Speaker Announcements | Vector

28 Mar 2018

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Speaker Announcement 2018: Brian Chellgren

Sticky Post By Amanda Wallace On March 28, 2018

We are excited to announce an additional speaker for Vector 2018, Brian Chellgren! Brian will be presenting a talk entitled Intellectual Property for Game Developers.

Brian is a partner with the law firm of Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP. Located in the firm’s Lexington office, Brian is a member of the firm’s Corporate Services Department and Chair of the Intellectual Property Practice Group. A registered patent attorney with degrees in molecular biology (B.S.) and biochemistry (Ph.D.), Brian is a published author in the biological sciences field. His practice covers all aspects of intellectual property law, including registration and enforcement of U.S. and international patent, trademark and copyright rights. Brian advises and assists clients with their trademark portfolios, including reviewing potential marks and selecting marks, protecting marks in the U.S. and around the world, and enforcing marks. Brian has prepared and prosecuted patents in a wide range of fields, including surfactants, nanoparticles, medical devices, sports equipment and computer systems. Brian also assists clients in the tabletop gaming, boutique consumer goods, life sciences, higher education and other fields with licensing and acquiring intellectual property and negotiating relationships with their contractual partners.

Brian’s talk, Intellectual Property for Game Developers focuses on giving developers an overview of the major types of intellectual property – patent, trademark, and copyright – with a focus on their relevance to the computer game industry.

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Vector 2018 is coming April 20-21, 2018! Our first day is a student day focused on education and learning for new developers, and our second day is focused on more learned developers. Tickets are available for purchase at Eventbrite now so be sure to get yours.

27 Mar 2018

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Speaker Announcement 2018: Lena Raine

Sticky Post By Amanda Wallace On March 27, 2018

With Vector 2018 just a month away (oh geez) we’re continuing to announce our amazing line-up of keynote and local speakers. With that in mind, we are really excited to announce another of our keynote speakers, Lena Raine!

Lena Raine is a composer and producer of original music and game soundtracks. Best known for her work on the games Celeste, Guild Wars 2 and hackmud, she has also released electronic music under the name Kuraine including her debut EP Singularity. Her soundtrack for Celeste was nominated for the IGF 2018 “Excellence in Audio” award. Lena is also an avid writer, having published her first novel City of Tigers, several short stories, and her upcoming interactive novel ESC. Lena lives in Seattle with her succulents and stuffed animals.

Vector 2018 is coming April 20-21, 2018! Our first day is a student day focused on education and learning for new developers, and our second day is focused on more learned developers.

Tickets are available for purchase at Eventbrite now so be sure to get yours.

13 Mar 2018

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Speaker Announcement 2018: Jake Sones

Sticky Post By Amanda Wallace On March 13, 2018

We are super thrilled to announce our first speaker for 2018’s Vector Conferences: Jake Sones! An industry veteran, Jake will be joining us this April at Vector 2018! Jake is one of our keynote speakers this year, and we’re going to be announcing the rest shortly.

Jake’s Bio:

Sones is a game designer with 18 years of industry experience, with most of that time split between working at Sony Online Entertainment, Insomniac Games, and Blizzard Entertainment. In 2014, he founded Shovelware Games, a studio focused on developing small scope titles and providing game design consultation. Jake enjoys minimalist design mechanics and despises writing in third person.

Again, we are super thrilled that Jake will be joining us this year for our fourth convention! He will be able to bring his experience in both AAA and indie development to both students and mature developers alike.

Tickets are available for purchase at Eventbrite now so be sure to get yours.

27 Mar 2017

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Speaker Announcement 2017: Kurt Vincent & the Lost Arcade

Sticky Post By Amanda Wallace On March 27, 2017

A black and white still of a man resting on an arcade cabinet. This years event will feature a showing of the 26 Ares film The Lost Arcade.

