Atari 2600 for companies as varied as Electronic Arts, Interplay, and Oddworld Inhabitants. Most recently, as VP/Design director for High Moon Studios, Paul co-created Darkwatch.
Jin Pei
Assistant Professor, Art Institute of Atlanta
Jin Pei, full time faculty in Game Art Design and Visual Game programming Department at the Art institute of Atlanta. She worked as freelance Artist for studios in Florida, and shanghai. Several of her work have been selected in international game and animation festivals such as Tokyo Game Show,CINEME International Animation Festival etc. One of her students' work get selected in Orlando Siggraph Animation Festival when she worked as Assistant professor in Jacksonville University in Florida. She received Van Zante Artists from Department of Visual Arts, South Dakota State University in 2006. She holds MFA in Digital Production Arts from Clemson University and BE in industrial Design from Zhejiang University, P.R.China.
Session: Maya/Zbrush Next-GEN Game Creature
Meng Peng (Pon Pon)
Sound Designer, Composer
Having working in sound designing and composing in games and films for many years, Meng Peng is an extremely experienced sound effect developer. During the time working in Profee Sound Taipei, he took in charge of the dubbing design in the World of Warcraft, Chinese edition. He has been the composer in Shanghai Film Dubbing Studio since 2007. And in the same year, Meng Peng established Knok-Knok Music with Shanghai Film Dubbing Studio, taking responsibilities as the General Manager and the Art Director. Moreover, he set up STUDIO-M working team at the beginning of 2009. The major clients include famous game firms at home and broad such as SEGA & TQ Digital Entertainment. Furthermore, the working team has composed the music for over ten films, like ACE Mission and The Bell.
Session: Dubbing Design and Setting Up the Auditory Atmosphere in Games
Christopher Pfeiffer
CEO and Cofounder, Balanced Worlds
As 14-year veteran of the video game industry, Christopher Pfeiffer has made significant contributions to 9 internationally successful titles. Before opening Balanced Worlds in 2006, Chris was the Director of Gameplay at Insomniac Games and helped propel the Resistance (Playstation3, 4+ million units sold) and the Ratchet & Clank (Playstation2&3, 10+ million units sold) franchises to great success. In addition, he contributed greatly to the studio and helped take it from 65 to 130+ employees. From 1996 to mid-2003, Chris was at Outrage Games. As their Director of Programming and over 7 years and 4 projects, including the award-winning Descent series (4.5+ million units sold), he became well-versed in FPS games and multiplayer while helping grow Outrage from 5 to 50+ employees. Chris entered the games industry in May 1995 when he was recruited to work on Greg Norman’s Ultimate Challenge Golf with Friendly Software. Chris holds a BSE in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Aaron Pulkka
Director of Production, Activision Publishing
Director of Production, Activision Publishing Aaron is Director of Production at Activision Publishing in Minneapolis, where he manages a slate of externally developed console games through partnerships with teams spread around the globe. For over a decade Aaron has served in a variety of roles developing and publishing games including jobs at Disney, Sony, THQ, and Vivendi. Aaron earned a Master's degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Washington.
Session: Evolving International Partnerships – from Outsourcing to Exporting
Tyrone Rodriguez
Nicalis, Inc.
With extensive experience in the game industry, Tyrone Rodriguez has served various roles during his 16 year career. As a designer, producer, marketing executive and former journalist, Tyrone is has a strong understanding of vastly unique disciplines. He has worked with a wide range of companies, from small developers to large publishers such as Square-Enix, NamcoBandai, Capcom, Konami, Sony and Nintendo--having assisted the latter launch its successful Wii game console in North America. In the last two years Tyrone has focused his energy building a strong commercial case for the independent developers everywhere with Nicalis, Inc's WiiWare remake of Daisuke Amaya's Cave Story, its own Night Sky (formerly known as Night Game) by designer Nicklas Nygren and publishing NIGORO's remake of La-Mulana, also for WiiWare. He is mostly right-handed and plays video games more than he should.
