BETACON

The full BetaCon stage schedule is now available! The betaLIVE series gathers speakers and panelists from companies including Insomniac Games, Sony, Nike, Intel, Wacom, polycount, Kinjo, Portland Retro Gaming Expo and more. Detailed information on each presentation is included below.

Discounted advance purchase tickets on sale now at www.betacon.org. Tickets will also be available for purchase at the event.

See you April 15 & 16 at the Oregon Convention Center!

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betaLIVE Schedule

Saturday, April 15th - 11:45am

Portland Retro Gaming Expo presents Memory Lane: A Walk Down the History of Gaming

John Hancock - Portland Retro Gaming Expo

Chris Trimiew - Lost Classics

Video games have been available to the public for only 45 years. Their evolution from dots and dashes into complex, immersive worlds is a fascinating story. Portland-based retro gaming expert and Youtube personality John Hancock has been collecting games since before it was cool. Having spent a quarter century amassing his collection, he possesses a unique expertise and passion for the story of how video games developed. John sits down with friend and fellow old-school gamer Chris Trimiew of Lost Classics - which specializes in reproducing titles for classic consoles - for a fascinating discussion about the history of gaming.

John Hancock - Portland Retro Gaming Expo

John Hancock is a longtime mega collector who is passionate about video games. John served on the the Portland Retro Gaming Expo Board from 2005 to 2011. He also produces an annual charity video game expo to raise funds for local nonprofits called Cowlitz Gamers for Kids. John teaches Computer Science at Portland Community College, where he incorporates game history into his lessons. He currently shares his love for video games on his YouTube channel and frequently guests on the popular channel MetalJesusRocks. John has just completed his 26th North American game collection.

Chris Trimiew - Lost Classics

Chris Trimiew is a programmer formerly with the game company Working Designs. He owns Lost Classics, which specializes in homebrewed video games for classic consoles. He is passionate about video game history and a collector of classic consoles and arcade games from the 80’s and 90’s. Chris also programs homebrew games for the Atari 2600. He currently serves on the Cowlitz Gamers for Kids board.

Saturday, April 15th - 12:45pm

Elite Performance: The Process of Creative Development

Jeff Atienza - Nike

Ashton Eaton

Ryan Schneider - Insomniac Games

Hayden Walling - Nike

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Ashton Eaton sits down for an unique conversation with Ryan Schneider, Chief Brand Officer at Insomniac Games and Hayden Walling & Jeff Atienza from Nike. What do an Olympic Gold medal performance, executing for the world’s biggest sports brand and a blockbuster game release have in common? Accomplishing extraordinary things requires setting ambitious goals. The panelists will share their perspectives on the importance of the creative development process in bringing their ideas to life. Explore the fascinating connections between athletics and gaming with performers at the top of their fields.

Ryan Schneider - Insomniac Games, Chief Brand Officer

The world is a game to Ryan Schneider. Complex challenges like developing a company’s brand are like giant jigsaw puzzles from his perspective. He approaches these challenges with a wondrous sense of playfulness and curiosity. When Ryan's not sharing Insomniac Games' passion for play with the rest of the world, he tests his own gamesmanship racing and coaching multisport executive athletes. He and his wife delight in watching their toddler Audra experience life through fresh eyes.

Ashton Eaton - Gold Medalist Decathlon

Born in Portland and raised in Oregon, many know Ashton Eaton as the 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion in the decathlon. What most people don’t know is that Ashton grew up gaming. It started with Super Mario Bros on classic Nintendo and evolved into a full on embrace of MMO’s, FPS’s and RPG’s. Ashton isn’t just participating in this inaugural BetaCon; he is part of the team creating it. He signed on as betaLIVE Director, inspired by a love of tech and gaming and excited to foster new connections between these communities and education, art and entertainment.

Jeff Atienza - Nike, Footwear Sr. Product Line Manager - Jordan & Energy Footwear

Prior to working at Nike, Jeff Atienza spent 10 years at EA SPORTS designing AAA Titles such as NBA LIVE, NHL and the critically acclaimed Fight Night franchise. He then pursued a lifelong dream to work at Nike in 2011, where he was hired as the Experience Director for Nike+ Training and Basketball. Jeff loves all things digital, but his heart is in footwear. His current role at Nike is managing the Performance Basketball and Energy Projects in the Jordan Brand.

