New to Ubuntu Linux and have a Windows program you just can't live without? Learn how to search for Linux equivalents or use programs like Wine to make your Windows programs compatible with your computer.

CHIFOO Member Admission: FREE. Non members: $5 at the door. All events include door prizes and raffles.

Why do gamers who usually demand the most cutting edge technology still accept the primitive buzzing technologies that do not recreate the real feel of the game? They must have not yet experienced what ViviTouch can add to their gaming experience. ViviTouch enables a gamer to experience thousands of sensations in a versatile language of feedback in the palm of the hand. This allows game developers to change the way that their games interact with the gamer.

Tom will present the exciting consumer reactions from the recent introduction of this technology to gamers and game developers. A case study of the Mophie Pulse gaming case that turns the iPod Touch into a gaming platform with a rumble experience that surpasses console controllers will also be presented. Tom will introduce how game developers can enable gamers to truly experience ViviTouch for iOS, Android, and other platforms by using available design guides and SDKs.

User experience designers can use this innovative technology to communicate useful information through the sense of touch, such as who is calling or messaging, or enabling a user to feel different parts of their screen, to even potentially enable sightless typing on a touch screen. ViviTouch can become a new tool for user experience designers to integrate to create truly innovative user interfaces.

Tom joined AMI in September 2007 as Vice President of Engineering. Prior to AMI, Tom was the Engineering Program Manager for Skypilot Networks, a developer of low cost / high volume wireless infrastructure products. Prior to Skypilot, he held senior management positions in engineering and project management for several companies, including Intel, Raychem, Ericsson Fiber, WaveSplitter, and Siros Technologies. Tom has led the development of numerous successful products and projects in the wireless, LCD display, data storage, and fiber optic industries.

As the use of video games becomes more pervasive--think Angry Birds to Farmville to Wii Fitness--it becomes useful to consider their wider impact on our lives. Are they merely useful for entertainment, or can games help create change through creativity, imagination and play? Can games be valuable for mission-based groups like non-profits, NGOs and community organizations? How can game development connect students to real-world problems?

We’ll kick off the evening with a panel discussion including speakers at the intersection of gaming and game development for education, non-profit enablement and youth outreach. Our panelists will explore how gaming and the creation of games can positively impact our local communities and wider world mission-based efforts. Following audience Q&A, everyone is welcome to continue the discussion over networking, food and soft drinks.

Join us to discuss how creating games and game development can benefit the social good!

What: Meetup and Panel Roundtable
When: Thursday, June 21st 6-9pm
Where: Collective Agency, 322 NW Sixth Ave (between Everett and Flanders)
Who: Game Developers and Designers, Creatives, Educators, Non-Profits, Programmers, Entrepreneurs, Businesses

Please RSVP through Eventbrite http://gaming4good.eventbrite.com/ or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/189704944489416/

Moderator

Erik Wecks, Author of How to Manage Your Money When You Don't Have Any and contributor to GeekDad on Wired.com

Panelists

Keld Bangsberg, Academic Department Director at the Art Institute of Portland including Game Art & Design, Media Arts & Animation, Visual & Game Programming, and Design Visualization.

Chris Brooks, VP of Technology at WebMD and Director at TechStart Education Foundation, which hosts the Oregon Game Project Challenge.

Scott Crabtree, HappyBrainScience. Video game designer, producer, and entrepreneur with over 10 years of professional experience managing the development of video games and has published games on PCs, consoles and the iPhone.

Jason Galbraith, Robotics and Programming Instructor at Sunset High School, Saturday Academy Instructor and coach for the Oregon Game Project Challenge.

Brian Jamison, founder of OpenSourcery, which specializes in Drupal for non-profits and hosts Donor Rally (http://donorrally.com), a free social fundraising game that has helped non-profits raise nearly a million dollars online.

About the Hosts:

PDXTech4Good People and technology creating social good.

Social changemakers and technological forerunners come together at PDXTech4Good events to mix, swap stories, share ideas, build new relationships, and reinforce the online communities of NetSquared and the NTEN 501 Tech Clubs. This group is organized/supported by volunteer efforts and open to all to attend.

Pixel Arts A social entrepreneurship that empowers groups to address social and economic issues through video games. We support innovative collaborations for social good through game development, education, entrepreneurship and community building.

Celebrating classic video and computer games

COPIOUS is a user-centered digital experience agency. We build digital products with the user at heart and technology in our bones.

About TechTalks:

COPIOUSLabs TechTalks series meets every other Friday at 1pm at the Copious office. Our talks span artificial intelligence, new programming languages and techniques, computational linguistics, geographic data processing, systems and software architecture, augmented reality, network security, and more as proposed to our engineering team.