Session: Nicalis - Behind The Scenes Of A Western Indie Developer
Richard Rouse III
Lead Single Player Designer, Kaos Studios
Richard Rouse III is a game designer and writer, as well as author of the book Game Design: Theory & Practice. He is currently Lead Single Player Designer on the story-driven FPS Homefront at Kaos Studios in New York City. He was Creative Director and Writer on the hit action/horror title The Suffering and its sequel, The Suffering: Ties That Bind. Rouse has led the design on a number of other games, including Centipede 3D, Damage Incorporated, and Odyssey: The Legend of Nemesis, as well as contributing to the design on Drakan: The Ancients' Gates, Wheelman, and the forthcoming This is Vegas. In addition to his book, he has written about game design for numerous publications and lectured on game design on five continents. More information can be found at his website, www.paranoidproductions.com.
Session: Cinematic Game Design III: Action!
Kelly Snapka
Art Director, Volition, Inc.
Kelly Snapka is the Studio Art Director at Volition Inc. He oversees a talented group of art director, artists, and general art production of several original titles including the most recent releases of Saints Row2 and Red Faction Guerrilla. Prior to his current role, Kelly worked on cinematics, fx, and environment art for FreeSpace2, Summoner, and Summoner2. Over the course of 11 years in the industry Kelly has helped Volition grow into a well respected studio known for its technical prowess, focus on fun gameplay, and high art quality.
Session: Maximizing Art Production with Effective Art Pipelines
Martin Stoltz
Cinematic Director, Big Huge Games
Marty Stoltz is the Cinematic Director for Big Huge Games. Stoltz has been creating game cinematics for over thirteen years for companies such as Lucas Arts and Midway. He has directed the Cinematics for a variety of titles including Star Wars The Force Unleashed, John Woo presents Stranglehold, Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy, Sanitarium, and the Mortal Kombat games Deception, Shaolin Monks & Armageddon. Before coming to games Stoltz had six years experience in the motion picture industry working in cinematography and editing as well as making his own films for the independent circuit.
Session: Cinematic Game Design III: Action!
Jung Suh
Co-founder and CEO, Red Rocket Games
Jung started his 15 year gaming career at Activision product marketing working on classic titles like MechWarrior 2 and Zork Nemesis which eventually led him to lead the game development team at Disney Online (Walt Disney Company) launching the media giant companies’ first kids online game channel. He also served as Sr. Producer and Director of Content at Electronic Arts and EA.COM. After leaving EA, he co-founded and became VP of Content for GameFly.com. He now resides and works in Shanghai, currently is the Co-founder and CEO of Red Rocket Games. Red Rocket focuses on the development and publishing of indie-casual games for PC and iPhone markets worldwide.
Garry Taylor
Audio Manager, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
After 10 years in the music industry as a session musician and recording engineer, Garry started his video game career at X-Com developer Mythos Games. He joined Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s London Studio in 2001 as a sound designer, where he worked on The Getaway, Eye-Toy and Gran Turismo franchises.
In 2006 he moved to SCEE’s Cambridge Studio as the studio’s Creative Services Manager, working on titles such as 24:The Game and Heavenly Sword.
As well as his management duties, he still likes to get his hands dirty as a sound designer and mix engineer, most recently on Motorstorm: Pacific Rift and Killzone 2.
Session: Mixing It Up: The Last Great Challenge for Game Audio
Ray Tylak
Art Production Manager, Ubisoft Chengdu
Ray Tylak previously worked at Ubisoft-owned Red Storm Entertainment for 7 years as a Level Builder, Level Designer, and Lead Artist throughout the entire Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon franchise spanning 9 titles on multiple platforms. He is now working in Ubisoft Chengdu to help train and manage entry level artists/animators on a variety of internal and outsourcing projects.