Hayden Walling - Nike, Director of Digital Partnerships

Hayden Walling’s career in video games began in 2004 as a License Analyst at Ubisoft, where he evaluated and pitched game designs for CSI, Naruto, King Kong, Scott Pilgrim and Avatar. After 6 years with Ubisoft, Hayden lead New IP development at the company’s Montreal office, where he worked with the teams that created Assassin’s Creed, Splinter Cell, Far Cry 2 and Just Dance. In 2010, Nike offered him an opportunity to join the Digital Sport team working on The Nike+ Kinect game and the Nike+FuelBand. In his current role at Nike, he connects the Nike Digital Apps with platform and content partners. A lifelong gamer, Hayden continually finds inspiration for his work from digital entertainment.

Saturday, April 15th - 1:45pm

Wacom and polycount present: Live Art Battle I

Seth Thomas - polycount

Megan Davis - Wacom

polycount began as basic educational tutorial and has grown into one of the world’s biggest online communities of passionate artists. polycount co-director Seth Thomas will speak about how the art forum came to be and helped transform the way people share their ideas. Using world-class Wacom tablets, top artists will put their creativity to the test in a live art battle moderated by polycount.

Seth Thomas - polycount, Chief Technical Officer

Seth Thomas joined polycount 8 years ago as the site’s webmaster. Since then he has helped the site grow from a weekend project into a significant business. Seth provides technical as well as business direction as the company’s CTO. By day he works as a software engineer on open source software. He currently resides in Somerville, MA.

Megan Davis - Wacom, Experience Center Manager

Megan Davis is a jill of all trades. She is a graduate of the University of Oregon's amazing fine arts program and helms the Wacom Experience Center, a demonstration area and studio space in Portland. The center hosts a variety of events, workshops and lectures, with the goal to become a hub for the creative community. Megan hopes the space provides inspiration, education and artistic freedom to the city. As a true Portlander, she is passionate about collaborating with the diverse creative people who live here and always looking to connect with new designers.

Saturday, April 15th - 2:45pm

Lessons from Oregon’s Video Game Entrepreneur

Justin Field - Kinjo

Moderated by Neal Bauer - ++Good Games

For the past 25 years Justin Field has been in the video game industry trenches. In 1992 - at age 16 - Justin was already running the Nintendo aisle at Toys R’ Us. He would go on to start two companies, opening 6 locations around Oregon over the past 15 years. His story is a classic entrepreneurial tale, from college dropout to CEO. Join us as Justin’s experiences give insight into the mindset it takes to be an industry entrepreneur and find out about Kinjo, the exciting project he’s launching next.

Justin Field - Kinjo, Founder and CEO

At age 25, Justin Field started Big City Gamin’ to focus on the college crowd and his peers. The first BCG - in Eugene, Oregon - combined buying, selling, trading, renting and playing and was an immediate hit, leading to a second location. Then, in 2009, he began a new venture, Pixel Battles, which paired competitive and social gaming in one venue, with tournaments, leagues, parties, state of the art equipment and a next gen arcade. Three years ago, Justin left the bricks-and-mortar world to bring a new project to life. One again Justin is changing the game. Kinjo is a mobile app for local gamers that lets them skip the mall and inexpensively buy quality used games from neighbors. As a lifelong gamer, Justin hates the power that shops have had to price used games - but few alternatives existed. So he built Kinjo, a mobile, automated, cashless platform that offers a quicker, safer and better way to buy or sell video games.

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Neal Bauer - ++Good Games

Trained under the legendary Chuck Jones, Neal first found his way into the world of video games as a 2D animator working on titles for Disney, Hasbro and Creative Wonders. For the next decade he wore multiple hats in the gaming industry including: artist, buyer, editor, games champion and media personality that helped raise $500,000 for GameChanger Charity at last year’s Twitchcon. Now he’s working with indies and streamers to focus on getting the best games and developers discovered via his company ++Good Games (Double Plus Good Games).

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Saturday, April 15th - 3:45pm

Art Institute of Portland Live Demo: Oculus Rift

Nikki Dunsire - Art Institute of Portland

Virtual Reality has finally arrived and it's on the verge of changing entire industries. After being acquired by Facebook, Oculus is now poised to be the vehicle that will deliver the first VR experiences to the general public. Expert instructor Nikki Dunsire from the Art Institute of Portland will explain how the Oculus Rift works and provide a new user tutorial to prepare you for the virtual world being built around us. Learn about the Rift and explore the possibilities and frontiers of VR gaming.

