Getting into the Game

MORRISVILLE, N.C. - September 16, 2008 Vicious Cycle Software is proud to announce that Dave Ellis, senior game designer at Vicious Cycle Software, will be providing the keynote speech for the Writers Guild Foundation’s workshop on video game writing. An all day event on October 18th, “Getting into the Game” will address topics like creating effective story structures, the difference between game-based and traditional narratives, and storytelling formats for different genres, along with practical advice on breaking into the interactive entertainment industry, pitching video game ideas, and collaborating with a design team. The workshop will be held at the Writers Guild of America at 7000 W. Third St. in Los Angeles, CA.

“It’s an honor to be asked to speak at the Writers Guild Foundation's 'Getting Into the Game' workshop,” said Dave Ellis, senior game designer at Vicious Cycle Software. “I think it's great that game writing is starting to get the same level of recognition as other entertainment media such as film and television.”

Other panelists and speakers at “Getting into the Game” include Jay Lender (film, television, and video game writer for Huxley and Destroy All Humans!), Danny Bilson (vice president of creative development, THQ Inc.), Flint Dille (author of The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design), Deborah Todd (author of Game Design: From Blue Sky to Green Light), and many more.

More information about Writers Guild Foundation’s “Getting into the Game” is available at: www.wgfoundation.org.

About Dave Ellis

Dave began his career in the game industry in 1992 as a customer service representative at MicroProse Software in Hunt Valley, Maryland. He then spent several years as a Quality Assurance tester and test lead with the company and eventually moved into a game design role, where he worked on games in a number of MicroProse’s top brands including the Civilization and X-COM series. Dave assisted in the startup of Vicious Cycle in 2000, and then went on to design several Microsoft game products for Random Games. After a brief stint outside the game industry, Dave has returned to Vicious Cycle/Monkey Bar Games as a game designer. In addition to his game industry experience, Dave has a degree in Mass Communication (television and film production) from Towson University in Maryland, and he has leveraged his training to write background fiction and voiceover scripts for many of the titles he has worked on including Flushed Away, Curious George, Star Trek: Klingon Honor Guard and, most recently, Dead Head Fred, which won the first ever Writers Guild of America award for video game writing in 2008. Dave is a published author with 16 books to his credit, and he currently writes a monthly column for GameRoom Magazine.

About Vicious Cycle Software

Vicious Cycle Software, Inc., based in Morrisville, NC, is a premier developer of interactive entertainment software across all platforms. Founded in 2000, the company blazed onto the gaming scene with its debut title Robotech: Battlecry and continues to create compelling titles for all age groups based on licensed and original content. Vicious Cycle is the developer and licensor of the Vicious Engine, a comprehensive and fully portable middleware solution for personal computers, consoles, and handheld systems. Recently, the company announced Vicious Engine 2 (Ve2) which offers a suite of new and improved game development features on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. For more information, please visit the company's web sites at www.viciouscycleinc.com and www.viciousengine.com. Vicious Cycle is a D3Publisher development studio.

Rannie Yoo, TriplePoint

415-955-8521

rannie@triplepointpr.com