About this talk:

Speaker: Andrew Havens, Senior Software Engineer

Have you ever wished you could re-live the fun you had as a kid playing arcade games? Have you ever wanted to learn 2D game programming with Ruby? Now is the time! The hardware is cheap. The libraries are easy to learn. This talk will cover some basic game programming techniques using Ruby, address some challenges you may run into, and cover the hardware and software you need in order to build and run your own Ruby-powered arcade machine.

All are welcome to attend. If you have a talk that you'd like to suggest presenting, please email it to [email protected] along with a brief outline of what you'd like to cover.

This will be an introduction to Android Programming using Eclipse and Java with the Android SDK.

This is the first event in a series of Android programming talks which will inevitably lead to the production of a classic board game, such as Sorry!

All skill levels are welcome, and no prior Android Experience is necessary.

About the Speaker: Sean Walsh is the Chairman of the Association for Computing Machinery at Portland State University. Sean has extensive experience with User Interface design and undergraduate Artificial Intelligence programming. He is finishing his undergraduate degree in Computer Science, while concurrently taking graduate classes toward a Masters of Computer Science - Artificial Intelligence track.

Play Matters with David Galiel, Elbowfish

David will share how emerging developments in HCI are creating virtual civic spaces. Learn how David and Elbowfish succeed in applying game-inspired approaches to improving work, converting customers to fans, and harnessing the power of community.

"If It Isn’t Fun, No One Will Care" with Grant Roberts, E-Line Media

Grant will share a variety of game and human-computer interaction design insights from his long career in the video game industry — which has featured Marvel Comics games for kids, free-to-play games for phones, big-budget sequels for the hardcore, and casino games for the bargain bin.

“Gamers Succeed Where Scientists Don’t- Combining Humans and Computers to Solve Scientific Problems” with Seth Cooper, Center for Game Science, Northeastern University

Rather than solving problems with a purely computational approach, combining humans and computers can provide a means for solving problems neither could solve alone. Seth will describe the challenges of mapping real-world problems onto games and ways to address these challenges. Further, Seth will discuss other current problem solving game projects and future possibilities.

Whether or not you’re into gaming, you can’t deny the industry’s economic impact here in Oregon. Between 2009 and 2012, it contributed over $111 million to the state’s economy.

So, where is this growing industry headed? Join us at our May PubTalk to get your game on and learn about the future of gaming here in Oregon.

Learn more and register: http://www.oen.org/blog/may-2015-pubtalk/

"Mental Health & Social Impact Are No Game - Or Are They?" with Skyler Corbett, University of Portland Online Learning Development and Yori Kvitchko, SleepNinja Games

CHIFOO 2-for-1! Skyler will cover educational developments in the indie gaming, “You Have Gained A Level - Adding Empathy and Understanding to Online Education”. Yori will be filling in and covering the same topic as Will Lewis. He'll share the pros and cons of applying gameful design to HCI in “Games for Social Good”.

"’Outside-In’ Engagement: Identity, Transformation, and Agency in Digital Story Based Games” with Josh Tanenbaum, Transformative Play Lab, University of California

Joshua will help us draw on theories of method acting training to investigate how to support the experience of transforming into a character in a digital narrative. Then we'll discuss the relationships between embodied game interfaces, tangible storytelling, game-based-learning, virtual worlds, and nonverbal communication.

“Online Story-Driven Games” with Rym DeCoster, FIX Flyer, Geek Nights, & Datenighto

Through his geek-focused radio talk show, events and lecturing, Rym has had exposure to and a direct hand in a variety of projects that leverage game-inspired techniques in a computer interface, and will delight us with his stories about how he's observed the unique interaction of gaming and how HCI is maturing.

We’ve put together a fantastic evening. You’ll enjoy fascinating presentations on surgical, educational and manufacturing applications for VR & AR, and learn how one Oregon studio creates the training simulations that help our Navy prepare for missile attacks. This mental feast will be followed by a gourmet dinner from renowned Chef John Gorham and exciting conversation games designed by Rose City Games. You should leave full of new information, good food, and hopefully brimming with exciting ideas for how virtual and mixed reality can apply to your life and work.

We hope you’ll join Oregon’s video game developers, elected officials, journalists and leadership from the industries outlined above as we learn why Oregon is uniquely positioned to become one of the best gamification, VR and AR development markets in the world.

Game On is the Oregon Game Organization (OGO)'s annual celebration of games and new technology. This year, OGO and TAO have teamed up to bring you several presentations on Oregon games, where games are meeting enterprise, and a wide array interactive gaming stations and demos showcasing regional companies and their work.

Our evening will begin with demos, drinks & hors d’oeuvres, followed by several local companies sharing their current work and what is on the horizon for gaming. We will wrap up the evening by sharing additional hand-picked demos to educate and entertain all attendees of Game On.

The world of gaming is evolving rapidly. Games are a strong and ongoing contributor to job creation and the state’s economy, and the rapidly expanding AR & VR markets offer opportunities for us to use gaming skill sets to solve real world problems. Join business and creative leaders, policy makers and educators on the evening of March 9th to see what where we’ve been and what’s coming next.