Nikki Dunsire - Art Institute of Portland

After working as Production Coordinator and Technical Director at Animation Dynamics Inc. (ADi), Nikki Dunsire began teaching in 2008 at the Art Institute of Portland, where she has developed and taught more than twenty different courses. She also serves as Career Service Advisor as well as Academic Department Director at The Art Institute for the Media Arts & Animation, Game & Design, Visual & Game Programming, Visual Effects & Motion Graphics, Photography & Design and Digital Film & Video programs. Nikki was on the grant team that was awarded the Microsoft Hololens Academic Research Grant for developing Augmented Reality applications for trade based education environments.

Saturday, April 15th - 4:45pm

The Time is Now: Opportunity in the VR Industry

Shelley Midthun - Oregon Story Board

Virtual Reality has already begun to exert profound influence on the entertainment and gaming industries. But for Shelley Midthun of Oregon Story Board, the really exciting thing is the potential it has to affect nearly every industry. VR’s vast possibilities will impact everything from real estate companies to engineers to organic farmers. It’s this reality that should encourage us to look at the bigger picture, begin incubating educational opportunities and create development pathways in every direction in the VR ecosystem.

Shelley Midthun - Oregon Story Board, Director

Shelley Midthun assumed the role of Director of Oregon Story Board in August, 2015. Previously, she served as Film, Television and Digital Media Program Manager at the Portland Development Commission where she advocated for economic growth in the animation, visual effects and game development sectors. She fundamentally believes in the power of storytelling and that we need more unique voices telling stories.

Saturday, April 15th - 5:45pm

Passion to Action: Getting into the Gaming Industry

Stefan Henry-Biskup - Liquid Development

Chris Reese - Sony

Alan Rogers - Oregon Games Project Challenge

Jeff Ross - Sony

Ian Tornay - Phoenix Labs

Moderated by Neal Bauer - ++Good Games

Maybe you play casually or maybe your skillz are L33t. Are you into art, movies, music or programming? Or do none of those apply, but you have a passion for storytelling and think there might be a place for you in the gaming universe. The toughest question is often: where do you start? A great place to start is with this panel of experts from all different corners of the video game industry.

Stefan Henry-Biskup - Liquid Development, Creative Director

Stefan Henry-Biskup helms Creative Direction at Liquid Development. At the cutting edge of modern game art production, Liquid Development’s portfolio spans AAA titles like Halo 5, Batman: Arkham Knight, DOOM, the exploding social/mobile realm and work in the emerging virtual reality sector. The last 25 years have indeed proven mesmerizing, and yet so much more is to come! Stefan is excited to share his experience, vision, and passion with the next generation coming to build and discover the future of this fantastic medium.

Christopher Reese - Sony, Director of Product Development

Chris Reese has been involved in the game industry professionally for more than 26 years. He quickly moved up the ranks from novice to lead engineer while studying under and working closely with many extremely talented colleagues. He specifically looks for a technical challenge in every project. Pushing the envelope is absolutely required and only helps fuel the desire to achieve the ever evolving AAA quality in the games he works on.

Jeff Ross - Sony, Game Director for Days Gone

Jeff Ross is a professional Game Designer with 19 years of industry experience. He is driven by a passion for solving complex technical and creative problems, and the desire to innovate. He’s also “a big nerd for the games we make” and passionate about how they make them. Jeff’s speciality areas include: Game Concepts, Feature Concepts, Level and Mission Creation, Content and Systems Design, Narrative Design, Design Planning, and Team Management and Leadership.

Ian Tornay - Phoenix Labs - Community Manager

Over the last nine years, Ian Tornay has worked with indie startups, industry giants, and everything in between. Having focused on community management he has seen how social media has elevated community from moderating forums to an integral part of marketing. He's changed the way organizations think about community internally as an agency partner. Now, at Phoenix Labs, he's blurring the lines between content creation, influencer marketing and branding.

Alan Rogers - Oregon Games Project Challenge, Board Member

Alan Rogers is former Chair and a current Board Member of Oregon Game Project Challenge (OGPC). OGPC is a unique statewide game development contest designed to inspire middle- and high-school students to pursue careers in S.T.E.M. fields. He holds Bachelor degrees in Journalism and Computer Science. Alan began writing games in the 8-bit era and has programmed on Commodore 64, Amiga, Macintosh and PC.

