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Art
AI in Art and Marketing Pipelines - How We Integrated AI to Create Reliable Commercial Returns
I did a 20-minute talk at PG Connects 2023 in January in London on how we deeply integrated AI into our art and marketing pipelines, increased our conversion rates to 8%, and made AI a cornerstone of our company strategy for sustainable game development. It went down exceptionally well in content and delivery, but the 20-minute timing did not allow the time to fully explore the results and process.
At Brighton, I would like to expand on this, do the full version of the talk that will include our process, marketing results, and commercial results, and leave the visitors with a blueprint that they can use to replicate and integrate that knowledge into their workflows.
Session Takeaway
- What AI tools to use and how to use them
- How the combining of these tools improve results and our results were
- A blueprint of how to replicate and integrate AI into your game company processes.
Bitmaps and pieces: Tips and tricks learned from working as an art generalist
One does not simply work on No Man's Sky updates for 5 years without picking up some handy lessons along the way.
In this talk, we will share and examine some of the practical and theoretical knowledge gleaned from working as an art generalist in a small team. From concept to gameplay, and from organic fauna to hard sci-fi surfaces, the talk will cover subjects such as:
- What the pipeline of an art generalist in a small team looks like.
- Practical skills for generating ideas as a non-concept artist.
- Techniques for getting more art with less time.
- Design tips and tricks, and why fundamentals are key.
Hopefully artists will walk away with new ideas and inspiration for making new work efficiently as well as ways to build on their level of quality with the tools they already have.
Session Takeaway
- An insight into some parts of the art pipeline that may be otherwise unfamiliar
- Practical tips and techniques for artists to add to their generalist workflows
- Inspiration and confidence for artists to get more out of their work
Concept Art In Returnal: How Creative Principles Shaped Returnal’s Visual Development
Veera Hokkanen was part of the visual development of Returnal which is Housemarque's latest award-winning science fiction roguelite AAA-game. She will explain the core guiding design pillars of Returnal and how these principles affected the art style of the game. Throughout the presentation Veera will showcase various concept art paintings done during the production of Returnal with her personal views of each work on the side.
Session Takeaway
- The importance of defining creative goals in order to build a coherent visual look for a game
- Overview to the work of a concept artist in different stages of production
- Lessons learned from creating our first roguelite game from an artistic perspective
Creating Characters with Narrative Appeal
Concepting characters is one of the industry’s most sought after roles and a skill that is often judged by very subjective opinions. So how can you be sure you’re creating the right characters for your project? As humans we’re very drawn to other humans and the stories they have to tell, whether that’s AAA behemoths like Aloy or Masterchief, or the diverse array of characters that the indie scene presents. So how do you design the right character for your game? How do you know where to start, especially in those early development stages where nothing is locked down and everything is possible? Join concept artist and illustrator Sam Hogg as she talks through her process for compelling character design.
Session Takeaway
- How to give yourself a starting narrative
- The design process in a nutshell
- How to find the unexpected
- Why appeal is important
Minecraft Legends: Building a unique animation style true to Minecraft
When Blackbird Interactive was given the opportunity to develop a genre-bending action strategy game set in the iconic Minecraft universe, it led to a fascinating problem: How do you make a distinct adaptation without inadvertently losing what made it so beloved in the first place?
In this presentation, Game Studio Animation Director Eric Luhta examines that problem through the lens of animation. He explores Minecraft's distinctive (and very unique) approach to character animation and movement, and the enormous challenge he and his team undertook to find that core essence of Minecraft's animation style and adapt it to Minecraft Legends' host of brand new characters and enemies. Alongside plenty of videos and screenshots, Eric will provide concrete examples of his team's approach to bringing the world of Minecraft to an entirely new genre and at a level of detailed movement not seen by the IP before.
In doing so, Eric creates a loose framework that other developers — regardless of discipline — can apply when developing new games set in well-established IP. A philosophy that can help you identify the inalienable essence of that IP, what aspects of it can be modified or altered, and an iterative process for bridging those two elements together.
Session Takeaway
- How to find what makes an IP unique and preserve it
- How to add new ideas while maintaining the IP’s integrity
- How to animate characters from the inside out
Observational Drawing
This talk would be the value of observational drawing/ painting and it's possible carry over effects into art and other fields.
Session Takeaway
- Observational Skill, learning how to perceive the world or a specific subject matter.
- Analytical thinking. Breaking down the visible and understanding it's mechanics
- Astraction and projection. While transitioning the seen onto paper we need to re assemble information and since we are limited by our tools, we need to learn to abstract and imitate.
Style, Trends, Immersion and Abstraction - Developing UI Art Direction
Great game UI art elevates a game, it keeps players immersed, it helps tell the story or build the world, it makes reading quest entries, crafting items and selecting skills things players want to do not have to do. So how do we develop our UI art to make sure we are creating something that compliments the game rather than something we have to add because otherwise its hard to know how many bullets/pumpkins/gems we have?
It is not always obvious how to get from grey boxes to UI that stands out for all the right reasons, but by looking at UI styles and trends, where on the immersion to abstraction scale we want to be and how genre and platform can influence UI, we can develop truly striking UIs. This talk will cover some kick off points to consider when developing your UI Art Direction.
