Developing Interactive Narrative Content Seminar 2005: Speakers

Richard Adams

Richard Adams is currently Director of Interactive at Yoomedia Dating, a subsidiary of Yoomedia Plc. where he was previously Creative Director. Yoomedia is the UK’s leading independent interactive TV and mobile entertainment company. Yoomedia has several fully interactive TV channels on digital TV in the UK and produces mobile interactive services for programming produced by the BBC, Sky and the independent sector. He is currently Visiting Professor of Digital Media at Salford University, UK. He is also co-founder of Earcom ltd, a small digital music and audio company that produces music and sound for a range of media from computer games to mobile phone based tourist guides. Previously he has been founding Head of Digital arts at the London College of Music and Media, Thames Valley University, London where he created a suite of under and postgraduate courses in the digital media field. He was also Strategic Technical Director for Incline Media, part of WPP, working on interactive advertising forms with clients. He first worked in interactive TV in the early/mid 90’s on the then fledgling analogue interactive systems. He is a regular speaker at conferences worldwide, is a published author on interactive media and is a judge for several award bodies including the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Interactive and games awards and the British Interactive Media Awards (BIMA). He first moved into the digital arena 15 years ago when he decided to trade paint for pixels.

Frank Alsema

Frank Alsema works as a creative producer in his company 4xM (Mixed Media Match Makers).
He is specialised in cross media, games, digital storytelling & interactive television, has been working for VPRO TV as director, producer and writer on a wide variety of TV entertainment programmes in many different forms for 20 years.
In September 2000 he joined IJsfontein Interactive Media as partner responsible for producing games, educational software, installations, Cross Media and formats for iTV and the Internet.
www.FrankAlsema.nl & www.4xM.nl are working since 2003 as Mixed Media Match Maker in an international network of associated specialized companies. Frank is tutoring for MEDIA funded trainings like X-Melina, sagasnet, Pygmalion, EMMDIS and frequently lecturing on interactive writing, interaction design, business plans, producing & publishing for iTV, cross media etc. at universities and academies europeanwide.

Joel Baumann

Joel Baumann was born in Bogotá, Colombia in 1969. His father being a diplomat, he spent most of his youth abroad, studying at international schools. He studied dramatic arts and photography in Paris and received a BA in Contemporary Media Practise in London and a MA in Hypermedia at the University of Westminster. After working for Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe he joined the interaction design collective Antirom.
In 1999 Antirom split into smaller collectives and Joel became a founder member of tomato interactive. He is currently based in Kassel, Germany where he is Professor for New Media in the Department of Visual Communication at the art school in the University of Kassel. He continues to be a member of tomato.

Frank Boyd

Frank Boyd is a specialist in creativity and innovation especially in the field of new media.
He has been Director of the European Multimedia Labs, a series of development workshops, since 1995. The Labs have supported some of the most talented new media creatives in Europe in devising new products for digital media.
He was Director of Creative Development for the BBC's Learning and Innovation Division for 5 years to January 2004 where he worked with for producers in television, radio and new media to create new ideas for TV, radio, broadband and interactive television.
Previously he set up the Arts Technology Centre, the first independent centre in the UK dedicated to creative applications of digital technology. Artec's programmes included production and research as well as vocational
training and educational projects.
He was a founder member of the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards and organiser of the UK's Digital Media Alliance (DMA). He has been a special adviser on new media to the UK government's Trade and Cultural ministries, the European Commission and the Council of Europe.
He is currently working for the Mayor of London on policies and programmes to encourage the growth of creative industries in the city.

Matthew Costello

Matt Costello's innovative work includes ground-breaking and award-winning novels, games, and television.

Last year, Penguin published his latest novel, Missing Monday, recently optioned for television. His novel Beneath Still Waters has just finished filming in Spain for Lions Gate and Filmax. His current novel, Out of Time, has been optioned by Electric Entertainment ('The Patriot', 'Independence Day').

Costello wrote the critically acclaimed game The 7th Guest, which helped launch the CD-ROM era. Since then, Costello has scripted dozens of best-selling games for companies such as Eidos, Disney, Mattel, Empire and ID, including the recently released Doom 3 of which Time Magazine said, "To play Doom 3 is to feel your skin prickle with atavistic fear. The story is delivered with unusual art."
He has also created many award-winning games for children, including the landmark Aladdin's Mathquest for Disney, as well as A Cartoon History of the Universe (Putnam) and two games based on the PBS series Cyberchase.

Matt's children's book series The Kids of Einstein Elementary, published by Scholastic, blends math and adventure. The first two books, The Last Dinosaur and The Titanic Cat, were released this summer. Other works for children include Magic Everywhere (Random House) and books on puzzles and games.

