Here is a comprehensive hourly schedule of the panels running all weekend! To view this as an alphabetical list, view the Panel Listing.
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
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Everyone has that one game that they put on a pedestal. The one game that you measure all other games against. The Escapist contributors talk about their favorite games and why they will always compare new titles to the one game that provided the perfect mix of character, story, and skill challenge.
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Leading a tabletop gaming group through an undiscovered country isn’t always the easiest job. Worldbuilding can even discourage some gamers from taking on the role of a gamemaster or judge, but the payoff can be fulfilling for players and GMs alike. This panel will help you through the quagmire of building a plausible fantasy or science fiction world with five of the best and brightest in the RPG community today.
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As the history of videogames enters its fifth decade, more and more older gamers have become fascinated with the gaming of their youth. Joe DeSena makes videos about playing older games while Mike Stulir works to preserve arcade coin-op cabinets for the ACAM. Together, they’ll try to get at the heart of why old-school videogames captivated a whole generation.
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1:30 PM to 2:30 PM
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Making games is the greatest job in the world, but how do you actually get it? Veterans from the worlds of tabletop and videogames share their experience and expertise, providing tips and insight on how to turn your passion for gaming into a career.
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Sound design is a huge part of videogames but it’s a subtle art. Most gamers don’t even realize how environmental sounds and music add to the overall experience of every genre of games. Find out from the pros who’ve made games like Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier and Rainbow Six: Lockdown on how they use sound to manipulate gamers’ emotions and communicate story. |
It’s never easy letting someone else play with your precious IP. Several veteran authors and game designers join up to discuss the process of handing over your creation to another entity, and the good, bad and ugly parts of adapting a movie, comic or game to another format.
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3:00 PM to 4:00 PM
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Every year, it seems like there’s more and more sequels out there. We’re told that merely putting a “2” at the end of a game’s title increases the chance for monetary success, but the cost is a shortage of original concepts, settings and ideas. Yahtzee, Movie Bob, Chris Pranger and Graham Stark headline this all-star panel discussing the preponderance of sequels and their influence on movies, games and culture.
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There’s nothing quite like rolling a handful of d20s and marking up the same character sheet you’ve been penciling and erasing for years. But, as modern technology improves, there’s no denying the power that computers can lend to the classic tabletop experience. Join RPG designers and experts Bill Bridges and Hal Mangold, as they discuss the idea of moving the mechanical to the machine.
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It takes a lot to make a videogame character come to life, including silky smooth animation. Insomniac Games is known for creating the easy movements of Spyro the Dragon, and Ratchet & Clank, and their artists use traditional animation techniques to bring out the cartoony movements of the characters. A bevy of animators from their North Carolina studio will let you in on their secrets.
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4:30 PM to 5:30 PM
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You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers. If you’ve ever wondered how Yahtzee learned to talk so fast, why MovieBob hates Michael Bay, why Jim is banned from Konami events or if Gavin really is that bad at Call of Duty, now’s your chance to ask. Escapist staff will be pulling questions directly from the audience, so be ready to be curious.
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The team at Wizards of the Coast is busy hammering out the design of D&D Next, offering up new material for playtests and soliciting feedback from fans. To help them out getting some of that feedback, we’ve got author and Wizards of the Coast designer James Wyatt on hand to answer all your questions and give you the chance to tell him what you think should be in the next edition of Dungeons & Dragons.
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Everyone dreams of getting their game published. We’ll explore and discuss all the aspects of bringing your game from concept to market including: design, development, playtesting, promotion, prototyping, funding, marketing, production, conventions, sales, distribution, fulfillment, and more.
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10:30 AM to 11:30 AM
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Loading Ready Run founding members Graham and Paul have a long history of making sketch-comedy short videos that predates even YouTube. The crazy Canadians will be on hand to talk about their favorite sketches, how they consistently produce several shows a week and where they get all those hats.
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The line between business software and games is starting to blur. If you play a game that teaches you how to be a doctor managing many critical patients, the connection with reality is obvious. However, if you play a modern action RPG you may not realize you’re using a type of programming called “business rules” that is used to drive many major corporations. Approximately one out of five Global Fortune 500 companies currently use gaming internally for learning in some capacity. Now some companies are looking toward gaming for other purposes, such as evaluating competition, crowd sourcing corporate strategy, and marketing.
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After record-breaking Kickstarter campaigns for new games, new peripherals, and even new consoles in the last year, it’s no secret that the crowdfunding revolution is upon us. Join us for a discussion of what it means for publishers, developers, and consumers when the players become the producers.
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12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
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Fanboys. We all know one, and some of us may even be one. Like it or not, “fanboyism” is a massive force in nearly all social circles, either online or as part of your local gaming group. But what’s the impact the phenomenon really has on our culture? Escape to the Movies host Bob Chipman and Jimquistion star Jim Sterling tackle the issues alongside Dr. Mark Kline, and Paul Saunders from LRR.
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Gaming and geek culture may have started with humble roots, but it’s rapidly ballooned into a multibillion dollar industry that rivals even Hollywood film. It’s only natural that over the years many of these enthusiasts have found love and started families of their own. Geek parents have a unique opportunity to share their passions with their children and relate to the next generation of gamers. Michael Harrison and Natania Barron are both contributors to Wired.com’s GeekDad and GeekMom, and will impart the trials and tribulations of raising a tiny geek girl or boy.
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Being able to communicate with your fans in near real-time over the internet is a new challenge for authors, even those who write about speculative worlds. Prominent science-fiction authors discuss what the internet has brought to publishing, if they’re embracing it or fearing it, and how the net has changed their relationship with their fans.