Session Takeaway
- Trends and styles in UI art
- Immersion to Abstraction, a scale to plot against to help with decisions about UI elements
- Tips for how to kick off your art direction for the UI
The 3D Character Art Workshop
A full bodied and in depth breakdown of best practices to follow and common mistakes for games characters but most importantly; how to fix them. Learning any discipline can be trial by fire with universities not having the scope to foresee issues you may face in a studio, resources online often not breaking down key fundamental pipeline must haves and so fresh artists may not realize their mistake until it's already been pushed into the main branch. Here you will get a comprehensive guide to the pipeline for 3D characters with an abundance of opportunities to have your questions heard and answered.
Session Takeaway
- Best practices for games characters for production
- How to spot and best fix common mistakes in the character art pipeline
- How to implement stronger artistic fundamentals
The Innards of F.L.E.S.H: Dead Island 2’s Gore System Dissected
Session Takeaway
- Smart combinations of simple techniques can be used to create procedural gore at a quality level that is competitive with bespoke art assets.
- Clever thinking about in-game procedural techniques can improve content pipelines.
- Procedural feedback systems can improve the sense of connection between the player and the virtual world.
Audio
A Daily Practice - Safeguarding Your Audio Team’s Mental Health & Wellbeing
Creating best of breed game audio can provide many moments of fun, joy and job satisfaction. But it can also be challenging, tough and failure-prone. Worse, we all too often hear stories of crunch, poor management, stress and even burnout where companies have lost sight of what makes all those profit-generating pixels and wave forms sing – namely the talented human beings behind them. We need to look after those creative souls, and respect and motivate them to continue authoring awesome game audio experiences. Doing so whilst balancing project parameters and deadlines is will not always easy but it’s the right and wise path. This talk will offer tools and advice for working to maintain and improve your team's mental wellbeing – you may not always succeed but the key is to try – and to make it a daily ‘practice’.
Session Takeaway
- Discover how prioritising your teams mental wellbeing will benefit your project and ultimately your company’s future.
- Explore practical techniques and methodologies for helping your team manage stress.
- Find out how you can help others plan to succeed and be fulfilled in their work.
- Learn how to create a healthy creative environment which promotes openness and positive critique and what it means practically and in daily practice to respect, motivate and encourage your colleagues.
I Know What You Did Last Somerville
In this talk, Somerville’s Audio Director and Audio Programmer discuss the creative and technical challenges of the game’s sound design and how they overcame them. They will cover the cinematic, storytelling mix and creating Somerville’s brooding sonic atmosphere; how the alien elements of the audio were created and implemented; and how sound was used to ground the player in an interactable environment.
Session Takeaway
- How to empower sound designers to create mix moments for a story-driven game through flexible, reusable tools rather than strict rules.
- How to design and mix sound for a highly cinematic camera with an always-controllable character.
- Some good practices to use when you Wwise up Unity.
- What worked well and not so well when creating the sound of Somerville.
Presenting an Authentic F1 Audio Experience: Insight into an Asset Heavy Cross Disciplinary Pipeline
Key members of Frontier’s audio team tell the story of a deep collaboration of skillsets within tech audio, and how they turned the usual audio design process on its head by heavily mining real world assets from F1 - including recordings of every driver and car in every race from last year and this year’s seasons. They’ll discuss how they focused on designing automation and clever systems to select the correct asset to use in the simulation, based on game data (track, camera position, manufacturer, driver) at run time, and how by bringing together different aspects of automation and technical design to create a smart collaborative asset pipeline, they have created a compelling and authentic game sound experience.
Session Takeaway
- Gain insights into deep cross-discipline collaboration.
- Be challenged to think outside the box when approaching audio design.
- Learn how to create a highly effective asset pipeline using technical smarts.
Business
A Developer’s Guide for Raising Money from Venture Capitalists
Venture capitalist funding involves giving away a part of your company in exchange for money. It can be a great way of funding projects and ideas without losing IP rights or handing over creative control to a third party. It's a very common way of funding but isn't widely used in the games industry in the UK despite billions of dollars being available for the right companies.
Session Takeaway
- Whether VC funding is right for your business.
- How to value your company.
- How VCs work.
AI in Art and Marketing Pipelines - How We Integrated AI to Create Reliable Commercial Returns
I did a 20-minute talk at PG Connects 2023 in January in London on how we deeply integrated AI into our art and marketing pipelines, increased our conversion rates to 8%, and made AI a cornerstone of our company strategy for sustainable game development. It went down exceptionally well in content and delivery, but the 20-minute timing did not allow the time to fully explore the results and process.
At Brighton, I would like to expand on this, do the full version of the talk that will include our process, marketing results, and commercial results, and leave the visitors with a blueprint that they can use to replicate and integrate that knowledge into their workflows.
Session Takeaway
- What AI tools to use and how to use them
- How the combining of these tools improve results and our results were
- A blueprint of how to replicate and integrate AI into your game company processes.
