December 2008 Meeting Recap

The December Philly IGDA meeting proved to be another exciting meeting with a great turnout. Alex Horn opened things up by recounting his experiences at the Montreal International Games Summit. After hearing about the speakers and events at MIGS, I don’t think many would pass up an opportunity to make it to next year’s summit.

Next, Phil Johnson talked about his experiences leading up to a job at Red Storm. He presented many obstacles one might face while breaking into the industry, and how to prepare for them (although he refused to share any programming interview questions with us ). Presented alongside his words of wisdom were some book suggestions and advice about jobs that share skill sets with jobs in the industry. Phil has since left Philadelphia for his new job, and while he will be missed, we wish him the best in his endeavors.

Finally, Mike Worth gave an energetic presentation about music in video games. He used music examples from both games and movies to emphasize that game music is not movie music, with his overlay of the Halo theme on top of a scene from Star Wars being particularly entertaining. His knowledge from first-hand experience was especially valuable for producers who must decide which composer to hire for their game, and it would be difficult to come across his advice anywhere else.

-- originally posted by Ian Perera on 1/4/09