… funny thing I saw online everywhere yesterday …

Digital Comics: Technical Challenges of 21st-Century Publishing

The world of comics/graphic novels has leaped online with new delivery systems, channels like iTunes, and on multiple platforms ranging from traditional PCs to Sony PSP and Apple iPads/iPhones.  Quicksilver Software’s founder, William Fisher, has been working with major publishers and artists to deliver comics in these new, digital formats.

In this talk, Bill will discuss his company’s new LongBox Digital Comic Book publishing and distribution system. He will present background about why digital distribution is so critical in this and many other markets, and then discuss some of the key technical challenges faced by the development team as they put together a state-of-the-art infrastructure for multi-platform digital content delivery.

The talk will include details about the competing challenges of providing solid protection against copying while at the same time giving users great freedom in how they can use and enjoy the content that they download. He will also discuss his company’s technical design philosophy, how it influenced the design of the application, the tools, and the back-end infrastructure for the system which is now in final public beta testing.

About the Speaker and His Company

Bill Fisher is the Founder, Kingpin, and Scoutmaster of Quicksilver Software, Inc. Quicksilver creates strategy, simulation, and educational titles, including Star Trek: Starfleet Command, and the U.S. Army’s Full Spectrum Command series.

The company also excels in embedded and vertical market product development, and projects that require custom hardware components. Recent projects include a mobile counter-IED trainer for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, a game for Apple iPhone and iPad, a live poker game show in Las Vegas, a keyboarding skills product, and a military “urban stability operations” simulator.

Prior to founding Quicksilver Software, Inc. in 1984, he managed home computer software development for Mattel Electronics where he developed Intellivision programs. 

Bill has spent 26 years managing his own software development company. His interests range from strategy game development to simulation-based training and artificial intelligence design to usability and user interface design. He maintains an active role in guiding development of the company’s projects, which include products targeted at markets ranging from commercial entertainment software and educational software to simulation software and mobile applications

When: 6:30-8:00pm Wed. evening, 14 July 2010

Where: Richter Hall, California Lutheran University

Free, open to the public.  RSVP requested.

Details, parking info: see our Meetings page.