Renee Gittins | |
---|---|
Born | 1990 (age 33–34) |
Occupation | Executive Director at IGDA |
Renee Gittins is an American game developer and former Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), succeeding Jennifer MacLean [1] and succeeded by Dr. Jakin Vela. [2] She also serves as Creative Director at her indie game studio, Stumbling Cat, which is developing the game Potions: A Curious Tale. [3]
Renee Gittins is the daughter of Carol Gittins and Olympian Boyd Gittins. [4] She received her degree in engineering from Harvey Mudd College in May 2012 and worked in biotechnology prior to joining the game industry. [3]
Prior to her appointment as executive director, Gittins served on the IGDA's executive board as secretary [5] and started her company, Stumbling Cat, in 2014. [3] As Executive Director, Gittins promised to focus on sustainable careers and inclusion within the game industry, [6] and has taken a strong stance against the significant overtime hours worked within the game industry. [7]
Gittins was named as part of the Forbes 30 Under 30 class of 2020 in Games. [8]
A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with employee responsibilities split between individual disciplines, such as programmers, designers, artists, etc. Most game development companies have video game publisher financial and usually marketing support. Self-funded developers are known as independent or indie developers and usually make indie games.
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival, and a variety of tutorials, lectures, and roundtables by industry professionals on game-related topics covering programming, design, audio, production, business and management, and visual arts.
The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is a nonprofit professional association whose stated mission is to "support and empower game developers around the world in achieving fulfilling and sustainable careers."
Louis Castle is an American video games designer. He is known for co-founding Westwood Studios, designing the PC game Blade Runner, and collaborating with Steven Spielberg on the Boom Blox and Boom Blox Bash Party video games for the Wii console based on Spielberg's design ideas.
Brenda Louise Romero, previously known as Brenda Brathwaite, is an American game designer and developer in the video game industry. She was born in Ogdensburg, New York and is a graduate of Clarkson University. Romero is best known for her work on the Wizardry series of role-playing video games and, more recently, the non-digital series The Mechanic is the Message. She has worked in game development since 1981 and has credits on 49 game titles.
Michael V. Capps or Mike Capps is an American video game designer who was the president of Epic Games, based in Cary, North Carolina from 2002 to 2012. In 2018, he co-founded a new artificial intelligence company called Howso. He has been described as "a legendary figure in the video game industry."
Kongregate is an American web gaming portal and video game publisher. Its website features over 124,000 online games and 30+ mobile games available to the public. The company also publishes games for PC, mobile, and home consoles. It was purchased by GameStop Corporation in 2010 before being acquired by Modern Times Group MT AB in 2017.
Jason Della Rocca is the former executive director of the Montreal chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA): Della Rocca supervised the daily operations, outreach initiatives, and membership programs of the organization from September 2000 to March 2009. After leaving the IGDA following his 9-year involvement with the company, Della Rocca founded Perimeter Partners, a consultancy that provides strategic level guidance and expertise to companies and organizations in, and around, the game industry globally. More recently, Della Rocca cofounded a hybrid incubator/accelerator for independent mobile game startups called Execution Labs. In the summer of 2013 he was appointed to the advisory board for the ICT practice of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, Canada's foreign and trade ministry.
Jennifer MacLean is known for being the chief executive officer at 38 Studios, an independent game developer, from 2009 to 2012 and the executive director of the IGDA from September 2017 to April 2019.
An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. Because of their independence and freedom to develop, indie games often focus on innovation, experimental gameplay, and taking risks not usually afforded in AAA games. Indie games tend to be sold through digital distribution channels rather than at retail due to a lack of publisher support. The term is synonymous with that of independent music or independent film in those respective mediums.
Kate Edwards is a geographer, writer, and content culturalization strategist, most active in information-based cartography and video game content. She was the executive director of the International Game Developers Association from December 2012 to June 2017. Edwards spent over a decade working in various roles at Microsoft, creating the Geopolitical Strategy team and working to evaluate and manage geopolitical and cultural content in software products. After leaving Microsoft she founded Englobe as a consulting firm engaged in content culturalization and strategy, primarily for the video game industry.
Humble Bundle, Inc. is a digital storefront for video games, which grew out of its original offering of Humble Bundles, collections of games sold at a price determined by the purchaser and with a portion of the price going towards charity and the rest split between the game developers. Humble Bundle continues to offer these limited-time bundles, but have expanded to include a greater and more persistent storefront. The Humble Bundle concept was initially run by Wolfire Games in 2010, but by its second bundle, the Humble Bundle company was spun out to manage the promotion, payments, and distribution of the bundles. In October 2017, the company was acquired by Ziff Davis through its IGN Entertainment subsidiary.
Unity Software Inc. is an American video game software development company based in San Francisco. It was founded in Denmark in 2004 as Over the Edge Entertainment and changed its name in 2007. Unity Technologies is best known for the development of Unity, a licensed game engine used to create video games and other applications.
Devolver Digital, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Austin, Texas, specializing in the publishing of indie games. The company was founded in June 2009 by Nigel Lowrie, Harry Miller, Graeme Struthers, Rick Stults, and Mike Wilson, five executives who had been involved with Gathering of Developers and Gamecock Media Group, which published games on developer-friendly terms, but due to the high cost associated with releasing retail games saw themselves acquired and dissolved by larger companies. To avoid this, Devolver Digital instead turned to digital distribution channels.
Rami Ismail is a Dutch independent video game developer. Ismail is further known for being a spokesperson within the video game industry on the topics of diversity and reaching out to game developers from developing countries. He co-founded the studio Vlambeer with Jan Willem Nijman in 2010, where they developed games such as Ridiculous Fishing, Luftrausers, and Nuclear Throne.
Typhoon Studios Inc. was a Canadian video game developer based in Montreal. It was founded by Alex Hutchinson, Yassine Riahi, and Reid Schneider in early 2017 and acquired by Google in December 2019, becoming part of Stadia Games and Entertainment (SG&E). After releasing its first game, Journey to the Savage Planet, in 2020, Typhoon Studios was shut down alongside SG&E in February 2021.
Meggan Scavio is an American business executive who is the president and chief executive officer of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS). Prior to leading the AIAS, Scavio worked with UBM plc for eighteen years, where she was most recently general manager for the Game Developers Conference events.
Unpacking is a puzzle video game developed by Witch Beam and published by Humble Bundle for Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. The game received positive reviews, and won several awards, including two BAFTA Games Awards, a D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game, and Game of the Year by Eurogamer.