Are Your Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Initiatives Helping or Hurting?
Over the last several years we’ve seen a substantial increase in conversations around the importance of building healthier studio cultures. Studios are finally asking questions about how to boost numbers of underrepresented workers, and how to retain those workers for the long term. This has opened up a market for DEI managers and consultants with the exclusive focus on helping improve company culture, but is it really working? Are the legacy systems and structures inside of game studios still hindering progress and causing more harm to workers?
This discussion will provide participants the opportunity to discuss the challenges in creating real culture change to both support workers and build better games.
Session Takeaway
- Gain insights into the current state of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work in the games industry
- Gain a deeper understanding of the roadblocks and impediments to creating healthier work environments
- Learn from peers about their successes and struggles in transforming workplace culture
Blockchain to Bring Games to the Next Level
The session will be an introduction to the concept of Web 3 games and the value blockchain technology is bringing to the gaming industry. I will discuss the concept of digital ownership of in-game assets, NFTs utility, and a recommended approach to NFTs integration; how to build a successful project via partnerships, community building and focus on user experience. I will also share some of the work I am doing with my new project Gamebridge which is building blockchain infrastructure for games.
Session Takeaway
- understand the value of blockchain in games
- digital ownership
- importance of community and partnership
- A strategic approach to NFTs in games and metaverses
- focus on user experience
Congrats! You’re a Middle Manager! Now what?
This session is aimed at middle managers or people aspiring to become one. As middle managers we need to be able to balance our main specialty, while taking care of other colleagues. And sometimes we aren’t even great at dealing with people! This talk wants to inspire listeners to believe it is possible and it can have a huge positive impact on other people. To make this journey landed in something more tangible, I’ve chosen to use scuba diving and the different levels of awareness of the sport. This translates very well to understand in a practical way how to successfully handle middle management.
Session Takeaway
- Learn how to: First, take care of yourself. Second, take care of your project. And third, take care of others.
- You don’t need to be a people person or extroverted to be a great manager.
- Being a manager can be very rewarding and you can make peoples’ lives better.
Farming Simulator Production Pipeline
This talk will provide a comprehensive look into the development and production pipeline of Farming Simulator, showcasing the various processes and tools that we utilize to create and deliver a successful game. From the pre-production phase to the final builds, the presentation will cover the various tasks and responsibilities involved in creating a title of this scale.
We will also delve into the increased role of QA on the project, highlighting the custom test plans that were created for the 400+ assets in the game, and how the team took on the role of localization for the past game with the help of a glossary that was designed from the ground up and a proprietary localization tool that we created ourselves.
Additionally, attendees will gain insight into the build creation and distribution process, as well as how we work closely together with our Modding community to bring user-generated content to our inGame ModHub.
Overall, this talk will give an in-depth understanding of what goes behind making a big project like Farming Simulator and how a team works in cohesion to deliver a seamless experience across all platforms.
Session Takeaway
Our goal is to provide a transparent and informative look into the development process of a successful sandbox game like Farming Simulator, so that other teams and developers can learn from our experiences and potentially implement similar techniques in their own products. Additionally, this talk aims to help other teams who are working on similar projects, giving them insight on how to manage and optimize their resources, improve quality assurance and publishing process and how to better engage with their community to create a better game.
Northern Lights - The Past, Present and Future of Games Development in Yorkshire and the UK
To celebrate 20 years of the games business network Game Republic, Develop: Brighton hosts a panel session with the people and companies that have shaped the Yorkshire and Northern England games industry to find out their biggest lessons learned in that time, what advice they would give to companies starting now and what the future holds for the Yorkshire and UK games industry.
Session Takeaway
- Advice for new business start-ups
- How to get investment/acquired
- The current games market and beyond
Coding
Cloud Native Development Level Up for Smaller Teams
Cloud technology has been a game changer for the wider tech industry in the past decade. It has been well-adopted by bigger players in the games industry too, but less so for smaller teams. The speaker Yoyu made a bold career transition from a cloud technology consultant to an indie game developer three years ago. She has seen so many ways even small game dev teams can utilise cloud technology to improve their productivity or enhance the game experience.
In this talk, she will use real-world examples of how her team utilises cloud technology, and give practical advice on how to adopt cloud-native development, in particular for smaller teams,
Yoyu is a Google Developer Expert and Champion Innovator for Google Cloud. She is also a narrative designer for Reigns: Three Kingdoms (2022) and a producer for Whispers in the West (2023).
Session Takeaway
- What “Cloud Native” means and how it differs from “game servers”
- Some practical tips for small teams to utilise cloud technology at almost no extra cost
- Use case example of using Github Actions to pre-process Google Sheets data
- Use case example of using Object Storage for hosting dynamic game content
- Use case example of using Cloud Functions for Twitch extension backend
Dodging Bullets: Lightweight Automated Testing in Rollerdrome
Rollerdrome was released to critical acclaim in 2022. It was an enormous technical challenge to combine tactical third person shooting with rollerskate-based physics traversal on a tight budget, but the game was remarkably stable through development and launch.
