July 18- 20 DeVos Place, Grand Rapids, Michigan
We are teaming up with Realm Makers, the Christian sci-fi and fantasy writers’ conference,
to co-locate our conferences at DeVos Place Convention Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Come show off your game, art, and services in the 55,000 square foot convention expo.
Sponsored By
Speakers
Jacob Benton
Talk Title
Duration: 50 minute
Jacob Benton is a systems designer with over 15 years of experience in the FPS space. Jacob’s journey into game design began at Microsoft Game Studios, working on the Halo franchise. After working on multiple Halo titles, he transitioned to Bungie and was part of the team that developed and launched Destiny 1. He continues today as a Design Director on Destiny 2.
Beyond his career, Jacob is a husband, father, and devoted follower of Christ. A former church planter in Seattle, he and his family now reside in Orlando, Florida.
Joe Bragg
Talk Title
Duration: 50 minute
Benjamin Carcich
Talk Title
Duration: 50 minute
Benjamin Carcich started his career as a military officer before shifting into game dev at Riot Games working on League of Legends. He spent over 8 years there, starting in associate production roles and eventually advancing to director roles.
He left Riot to start a consultancy in 2020, realizing his ability to change the industry through better leadership would be best realized independently. Ben has supported individual producers, game studios, and publishers ever since.
Ben spent time on League post-launch (2011-2017) and on Valorant while it was in R&D.
He’s a certified co-active coach and official ICAgile trainer and has been teaching concepts around Agility, Production, and Game Development Leadership since 2015. Ben hosts the Building Better Games podcast and newsletter and has spoken at multiple events including GDC, IGDC, Shawnee Game Conference and more.
Matthew Colon
Talk Title
Duration: 50 minute
Matt Colón has had a lifelong interest in video game development. In college, he focused his studies on artificial intelligence and computer graphics alongside software engineering, and based his thesis on creating a framework to leverage the believability of autonomous agents while performing reliable stories. Today, he has 19 years of enterprise web development experience, 8 years of game dev experience primarily in Unity, and several years of UX design experience for web and games.
Matt’s has taken on several key leadership roles to use his gifts and talents to show Christ’s love and cultivate community among Christians who develop games. He has served as a board member for the Christian Game Developers Conference (CGDC) nonprofit, as the CGDC SAGE group coordinator supporting small groups of game developers in encouragement, accountability, and collaboration, and as a planner and coordinator for three CGDC: Virtual conferences.
Philip Conrod
Talk Title
Duration: 50 minute
Philip Conrod was one of the first pioneers in the Christian Game Industry. He developed his first game on a Commodore PET in 1977. After graduating from WarrenTech in 1982, Philip co-founded BibleByte Books & Games with his parents. You can watch his CGDC 2016 keynote presentation on the “First 20 Years of Christian Game Development” on our CGDC YouTube channel here.
Since then, Philip has published dozens of apps and games over the past 40+ years. He has also authored, co-authored and edited over two dozen technology related textbooks for the academic market which can be found in online bookstores like Amazon, Walmart and ChristianBook.com. Philip’s applications, games and textbook tutorials have been downloaded and used by over 1 million people.
Philip has also served in various Information Technology leadership roles for Fortune 500 companies like Sundstrand Aerospace, Safeco Insurance, FamilyLife – CRU, Kenworth Truck Company, Paccar, and SVP/CIO for Darigold. Philip currently serves as the CEO of Kidware Software and BibleByte Books & Games. Philip has also taught App & Game Design and Development to K-12 & University Level students.
Philip holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Information Systems and a Master’s certificate in the Essentials of Business Development from Regis University.
Magnus Lehman
Talk Title
Duration: 50 minute
Alex “Magnus” Lehmann is a seasoned creative with roots in film, games, and advertising. From animating Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to shaping iconic League of Legends champions and being an Associate Art Director on Legends of Runeterra, Magnus has spent his career at the crossroads of creative, craft, and culture. Now leading creative development on Riot’s upcoming MMO, he brings both industry insight and a grounded faith perspective.
Kurt Martin
Talk Title
Duration: 50 minute
Kurt Martin, Director of Software Development, started his own software business in 2000. He sold the business in 2006, staying on as president. Martin then worked as a contractor, doing “some really cool stuff for the air force”, before joining the Museum of the Bible in 2015.
He described the technology that is leading the field in terms of museum experiences, most notably a ground-breaking indoor navigation technology that is accurate to within 6 inches, guiding users to exact locations and which can be used to provide detailed information on the artifact under scrutiny.
Daniel Stewart
Talk Title
Duration: 50 minute
From Riot to Mojang Studios, Daniel spent the last 15+ years serving game teams as a program manager, producer, and F2P designer. He is also the Co-Founder and CEO of SwordSharp.com, developer of the anime-inspired Christian mobile game, Crown Blades RPG.
Daniel is a family man of faith that strives to love the Lord, love people, and help others do the same. Tertiary to God and family, gaming is central to him. When not making or playing video games, he helps live service studios embark on their free-to-play journeys.
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“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
-Ephesians 4:3