Santa Rosa, CA — Santa Rosa Junior College’s Game Development Program has announced their second annual speaker series, with the first event on the evening of October 17. Long time veterans of the video game trade will discuss their careers and views on the future of the industry. All talks in the series will be presented online, live via Zoom and are free to attend. Detailed information on each speaker and links to each Zoom event are available at https://cs.santarosa.edu/gameviews2023.
On October 17, from 6:30 to 7:30 pm, composer, musician and professor Len Haynes will present his talk, titled, “Audio Sound Design, Creation, Mixing and Mastering for Games, Film and TV.” Haynes will discuss his experience working in a variety of roles in the audio production and music industries for over three decades. The former music producer, recording engineer, songwriter and electronic musician has collaborated with artists such as cult new wave legend Gary Numan, and composed music for television and film, including the “Queer Eye” series and 2018’s “Ocean’s 8” film. He now teaches at SRJC, Sonoma State, Los Medanos College and San Francisco State University. Courses include audio and video production, multi-camera television production, and other media and mass communication topics.
On November 8, from 7:30 to 8:30 pm, “Creating Q*Bert and Other Classic Video Games” will be presented by Warren Davis. Davis was the developer behind Q*Bert, a beloved classic of the arcade era and one of the few real challengers to the period’s juggernauts, Pac Man and Donkey Kong. Younger audiences may recognize Q*Bert from the “Wreck-It Ralph” movies of the past decade. In recent years, as retrogaming has grown in popularity and introduced classic titles to new audiences, Davis has made event appearances and published a book on his experiences in the early days of the American video game industry.
A third talk will be given in December, with detail yet to be finalized. Information will be made available on the event website, or you can subscribe to the Game Dev program mailing list to be notified by email.
The series is part of the career education program for SRJC’s video game development program, which was founded in 2011, with all classes currently offered online. The program offers two courses of study. The 17-unit certificate career certificate is for students interested in an entrepreneurial, independent path. The 25-unit A.S. degree prepares students for transfer to a four-year program for advanced studies in pursuit of a career with AAA game studios, meaning mid-sized to major publishers. The program also offers a fully online, compressed boot camp format that can be completed in either 26 or 35 weeks, depending on the starting term (26 weeks for summer start, 35 weeks for fall start).
For more information, please visit: https://cs.santarosa.edu/gameviews2023
