Gamers’ Conference to Target More Cities

Hoping to encourage the growth of local game software companies, the organizers behind the Computer Game Developers’ Conference in San Jose are taking their show on the road.

Demo or die is the theme at this popular Northern California gathering of the top guns in the computer gaming industry. It’s also a chance for those trying to break into the field to network, swap secrets and find a place among elite programmers, designers and product managers.

“But it’s only once a year,” said Jennifer Pahlka, director of the conference. “We kept hearing from people that they worked in the same city but only saw each other at [the conference in] San Jose.”

So Pahlka and her fellow organizers decided to scale back the weeklong event and hold smaller one-day shows in eight cities. Starting in Boston in early September, the event stops at the Sequoia Conference Center in Buena Park on Sept. 27.

Several publishers will be showing off their wares, while the speaker lineup ranges from tips on how to start a game company from Tim Morten, founder of Savage Entertainment, to using technology to “bring life to the undead” from Robert Huebner, director of technology for Nihilistic Software.