Written and produced by Irene Chin and directed by Kurt Vincent, The Lost Arcade is an intimate story of a once-ubiquitous cultural phenomenon on the edge of extinction, especially in New York City, which one had video arcades by the dozen. These arcades were as much social hubs to meet up and hang out as they were public arenas for gamers to demonstrate their skills. But by 2011, only a handful remained, most of them corporate affairs, leaving the legendary Chinatown Fair on Mott Street as the last hold-out of old-school arcade culture. Opened in the early 1940’s, Chinatown Fair, famous for its dancing and tic tac toe playing chickens, survived turf wars between rival gangs, increases in rent, and the rise of the home gaming system to become an institution and a haven for kids from all five boroughs. A documentary portrait of the Chinatown Fair and its denizens, the Lost Arcade is a eulogy for and a celebration of the arcade gaming community, tenacity, and the Dance Dance Revolutionary spirit.

The movie will be shown at the Planetarium next door to the Carl D. Perkins building, and admission is free with your ticket Saturday night as a closing event. A Q&A with director Kurt Vincent will follow.

still from The Lost Arcade, showing a man and a woman sitting next to each other in an arcade cockpit, faces focused on action off screen

Kurt Vincent is a Brooklyn based filmmaker. His film projects include OUT OF PLACE, a documentary about the unlikely surfing community in Cleveland, Ohio. He shot and produced THE BACHELORETTE PARTY, a short experimental film directed by Irene Chin, which premiered at Anthology Film Archives in 2014. Kurt co-founded the distribution company 26 Aries in 2016.

If you haven’t had a chance to purchase your ticket to Vector yet, you still can! All pass holders for Vector will get admission to the film showing.

17 Mar 2017

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Speaker Announcement 2017: Nigel Lowrie

Sticky Post By Amanda Wallace On March 17, 2017

A picture of Nigel Lowrie. He is wearing a paper crown and holding up a large tankard, both of which are labeled "medieval times." This year we’re pleased to announce another Keynote speaker, Nigel Lowrie! Nigel will be joining us for Vector 2017 this year and we’re incredibly excited to announce his involvement in our conference.

Nigel Lowrie is a partner in boutique game label Devolver Digital and has worked with independent developers like Croteam (The Talos Principle), Dennaton (Hotline Miami), Dodge Roll (Enter the Gungeon), Free Lives (Broforce), and Flying Wild Hog (Shadow Warrior 2). Prior to that he worked in advertising on such brands as 7-Eleven and Hot Pockets so you can see why he moved into video games.

A gif from National Lampoons, Chevy Chase looks off screen at something with a look of childish wonder.

We’re really excited that Nigel will be joining us! If you haven’t grabbed your tickets yet for Vector 2017, you can do so on our Eventbrite. Don’t forget we have special prices for students and educators!

20 Feb 2017

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Speaker Announcement 2017 – Aleissia Laidacker

Sticky Post By Amanda Wallace On February 20, 2017

a picture of a woman, aleissia laidacker, standing with her hair dyed a sort of cotton candy grey and wearing a dress with tattoo illustrations on it

We’re pleased to announce our next keynote speaker, Aleissia Laidacker!

Aleissia is a game programmer-designer-director who has been working as a programmer for 16 years and developing games at Ubisoft for 10 of them. She was Lead AI on multiple Assassin’s Creed games. Her passion for design has pushed her teams to think about why we are developing our games rather than just how we develop them. She empowers her teams to think outside of the box through game jams and experimentation. As part of the Diversity Committee at Ubisoft, she mentors kids and gives talks at schools to inspire young girls to pursue careers in tech and games.

We’re super pleased that Aleissia will be joining us this year!

a gif of skeletor, from the he-man television series, pumping his hands in the air in excitement

You can still buy tickets for Vector ’17 at discounted, early bird pricing. You can find out all the ticket prices at our Eventbrite.

