Sandbox 2007 Announces Spector Keynote, Schedule

Author: by Beth A.

The second annual ACM SIGGRAPH Sandbox Symposium, co-located with SIGGRAPH 07, takes place August 4-5, 2007 in San Diego, California. Sandbox looks to share the latest theory and practice of video game design and development, and to promote critical dialogue on their innovative, artistic, societal, and individual influences. The symposium is a forum or innovative research and advances in video game theory, practice, and criticism. Keynotes include Warren Spector, a veteran game designer and producer at Junction Point Studios, Inc., and John Klima, professor of Digital Media at the Rhode Island School of Design whose work is represented by Postmasters in New York, Bank Gallery in Los Angeles, and Gallery of International Media Art in Berlin, Germany. Papers cover a wide variety of upcoming research. Celia Pearce, Georgia Institute of Technology, will outline the first phase prototype of Mermaids, a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) being developed by Georgia Institute of Technology's Emergent Game Group. Tracy Fullerton from the USC School of Cinematic Arts will describe the development of a unique video/game project being produced by artist Bill Viola in collaboration with a team from the USC Game Innovation Lab. Elina Koivisto and Riku Suomela from Nokia will discuss using various prototyping methods in early game development. Other topics range from player experience to the technology involved in developing games. For more details, visit the Sandbox 2007 website.