Launch of the Interactive Ontario: Go Into Games (GIG) Speaker Series

Date: Wed, Jan 14, 2009
Time: 1:30 - 3:30
Location: MDCL 1105

Speakers:

Trevor Fencott - CEO, Bedlam Games
Jon Paul Schelter - Technical Director, Bedlam Games

About GIG
The Go Into Games Series will bring games industry professionals into classrooms across Ontario. The purpose of GIG is to provide students who are studying video game development an opportunity to connect with professionals currently working in the industry. It also allows business leaders to form relationship with students who will become their future employees and educates students about the types of employment opportunities that may exist with Ontario game studios upon graduation.

The Presentation:
Trevor Fencott will be speaking about the Video Game industry as a whole. What are the career opportunities within Ontario? Where is the industry going and what skills are going to be necessary to move the industry forward in the future? JP Schelter will focus on more technical issues related to game development and coding. How can programming skills be used in the different areas of game development?

Topics covered will include:

Anatomy of a frontline game developer: Code, Production, Design, Art, Management
What kinds of things are done at a studio during a project?
What different people on the code team do?
Development methodologies, tech development, and working with a commercial engine
Working on first party hardware (PS3, 360) as opposed to PC
Things learned at school most useful in video game development

There will be ample opportunity for questions following the presentations.

Trevor Fencott - CEO:
Trevor brings nine years of game industry experience to the Bedlam team. Prior to Bedlam, Trevor was co-founder and President of Groove Games, a global publisher of console and PC games. He has been credited in the development of over 20 titles including Playboy: The Mansion, Pariah and Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green. Trevor was originally a lawyer at Goodmans LLP and Goodmans Venture Group where he built the video game practice and advised developers, publishers and the investment community on licensing, game development and financing. He currently sits on the advisory board of the Toronto chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) and on the Board of Directors of Interactive Ontario. Trevor received his Honours BA from Queen's University and his LLB from the University of Western Ontario.

Jon Paul Schelter - Technical Director:
JP brings over 13 years of programming experience to the Bedlam team including work at Rockstar Toronto, Greymatter and Matrox. He has been credited on numerous titles including The Warriors, Warpath, The Crow: City of Angels and Perfect Weapon. He holds advanced degrees in both Computer Science and Physics from Queen's University and prior to joining Bedlam JP led the game play programming team at Rock star Toronto. In addition to determining and overseeing Bedlam's codebase architecture, he is ultimately responsible for ensuring that Bedlam's games function correctly and as specified in the Technical Design Documentation. JP also communicates with the technical leads of the client on the high-level technical requirements and challenges of a project.

Bedlam Games:
Bedlam Games Inc. is an independent, venture capital backed developer of next generation console video games located in Toronto Canada. Bedlam's mission is to deliver original AAA titles borne of exceptional design, fostered by meticulous planning, and realized by a world-class team. The studio was formed in 2006 by a seasoned group of industry professionals from top-tier companies such as Rockstar, Electronic Arts and Ubsoft who are united in their belief that games can be developed differently. (http://www.bedlamgames.com/)

Interactive Ontario:
"io" is a not-for-profit industry trade organization committed to the growth of the Ontario interactive digital content industry. To this end "io" is an industry advocate within Ontario and nationally as a founding member of the Canadian Interactive Alliance /Alliance interactive canadienne (CIAIC). To facilitate connections between businesses and stimulate industry growth "io" organizes numerous events throughout the year - including GameOn Finance, monthly case studies/panels and networking events. io represents over 200 interactive digital media companies â both content producers and distributors - as well as stakeholders from a range of industry sectors - e-Learning, games, mobile, television, online, social media, marketing and academia.