SCAD-Atlanta SFDM (School of Film & Digital Media) Master Workshop Fall’09

Clint Hocking
Creative Director, Ubisoft Montreal

Tuesday, November 3
6:30 pm reception
7:00 pm talk

SCAD Atlanta
4C Events Space

1600 Peachtree St
NW Atlanta GA 30309

Co-hosted by SCAD-Atlanta and IGDA-Atlanta.

The Territory is not the Map: Hyper Realism and the New Immersion Paradigm

The games of today unsurprisingly strive to mimic the linear, authored structures of previous generations of media largely because gamers and game developers have grown up in a world where those media are culturally dominant. That is changing. As our media become more richly interactive and as our experience of the world becomes increasingly fragmented and parallelized, a new media culture is disintegrating the old. Games of the future will reflect this cultural shift by themselves becoming more fragmentary, more parallelized, and less focused on rich simulation and traditional notions of immersion.

This talk examines the potential long-term future of gaming by looking at the accelerating convergence between rising technologies and competing media from the internet, games, music and narrative media to augmented reality and the prominence of portable wireless devices.

BIO

Clint Hocking has been working at Ubisoft Montreal since July of 2001, when he began his career in the game industry as a Level Designer, Game Designer and Scriptwriter on the original SPLINTER CELL. Along with writer JT Petty, Clint was honoured for his writing work on the title with the first-ever Game Developer’s Choice Award for Excellence in Scriptwriting. Clint continued as Lead Level Designer, Scriptwriter, and Creative Director on SPLINTER CELL: CHAOS THEORY – the highest rated Splinter Cell to date with an aggregate review score of 94%. Clint then worked as Creative Director on the innovative and acclaimed FAR CRY 2. Before games Clint worked in the web industry and experimented with independent filmmaking while earning an M.F.A in creative writing from the University of British Columbia. He lives happily in Montreal with his wife and their dog.

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/good_day_atl/Road_Warrior_SCAD_101909

SCAD-Atlanta is showing off our new high tech digital media center in northeast Atlanta on Fox 5 News Live on 10/19/2009.

Check out the segment we showed the AR zombie project (ARhrrr) developed from my interactive game project class (collaborated with Georgia Tech) . The anchors in the studio did not understand the game but the reporter, Stacy, seemed to get it. She was having a hard time to explain it so she kept on referring everything “thingy” (this thingy, that thingy) and her colleagues made a little joke about it. Well, the technology and the concept of this game is so unconventional that IT IS HARD to explain. I think she did well reporting this segment.  For those viewers who feel confused, come to SCAD-Atlanta and play the game  – you will get it once you play it (and I bet you will love it)!

I will be teaching a game development workshop for local high school and college students at SCAD-Atlanta on Saturday, Oct 17th 2-4:30pm. This workshop is sponsored and organized by CAPASUS (The Chinese-American Academic and Professional Association in Southeastern United States). I’ll also be giving a talk about the game industry in the Chinese Culture Center in Atlanta that evening starting at 8pm.

Download the presentation slides: PDF – 28.5 mb

Atlanta Chinese Culture Center:

5377 New Peachtree Rd
Atlanta, GA 30341
(770) 451-4456

Blizzard Entertainment On Campus at SCAD-Atlanta

Friday Oct 16
2:00pm – 3:30 pm Presentation, Welcome Center

·The gaming and entertainment company that made WORLD OF WARCRAFT, DIABLO and STARCRAFT will be on the Atlanta campus to present information about their company and how to get an internship or job there.

·Open to all students, from freshmen to graduates, who are interested in Blizzard. Come with good questions to ask their Recruitment staff.

·Blizzard Entertainment’s track record of back-to-back #1-selling games spans more than a decade, with blockbuster hits such as World of Warcraft, Reign of Chaos, Diablo and StarCraft. The company has earned several consecutive Game-of-the-Year awards. Blizzard is primarily interested in 3D character, 3D environment artists and 3D animators.

·They offer internships and jobs – check these websites for more details:
·General: www.blizzard.com
·Internships: www.blizzard.com/ur
·Jobs: www.blizzard.com/jobs

I’ll participate the academic roundtable at SIEGE 2009

(Southern Interactive Entertainment & Game Expo) – come by and say hi!

Date & Time:

CONFERENCE: REGISTRATION REQUIRED

October 2-4, 2009

COLLEGE & CAREER FAIR: OPEN & FREE TO THE PUBLIC

Saturday, October, 3rd from 10a-2p.  Fair “registration” includes a very brief questionaire in exchange for admission.

Location:  Crowne Plaza Perimeter, NW, Atlanta,  GA

For more info visit: http://www.siegecon.net/SIEGE2009/

Download the program schedule: PDF File (3MB)