With SXSW Interactive already underway on Saturday, March 14 (see accompanying story), Austin will mark the axis of the computer-gaming universe still more firmly when the International Game Developers Network (IGDN) holds its first developers’ conference here on Friday, March 13 and Saturday, March 14.
Based in Sunnyvale, California, the IGDN is a young, grassroots organization of game developers, would-be developers, and may-possibly-wish-to-be-someday developers. Still in its first year of existence, this nonprofit group has jammed seven fascinating tracks of programming into a one-day conference with a great list of speakers: most of the SXSW Interactive stars, plus Noah Falstein (Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe and other classic Lucasarts games), James Dunnigan (the online Hundred Years War and dozens of board wargames), Eric Goldberg and Greg Costikyan (Crossover Technologies), Steve Beeman and Ellen Guon Beeman (Illusion Machines), Johnny Wilson (editor, Computer Gaming World), and dozens more.
The seminar titles speak for themselves: “Getting a Start in Game Design,” “Who Has the Muscle in the Market?” “The Artist Formerly Known as Sound Designer,” “What You Don’t Know About the Web May Kill You,” and many technical topics. Online roundtables cover game design, online games, and gender-inclusive games.
The IGDN First Conference will be held at the Joe Thompson Conference Center on the UT campus. Friday evening, March 13, is the opening party (7-11 PM). Programming runs 9am-5pm on Saturday, followed by a 45-minute “Town Meeting” and a closing party until 10pm. Admission is $99 (students $75, IGDN members $50). IGDN is cooperating with SXSW Interactive, and each conference offers discounts to members of the other. For details, see http://www.igdn.com and http://www.sxsw.com. – A.V.
This article appears in March 6 • 1998 and March 6 • 1998 (Cover).