Priyesh Dixit 2018 GDC Scholarship
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For the 2nd year in a row, Game Designers Network India is raising funds for one lucky game developer from India to come to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco in 2018.
This year, we are targeting $2000 which will cover hotel and travel for one person and just hotel cost for another person. The Conference itself this year has provided us with a Summit and Main Conference Pass to give to the winner!
If we do not raise $2000, the money we do collect will go to help pay the hostel expenses for as many people as we can ($400 per person).
Our winner for 2017 was Husafia Arab, who wrote about his experiences here .
2017 Winner, Huzafia Arab (Right).
"I want to thank the contributors of the Priyesh Dixit scholarship – especially the close friends and family of Priyesh – (including Priyesh’s brother, who unfortunately wasn’t at the conference this year). I want him to know that the scholarship has been invaluable in helping a developer from India gain global exposure. This trip was made possible due their generosity." - Huzafia
The Priyesh Dixit Scholarship.
This scholarship is named after Priyesh Dixit.
Priyesh moved from India to North Carolina, USA with his family on February 5, 1995. He spent most of his youth in Charlotte, NC. Ever since he purchased an original Gameboy he knew he had to become a game developer. This became his dream and goal that he strived to achieve. All through his education he included as many extra-curricular activities that had to do with programming. After graduating the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in May 2008 he obtained his Masters in Computer Science. His journey took him to Sugar Land, TX where he stepped foot in his dream industry. While working at TimeGate he worked on Section 8 and it's sequel Section 8: Prejudice. He also published two papers: “Discovering 3D Surface Information Values from Gameplayers” and “Understanding Intelligence in Games using Player Traces and Interactive Player Graphs.”
At last, his journey brought him back home to his family when he got a job at Virtual Heroes working as a Software Engineer. Throughout his life Priyesh never turned down the opportunity to help others. From being the president of a local chapter of Association for Computer Machinery (ACM) based in UNC at Charlotte. Before he became the President he volunteered at the Siggraph ACM Sandbox Symposium in 2007 and performed tasks such as directing attendees, cleaning up and setting up game rooms. It was inevitable that his path should cross with the Conference Associate (CA) program at the Game Developers Conference. Priyesh was accepted as a volunteer for GDC 2013, however, he discovered that he had a cancerous tumor and needed to undergo radiation treatment during the time of the conference. Devastated with this news he had to give up his spot as a CA.
After undergoing treatments and a surgery Priyesh was back in full force and applied to be a CA for GDC 2014. He was accepted and was dubbed a CA for the first time. With his positive attitude and friendly aura he excelled at being a CA. In 2015, due to changes to the Conference Associate (CA) program, the International Ambassador (IA) program was created to help more aspiring game developers from outside the US get a chance to attend GDC. Priyesh jumped at the chance to help the cause. He went to GDC with his own money and did all he could to help the IAs.
After two years of battling cancer Priyesh had grown weary and was unable to help as much as he could in the past. He was unable to attend GDC 2016 but still was able to help IA as much as he could. Even with his sickness Priyesh spent his time reading IA applications. Unfortunately, no matter how strong of a will power one has, there are some things you can’t change. After multiple surgeries, and treatments the cancer grew too fast. On May 12, 2016 Priyesh passed away. He may not be here but his legacy lives on through all of the people he encountered. Anyone who had the pleasure of knowing Priyesh has nothing but love for him. There isn’t a person on this Earth that could hate Priyesh. He just had the ability to bring the best out of the people around him.
This year, we are targeting $2000 which will cover hotel and travel for one person and just hotel cost for another person. The Conference itself this year has provided us with a Summit and Main Conference Pass to give to the winner!
If we do not raise $2000, the money we do collect will go to help pay the hostel expenses for as many people as we can ($400 per person).
Our winner for 2017 was Husafia Arab, who wrote about his experiences here .
2017 Winner, Huzafia Arab (Right).
"I want to thank the contributors of the Priyesh Dixit scholarship – especially the close friends and family of Priyesh – (including Priyesh’s brother, who unfortunately wasn’t at the conference this year). I want him to know that the scholarship has been invaluable in helping a developer from India gain global exposure. This trip was made possible due their generosity." - Huzafia
The Priyesh Dixit Scholarship.
This scholarship is named after Priyesh Dixit.
Priyesh moved from India to North Carolina, USA with his family on February 5, 1995. He spent most of his youth in Charlotte, NC. Ever since he purchased an original Gameboy he knew he had to become a game developer. This became his dream and goal that he strived to achieve. All through his education he included as many extra-curricular activities that had to do with programming. After graduating the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in May 2008 he obtained his Masters in Computer Science. His journey took him to Sugar Land, TX where he stepped foot in his dream industry. While working at TimeGate he worked on Section 8 and it's sequel Section 8: Prejudice. He also published two papers: “Discovering 3D Surface Information Values from Gameplayers” and “Understanding Intelligence in Games using Player Traces and Interactive Player Graphs.”
At last, his journey brought him back home to his family when he got a job at Virtual Heroes working as a Software Engineer. Throughout his life Priyesh never turned down the opportunity to help others. From being the president of a local chapter of Association for Computer Machinery (ACM) based in UNC at Charlotte. Before he became the President he volunteered at the Siggraph ACM Sandbox Symposium in 2007 and performed tasks such as directing attendees, cleaning up and setting up game rooms. It was inevitable that his path should cross with the Conference Associate (CA) program at the Game Developers Conference. Priyesh was accepted as a volunteer for GDC 2013, however, he discovered that he had a cancerous tumor and needed to undergo radiation treatment during the time of the conference. Devastated with this news he had to give up his spot as a CA.
After undergoing treatments and a surgery Priyesh was back in full force and applied to be a CA for GDC 2014. He was accepted and was dubbed a CA for the first time. With his positive attitude and friendly aura he excelled at being a CA. In 2015, due to changes to the Conference Associate (CA) program, the International Ambassador (IA) program was created to help more aspiring game developers from outside the US get a chance to attend GDC. Priyesh jumped at the chance to help the cause. He went to GDC with his own money and did all he could to help the IAs.
After two years of battling cancer Priyesh had grown weary and was unable to help as much as he could in the past. He was unable to attend GDC 2016 but still was able to help IA as much as he could. Even with his sickness Priyesh spent his time reading IA applications. Unfortunately, no matter how strong of a will power one has, there are some things you can’t change. After multiple surgeries, and treatments the cancer grew too fast. On May 12, 2016 Priyesh passed away. He may not be here but his legacy lives on through all of the people he encountered. Anyone who had the pleasure of knowing Priyesh has nothing but love for him. There isn’t a person on this Earth that could hate Priyesh. He just had the ability to bring the best out of the people around him.
Organizer
Blake Merriam
Organizer
San Mateo, CA