16 Feb 2017

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Speaker Announcement 2017 – Daniel “C418” Rosenfeld

Sticky Post By Amanda Wallace On February 16, 2017

A photo of DJ Daniel C418 Rosenfeld performing in front of a screen ad holding multiple tablets and macbooks.A photo of DJ Daniel C418 Rosenfeld performing in front of a screen ad holding multiple tablets and macbooks. He is youthful and smiling at one of the macbooks We are very pleased to announce speaker and performer Daniel “C418” Rosenfeld.

Daniel Rosenfeld is a composer, game designer and consultant. In 2008 he teamed up with Markus “Notch” Persson to become the sound designer and composer for Minecraft. He’s currently working hard releasing the third and biggest Minecraft soundtrack, while also developing his own games with a heavy focus on sound design. He’s also a big dumb nerd.

In addition to leading a talk at Vector 2017, Daniel will be performing at a concert on Friday April 21 at Eastern Kentucky University. Tickets to the concert are going to be considered a part of admission when you purchase tickets for the event as a whole.

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You can purchase Early Bird tickets for the event through March 1 on Eventbrite.

11 Apr 2016

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Speaker Announcement Jake Elliott

Sticky Post By Amanda Wallace On April 11, 2016

Hey folks! We’re coming up on the date and super excited to announce another speaker: Jake Elliot! Elliot will be talking on a panel about the Future of Game Development. We’re especially glad that Jake is joining us this year as he was with us for our inaugural event last year, and was a pretty fantastic addition.

jake

Jake makes games, music & artware. He is currently working with Tamas Kemenczy and Ben Babbitt on Kentucky Route Zero, a magical realist
adventure game about a secret highway in the caves beneath Kentucky. With jonCates, he runs the internet radio station NUMBERS.FM. He lives in Elizabethtown, KY. (website: http://dai5ychain.net)

Again, we’re pretty psyched that Jake is joining us for this year!

thatsrad There’s still time to purchase your tickets for the upcoming Vector Conference! They’re selling out pretty quickly (which is awesome). You can buy your tickets here. Be sure to contact us for academic and other scholarships!

06 Apr 2016

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Speaker Announcement: Ben Kuchera

Sticky Post By Amanda Wallace On April 6, 2016

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Hey folks! We’ve got less than a month before Vector and we’ve got another speaker announcement for you. We’re super pleased to announce Ben Kuchera, who is joining our super awesome group of keynote speakers.

Ben Kuchera is the senior opinions editor at the video game and technology website Polygon.com, and has spent the past decade reporting on virtual reality at such publications as Ars Technica, Wired, and Penny Arcade. He lectures and moderates panels on the emerging field of virtual and augmented reality around the world when he’s not spending time in his own basement VR lab.

Ben will be joining our pretty esteemed set of speakers, folks like Dan Hsu, Lisa Brown, and Jerry Belich. It’s a pretty neat lineup.

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Tickets are still available to Vector, if you’re interested in attending. We are currently offering student and academic discounts, as well as a diversity scholarship for diverse applicants of all ages. Please contact vector@runjumpdev.org for more information.

27 Jan 2016

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Speaker Announcement: Dan “Shoe” Hsu

Sticky Post By Amanda Wallace On January 27, 2016

We are pleased to announce our newest addition to our industry speakers, Dan “Shoe” Hsu.

Dan “Shoe” Hsu is an 18-year veteran of the gaming press. He’s appeared in or on Electronic Gaming Monthly, 1UP, G4, CNN, NPR, Bitmob, VentureBeat, CNBC, ABC Radio, and more. During that time, Shoe has seen and coordinated every type of pitch, from the desperate pleas of a one-man indie developer to a worldwide exclusive debut of a triple-A, monster-budget sequel. Currently, he manages the Partner Alliance, Developer Relations department at Sony Computer Entertainment America, helping to support indie and free-to-play PlayStation developers through co-marketing.

We’re pleased that Dan will be bringing his years of experience, both in independent and AAA games, as well as industry press to the developers at Vector.
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Remember, you can buy your tickets still for early bird pricing until February 15!