Speakers

John Romero is an award-winning game programmer, designer and level designer whose work spans over 130 games, 108 of which have been published commercially. Romero is the “father of first-person shooters” having led the design and contributed to the programming …

Experienced CEO & GM with a demonstrated history of success and accomplishments in the esports, gaming, and entertainment industries.

Nashville native Toiya Kristen Finley is a writer, editor, game designer, and narrative designer/game writer. With a Ph.D. in literature and creative writing, Toiya has nearly 70 published works …

Tobias Heussner is a Senior Game Content/Narrative Designer, Producer, and Writer. He has been working for over 20 years in the game industry. He has successfully developed and published more than …

Alexander teaches UE4 development to AAA game studios, Hollywood cinematographers, automotive manufacturers, and students internationally.

Jesse Scoble was lead writer on Hyper Scape for Ubisoft, and over the past 5 years has contributed to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Far Cry 5, AC Origins, and Watch Dogs 2. Before Ubisoft, he was lead writer on Wizard101 …

Ryan Kline is a Gameplay Programmer at Lost Boys Interactive, and previously worked in the department of defense for around 4 years on everything from VR and AR tools, …

Dr. Chuck O’Brien has been the sole proprietor at Ceosol – a freelance contracting indie studio – for over 7 years. He also teaches game design, game scripting and project management …

Max Litvinov is a gameplay engineer. He has previously worked on a wide range of features, systems, and game mechanics on the following games: Cookie Jam Blast, Starlink: Battle for Atlas and The Avatar Project. Prior to …

For over six years, Logan Williams has worked with indie game developers and publishers on optimizing marketing strategies as a consultant at Indie Wolverine.

Gregory Marlow has worked in the animation and video game industry for over twelve years. He spent nearly five years at Firaxis Games (2K) in Baltimore, MD, working as …

At ArenaNet, Tom guides story development and execution on Guild Wars 2 and other projects. His major game credits include GW2, The Division, League of Legends …

Narrative Director at the Deep End Games, writer of the award-winning indie title Perception, and nationally-recognized wellness speaker, Amanda Gardner loves a good story and a hot cup of tea.

Sergio Conti is an environment artist and game instructor based out of Fairfax, VA. Currently, he is the co-founder and lead artist of Broken Name Games. There, he is building the world of the food truck simulation game …

Alexander is a game designer, programmer, D&D player, and cat enthusiast. He is one of the founders and lead programmer for the three-person indie game studio Broken Name Games where he works on developing …

Dorothy is a game developer and the owner of Cloudy Heaven Games, a small game development startup. Prior to starting Cloudy Heaven Games, Dorothy worked professionally as a software engineer …

Alex (a.k.a. Xelnath) is a gameplay mechanics and systems designer with a history of work in studios such as Blizzard Entertainment, Riot Games, Microsoft, and Moon Studios.

Adam leads the team building the FYX game technology company and platform. The FYX platform was born when they realized Ethereum/Enjin was a dead-end technology with scaling issues …

Amber currently teaches courses in digital art, game programming, photogrammetry, tech art, and VR. On top of teaching …

Paxton Galvanek is the General Manager at Funcom NC. Paxton oversees Funcom’s Operations, Administration, and Human Resources specifically its recruiting/talent acquisition, talent management, and all …

Chris has spoken at conferences all over the world. He contributed his game design and programming skills to Pearson’s web based MMO, Poptropica …

Matthew Hodge is an award-winning composer, award-winning bestselling author, and collegiate professor for 10+ years at multiple universities. His scoring …

A serial entrepreneur, Heather is the CEO and co-founder of the*gameHERs: a social networking and media platform for women who game and who work in the gaming space.

Elizabeth LaPensée, Ph.D. is an award-winning designer, writer, artist, and researcher who creates and studies Indigenous-led media such as games and comic …

In addition to being the chief community officer at the*gameHERs, Verta also runs her own business helping individuals and organizations share their racial autobiographies and stories in order to act on …

Richard Rouse III is a creative director, designer, writer and consultant with a history as a Director/Lead at Microsoft Studios, Ubisoft Montreal, THQ …

Laura, a serial entrepreneur, co-founded the*gameHERs in response to the need for an outlet for female gamers to congregate and socialize, share war stories, define their needs, and give …

Rebecca is an entrepreneur and marketing executive with a passion for businesses and organizations that support and amplify women. At the*gameHERs, Rebecca is …

Dr. Gabe Pappalardo is the Founder and Creative Director of Six Wing Studios, a Raleigh-based creative studio making video-games …

Danny Silvers is an independent game designer, entrepreneur, and public speaker. He graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2009 with a BFA in Interactive Design and Game Development …

Josh Fairhurst is the co-founder and CEO of Limited Run Games and Mighty Rabbit Studios. He started his gaming career in 2008 as a tester on Gears of War 2 …

Anya Stoyanova is а Senior Marketing & BizDev Manager at Imperia Online JSC, one of the biggest game developers and publishers in SEE, part of Stillfront Group. She is responsible for …

Hi I’m David, and as you can see, I don’t write about myself in third-person. I founded Solanimus in 2011, NonZeroSoul in 2019, and co-founded SMaRT Training Solutions in 2020 …

Annette is also the President of a Swedish film studio and been the Founder/President of several companies within the entertainment industry …

Tommy holds both Swedish and American Law Degrees and is a member of the New York Bar Association. He is the Founder of Lawyer.se, a law firm specialized in video game law, and has been practicing law since …

Patrick FitzGerald is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art + Design in the College of Design at NC State University. He has created and taught courses in illustration, multimedia, and animation.

Ryan E. Grady is an artist, animator and illustrator based in Raleigh, NC. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art at Appalachian State University has her Master of Art + Design from …

Marc Russo has worked as an artist and animator in the Triangle for over 20 years. He is a professor of animation and interactive media with a focus on storytelling at NC State’s College of Design.

BREAKIRON has its roots in Charlie Breakiron’s extensive experience as a freelancer and an instructor serving the industry in Los Angeles, Dallas, Minneapolis, Phoenix, and Koblenz, Germany.

Brandon is from Tarboro, NC and lives in Garner, NC. He is an assistant professor of Simulation and Game Design at William Peace University and a technical animator who focuses on 3D character rigging, animation …

I first learned digital art in 2004 as an Intern at a small studio in Asheville, NC. I worked for a few years as a freelance artist and in various non art-related jobs, before becoming an Environment Artist …

Rachel Presser is a game developer, writer, business consultant, and game and film producer from The Bronx. Rachel runs Sonic Toad Media and Consulting which is dedicated to helping people understand …

Julie is a producer, composer, pilot, and YouTuber. She serves as producer on two independent game development teams. One team, Broken Name Games, consists of two fellow indie developers …

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