[Dclug] DC ACM Lecture Monday December 10th, "Game Development" with Lord British

[william fielder]

Dear Friends of the DC Chapter of the ACM:

The DC Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), in 
collaboration with the student ACM chapter at George Washington
University, proudly presents the December 2007 Lecture:


Speaker:  Richard Garriott, aka Lord British

Richard produced his first published game, Akalabeth, in the summer of
1980 while working at a ComputerLand retail store.  In the early 1980s, 
he began development the Ultima computer game series. Originally 
programmed for the Apple II, the first was published by California 
Pacific Computers, and sold in Ziploc plastic bags to interested 
parties. The second installment was published by Sierra On-Line. By the 
time he developed his third installment, the games had such a large 
following that Garriott (along with his brother, Robert, and his father, 
Owen) established their own video game publisher, Origin Systems, to 
handle publishing and distribution. Origin went on to become one of the 
most influential game developers in the history of video games.

Richard sold Origin to Electronic Arts in September 1992.  He stayed 
with Electronic Arts/Origin and launched Ultima Online, the first 
commercially viable massively multiplayer game, in 1997. He left Origin 
in April of 2000 and started a new company called Destination Games. 
Destination Games became a part of NCsoft Corporation in 2001. Richard 
first title for NCsoft, Tabula Rasa, was released in October 2007.  He 
became the ninth inductee into the Academy of Interactive Arts and 
Sciences' Hall of Fame in 2006.  On a side note, Richard gained the 
nickname 'Lord British' from older students at his high school who 
thought he spoke with a British accent.


Topic:    Computer Game Design and Development

Richard has been involved in game development from the time of the Apple
II through today's dual-core powerhouses.  His talk will be about the 
work of today's game developer, from design documents and gameplay 
tuning to programming techniques and application interfaces.


When:     Monday, 10 December 2007.  7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Where:    George Washington University Campus
           Marvin Center (http://gwired.gwu.edu/marvincenter)
           3rd Floor Auditorium
           800 21st Street NW
           Washington, DC 20052

The building has entrances both on H Street between 21st and 22nd 
Streets, and on 21st Street between H and I Streets.  Near Foggy Bottom 
Metro Station.  See website for further details on directions and parking.

This lecture is free and open to the public.  ACM membership is not
required to attend.

Light refreshments will be served before the lecture.

All who are interested are welcome to join us for an after-lecture drink
at Kinkead's.  It's an upscale ($$) bar on I street between 19th and 
20th NW, facing Pennsylvania Avenue.


Regards,

William Fielder
Chair, DC Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery