Nerd Nite 099!

Name: Nerd Nite 099!
Start: 2024-10-02T20:00:00-05:00
Location: High Noon Saloon

Schedule

Wed Oct 02 2024 at 08:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

High Noon Saloon | Madison, WI

It's our last Nerd Nite in the double digits, and it is a wild one! We are doing an arts/culture heavy evening this time around with three exciting talks!
First is DJ Shotski with "Why polka music is poised for its 100-year comeback (and what that has to do with the 90s swing dance revival)": Polka became Wisconsin’s official state dance in 1994. Soon another dance craze was about to sweep the nation. Like the swing dance revival of the late 90s, polka is poised to make a comeback. Learn why it’s time to learn how to polka.
Second is returning Nerd Nite presenter Sam Hurley, sharing "Ten Facts about Final Fantasy VII (FF7) and How it Revolutionized Modern Gaming". Released in 1997, Final Fantasy VII (FF7) was a masterpiece of video gaming. When developer Square (now Square Enix) moved development of their classic Final Fantasy series from Super Nintendo to Sony PlayStation, the Japanese Role Playing Game (JRPG) was officially ushered into the modern era of 3D gaming. Combining traditional RPG elements of fantasy and magic with modern themes of corporate greed, environmentalism, and economic inequality, FF7 builds a unique and beautiful Dieselpunk world of floating cities, high technology, guns, swords, magic, and mysterious Mako energy for the player to explore. With the recent releases of Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth creating renewed interest in the series, this talk takes the opportunity to explore the original game and how it was groundbreaking for its time.
Our last talk of the night is brought to us by Matthew Daley: "The Open Gaming License (OGL): What it is, what it does, and where it came from". Many who were on the internet in January of 2023 recall the mess around Wizards of the Coast's attempted dissolution of the Open Gaming License (also known as the OGL), but not everyone knows about what the License is or its checkered history. Matt Daley, a game designer who has published over 50 releases under the OGL is here to give you the full story of what the license entails, what it does for the gaming industry, and what publishing game materials under a license means.