The team used automated testing to support that stability, letting the build server run through specific game scenarios multiple times a day. QA were able to forgo repetitive tasks, artists had confidence their work would load on every platform, and engineers were able to continue deep optimisations very close to console sub.
It took surprisingly little effort and expertise to set this up for Rollerdrome. In this talk Andrew Fray will explain how even small teams can get started with automated testing in just a few hours, and why you might want to start applying some basic automated testing to your projects no matter where they are in development.
Session Takeaway
- To understand how automated testing can help your project, no matter its stage of development
- How to get started in automated testing with very little setup, and see instant benefits
- Next steps for when you’re ready to up your automated testing game
Every Bit Counts: Effective Rendering Techniques for Sandbox Games
Frontier Developments has a history of making simulation and management games that allow the players to have very high degrees of creative freedom. These degrees of freedom bring implications to how our rendering systems need to deal with the highly dynamic nature of our games and require us to think outside of the box. This session will provide some case studies of how we tackle those problems and provide insight into the reasoning behind them.
Session Takeaway
- Why to not underestimate the proven track record of game development’s wide range of rendering techniques
- How the interaction between multiple rendering techniques can have a larger impact than the contributions of a singular technique
- How decisions about your game world can affect which rendering technique to choose
- How to think about how your rendering techniques impact the look and feel of your game world
How Splash Damage Utilises Epic’s Horde Build System
Horde is a new build system developed by Epic specifically for Unreal Engine. In this presentation we will discuss what exactly Horde is, how it can help accelerate development of Unreal projects, what we learned rolling it out to 5 projects and hundreds of developers, and key things to be aware of if you want to try it yourself.
Session Takeaway
- What is Horde and how it compares to alternatives
- Why should you, or should you not, use Horde
- Leasons learned rolling Horde out to a studio
Lego Starwars: 200+ character states built for 384 playable characters
One of the more unique challenges the Lego titles developed by Tt Games face compared to many other AAA games is not only creating a large number of different interactions you can do as a player, but then also customising and configuring these across such a large array of playable characters.
In Lego Starwars: They Skywalker Saga we took the opportunity to re-build much of the code base and this meant building over 200 character states from scratch and creating workflows to allow these to be configured and customised efficiently across 384 playable characters ( and a lot of non-playable characters too! ).
This session will look at the systems and processes we put in place to make this a much more manageable task.
Session Takeaway
- Understand one of the more unique challenges we face when developing the Lego games.
- Understand why we made the decisions we did around our and how other games would likely make a different set of decisions based on their need.
- See how through well thought out plans you can minimise the work and overhead needed for setting up a large variety of playable characters.
Programming for ‘As Dusk Falls’: Using Unity Differently
In the summer of 2022 Interior Night released its first title, the branching narrative game 'As Dusk Falls'. Developed in Unity, this game posed some interesting engineering challenges due to its very nature. Think for instance of its instantly recognizable and distinct art-style using 2D characters placed in 3D environments. These character images are created by 2D artists based on stills from video shoots of actors playing out the story, which allowed us to capture the emotion of the actor’s performance. This, however, only works if these 2D and 3D elements are merged together perfectly. Or what about the design requirement to have no loading screens whatsoever during an entire episode.
This talk will focus on how As Dusk Falls was realised by creating a range of bespoke Unity extensions and pipelines as well as a number of supporting tools around that. It will discuss the way the game was constructed in Unity, how content creators were able to navigate through the game both at design and runtime and how the tools were made to enable them to work effectively. As a specific example it will examine the character pipeline combining 2D character images with 3D environments by describing the custom tooling created in Unity to work with these character images, the bespoke tools implemented to generate the required content at the video shoots, the automated processes happening both inside and outside Unity to support the content creators, and many more elements that tied into this pipeline. Furthermore, this talk will also highlight some additional (Unity) tools and integrations implemented to facilitate debugging, performance measurements, reviews and iteration, and providing production with insights into the state of development.
Session Takeaway
- How to build a branching narrative game in Unity
- How to organise a narrative game to hide content loading
- How to create an art style that combines 2D and 3D elements
- Examples of how to create custom UI and integrations for Unity to streamline the workflow for content creators
- Examples of how to combine tools inside and outside Unity to create bespoke pipelines
- Examples of how to use automated processes to free up development time
Realtime Engines: Blurring the Boundaries Between Film and Game Development
Delivered by a games industry veteran, turned VFX noob, this session will begin with an examination of the growing trend in using real-time engines as part of the film-making process. Exploring the current applications for real-time engines in Virtual production. From In-Camera VFX using LED volumes, to engine use in Pre and Post visualisation.
Framestore's Unreal Shot Engine (FUSE) – a collaboration with Epic through their MegaGrant project - is presented as the next step in real-time engine use for film. This innovative technology seamlessly integrates Unreal Engine into the company's VFX pipeline.
In order to test FUSEs real-time workflows in a production environment, a short film "Flite", has been created. Which will be used as a case study to discuss the benefits and trade-offs of using real-time engine technology in this way.
The session concludes by considering the exciting possibilities that now exist for closer collaboration between the film and game industries.