Session: Workflow Methods for the Environment Artist
CEO, AppyChris Ulm is the visionary leader of Appy Entertainment and a serial entrepreneur with a steadfast belief that Apple’s iPhone platform is the future of entertainment. He has twice helped lead creative companies from start-up to acquisition by the leaders in their field, first as Editor-in-Chief of Malibu Comics (acquired by Marvel), then as Chief Development Officer of High Moon Studios, which is now part of Activision-Blizzard. He is an expert in the creation of original intellectual property -- Malibu Comics published the original Men in Black, which went on to become one of the highest-grossing films ever. Chris has extensive experience in building teams and developing quality entertainment in both the traditional and interactive industries. Chris is thoughtful, outspoken, smart, and intense, with a dry sense of humor and an ability to quickly analyze complex news and draw insightful conclusions. Chris has a BA in History from California State Northridge that has done him no damn good at all.
Session: The Goldilocks Conundrum -- Steering a Middle Path Through Apple's Orchard
Benson Wang
CEO and Founder, Taomee Inc.
Benson is the founder of the Taomee Inc. Its current major product The Mole's world (www.51mole.com) promote the development of the kid internet industry in China. Before this, he was the chief director of QQ Pet in Tencent Inc. and has a great deal of experience in Internet products design. He got Master Degree of Computer Science from Huazhong University of science and technology.
Session: Online Game Design for Kids - The Secret of the 51MOLE Success
Shuihua Wu
Associate Director, Commerce Committee of Xuhui District; Director, Investment Promotion Institution of Xuhui District
Mr. Shuihua Wu was graduated from Nanjing University. He is now the Associate Director, Commerce Committee of Xuhui District and the Director, Investment Promotion Institution of Xuhui District.
Session: Current Situation of Xuhui Online Game Industry and its Service Platform
Wenhui Wu
President, Shanda Literature; General Manger, Qidian.com
Mr. Wenhui Wu is one of the co-founders of Qidian.com. In Nov. 2001, He founded CMFU (Chinese Magic Fantasy Union) with other Chinese Science Fiction writers. In May 2002, CMFU built their online publishing website Qidian (cmfu.com) to allow for user generated literature and stories.
In 2004, Qidian was acquired by Shanda. By September 2006, Qidian's daily click rate is over 100 millions, which made it one of the most heavily visited websites in the world. At this point, www.cmfu.com became as it is known today: www.Qidian.com. The following year, Shanda turned Qidian into Shanda Literature Ltd and started their new strategy in the industry.
Session: Preparing a Leading Chinese IP for Videogame Development - the Daomubiji Case Study
Xiaochang Wu
Application Engineer, Developer Relations Division, Intel Software and Services Group
Xiaochang Wu joined Intel in 2006 as an Application Engineer in Developer Relations Division of Intel Software and Services Group. He is currently working on developing and optimizing applications to make use of the latest Intel technologies. Xiaochang specializes in software development and optimization for digital content creation, media and graphics applications. He holds a Master degree in Computer Science from Xiamen University, China.
Session: Developing Parallel Game Engine
Yimin Wu
GM&Producer, Shanda Games
Online game has provided game players a virtual world similar to the real world. At the same time, economic system in online game has become complicated involving game developers, operators and the users. What's the real meaning of economic system in online game? What kind of role is it playing in games? What will it be in the future? This lecture will lead the audience to thinks about them.
Session: Economic System in Online Game
Yun Wu
Lead Technical Artist of Season Studio, Kingsoft
Yun Wu joined season studio in 2004 and worked on designing the art production for the JX Series's characters, including "JX Online II", "JX Online World". He has a wide range of knowledge and rich experience of both the game process and the art production. He focus primarily on art content of "JX Online Ⅲ "in 2006, as a lead technical artist, his major responsibilities include developing and supporting the art pipelines.
Session: The Loneliness Makes Legend -- Retrospect The Art Direction of JX Online III
Alex Xu
Strategic Development Director, Giant Interactive Group Inc.
