Montreal Chapter Melts the Snow
by Jason Della Rocca (January 2002)
Despite the snow storm and crazy traffic, about 100 developers came to the Montreal Chapter's second "Presentations" event. Living in the suburbs, I got stuck in traffic for almost two hours! So, rather than showing up an hour early for setup, I got to the theater 10 minutes after things were supposed to start :-( Big thanks for everyone's patience. We rushed to get the projector and everything set up for the evening's set of three presentations.
Still frazzled from the traffic, I made a few brief announcements (eg, email me if you want to volunteer to help out with the chapter) and gave a very quick overview of some Game Developers Conference highlights. Fred Cie was first up to present NxN Software's digital production management solution, alienbrain. Fred impressed the crowd with his French/"Franglais" rendition of a normally English presentation, but more so on the cost-saving functionality of the alienbrain solution. Next up was Hal Thwaites, a research director for Hexagram (and a communications professor at Concordia University). Hal gave an overview of the newly formed research institute, how it came about and its mission to trigger and sustain innovation in digital arts. Finally, Vincent Brisebois of Discreet did a demo of, and discussed gmax and gmax dev - two very cool tools for developer and user content creation.
After the presentations, everyone found their way to the arcade bar for some much needed drinks and socializing. Also, Jodi Vetterl of Discreet was on hand to give out some really cool gmax t-shirts!
Again, thanks to everyone who endured the cold and snow, and the long wait in line, in order to attend the Montreal Chapter's January event. And, big thanks to our sponsors!
Sponsors from the December gathering:
January gathering - Pictorial
...here are some shots I took during the January gathering of the Montreal Chapter. (all persons are identified from left to right)
First up, Fre Cie of NXN Software presents alienbrain to the chapter -
in French no less!
Next, Hal Thwaites of Hexagram gives a brief overview of the newly formed
research institute and their areas of research.
Closing up the set, Vincent Brisebois of Discreet demos gmax and get's
fragged on the biggest screen of Quake 3 ever seen...
Bruno Fortin (Convergence) pointing the way to the bar for post-presentation
socializing.
JR Bourque, Maxime Leclerc, Melany Pepin and Olivia Collette from The
Dragone Claw Studio, with good friend Fred Bibet of Infogrames.
Ron Martin (Media Principia) enjoying a beer with friends and Fred Cie
(center) and Jim Wills of NXN Software.
Hal Thwaites (Hexagram/Concordia) chatting up Jean-Christophe Pelletier.
"The future of game development!"
...more of the future...