Los Angeles, CA – April 25, 2012 – Wyrd Con 4 is pleased to announce the addition of a panel featuring Blizzard Entertainment. Project Blackstone: The Great Transmedia Experiment will take an in-depth look at the transmedia experience meant to weave narratives for StarCraft across various verticals.
Panel Description
The ambitious goal of Project Blackstone was to weave a narrative across multiple media, draw traffic to the StarCraft website, raise awareness of StarCraft short stories, and build hype for Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm video game. The experiment was a success on many fronts, and Project Blackstone: the Great Transmedia Experiment will be an opportunity for the creators of Project Blackstone to share their insights, war stories, and opinions on what transmedia really means, and where it’s headed in the future.
Panelists may include such prominent Blizzard personalities as:
- Micky Neilson (Publishing Lead, Blizzard Entertainment)
- Matt Burns (Associate Story Developer, Blizzard Entertainment)
- Justin Parker (Historian, Blizzard Entertainment)
- Cynthia Hall (Creative Development, Blizzard Entertainment)
Cameron Dayton (Creative Director, E-Line Media)
The panel will take place on Saturday, September 14th, 2013 from 5 PM to 7 PM in the Laguna Beach Room.
For more information about this programming, a full schedule of events, panels, games, and workshops, as well as to register for the convention, visit www.wyrdcon.com. Four day attendee badges are only $85 through the end of August.
About Wyrd Con:
Wyrd Con is a live event in Southern California, running from September 12 through September 15, 2013. This unique gathering of storytellers presents an opportunity to participate in Live Action Role Playing, delving into the wild ride of Augmented Reality Gaming, and learning about the cross-platform realm of transmedia.
Since 2010, Wyrd Con has proven to be a fun and educational gathering. This unique convention is now at a point where the initial vision can be realized with your support. The realm of interactive storytelling is a powerful way to expand the knowledge of the day-to-day world and the understanding that our world view is only limited by our imagination.
Wyrd Con has brought together three communities that usually exist independently of each other. Not unlike the three witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Wyrd Con calls in the Three Powers of Interactive Storytelling: Live Action Role Playing (LARP); Augmented Reality Gaming (ARG) and Transmedia. With a few magic words spoken, we watch as it boils and bubbles into an experience that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Wyrd Con is four days and three nights of total immersion into the depths of your imagination. Take on your greatest fantasies, experience different social roles, learn to be a powerful leader, and realize what it means to follow your heart. How you choose to mix these together is your decision, and that is the power of Wyrd Con.
For press inquiries please contact Angelique Toschi at press@wyrdcon.com.
About Micky Neilson:
Micky Neilson is the Publishing Lead at Blizzard Entertainment, where he has worked since 1993. Micky’s game writing credits include World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Warcraft III, and Lost Vikings II. Micky is a television and movie fanatic, and with his writing partner Sam Didier, writes screenplays in his spare time (What spare time? Luckily he was able to create a fold in the time/space continuum!). Micky’s first comic book, World of Warcraft: Ashbringer, hit number two on the New York Times Bestseller list for hardcover graphic novels. Most recently, his graphic novel, World of Warcraft: Pearl of Pandaria, reached number three on the New York Times Bestseller List. With the support of his wife, Tiffany, and daughter, Tatiana, Micky looks forward to continuing his adventures in the worlds of Azeroth and beyond for many years to come.
About Matt Burns:
Matt Burns is an associate story developer on Blizzard Entertainment’s Creative Development team. A graduate of Chapman University’s film and television program, Matt enjoys writing screenplays, gaming, and drawing. During his time in Creative Development, he has helped create licensed and ancillary fiction for World of Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo. His most recent project was developing the Diablo III: Book of Tyrael illustrated guide.
About Justin Parker:
Justin Parker is a Historian with Blizzard Entertainment, and a Classified Hypernet Intrapersonnel Relay Protocol System Admin on Project: Blackstone. When he is not telling people that Protoss can’t smile, he is usually playing some sort of game, including video games, table-top games, and LARPs. Justin has never worked as a CI for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and anyone who tells you that he has clearly doesn’t know what the “C” stands for.
About Cynthia Hall:
Cynthia Hall has been deeply embedded in the Blizzard community for years as a prolific cosplayer before joining the company. After working on all of Blizzard’s IPs in Quality Assurance, she was asked to voice Vera Langridge and provide background support for Project Blackstone. Her extensive work with social media outlets and other tech helped facilitate the activities of the team. She is currently assisting Creative Development with various publishing projects.
About Cameron Dayton:
Cameron Dayton turns core ideas into driving narratives, living worlds, and faceted, engaging tales. As a founder of Chair Entertainment, he co-wrote the screenplay to Advent Rising with Orson Scott Card and built narratives around award-winning games such as Undertow, Shadow Complex, and Infinity Blade. He has written for all of Blizzard Entertainment’s game worlds, including World of Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo. Cameron wrote Blizzard’s first web-comic, Kerrigan: Hope and Vengeance which was ranked #1 on Amazon.com for single-issue digital comics. Additionally, he wrote and directed the Project Blackstone transmedia campaign for StarCraft 2. Project Blackstone broke new ground for the company through a narrative spun between short stories, blogs, twitter accounts, and the game itself – and more than tripled unique visits to the StarCraft site. Cameron is currently Creative Director at E-Line Media, where he is building transmedia narratives on several projects for Google, Summit Entertainment, and Amazon.com.
###
