FuturePlay 2006 Announces Keynote Speakers

Author: by Beth A.

FuturePlay 2006, a conference for researchers, game developers and designers which takes place in London, Ontario from October 10-12, 2006, has announced its keynote speakers. Justin Roche, Don Daglow, Dr. Ken Perlin, Clint Hocking, and Sheri Graner Ray will lead in a conference program of workshops, papers, and posters that bring together professionals from the game industry, academic researchers, and radical game experimenters. Justin Roche is the program manager for the United Nations’ first computer game, Food Force, which was conceived and developed by the World Food Program (WFP) – a frontline agency for fighting world hunger. Food Force was released as a free internet download on by WFP in April 2005, to teach young people about the problem of global hunger and what humanitarian organizations do to fight it. Exceeding all expectations, the game now has nearly 4 million players world-wide, and is played among the 8-14 year old gaming sector in nearly 200 countries. Don L. Daglow has served as president and CEO of Stormfront Studios since founding the company in 1988. Stormfront’s major titles include the upcoming action-adventure Eragon and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. In 2003 he received the CGE Award for “groundbreaking achievements that shaped the Video Game Industry.” Prior to founding Stormfront, Don served as director of Intellivision game development for Mattel, as a producer at Electronic Arts, and as head of the Entertainment and Education division at Broderbund. He designed and programmed the first-ever computer baseball game in 1971 (now recorded in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown), the first mainframe computer role-playing game (Dungeon for PDP-10 mainframes, 1975), the first sim game (Intellivision Utopia, 1981) and the first game to use multiple camera angles (Intellivision World Series Major League Baseball, 1983). Ken Perlin is a professor in the Department of Computer Science and the Director of the Media Research Laboratory, both at the New York University. Perlin received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from New York University in 1986 and a B.A. in Theoretical Mathematics from Harvard University in 1979. His research interests include graphics, animation and multimedia. He has developed and been involved with developing techniques such as Perlin noise, Hypertexturing and Computer-User interfaces, including Zooming User Interfaces and Stylus-based input. Ken is the proud recipient of an Academy Award for developing Perlin Noise. Most recently, he has been consulting with Will Wright of Maxis on Spore. Clint Hocking has been working for Ubisoft in Montréal for five years. Most recently he worked as scriptwriter, lead level designer and creative director on Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. Before games, he worked in the web industry and experimented with independent filmmaking while earning a masters’ degree in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. Sheri Graner Ray has been in the computer game industry since 1990. She has worked for such companies as Electronic Arts/Origin Systems, Sony Online Entertainment and Cartoon Network, and has worked on such licenses as Star Wars Galaxies, Ultima, and Nancy Drew. She is author of the book Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding the Market and is the computer game industry’s leading expert on gender and computer games. In 2004 she was named one of the game industry’s Most Influential Women by the Hollywood Reporter. In 2005 she was awarded the IGDA’s "Game Developer’s Choice Award" in recognition of her work in gender and games. She is currently serving as Executive Chair for Women In Games International; an organization she co-founded. For more information, such as program content and registration, visit the FuturePlay 2006 website.