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#1ReasontoBe Panel | GDC Europe 2014
August 12, 2014 @ 4:15 pm - 5:15 pm
The #1ReasonToBe panel makes its GDC Europe debut this year with a rapid, fun microtalk-style celebration and exploration of what it means to be a woman in games, European style. Each panelist will share their experience, its highs and lows, and explore a vision for a future industry that is inclusive for everyone. The session will be hosted by Brenda Romero (Game Designer & Program Director, Romero Games/UC Santa Cruz) and Leigh Alexander (Editor at Large, Gamasutra); Panelists include Auriea Harvey, (Co-Founder, Tale of Tales), Zuraida Buter (Curator and Events Organizer, Playful Arts Festival/Global Game Jam), Henrike “Riker” Lode (Art and Biz Development, Machineers) and Siobhan Reddy (Studio Director, Media Molecule). (Gamasutra announcement)
Offenbachsaal, 1st Level
Speakers
Leigh Alexander | Editor-at-Large, Gamasutra | Moderator
Zuraida Buter | Playful Culture Curator, zo-ii | Speaker
Auriea Harvey | Co-Founder, Tale of Tales | Speaker
Annakaisa Kultima | Games Researcher, University of Tampere | Speaker
Henrike aka Riker Lode | Art and Biz Development, Machineers | Speaker
Siobhan Reddy | Studio Director, Media Molecule | Speaker
Brenda Romero | Game Designer & Program Director, Romero Games/UC Santa Cruz | Moderator
Bios
Leigh Alexander:
Leigh Alexander is a widely-published journalist and critic on video games and the people who make and play them. As editor-at-large for leading industry site Gamasutra, she contributes editorial, interviews and trend analysis. Her monthly column in Edge magazine focuses on cultural issues facing the games space, she regularly contributes to Kotaku and Polygon, and her work has appeared in Slate, The Atlantic, The New Inquiry, The Guardian, the New Statesman, NYLON, the Columbia Journalism Review and numerous other outlets. She frequently speaks at events on topics like design culture, inclusivity and games for social good.
Zuraida Buter
Zuraida Buter is a playful culture curator at her company zo-ii, as well as Executive Director of Global Game Jam, where she leads the team that organizes Global Game Jam worldwide. In the past Zuraida initiated and co-organised the annual popular Dutch indie game showcase festival INDIGO. Among her current initiatives are Playful Arts Festival (co-founder) in the Netherlands, Women in Games NL (WiGNL – initiator) and the Playful Culture project. She organises & curates indie events, game jams and exhibitions in the field of play- and game development and beyond. As a curator she dedicates herself to recording, documenting and showcasing the shifts, changes and highlights of games as a medium, often acting as a bridge between communities. She frequently speaks about playful culture, game jams and collaboration at conferences and festivals worldwide. In 2013 she received the European Women In Games EA Award for Achievement and Innovation and in 2014 she was nominated for the Ambassador Award at Microsoft’s Women in Gaming Awards.
Auriea Harvey
Auriea Harvey (USA/BE) Is one half of independent game studio Tale of Tales based in Ghent, Belgium. In 1999 she left the USA for good. For over 10 years she has made games with Michael Samyn such as The Path, The Graveyard, The Endless Forest and the upcoming narrative game Sunset. Auriea’s talk, Hide and Seek. Verstoppertje. Nascondino, will be an exploration of representation, immigration, visibility and invisibility; in art, video games and her personal experience. Is culture shock a creative force? Is femininity only the domain of women? How can video games help us understand one another better?
Annakaisa Kultima
tba
Henrike Lode
Henrike was one of the three students at the IT University of Copenhagen to develop Machineers as a Masters degree project. Machineers is a puzzle adventure for children from 8 – 14 years and puzzle gamers of all ages.
Siobhan Reddy
Siobhan Reddy is studio director at Media Molecule, the band of creative minds behind the hugely successful and innovative LittleBigPlanet game franchise. Cultivating an early fascination with fanzines, technology, pop-culture, and entertainment led to her first job at Spike Wireless. When she relocated at age 18 from native Australia to the UK, Siobhan entered the games industry as a production assistant at Perfect Entertainment on DiscWorld Noir. By 1999 she had joined Criterion Games as producer, where she consistently shipped high quality titles, including Burnout 3 and Burnout 4. In 2006, seeking a new challenge and the opportunity to be part of a close-knit and creative team, Siobhan joined the newly founded Media Molecule, to work alongside directors Mark Healey, Alex Evans, Dave Smith, Kareem Ettouney, and Chris Lee. Together, the small studio would go on to do big things, including winning dozens of awards for LittleBigPlanet 1 and 2. In 2011, Media Molecule took the step to being a 2 project studio. The first of these was announced in 2012: it is the studios first Vita project, Tearaway, and it continues Media Molecule’s focus on creative gaming and getting people making things. The second project is still secret squirrels.
Brenda Romero
Brenda Romero is an award-winning game designer, Fulbright scholar, entrepreneur, artist, writer and creative director who entered the video game industry in 1981. Brenda has worked with a variety of digital game companies as a game designer, creative director or consultant, including Atari, Sir-tech Software, Electronic Arts and numerous companies in the social and mobile space. She is presently the program director of UC Santa Cruz’s Master’s in Games & Playable Media Program, co-founder / chief executive officer of Loot Drop, a casual game company, and an independent game developer at Romero Games, LLC. Brenda has extensive experience in PC, console and casual gaming. She is a 2014 Fulbright Scholar, and the recipient of the 2013 Women in Games Lifetime Achievement Award awarded by Microsoft. Romero was previously a nominee in Microsoft’s 2010 Women in Games game design award. In 2013, she was listed as one of the industry’s top 10 game developers by Gamasutra.com, along with the likes of industry giants Naughty Dog, Nintendo and Rockstar North. Develop magazine also listed her among the 25 people who changed games in 2013. Romero was also named one of Forbes’ “12 Women in Gaming to Watch” in 2013, one of the top 20 most influential women in the game industry by Gamasutra.com in 2008 and one of the 100 most influential women in the game industry by Next Generation magazine in 2007. Nerve magazine also called her one of the 50 artists, actors, authors, activists and icons who are making the world a more stimulating place.
Looking for more game industry events?
Check Jurie Horneman’s excellent gameconfs directory.
Looking for festival submission deadlines?
Have a look at the excellent promoter app calendar.
Events for the Dutch industry:
Game Industrie Kalender / DGG / Courage Events