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1:30 PM to 2:30 PM
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Reviewing videogames looks easy, but it takes more than just playing something and writing about it – especially if you want to keep an audience entertained. Learn the art behind the entertainment as the creators of Zero Punctuation, Game OverThinker, and Unskippable discuss the tools they use to take games apart.
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Clinical psychologist Dr. Mark Kline uses many unusual methods to connect with his patients, including Magic: The Gathering. Learn how he uses the card game in his practice and how patients can use it as a tool to delve into how their brain works.
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Running a game company isn’t always fun and games. Have you ever wondered what results when gaming and business meet? Panelists Chris and Cherilyn Kirkman – makers of deck and dice game Carnival - and Steve Segedy and Jason Morningstar – creators of the indie RPG Fiasco - share the trials and joys of running a small game company. Moderator Daniel Solis guides a broad discussion covering game production, online retail, the future of the local game store, and using crowd-funding as a part of a business plan.
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3:00 PM to 4:00 PM
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Shooters have evolved a lot since the wireframe days of Battlezone. From cross-genre fusion to the use of real world military ops, hear our panel of industry experts talk about what makes a good shooter today and what the genre can to do to evolve beyond its current format and settings.
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You’re a thinking gamer. You assign every weapon and accessory to perfection in your favorite RPG, think through the best ways to counter attacks in a brawler, and would be great at RTS games if they weren’t such click fests. But, how strategically do you really think? Join Dr. Chris Hazard (CEO of Hazardous Software, creators of the time travel RTS Achron) on a discussion about the principles of strategy in gaming, from game theory, to foundations of trust and reputation, to strategic revelation of information, to how others’ beliefs affect your best strategy.
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In the wake of the old school gaming revolution, many players of Dungeons & Dragons went back to the basics to craft new games that felt like the game Gygax created in the 1970s. Check out this panel to get an inside look on how the ACKS tabletop RPG was created, from its earliest iteration as a homebrewed game to a fully-fledged RPG system.
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4:30 PM to 5:30 PM
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You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers. If you’ve ever wondered how Yahtzee learned to talk so fast, why MovieBob hates Michael Bay, why Jim is banned from Konami events or if Gavin really is that bad at Call of Duty, now’s your chance to ask. Escapist staff will be pulling questions directly from the audience, so be ready to be curious.
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The lead designer of Magic: the Gathering has called Jon Finkel “the most naturally gifted player the game has ever seen.” Many regard his friend Bob Maher as the third best competitive Magic player ever. The Escapist’s Janelle Bonanno picks both their brains to find out what makes them tick, how they use Magic skills in everyday life, and what sets a successful competitive Magic player from the rest.
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In this panel, veteran game designer Bill Bridges, creator of White Wolf’s Werewolf , and Dr. Chris Hazard, designer of the time-traveling RTS Achron, discuss the aesthetic elements of coming up with game mechanics, and how designing a game’s rules can hurt or benefit its setting.
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10:30 AM to 11:30 AM
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In the beginning there was an insurance underwriter and a part-time security guard, and then, from the minds of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson sprang Dungeon & Dragons in 1974. It didn’t simply stop there; the game has gone through numerous iterations over the years with a number of different authors and designers making their additions to the system. Join Greg Tito and Alexander Macris of The Escapist and James Wyatt, a game designer at Wizards of the Coast, in examining the history of Dungeon & Dragons.
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It’s probably a safe bet to say that none of us really want to dwell in a radioactive wasteland, live under thumb of 1984-like government, or wander endless fields of ice in search of the day’s single meal. So, why are we so fascinated with those ideas? Join popular science-fiction authors David Drake, Mark Van Name, Mur Lafferty, and Richard Dansky as they attempt to explain our fascination with bleak futures.
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12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
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Hour of Love sets out to answer one important question: What if some of your favorite gaming critics were all put in one room and only allowed to say nice things for an entire hour? Dr. Mark Kline moderates as The Escapist contributors must all swallow their bile and think about nothing but rainbows instead.
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Jon Finkel is one of the most successful professional Magic players of all time, having won or placed in the top 8 of more than 34 international competitions. He’s participating in the The Escapist’s Magic tournament on Saturday, which benefits Gamers Helping Gamers, the charity Finkel co-founded. In this panel he will sit down with the top placers in the tournament and discuss memorable moments from the previous day. Maybe you can pick up some strategies to use on your friends.
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1:30 PM to 2:30 PM
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Dr. Mark Kline is a clinical psychologist with over 20 years of experience who currently works for the Human Relation Service. He also writes The Escapist Magazine column Ask Dr. Mark that responds to various videogame related queries. Videogames have becoming increasingly more entrenched in our daily lives through the last several decades, so it’s no surprise that they have a number of ramifications, both good and bad. Gaming addiction, online relationships and dissociation through gaming are just a small sampling, and Dr. Mark will examine how gaming affects our mental health.
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The Escapist Podcat is a hot mess of silly discussion that covers anything and everything nerdy. Watch us do our thing, LIVE! Bring your checklist to ensure that this is a True, Genuine Podcat. If we don’t discuss Star Wars, food, Space Muffins, and tape, then you’re in the wrong place. Accept no substitute!
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3:00 PM to 4:00 PM
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Writing a hit song is a real science, especially when each piece is an homage to a favorite game or movie. Gavin has spent years writing songs under the moniker Miracle of Sound and he will pass on his extensive knowledge along in this panel. Maybe he’ll even break out his guitar and sing a few of his favorites. He takes requests!
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If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at cosplay and dress up as your favorite fictional character, then check out this Cosplay panel hosted by Chiki from the D20 project. Get tips and advice from the winners of The Escapist Expo’s cosplay contest, as they show off how they made the winning costumes.
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