For the Disney Channel, Matt Costello co-created ZoogDisney, the groundbreaking on-air/online weekend programming bloc. He has scripted episodes of the hit children's series, Cyberchase as well as episodes, with Neil Richards, of the innovative Priz Jeunesse award-wining Disney/BBC series Microsoap. Costello co-created The Sci-Fi Channel's first original program, FTL News, which ran for over six years.

Matt has also been an interactive and creative consultant for many clients, including James Cameron's Titanic, the BBC, Pilots, and television and game companies around the world. He continues to be a consultant and teacher on Gifted and Talented issues for schools in his home state of New York

mattcostello@optonline.com.

Volker Eloesser

CEO and founder of Elocom Mobile Entertainment GmbH, Volker Eloesser has been in the game business for over seventeen years, releasing his first projects in 1987 while still attending school. In the same year, he co-founded his first company Escal Software GmbH, where he was responsible for the operational management of the company. In addition to ‘classic’ games development, he was one of the first individuals realizing the potential in the market for advertising games and educational software, developing a wide range that was distributed by Bertelsmann. In 1996 he went on to found Elo Interactive GmbH, to refocus on the core interactive entertainment business. Elo Interactive was well known throughout Europe for its developments, conversions, localization services, and the development of customized tools. One of the most famous games Volker created was the implementation of the Artificial Life of “Creatures”, a life simulator where the player has to breed a population of virtual pets. Volker also was a director on the supervisory board of Conspiracy Entertainment Corp., Santa Monica, U.S.A. (stock market symbol OTCBB:CPYE). In 2003, Volker realized the strong potential of the mobile games market. Together with his wife Marianne he founded Elocom Mobile Entertainment GmbH. Elocom soon became one of the leading mobile games development companies in Germany. Volker personally created successful games like “Moorhuhn Camera X”, “7 Zwerge” and “Attack of the Killer Virus”. “Killer Virus” was the first augmented reality game for mobile phones and produced lots of attention in the public.

Noah Falstein

Noah Falstein has been a professional game developer since 1980, serving as programmer, project leader, designer, producer, writer, and creative director on a wide range of titles on nearly all kinds of platforms and game genres. He was among the first ten employees at companies including Lucasfilm Games (now LucasArts Entertainment), The 3DO Company, and Dreamworks Interactive.

Some of his award-winning designs or co-designs have included Sinistar, PHM Pegasus, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Chaos Island, and Hungry Red Planet. Recently he has done design consultation or writing for games from JoWooD including Pusher, Neighbors from Hell (Böse Nachbarn), Aquanox 2 and Legend of Kay. He has also contributed to an upcoming title from Sunflowers and S.E.K. in Berlin.

The first elected chairman of the Computer Game Developers Association (now IGDA), Falstein has lectured and taught classes in game design in production at conferences and universities on five continents. He has been writing the design column for Game Developer magazine since 2002, based on “The 400 Project” game design rules. Among his particular interests are the convergence of storytelling and interactivity, the emerging Serious Games field, and the evolutionary origins of people’s fascination with entertainment. Currently he runs The Inspiracy, doing original design and design review for clients around the world, including both established game companies and those looking to apply game industry methods for purposes beyond entertainment.

More background, articles and contact information are available at http://www.theinspiracy.com

Daniel Kapelian

Daniel Kapelian is a long time, author, director and producer in music, multimedia, cinema and television.
During the 90’s, he started directing and producing interactive programs including « Circus !» « The Collection » for the National Museum of Modern Art of the Pompidou Center in Paris and « 40 years of Creation » for Yves Saint Laurent.
In 1998 he became Chief Editor for In Visio, a pioneer interactive production company and went on to establish Initial Cut Interactive, an international production incubator for interactive media.
In 2000, he began the development of 121 Productions, working on the new generation of interactive formats and programs for digital television, mobile phones, and multi platforms.
Daniel’s book “Coca” was published the same year and is currently being adapted into a feature film. On the musical side his first album “Jet Lag,” was released worldwide under the Buddha Bar label in June 2002 and a new musical project is in development.
On the institutional side Daniel teaches interactive conception at the Paris 8 University, and he is the Vice President of the SACD (French Writer’s and Director’s Guild.) where he heads up the New Media division.

Siggi Kögl

Medienmarketing-Fachwirt (Diplom)
Siggi studied media marketing and business in Munich and has more than 20 years experience in the entertainment and media production market as an entrepreneur. Between1984 and 1990 he has founded Germanys first private radio station as well as the publishing house CMSVerlag/Info-Dienst NEUE MEDIEN, specialised in broadcasting, postproduction and multimedia titles. At this time Siggi had also taken an active part in the German association of private broadcasting and telecommunications (BPRT, today VPRT). After selling the company in 1990 to a major media and publishing group, he was responsible for several periodicals published by that group as a publishing director. In 1993 he founded K&PMMS/3-DD Digital Media AG and raised in 1997 venture capital for the development of multi media projects, games and games related software. Additionally Siggi is the co-founder of the German Association for the Digital Industry (BVDW), today the sector s leading association. Since 2001 Siggi is the founder and CEO of Attaction, a company dedicated to funding games projects around the world, such as RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, a topseller during Christmas sales 2004. The company is the first one having successfully adapted the German model of media funds to the games industry. Siggi advises various banks and investors on alternative investments in games projects.

