Carolina Ravassa

Join Carolina Ravassa, voice of Sombra in Overwatch and Raze in VALORANT, for a conversation about everything gaming and voice acting! She will be joined by two current Mason students to chat about her experiences working with voice actors and game designers all around the world on these hugely popular games. Feel free to put your question in the chat for Carolina to answer at the end of the talk!

https://www.carolinaravassa.com/

Darren Korb

Join Darren Korb of Supergiant Games in conversation with current Game Design student Paul Hiniker. Korb is an American songwriter and composer best known for writing the music featured in Bastion, Transitor, Pyre, and Hades. Their conversation will center around music in gaming, game development, and his experiences on the creative side of each of these popular games. Feel free to put your questions in the chat for Darren to answer at the end of the talk!

Matt Nolan

Professor

George Mason University

Matt is a professor at George Mason University and a co-founder of the computer game design program. ÔÇ»Matt covers a lot of bases in the sound and music areas of computer games, film, and other entertainment industries. In addition, Matt keeps his finger on the pulse of modern art with regular gallery exhibitions and cutting edge technology in his new instruments and control systems for interactivity. Outside of teaching, He works with multiple industries as a consultant. ÔÇ»The Fairfax native has taught over 1300 students at Mason so far. 

Margaret Horton-Gaskins

The George Washington University

I'm Margaret and I was born and raised in the great city of Denver. I am a black girl gamer that specializes in African American History and Women, Gender & Sexuality studies. When I'm not working at The George Washington University, I am at home in Maryland with my wonderful husband and three little gamers!

Luke Peterschmidt

Luke has 25 years of professionalÔÇ»tabletop game experience. He has designed scores of published games including the mega-hit Bakugan. In addition to design, he has taken on executive rolls including co-founding, growing, then selling his company Sabertooth Games (bought by Games Workshop GAW, LON). He has taught (Harrisburg University –ÔÇ»CriticalÔÇ»Game Analysis), done professional speaking, and consulted with multipleÔÇ»fortune 500 companies through his company GeekÔÇ»Dynasty, and publishes games and more through his side projectÔÇ»Fun to 11. He wrote the Extra Credits web series Extra Politics where he used the tools of game design to analyze political systems. He writes the songsÔÇ»that make the whole world sing (that may be an exaggeration).ÔÇ»

Christopher Scroggins

Instructor of Esports

Christopher Scroggins received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science from James Madison University. Currently, he is a doctoral candidate in Sport and Entertainment Management at the University of South Carolina. His previous experiences as a competitive gamer, consultant, and CEO of a gaming and entertainment organization have given him invaluable experience and resources that he uses to research, teach, and provide consultation. Scroggins has appeared on radio shows, news sources such as NPR, and presented at numerous esports conferences and panels across the country. Scroggins has helped develop the Esports curriculum at Shenandoah University and is currently co-editing and authoring one of the first comprehensive esports textbook. Chris still plays video games to stay current with the industry and has recently started to play competitively again. 

Zach Harrington

Head Coach and Assistant Director of Esports

Shenandoah University

Zach Harrington is the Head Coach and Assistant Director of Esports at Shenandoah University. He manages the Shenandoah University varsity esports program and uses his experience as a competitive gamer across multiple genres to coach Overwatch, Rocket League, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. As a computer and technology enthusiast, his technical expertise has helped grow the Shenandoah University Esports program by enabling them to run multiple successful live esports events. He has also leveraged this skillset to build and manage a state-of-the art esports spectator arena for Shenandoah University, which includes a production room used for live streaming, content creation, and esports event broadcasting. He serves on an advisory board for the Virginia High School League which works to implement esports in Virginia high schools. He has also been selected as a PlayVS Collegiate Supercoach. He has spoken on multiple panels about esports and consults on a wide range of esports topics including hardware, event management, and coaching.