GeekGirlCon

July 20, 2012

Sign up Now for the Game Design Challenge at GeekGirlCon ‘12

GeekGirlCon’s Mystery Box Game Design Challenge is an opportunity for you to learn from the top industry pros and have a little fun while doing it. This workshop is aimed at ages 12 + and college students interested in game design, but the workshop is open to everyone, by yourself or with your friends. Just bring your brain (mmm….braaaaains) and your creativity!

Space is limited (only 16 seats available), so register now to secure your spot! To register, email our gaming director, Lani Blazier at gaming@geekgirlcon.com with your name and a few sentences about why you want to participate. Please include “Workshop Registration” in the subject line.

Workshop begins at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 11th. Purchase of a pass to GeekGirlCon ‘12 is required for participation.

Here’s how it works:

– You and your design team get a box of mystery game parts.
– An industry mentor shows your team the ropes to create game concepts, prototypes, and design.
– Creativity abounds.
– Your team’s game goes on display in the game room for a popular vote to choose a winner.
– Return to the Game Room on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. to find out if you won and collect your prize.

Industry Mentors FTW!
We have some amazing, talented, and experienced industry mentors to help you win this design challenge, get expert advice, and learn what it’s like designing a brand new game.

Mark Baxter
Mark Baxter has been in the Games and Digital Media industry for more than 12 years in a variety of roles including: executive, producer, and creative director. He is currently vice president of product & creative and co-founder at Vivity Labs, a Vancouver-based developer of mobile, web, and social games. Baxter is also the president and founder of Gnosis Games, an independent games studio that developed multiple #1 games. At Threewave Software, he led the Casual Games division and was also producer of multiple titles for the Xbox360 and PS3, working closely with top clients including: Disney, EA, MTV/Viacom, RealArcade, Shockwave, and Big Fish Games.

Christine Miller
Christine Miller started a career in games early – at six she and her brother were board game testers for a now-defunct publishing company. That was followed by years of interest in everything from art and technology to horror stories and science. Clearly only one outcome could emerge – a fabulous career in game development! She has shipped numerous well-respected titles including Morrowind, Forza and several titles in the SOCOM series. Miller has also worked as FX artist, environment artist and game/level designer. In her spare time she trains for triathlons and half-marathons and somehow also manages to play a lot of Diablo 3. Currently working at Disney Interactive, she shares office space with some amazingly creative and talented people and a purple manatee named Hugh.

Narisa Spaulding
Narisa Spaulding is a multidisciplinary user experience (UX) designer with a passionate focus on creating aesthetically-pleasing and usability-considerate digital experiences. In other words: she believe that things should be pretty AND easy to use. Her current emphasis is on making fun, beautiful, easy-to-use games for mobile touch devices. Her favorite way to do this is by working collaboratively with others to define, develop, and streamline the UX — from flows to UI to visual design to final production art. Thankfully Big Fish Games Studios lets her get away with it.
Before falling into games, she spent 8 years at design agencies creating graphic design solutions for web and print, for clients such as Nintendo, Hasbro, Nike, and PBS.
Outside the office, you’ll find her seeking out new sights, sounds, and tastes around the world, snapping endless digital and film photos, attending live music, and petting moss.

Register Now!
Don’t miss this opportunity! To register, email our gaming director, Lani Blazier at gaming@geekgirlcon.com with your name and a few sentences about why you want to participate. Please include “Workshop Registration” in the subject line.