Session Takeaway
- You'll have gained a comprehensive understanding of the traditional VFX pipeline.
- You'll understand the significant improvements that real-time technology has brought to the filmmaking process. And why real-time engine use in film has rapidly grown in popularity.
- You’ll have seen how the FUSE project has integrated Unreal into the VFX pipeline. And been used to produce a short film, rendered completely within Unreal Engine.
In summary, this session offers an invaluable opportunity to gain knowledge and insights into the cutting-edge technology and practices that are shaping and bringing together the future of the film and game industries.
Sustainable Coding with a Mental Health Mindset
By being kind to yourself, to the code, and to others, you can be more productive, accept future changes more easily, and leave the path open to implement new features while making your current features work better together. All with a sustainable mental health mindset.
This talk explores the intersection of game programming, software engineering and emotional intelligence. Topics include how to keep your codebase nimble, how to code well with others with a kind approach to feedback and specific approaches to game engineering to keep one step ahead of design changes.
Session Takeaway
- Kindness for game programmers: boost productivity while keeping your mental health
- Day-to-day coding principles to follow
- Modern software engineering practices applied to games: dependency injection, asynchronicity, reactive programming
Design
“Do I Look Like A Gamer?”: Bringing Genuine Diversity to Video Game Narratives
As part of the "Do I Look Like A Gamer?" representation campaign, we will explore the current state of storytelling in video games and the importance of bringing genuine diversity to narrative design.
The roundtable will be moderated by mayamada co-founder Nigel Twumasi, who will lead a conversation with players and makers to discuss examples of diversity across video game storytelling, and how to distinguish between tokenism and authentic representation.
The panellists will emphasise the importance of creating genuine diversity in narrative design, not just for the sake of representation, but to improve storytelling in the medium going forward. This means the need for game makers to incorporate a diverse cast of characters that add depth and complexity to stories, making them more engaging and resonant with players.
We will help game developers to understand why creating genuine diversity in narrative design matters, and how to spot when tokenism is happening where there should be sincere efforts to involve diverse voices in the creative process.
Ultimately, our industry benefits from better games, and there is much we can learn from diversity done well in video game storytelling which includes authentic and nuanced representations of characters from different backgrounds, experiences, and identities.
We value open, honest dialogue so the session will end by welcoming questions from the audience as we encourage further discussion on the topic of diversity in video game storytelling.
Session Takeaway
- Why creating genuine diversity in narrative design makes your game more engaging and resonant with players.
- How to go beyond surface-level representation and tokenism to create diverse storylines.
- How to involve diverse voices in the creative process and conduct research to ensure accurate and authentic representation.
- What we can learn from positive examples of diversity in video game storytelling.
Challenges in Creating a Completely New IP
Join Josh and Mike Grier, the creative minds behind _Kena: Bridge of Spirits_, as they present their experience in creating new IPs - from marketing campaigns to short films, and, of course, gaming. They will discuss their creative process, inspirations, challenges, and breakthroughs. Afterwards they will participate in a Q&A session.
Session Takeaway
- Finding the Heart
- Discovering a Visual Style
- Creating the World
- Developing Characters
- Crafting the Story
- Sharing the Vision & Bringing the World to Life
Character Design: Creating with Care
In Character Design: Creating with care, we will talk about why it's important to design characters for video games in a way that's respectful, thoughtful, and caring. Inclusion and diversity shouldn't be an afterthought.
Session Takeaway
- Inclusive Design and its benefits
- Player representation and Studio representation and why it matters
- Diversifying your design with care
Closing the Gap - Designing Levels for a New Genre in Rollerdrome
Rollerdrome combines skating and shooting, two well trodden verbs in games, to create something entirely new - an arena-based skater-shooter. While its influences are worn on its sleeves, the act of blending these two genres births a set of entirely new design challenges that require their own unique solutions for this project.
In this talk, Roll7 Senior Level Designer Jacob Mills will give insight into his experience joining a new team working in an entirely new genre, chronicling the initial stumbles and offering practical advice on utilising the design process to style it out, pull a 180 and hit the ground rolling.
Session Takeaway
- Starting work in a new or unfamiliar genre is hard - how can we embrace that unfamiliarity and turn it from an obstacle to be overcome into an effective tool to be used?
- Level design extends beyond greybox - taking time to view the new project through a game design lens will provide new insight into what’s needed for the level design to shine
- Understand how to formalise your own process; utilise it to solve fresh problems
Designing An Accessible Game
This talk will raise awareness to the fact that we can always be doing more to make our own games accessible.
Through the experience gained while developing Stories of Blossom, Conor will share his insights into how we can all make our games more accessible to those in the disability community.
The hope of this talk is to inspire developers to start addressing the accessibility of their own games by sharing the best practices and giving practical advice that can be used to open this form of entertainment to more players.
The talk will look at the common barriers that can block players, how to address them, and how we can work with the disability community to better improve the accessibility of the games we make.
Using Stories of Blossom as an example Conor will deep dive into the lessons he has learned while trying to create an accessible experience from the outset, the challenges faced, and the resources that helped along the way.