Neal Bauer - ++Good Games

Sunday, April 16th - 11:45am

Wacom and polycount present: Live Art Battle II

Seth Thomas - polycount

Megan Davis - Wacom

They’re at it again! Learn more about the incredible community of artists at polycount with site co-director Seth Thomas. Wacom provides the canvas - state of the art Cintiq tablets - for talented polycount artists to design live on stage in a free-flowing competition putting their creativity to the test.

Seth Thomas - polycount, Chief Technical Officer

Megan Davis - Wacom, Experience Center Manager

Sunday, April 16th - 12:45pm

Enabling the Future of PC Gaming and VR

Kim Pallister - Intel

Gaming has always been a driver of next-gen technology. Developers want to explore the latest technologies to realize their creative vision and deliver new and unique experiences to users. Nowhere is this more true than with the advent of consumer Virtual Reality products and experiences built for the PC platform. Kim Pallister from Intel discusses some of the challenges facing the near future of VR and the technologies that will take us to the next level.

Kim Pallister - Intel, Director of Virtual Reality Center of Excellence

Kim Pallister leads Intel’s virtual reality (VR) project lab in Hillsboro, Oregon. He and his team work to further the state of VR technology and to bring VR to mainstream audiences. In his current role, Kim forecasts the progress of VR and the ingredient technologies responsible for driving VR experiences. Assisting Intel’s original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners, from Microsoft to HTC and Oculus, Kim works closely on the underlying solutions making VR possible. Prior to rejoining Intel in 2007, Kim worked on Microsoft’s business development team conducting deals for MS Casual Games services, including MSN Games, Xbox Live Arcade and Windows Live Messenger. From 1998 to 2005, he served as games technical strategist at Intel.

Sunday April 16th - 1:45pm

Fake It ‘Til You Make It

Derek Czerkaski - Ubisoft

Phillip Torres-Greene - Sony

Pat Wilson - Teak

The fact is, when starting out in the video game business, nobody really knows how to get from A to B. As you gain more experience, you tend to be able to sort out what works and what doesn’t. But when you’re just starting out, the road is often pot-holed with mistakes. As the expression goes - fail fast, fail forward. Panelists Phillip Torres-Greene of Sony, Derek Czerkaski from Ubisoft and Teak CEO Pat Wilson discuss some techniques that will help you make it through this stage. The panel will explore the toolkit you’ll need to survive a career in gaming: skill acquisition through shadowing, working above your current level and taking notes on your progress, just to name a few. You gotta fake it ‘til you make it.

Derek Czerkaski - Ubisoft Support Specialist

Derek started off as a journalist when he was 16 years old, writing for Gamefaqs.com. Since then, he's been involved in the roles of community support working for companies such as Funcom, Epic, and eventually Sony-Bend, to lead their entire QA team. Having worked on nearly half a dozen AAA titles, Derek is now an experienced member of the Ubisoft with their Player Support team.

Philip Torres-Greene - Sony, Open World Game Designer

Pat Wilson - Teak, CEO

Pat Wilson is living proof that the game industry is the Hotel California. He checked out 10 years ago but still hasn't been able to leave. Pat started his career at GarageGames porting the Torque engine to Xbox and Xbox360, later moving into graphics research and architecture. Currently, as a co-founder and CEO of Teak, he works with some of the top free to play games on the market, providing business intelligence and marketing automation software.

Sunday, April 16th - 3:15pm

How Hackathons Cultivate Innovation

Edward Szczepanski - University of Oregon

Howard Lin - University of Oregon

Joseph Yaconelli - University of Oregon

Sam Schooler - University of Oregon

Learn about the Major League Hacking Hackathon Winning "Game Full of Animals" and the story of how three first-year university students beat the odds by iterating quickly, picking up new technologies and forgoing sleep. The presenters discuss topics including the need for more tech-savvy graduates in Oregon, how different skillsets can help create a well-rounded product, and how hackathons are the perfect medium to cultivate skills employers are looking for.

Howard Lin - University of Oregon

Howard Lin is in his second year at the University of Oregon pursuing a degree in Applied Mathematics and Computer and Information Science. Always curious and striving to be a better programmer and problem solver, Howard aims to become a successful software engineer after college.

Edward Szczepanski - University of Oregon

Edward Szczepanski is a Stamps Leadership Scholar and a second year student studying Computer Science and Math at the University of Oregon. He is currently working with the Network & Security Research Lab at the UO to assist in researching the attack strategies used against Online Social Networks. This summer he will intern for Google’s Maps Data team in Mountain View, California.