Mr. Alex Xu has served as the Strategic Development Director of Giant Interactive Group Inc. since February 2008. Prior to joining Giant, Mr. Xu served as the Business Manager of Electronic Arts (EA) from 2007 to 2008, mainly in charge of the game outsourcing business in Asia. From 2005 to 2007, Mr. Xu served as the Game Director of RealNetworks, with the overall responsibility of the game business in China. From 2003 to 2005, Mr. Xu was the Manager of Development of New Projects in Sohu.com, where he involved in licensing of Blade Online and investment of Pixel Games, the acquisition of 17173 and establishment of TLBB team. Prior to joining Sohu.com, Mr. Xu used to work in various game/software management positions with Kele8.com, Worldup.com, etc. In 1996, Mr. Alex Xu had already begun to start business of his own, before he set foot in Angel Investment later in 2002. He had invested in startup companies like Worldup.com and My Romantic Manor, etc. Mr. Xu obtained a bachelor's degree in Automotive and a master degree in Precise Measuring Apparatus from Tsinghua University. Mr. Xu is an FMBA of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Senior Consultant (Leader Level) of Gerson Lehman Group, and one of the members of AAMA Angel Investment Club.
Bin Xu
CEO, Purple-Zone Interactive / Founder, Dream2 Interactive
Mr. Bin Xu joined 9you in 2004 and started building Product Management Center, PCU of the product O2jam Online operated by him exceeded 200,000 became only second to WOW. The second casual game operated by Mr. Bin Xu had an amazing achievement of 720,000 in May 2005, which became the most popular casual game. In Feb. 2008, he started his own business. He became Chief Executive of Shanghai Purple-Zone Interactive and Media Co., Ltd.. The first game Qgl online was shown a profit in close beta test, and had an achievement of 50,000 PCU on the premise of spending RMB300,000 on advertising , which was a much told tale in 2009. Mr. Bin Xu bought stock in Shanghai Dream2 Interactive and Media Co., Ltd. by investor's status. The Dream2 focus on developing online games in China, and has a strong team of talents in development.
Session: Panel Discussion: Chinese Indie Game Outlook and Opportunity
Lei “Kennedy” Xu 
Author of Dao Mu Bi Ji
Lei Xu is one of the tops selling authors in China. He has been referred to by critics as “China’s Stephen King.” He goes by the pseudonym The South’s 3rd Uncle (nan pai san shu), and is one of China’s most famous contemporary writers. Lei has reinvented genre boundaries by making horror fiction one of the hottest selling genres in China today. His “Daomu Notes” series marks a new epic in Chinese publishing and has been the catalyst for the increasing popularity of horror/adventure fiction in China.
Mr Xu’s books have sold over 2.5 million copies in less than 3 years and have garnered over 100 million click-throughs on the internet.Book 5 of Dao Mu Bi Ji Daomu sold over 200,000 copies within the first month of publishing. Book 6 will be released in October of 2009.
Session: Preparing a Leading Chinese IP for Videogame Development - the Daomubiji Case Study
Xudong Xu
Chief Supervisor, Service Platform of Online Game Industry
Mr. Xudong Xu was graduated from SouthWest Jiaotong University. He is now the Chief Supervisor of Service Platform of Online Game Industry.
Session: Current Situation of Xuhui Online Game Industry and its Service Platform
Jie Yang
Sound Director, Virtuos
Jie Yang ("Digimonk") has been creating sounds and composing music for games for over 10 years : he is an Apple certified Audio Trainer and teaches digital audio & sound design at the renowned Shanghai Music Institute. After being one of the first audio specialists at Ubisoft Shanghai, Jie Yang founded BSP (Besides Sound Production) in 2004. BSP built itself a very strong reputation in China as the first service provider specializing in video games audio production exclusively. BSP worked on dozens of PC and console games for international and Chinese game publishers including 2K Games, 9You, Disney Interactive, Epic China, Netease, Tencent and Ubisoft. BSP was acquired in 2009 by game outsourcing leader Virtuos. Jie Yang and his team of sound designers, composers and programmers joined Virtuos to form the Virtuos Sound Studio.