Session Takeaway
- Inspiration to take accessibility forward in your own games.
- The steps needed to take in order to make games more accessible.
- How to involve the disability community in the process of making accessible games.
How to End the World: A Post-mortem of RuneScape 3’s 2022 Season Finale
The live MMO-RPG Runescape 3 created an epic high-fantasy story throughout its 2021/22 season of content, the Elder God Wars. The universe eaters were awake and coming to kill us all - and only our players can stop them. The conflict culminated in the 2022 grandmaster quest, Extinction. I was lead developer and main writer for this quest while a junior developer at the time. In this talk I will share what went wrong, what went right, and lessons learned from building an end-of-the-world story in a live game. I will highlight the unique narrative challenges of trying to create a satisfying ending in an ongoing live game, the importance of scoping out the consequences of your stories, how to get players to care about high-stakes conflict, and how to learn from hostile player reception.
Session Takeaway
- How storytelling in live games is fundamentally different to storytelling in standalone titles, and how to leverage that.
- How to avoid some common pitfalls when creating stories for live games.
- How to learn from players not liking your stories.
In The Room: Running and Participating in Modern Writers’ Rooms
Paula (Lead Writer, Story Editor, University Professor) and Amy-Leigh (Writer and Narrative Designer) will be in conversation about their experiences running and participating in writers’ rooms, including best practices, structures for fruitful discussion, collaboration techniques, creative team-building exercises, and how best to prepare yourself for working with others. After these discussions, they will also be open to any questions on the subject, including questions about writing collaboratively for genre (comedy, horror, romance) and fostering teamwork.
Session Takeaway
- Build a supportive and fruitful environment for getting the best ideas out of a writing team
- Provide actionable creative feedback and keep writers feeling motivated and positive
- Prevent or correct harmful and counterproductive group dynamics
Making the Most of ADHD in Game Design
Game design is a wonderful career for folks with ADHD. However, some tasks that are unavoidable for game designers can be extremely challenging for this kind of brain.
We'll go over the basics of ADHD, and see how they complicate the responsibilities of a game designer. But, have no fear: for each one, we will discuss ways to minimize pain and maximize progress.
Ultimately, this is the story of how one person deals with their highly chaotic brain. If none of the practices work for you, then follow in my footsteps and create your own!
Session Takeaway
- Basics of neurodiversity and ADHD
- Specific Game Design tasks which are challenging for this type of brain
- Tools and tips for overcoming painful tasks, and keeping everything together
These three end up being broad topics, and we will cover a lot of information!
Discoverability
AI in Art and Marketing Pipelines - How We Integrated AI to Create Reliable Commercial Returns
I did a 20-minute talk at PG Connects 2023 in January in London on how we deeply integrated AI into our art and marketing pipelines, increased our conversion rates to 8%, and made AI a cornerstone of our company strategy for sustainable game development. It went down exceptionally well in content and delivery, but the 20-minute timing did not allow the time to fully explore the results and process.
At Brighton, I would like to expand on this, do the full version of the talk that will include our process, marketing results, and commercial results, and leave the visitors with a blueprint that they can use to replicate and integrate that knowledge into their workflows.
Session Takeaway
- What AI tools to use and how to use them
- How the combining of these tools improve results and our results were
- A blueprint of how to replicate and integrate AI into your game company processes.
Creative Partnerships - an Alternative to Gameplay Videos for Your Influencer Marketing Campaigns
While traditional marketing methods like gameplay videos may reach a good audience for your game launch, this approach can be limiting in the long term. And they may not effectively reach certain niche or diverse groups in games where these non-traditional audiences are represented.
This talk will explore how broadening your options and partnering with creative content creators can create effective, engaging, honest and diverse influencer marketing campaigns. We will discuss alternatives to classic options like gameplay videos and how to integrate all of them together for more interesting and ultimately better marketing activations.
Session Takeaway
- How to identify a project that fits this kind of campaign
- How to define the right kind of content to make.
- Where to search for the right creators.
- The key points to look for while selecting creator
- How to manage the campaign's budget - cost references.
Mastering Discoverability: How to Attract and Nurture Your Game’s Audience
Discoverability is one of the biggest challenges facing game developers today. In this session, attendees will learn how to build a strong community, engage with fans on social media, and use real-life case studies to market their games successfully.
Session Takeaway
By the end of this session, attendees will learn:
- How to build a strong community of fans around their game
- How to engage with fans on social media and use the latest platforms and trends to market their game
- Real-life case studies of successful game marketing campaigns
- Practical strategies for marketing their game and improving discoverability
PlateUp! – A Recipe For Success. Or Why Wishlists Don’t (Always) Matter
Ask any indie developer or studio what the single most important metric is ahead of a Steam launch and they’ll say one thing: Wishlists. This continual quest for a consumer click dominates all pre-release marketing – but how valuable are they? And what, ultimately, do they mean for your imminent launch?
PlateUp! was one of the biggest indie hits of 2022, selling over 650,000 copies in its first four months of release – a result you’d not have predicted from its pre-launch Wishlists alone. So what happened, and what can we learn? Join Yogscast Games and its marketing agency Fourth Floor as they lift the lid on the game’s pre-launch velocity and discuss what helped the game grow and grow.