More details on speakers and tickets are here: https://www.techoregon.org/events/game

The Portland Mercury proudly presents, BetaCon: Oregon's first major video game and technology expo. BetaCon's mission is to bring together gamers, technology fans, educators and innovators. Connect with developers, designers and artists, try new titles, meet studios and inventors, compete in contests and competitions and attend betaLIVE panels and conferences. Experience the future of gaming and technology at BetaCon. BetaCon takes place in Portland at the Oregon Convention Center, April 15 & 16, 2017.

The Portland Mercury proudly presents, BetaCon: Oregon's first major video game and technology expo. BetaCon's mission is to bring together gamers, technology fans, educators and innovators. Connect with developers, designers and artists, try new titles, meet studios and inventors, compete in contests and competitions and attend betaLIVE panels and conferences. Experience the future of gaming and technology at BetaCon. BetaCon takes place in Portland at the Oregon Convention Center, April 15 & 16, 2017.

Whether we are posting to social media, messaging friends or crushing candy, most of us spend way too much time on our phones. Chances are you're reading this on a phone or tablet, right now! The future is mobile!

Join Out in Tech PDX on November 20th as we chat about all things mobile. Ever wonder how an app goes from being an idea to being a best seller in the App Store? Curious about what tools it takes to build an app? Confused about the difference between Apple and Android?

Our experienced panel of mobile developers will answer all these questions and more.

Please RSVP for a FREE ticket on Eventbrite to attend!

Schedule

6:00 | Doors

6:30 | Panel Discussion + Q&A

8:00 | Social Hour

9:00 | Event Ends

Featured Panelists

Lauren Lizardo (she/her) - Unity Game Developer

Zach Heusinkveld (he/him) - iOS/Android Developer, Kiva

Dan Melton (he/him) - Staff Software Engineer, Dipsea Stories

Morgan Lutz (she/her) - Android Developer, Kiva

Whether you are interested in technology, leading your own company, or just looking to connect with the LGBTQ+ tech community, this event is for you.

A BIG thank you to our FABULOUS sponsors who made this event possible:

eBay for graciously hosting us and providing food and beverages.

Ovidio Francisco for volunteering his time and talent to build our beautiful graphics for this event

Registration through Zoom is required to gain entry to this virtual event

The wise video game director of “Tell Me Why,” Florent Guillaume said, “...authentic representation was crucial, in part, because video games can put you in the shoes of characters that you don't necessarily relate to.” Gaming is a big industry. With representation from all over the world, it takes more than just code to represent the authenticity of a character within a game. It also means that the people creating it are well represented in order to provide as accurate a representation of the cultures and behaviors enacted within a game.

Join PDXWIT for this panel discussion to learn more about how game acculturation is changing the gaming industry and what it takes to create characters and stories that you and I can relate to in a virtual environment.

Facilitated by Crystal Sincoff and Hazel Valdez, you will hear from Kate Edwards, Executive Director of Global Game Jam, as well as game developers including Lauren Lizardo and Zach Deocadiz as they discuss what’s happening in the gaming industry today.

You will also hear from our host and find out if they have open positions.

Agenda: 12:00 p.m. - Event opens/networking 12:05 p.m. - Introductions 12:10 p.m. - Panel discussion begins 12:50 p.m. - Q&A 1:00 p.m. - Event ends

Purpose: PDXWIT is building a better tech industry by creating access, dismantling inequities and fueling belonging. Our events are inclusive. ALL people who support our purpose are welcome.

This is super casual - We're hosting a game night for founders, professionals, remote workers, and everyone else to get together for a night of gaming!

Bring your card games, board games & table sets, consoles, or whatever else floats your boat. and snacks & drinks (for yourself or to share!)

Let's build friendships & network outside of the usual networking events & socials.

Perfect for introverted types who are looking to make friends while given something to do.

All are welcome.

RSVP on meetup to be sent after-hours building access info, 24 hours before the event: https://www.meetup.com/pdx-midtown-strikes-back/events/300181435/

See y'all soooooon.

Get ready to kick off the holidays with a night of gaming and good vibes! Join us 11 floors up at NedSpace for an exciting mix of eSports, classic board games, and a relaxed atmosphere perfect for connecting with fellow gamers and enthusiasts.

Whether you're here to dominate in competitive video games, enjoy some nostalgic board game fun, or just chill with friends, there's something for everyone.

Highlights:

• eSports Stations: Bring your laptops & consoles and jack-in on the ultra-wide monitor setups in our Web & Interactive and Code Lab rooms. Parallel play or let’s pick a game & co-op.
• Board Games: A variety of classics and new favorites to keep the fun rolling. A game of Catan anyone?
• Chill Vibes: LED-lit rooms, cozy social spaces, and killer night views of metro pdx to make it a night to remember. Bring your crew or come solo — open invite to all, this is your chance to level up your holiday season!