2007's Board of
Technical Advisors: 

Executive Chairs:

George Sanger,
President
The Fat Man

Linda Law,
Vice President
The Fat Man

Executive Director:

Teresa Avallone,
CEO
Avallone Media Group

Technical Advisors:

Patricia Pizer,
Senior Designer, Online
Disney Interactive Studios

Nicole Lazzaro,
President
XEODesign, Inc.

Mike Steele,
VP/Evangelist
Emergent Game
Technologies

Bob Bates,
Game Designer
and Writer
www.bobbates.com

Mark Terrano,
Design Director
Hidden Path
Entertainment

A Conference Hosted by The Fat Man;
Developed by The Avallone Media Group
25550 Boerne Stage Rd. #73, San Antonio, TX 78255
Phone:  (512) 689-5486      Fax: (512) 454-8999
E-mail:
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Premier Game-Design Think Tank Announces 2007 Speakers
Experts gather November 1 at Project Horseshoe to solve industry-wide problems.

Austin, Texas (June, 2007) — Project Horseshoe, the premier annual think tank for game design, has announced its four speakers for this fall’s event. Brian Moriarty (Creative Director, ImaginEngine), Mike Verdu (VP/Executive Producer, Electronic Arts), Mike Sellers (Chief Alchemist, Online Alchemy), and Daniel Cook (designer and writer) are set to light an inspirational fire in this year’s attendees.

This prestigious group of speakers sees the Project Horseshoe conference as a unique opportunity to present its ideas and issues to a small group of the best minds in the business.

Sellers, who attended the inaugural 2006 conference, says, “What impressed me most about Project Horseshoe was the diverse collection of people — not just thinkers, but top-notch doers from the forefront of the games industry. I’m eagerly anticipating another opportunity to discuss, muse, eat, listen, argue, learn, and play in such a fun and focused environment.”

Cook agrees, “The future of game design seems like a big topic at first blush. What I like about Project Horseshoe is that it isn’t just about looking into a crystal ball and fuzzily predicting the future. It’s about sitting down with an elite team of industry giants and saying, ‘Hey, let’s set the grand plans in motion right now.’”

That’s exactly the point of Project Horseshoe. Using proven strategies and a distraction-free setting, attendees identify the biggest problems in game design and attack three to six of these in facilitated work groups. Attendees create detailed reports, including action items, right on the spot.

Last year’s workgroups outlined business practices that would make it profitable to produce innovative games, identified fresh opportunities in the online games business, brainstormed radically new game design approaches, and developed strategies to give games the same legitimacy as other art forms. The repercussions of their reports are already shaping the industry.

Speaker Verdu sees the value of the tightly focused event: “This is an opportunity to connect with the design and development community outside of Electronic Arts and share some of what I’ve learned, especially when it comes to the craft of design practiced in very large teams. I’ve been a creative leader for tiny teams, massive teams, and everything in between, and am always amazed by what is different—and more important, what is the same—on all the projects I’ve worked on.”

Moriarty, who has delivered some of the most eye-opening talks ever presented in the games industry, is planning something special for Project Horseshoe. “In the early days of the industry, it was fun giving talks at conferences,” he explains. “But now the events are so huge and bureaucratic, it’s hard to get a sense of personal contact. Horseshoe is a dramatic exception. With only 50 people, many of whom I know and have dirt on, I can plan something curious and wicked.”

We can hardly wait.

About the Speakers
Daniel Cook writes regularly on design, the business of games, and product development techniques at Lostgarden.com. He has previously worked with Epic Games, Anark, and Microsoft.

Brian Moriarty wrote three of the original Infocom games, Wishbringer, Trinity, and Beyond Zork. His first graphic adventure, Loom, was published by Lucasfilm Games. He was co-founder of Mpath/HearMe, the Internet’s first voice chat community, and currently serves as Creative Director at ImaginEngine, a division of Foundation 9 Entertainment.

Mike Verdu runs the real-time strategy business for Electronic Arts Los Angeles (EALA). The last RTS release for EALA was Command & Conquer 3 on PC and Xbox 360. Before joining EA in 2002, Verdu ran Legend Entertainment together with co-founder Bob Bates. He has design and producer credits on more than 20 games in the RTS, FPS, and adventure genres.

Mike Sellers has been designing and developing multiplayer games for over 12 years. In 1994 he co-founded Archetype Interactive and there was president and lead designer on Meridian 59, the first 3D massively multiplayer online game (MMOG). In 1997 he co-founded The Big Network and led the design for MyPlace, one of the earliest social networking sites. In 2002 Mike founded Online Alchemy and is currently working on a next-generation MMOG based on proprietary advanced artificial intelligence software, developed under contract with the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

About Project Horseshoe
Project Horseshoe is a think-tank-style conference addressing the industry-wide challenges of modern game design. Project Horseshoe aims to positively influence the art, science, and business of game design over the next five years in ways that are unlikely to happen otherwise, by taking advantage of proven brainstorming methods and access to the brightest minds in the field. This is an invitation-only event. If you know of someone who should be in attendance, contact Executive Director Teresa Avallone at teresa@projecthorseshoe.com. For more information on Project Horseshoe, visit www.ProjectHorseshoe.com.

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