Session Takeaway
- Why Wishlists are not a reliable indication of success
- How you can make games which engage content creators
- How you can track sales uplift
Spreading an Indie Game on Social Media from Announcement to Release & Beyond
Breaking down organic social media strategy and helping you to work towards creating campaigns for games you might work on. Giving a structured system that you can apply to any indie game. Using 10 phases, we'll be breaking down the spread of awareness across social media platforms. Throughout these phases, I'll use examples and break down how you can be open and adaptable. The phrase “Social Media is too unpredicatable” is often a deteriment to the truth, that you can properly plan ahead. This would be a great talk for people new to the industry trying to figure out how to deliver social media campaign plans.
Session Takeaway
- Have a phase-by-phase plan on to base your strategy on.
- Understanding asset efficiency and working with devs to achieve it.
- Have a better overall understanding of platform and analytical strategy.
TikTok Game Dev: The Eldritch Horror - How to Create Powerful Content
Understanding TikTok feels like trying to unpick the workings of a twisted all knowing ancient creature. I spent the last 2 years creating game dev content on TikTok and in 2022 I took my eldritch magic to another level by posting daily for 7 months (and living to tell the tale.) This talk is about unpicking the learnings directly from someone who has been deep in the dark depths of Game Dev TikTok content creation. We'll break down strategy and tactics, how best to effectively use the platform, and all sorts of unusual magic I have learned from hands on content creation.
Session Takeaway
- What makes successful content on TikTok and how to make it
- How to effectively use the platform for your specific needs
- Tips and tricks on TikTok content creation and the platform
Indie BootCamp
Demystifying Public Funding for Games Studios
There is close to £10,000,000 public funding available between the 4 main speakers at this roundtable, available to UK indepedent games studios. However, not many game studios are aware of this funding, and much of it is, due to the way the funds were set up, complex to access, especially for game developers and founders who may come from underrepresented backgrounds, such as working class, English as second language, education leavers or people with dyslexia. This is before factoring in geographical, business, revenue, team or other requirements.
This roundtable is not only the first time these 4 organisations - the UK Global Screen Fund, Northern Ireland Screen, Creative UK and the UK Games Fund - are in a room together, it's the first time we all sit down together with the games industry, explain the funds we manage in plain language and open the floor to any questions to all of us. We will not only be talking about how to apply for the funds, but also how the funds themselves are formed and what we are looking for, as fund managers.
The purpose of this roundtable is to create a resource for game company founders, owners and indies to feel like they can ask any question and eventually access the pots of public funding that are available to them.
Session Takeaway
- Understand how public funds and grants work compared to equity investment and debt investment
- Learn about the funding criteria of the UK Global Screen Fund, funding from Creative UK, the UK Games Fund and funding from Northern Ireland Screen
- Understand how public funds available to games studios are managed
- Gain insights into how assessing funding applications work
- Be able to create a strategy of which public funds are best to apply to for your studio
- Learn about success cases from the UK games industry
How to Avoid a Bad Steam Score?
This session will focus on playtesting as a tool developers can use in order to improve their game and predict the score at launch. We will touch on different forms of playtesting and how each can be utilized at different development stages.
Session Takeaway
- What is playtesting and why is it important
- What’s the difference between focus groups, public and private testing and their pros and cons
- What data types can you gather through playtesting
- How indie developers used user feedback to improve their games
- How to use playtesting data in publisher negotiations.
They’re Just Not That Indie You: Five Mistakes Devs Make When Pitching to Press
In an increasingly saturated games market, trying to get your indie game noticed by the press can be challenging. But pitching your game to the press can be more complicated than just knowing the right people and the right time to pitch. In this lecture, Rach aims to chat through some of the biggest mistakes developers make when pitching to press, based on data gathered from five industry experts, and how these are often influenced by the changing nature of the games media landscape. Whether it’s planning a robust PR strategy or understanding the relationship between PR and press, this lecture will aim to give devs important tips and tricks to think about when preparing to pitch their game.
Session Takeaway
- Good planning before completing press outreach
- Have a clear idea of the outcome you want from pitching to journalists, when you’re going to pitch and what benefits it would add to your campaign.
- Who you’re going to pitch to is also important.
- Clear idea of messaging
- What is your game, what does it do? More importantly, what’s the tone?
- What works and doesn't work
- Avoiding the pitfalls of pitching (at busy times, to the wrong people, with the wrong angle, with the wrong outcome in mind).
- An understanding of how PR and the press rely on each other and why this relationship is important while pitching.
Tips for Successful Game Development in Unity
A session for new indie devs using Unity, who want to know how to be successful in not only building, but shipping their games on multiple platforms. You will learn how to avoid the common pitfalls that developers encounter when developing their games, and how to approach publishers and platform holders.