Session: Designing Sound for Games in China
Susan Yoon Choe
Chairman and Founder, Outspark
Halo and Kart Rider led Susan back to games to start Outspark, a leading Western online games portal in 2007. Today, millions of people come to play online games and to meet friends in Outspark's Virtual Playground. Now, Outspark is home to global game developers seeking millions of MMOG players. Prior to Outspark, Susan was the founding COO at NHN USA, a flagship game portal in Asia, NHN/Hangame. Prior to NHN, Susan held many posts at Yahoo. As director of international operations she worked with Yahoo's 25 international countries; as international director of Yahoo! Games in starting premium games growth strategy, and as director of Corporate Development, leading investments & acquisitions across games, communities and music. Susan also spent seven years in financial services, as V.P. of global Corporate Development for CSFBDIRECT, helping to launch partnerships in the U.K., Japan and Hong Kong, in Research at Merrill Lynch and at American Express' first online business team in New York.
Session: Must Haves and Pitfalls in Publishing Games into Western Markets
James Zhang
President/CEO/Founder, Concept Art House
Co-Founder of Evertold
James Zhang is the founder and CEO of Concept Art House, a leading art service provider based out of Berkeley, CA and Shanghai, China. He is also the cofounder of Evertold, a company focused on bringing top Chinese Stories to the global market through digital entertainment mediums.
Prior to the founding of the companies, James was a studio vice president, art director, and concept artist. With over a decade of experience in games and entertainment, James has shipped over 40 titles for some of biggest names in the industry including Atari, Blizzard/Activision, Disney, Electronic Arts, Hasbro, LucasArts, LucasFilm, Miramax, Microsoft, Random House, Sony, Upper Deck, Wizards of the Coast, Zynga, and numerous others.
James is a frequent public speaker on the subject of concept art and the games industry. He is a regular contributor for Chinese and English industry publications such as ImagineFX, Deviantart, and Fantasy Magazine.
Session: Preparing a Leading Chinese IP for Videogame Development - the Daomubiji Case Study
Yang Zhang
Customer Support Manager of Greater China Area, Crytek
Yang Zhang is Crytek Customer Support Manager China and provides CryEngine technical support for local licensees. Yang has more than 10 years experience in DCC and game development. Before join Crytek, Yang worked in Autodesk China for more than 5 years. In 2005,he was transferred to Autodesk M&E development center in Montreal and involved in 3ds max core development. He worked on 3ds max 9, 2008 and 2009. In 2007 he decided to move on in game industry and joined EA Montreal. During 2 years in EA, he created a complete content tools set for the project. Yang also leads engineers on rendering, animation, physic and camera features. His excellent work has been widely recognized by the engineers, artists and producer. Due to family reason Yang left EA Montreal in 2009 and join Crytek until now.
Session: CryENGINE: Next-gen in no Time
Robin Zeng
CEO, UYI Networking
Robin Zeng, CEO of UYI Networking Co., LTD., has been working on 3D MMRPG since 2002. Before founding UYI, Robin worked at Interserv (Shanghai), Moliyo (Shanghai) and has amassed years of experiences in both game development and operation. Now he is establishing his own business.
Session: Making Games that Stand Out
Jingyu Zhu
Lead Level Designer, CCP Games Asia
Jingyu Zhu joined CCP in 2008. As the lead level designer, Zhu brings half a decade of experience to the Shanghai-based team for DUST 514, having been involved in the development of such notable titles as "Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood", "Splinter Cell: Double Agent" and "Beowulf". Zhu holds a masters degree in Communication and Information Systems from Shanghai Jiaotong University.
Session: Iterative Level Design
To see GDC China's 2007 keynotes, click here.
To see GDC China's 2007 speakers, click here.
US: Meggan Scavio
China: Anne Yao
Marketing Contacts
US: Ben Veechai
China: Audrey Shen
Sales Contacts
US: Aaron Murawski
China: Luby Liu
China: Vivia Liu
Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Webmaster
© 2009 Think Services, a Division of United Business Media. All Rights Reserved.