Joseph Yaconelli - University of Oregon

Joseph Yaconelli is a sophomore at the University of Oregon majoring in Computer Science with minors in Math and Music. As a researcher in the Lowd Group, he works on advancements in applied machine learning and artificial intelligence. Joseph is a mandolin player and this summer will combine his interests in music and computer science at Harvey Mudd College on a research project examining artificial intelligence and improvisational jazz.

Sunday, April 16th - 4:15pm

Art Institute of Portland Live Demo: Meet Maya, VR Architect

Nikki Dunsire - Art Institute of Portland

In Virtual Reality, the part that matters is the “reality.” But how will these virtual worlds be built? Who is going to build them? They will be built by gamers, developers and artists using tools like Maya, a system for designing, modeling, simulating and animating in 3D. Professor and animation expert Nikki Dunsire from the Art Institute of Portland will introduce you to this powerful program, walk you through Maya basics and show you how to become a creator of worlds.

Nikki Dunsire - Art Institute of Portland

After working as Production Coordinator and Technical Director at Animation Dynamics Inc. (ADi), Nikki Dunsire began teaching in 2008 at the Art Institute of Portland, where she has developed and taught more than twenty different courses. She also serves as Career Service Advisor as well as Academic Department Director at The Art Institute for the Media Arts & Animation, Game & Design, Visual & Game Programming, Visual Effects & Motion Graphics, Photography & Design and Digital Film & Video programs. Nikki was on the grant team that was awarded the Microsoft Hololens Academic Research Grant for developing Augmented Reality applications for trade based education environments.

Sunday, April 16th - 5:15pm

The Future of Indie

Mike Jones - Pipeworks

Stephen Kick - Nightdive studios

Raghav Mathur - Black Shell Media

Ian Tornay - Phoenix Labs

Moderated by Neal Bauer - ++Good Games

Over the last ten years, there has been a massive paradigm shift toward independent titles. The gaming market is no longer dominated exclusively by large AAA studios. Indie game developers account for a large and growing share of releases and now comprise a big enough segment of market that they can no longer be ignored. Powerful game engines and open source tools have become nearly ubiquitous, empowering small studios and individuals to produce innovative games. Panelists dive into the development and business side of a dynamic subset of the enormous gaming industry.

Michael Jones - Pipeworks Studio, Sound Designer

Michael Jones is a sound designer and composer with 14 years of experience creating audio content for the game industry. He's spent most of his career working on licensed games such as Power Rangers, The Cheetah Girls, Deadliest Warrior and Night at the Museum. In all, he's worked on over 70 titles and counting. He's currently the sole sound designer at Pipeworks Studio and also runs his own audio contracting house, Dat's Some Good Sound. In his spare time, Michael also helps organize the Oregon game developer community in Eugene and Springfield, Oregon.

Stephen Kick - Nightdive Studios - Founder

Stephen Kick founded Nightdive Studios, a game publisher and developer specializing in licensing classic video games for the purposes of remastering and historical preservation. To date, Nightdive Studios has re-released over 100 classic games on Steam, including System Shock 2, Strife, Wizardry, the 7th Guest and the Humongous catalog of games. In July of 2016 Nightdive raised over 1.3 million dollars on Kickstarter to reboot the classic 1994 game System Shock, which is currently in development. Their second development team is working on Turok: The Dinosaur Hunter series.

Raghav Mathur - Black Shell Media, Co-Founder

Raghav Mathur is a startup founder, prolific writer and blogger, public speaker and mentor for aspiring entrepreneurs and game developers. He has taught classes and led workshops for startup accelerators and game development training programs. He has also presented at TwitchCon and SXSW Gaming. As Co-Founder of Black Shell Media, Raghav has helped ship over 1.5 million copies of indie games including SanctuaryRPG, Overture and Dungeon Souls. He has also consulted for and published hundreds of independent games on major PC, console and mobile platforms.

Ian Tornay - Phoenix Labs, Community Manager

Over the last nine years, Ian Tornay has worked with indie startups, industry giants, and everything in between. Having focused on community management, he’s watched as social media has elevated community from moderating forums to an integral part of marketing. Ian has worked to change the way organizations think about community internally as an agency partner. Now at Phoenix Labs, he's blurring the lines between content creation, influencer marketing and branding.

Neal Bauer - ++Good Games