Peter Krieg

*1947 in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany. Graduated from Berlin Film & Television Academy, since 1973 independent documentary film director and producer, media consultant, business angel and writer.

He made his name as a film maker with socially critical films like “Bottle Babies”, “September Wheat” and “Pack-Ice Syndrome”, but also with techno-philosophical essay films like “Machine Dreams”, “Report From A Deserted Planet” and “Suspicious Minds”. Krieg founded festivals (Ökomedia, InterActiva), developed 1991 one of the first computer controlled interactive film projects, was founding director of the High Tech Center Babelsberg, producer and consultant for Expo2000 and Space Park Bremen and has published several books and articles on media, new technologies and socio-cultural issues. In his new book “The Paranoid Machine” he gives a new interpretation of the history and concepts of “thinking machines” and presents a radically new approach to cognitive computing.

Lives in Berlin. E-Mail: kriegpeter@aol.com

Sibylle Kurz

Communication skill trainer, specialised expert in "The Art of Pitching“, works internationally since 1994 for film-schools and media-institutions. Furthermore she consults, offers trainings and personal coachings in this field in the media-industry.

With an academic background in media- and communication science, psychology and sociology she specialises in intensive pitching training, project presentation and proposal development. As a member of the pedagogical team of EAVE, an European training programme, and with experience in “decision making” for several other MEDIA Programmes and also in consultancy work, her intensive workshop sessions enable producers and writers to hone and time-tune their projects prior to pitching as well as gain insight into their own professional practice. Her experience in “The Art of Pitching” results from more than 15 years experience in acquisition, distribution and co-production of theatrical-, video- and TV-films in the German-speaking market.

Mark Ollila

Dr. Mark Ollila is a parallel entrepreneur having been involved in the creation of new start up companies and research labs in media and mobile entertainment. He loves innovation, and the commercialization of that innovation. Some highlights in recent years, include the co-founding of Machines That Go Ping! (MTGP), a digital and mobile entertainment consultancy working with a wide range of blue chip and new start up clients, specifically in the mobile gaming space.

In 1999, Mark joined Projector New Media AB (which then merged with Kabel New Media GmBH to become one of the largest Internet Consultancies world wide) as New Technology Manager. In mid 2002, Mark became the founding Chairman of Meqon AB, a physics middleware company delivering solutions to game developers worldwide.
In early 2003, after a relaxing holiday back in Australia, Mark founded Telcogames Ltd, a mobile games publisher focusing on emerging markets. In early 2005, Telcogames Ltd had a catalogue of over 800 games with distribution points all over the world with offices in the UK, Australia, Russia, Sweden, Germany, Israel, Taiwan and Japan. Telcogames has published titles like Spooky Slots, and Mr. Bean Mini Racer and are continually developing branded titles such as Kid Ninja and Hoota & Snoz for the mobile market.

From 1997, Mark has been involved in the creation of several research labs involved in research around mobility and media technologies. In certain instances, he has been involved in the commercialization of the research, such as Meqon AB. During 2003 and 2004, he has published several documents for the European Commission on Mobile Entertainment, particularly on Mobile Entertainment Business Models. He is a common speaker on both the industry and academic circuit, recently speaking at GDC on Mobile Computer Graphics and at XML (Cross Media Lab).His current research interests are in Image Based Rendering, Modeling and Lighting, and Mobile Augmented Reality.

Additionally to the aforementioned posts, Mark sits on the advisory boards of Icecom Oy (SIP), ASX listed HLT Pty Ltd (Biometric Security), and the board of Forefront AB (personalization) and JunglePeak Studios AB (a cross media games and content publisher) developing the JungleBowl series of games.

Vincent Scheurer

Vincent Scheurer is a specialist in the law relating to interactive entertainment. Vincent graduated in law at Oxford University in 1993 and was called to the Bar in London in 1994. He started his career in interactive entertainment when he joined UK games publisher Europress as sole in-house counsel in 1997. Following the acquisition of Europress by Hasbro Interactive, he joined UK law firm Osborne Clarke during 1999 where he worked in its pre-eminent interactive entertainment department for almost five years. Vincent left Osborne Clarke to form Sarassin LLP in August 2004, where he continues to work with some of the foremost developers and publishers of video games.

Vincent lectures regularly at interactive entertainment conferences including the Games Developers Conference in 2005 (San Francisco) and in 2004 (San Jose). Vincent also writes regularly for Develop magazine. He is a contributor to the IGDA Contract Walk-Through and the author of the TIGA Template Terms on royalties and related provisions for PC, console and mobile games.