Conference with David Crane: “Learning from the History of Video Games”
September 25, 2012
On Wednesday the 3rd of October 2012, at 7.00 p.m. the Open Talent: “Learning from the History of Video Games” will take place at the CosmoCaixa Auditorium (C/Isaac Newton 26, Barcelona – Science Museum) with the renowned videogame programmer David Patrick Crane.
At this conference David Crane (Nappanee – Indiana, 1955) will go through his extended career as one of the most successful videogame designer and creator of all times. He will explain first-hand the history of creation of Activision, the label with which he created mythical videogames such as Pitfall!, a famous videogame that was considered the videogame of the year in 1982 and that remained at the top of the Billboard list for 64 weeks in a row. This is the second most-sold videogame created for the Atari 2600 console, with over 4 million copies sold, surpassed only by Pac-Man. At its time, Activision accounted for one third of the turnover in the videogame industry and was one of the fastest growing companies in this sector in the USA. In 1986 he left Activision to found Absolute Entertainment, together with Garry Kitchen. During this period he developed products such as Amazing Tennis or A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia. In 1995, Absolute dissolved and he founded Skyworks Technologies, where he was the Chief Technical Officer for over 13 years. At present he is an independent videogame developer at Jungle Venture, Inc. During all this time he has been awarded dozens of videogame prizes, such as Designer of the Year, Parent’s Choice or, in 2003, the prestigious Game Developers Choice Award for his contribution to the industry. The main focus of Crane’s conference will be placed on his professional learning throughout his extended career.
The conference will be given in English.
This event will also serve to present the final projects of students from the MA in Videogame Design and Creation at the UPC School from the last edition of the programme, during the school year 2011-2012. This marks the seventh edition of this event, aiming at becoming the link between those participating in the programme, the teaching staff and one prominent person in the videogame industry. Students are given the opportunity to defend their works and present them to the representatives of the main videogame and digital animation companies.
