HowDoI: Build a Sustainable Team

Speakers

• Adam Sulzdorf-Liszkiewicz
  

  Adam Sulzdorf-Liszkiewicz

  “Adam Sulzdorf-Liszkiewicz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Information at Michigan State University. His practice-based research currently explores narrative design techniques for virtual reality experiences, and he teaches and works in the areas of game studies, game design, virtual reality, media activism, and digital literature.

  Prior to joining the faculty at MSU, Adam was Chief Executive Officer of the award-winning design studio, RUST LTD., creators of the best-selling virtual reality game, “Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades””. He has designed and consulted for clients such as Dave and Buster’s, the Independent Television Service, Nokia, Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, Toyota, and numerous research labs and universities. He is also the author of AFEELD, the first full-length collection of digital literature ever published under peer-review by an academic press (CDDC at Virginia Tech, 2017).

  Adam received his PhD from the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, his MFA from the Department of Media Study at SUNY Buffalo, and his BA from Allegheny College.”

• Chris Reid
  

  Chris Reid

  “Chris started and ran one of the first law firms focused on helping indie game developers back in 2013. He worked for 6 years helping indies and other game industry clients navigate the scary-seeming legal side of starting and running small studios. He has made it a particular mission to demystify legal topics and help game makers understand the real, practical things they need to know to successfully navigate working in the industry. To that end he’s been a speaker at various events over the years, including Indiecade, GDC, Pax, and Gamescom.

  More recently, Chris has joined global mobile games publish Tilting Point as their head of legal, where he has worked on a wide range of legal matters from negotiating IP licensed games with major brands like Star Trek and Spongebob, to ensuring user data privacy in a complex global landscape of regulations.

  He’s currently playing Supergiant’s sublime Hades… when he’s not getting sucked back into Magic: The Gathering.”
  twitch.tv/NYGameLawyer

• Gwen Guo
  

  Gwen Guo

  “Gwen is a co-founder and creative director of Imba Interactive, a game audio services studio based in Singapore. Previously, she was a full-time composer & sound designer at the Singapore-MIT Gambit Game Lab. Having nearly a decade of experience at both startups & corporate, she’s developed project management skills with a flair for organisation and execution whilst maintaining welfare of co-workers and staff.

  She is also the chairperson of Singapore Games Association, the country’s primary trade association for games aimed at supporting industry growth across the local ecosystem.

  Other previous game community experiences include being the chairperson of Singapore Games Guild, a non-profit grassroots organisation which organises events for local game developers, contributing as Secretary of IGDA Singapore also kickstarting Game Audio Singapore, a local game audio community aimed to provide knowledge and sharing among students and professionals.

  She will be on a panel about something very close to her heart, which is building a sustainable team. A company is nothing without the team. In this panel, she will share how to avoid crunch and promote care as a service provider in an industry that seemingly celebrates crunch.”