Session Takeaway
- Development pitfalls and how to avoid them
- Useful tips on optimising your development and your game
- How to approach publishers and platform holders
Why You’re Already Out Of Touch on TikTok
'We do have a TikTok, but we don’t really use it’
‘We put out a trailer on TikTok and it didn’t really do much’
‘We don’t get many views on our videos, even when our games are discounted in the Steam sale’
The list goes on.
Consumers see straight through inauthenticity; Long-gone are the days of using TikTok as a value-add to your existing marketing strategy – it now plays an integral role in all kinds of marketing campaigns.
In this talk, we will explore the change in content on TikTok over the last few years, and take the mystery out of many of the age-old questions about the platform:
- Should I be on TikTok? If not, why not?
- Is it just for kids?
- Should I be using it personally, or strictly business?
- Why does my content not perform that well?
- Is it essential? Will my game/brand succeed without it? Will it help me sell more games?
- Can I provide measurable results to see the impact it has?
- How can I make content fun and relevant without losing attention to my game?
Session Takeaway
- Insight into how strategy has changed over the last 2-3 years and why – what we know now
- Discussion on why people come to the platform in the first place and how you can tap into the right markets and make the channel work for you
- Practical tips on how you can get started making some fantastic, relevant content
- How to make your tone of voice on TikTok work for you, making your brand values shine authentically
Keynote
Mobile
How to Successfully Kill a Mobile Game
Building and shipping games are really tough, yet one thing remains harder, and that's killing it. In this presentation, we'll go over the production cycle and best practises to get a mobile game out the to world, and share some of the conclusions that lead us to stopping a game in its tracks.
Session Takeaway
- Why goals and scope can get the most out of your team
- How to balance creativity and scope
- Understanding when to kill your product and when to continue
- Helpful tips in mobile game production
The Desire Path: Our Journey from Perpetual Pivots to Record Retention
Developing Love & Pies was a stupendous journey: from testing three unique core gameplay mechanics to pivoting completely into the merge2 genre, this session will teach you about the trials and tribulations of making a successful mobile game. Learn the story of Love & Pies - the mistakes we made, how we overcame them, and how we set the game up for success.
Session Takeaway
- Learn tips for when you should pivot your game and how big changes can move the needle
- How to design retention focused features and live ops, balancing proven features with innovative ones
- Lessons from developing and launching core gameplay in 12 weeks, focusing on retention metrics
The End of Small Studios: A Pocket Burger Post Mortem
Mitchell Smallman goes over what was learned making a mobile game studio in the current market and pitfalls to avoid. Pocket Burgers story and strategy would have worked famously in 2021, but became impossible in 2023. Find out why and how you can navigate the turbulent waters of the new mobile gaming landscape. The talk covers market research, audience sizing, iterative design, user aquistion and team dynamics.
Session Takeaway
- Tips and tricks for market sizing new game oppurtunities
- Red flags to watch out for in develpment of a F2P title
- Tips on planning F2P mobile games in 2023
Roundtables
“Do I Look Like A Gamer?”: Bringing Genuine Diversity to Video Game Narratives
As part of the "Do I Look Like A Gamer?" representation campaign, we will explore the current state of storytelling in video games and the importance of bringing genuine diversity to narrative design.
The roundtable will be moderated by mayamada co-founder Nigel Twumasi, who will lead a conversation with players and makers to discuss examples of diversity across video game storytelling, and how to distinguish between tokenism and authentic representation.
The panellists will emphasise the importance of creating genuine diversity in narrative design, not just for the sake of representation, but to improve storytelling in the medium going forward. This means the need for game makers to incorporate a diverse cast of characters that add depth and complexity to stories, making them more engaging and resonant with players.
We will help game developers to understand why creating genuine diversity in narrative design matters, and how to spot when tokenism is happening where there should be sincere efforts to involve diverse voices in the creative process.
Ultimately, our industry benefits from better games, and there is much we can learn from diversity done well in video game storytelling which includes authentic and nuanced representations of characters from different backgrounds, experiences, and identities.
We value open, honest dialogue so the session will end by welcoming questions from the audience as we encourage further discussion on the topic of diversity in video game storytelling.
Session Takeaway
- Why creating genuine diversity in narrative design makes your game more engaging and resonant with players.
- How to go beyond surface-level representation and tokenism to create diverse storylines.
- How to involve diverse voices in the creative process and conduct research to ensure accurate and authentic representation.
- What we can learn from positive examples of diversity in video game storytelling.
Are Your Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Initiatives Helping or Hurting?
Over the last several years we’ve seen a substantial increase in conversations around the importance of building healthier studio cultures. Studios are finally asking questions about how to boost numbers of underrepresented workers, and how to retain those workers for the long term. This has opened up a market for DEI managers and consultants with the exclusive focus on helping improve company culture, but is it really working? Are the legacy systems and structures inside of game studios still hindering progress and causing more harm to workers?
This discussion will provide participants the opportunity to discuss the challenges in creating real culture change to both support workers and build better games.
Session Takeaway
- Gain insights into the current state of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work in the games industry
- Gain a deeper understanding of the roadblocks and impediments to creating healthier work environments
- Learn from peers about their successes and struggles in transforming workplace culture
Can Your Gaming Business Be a Force For Good?
There’s a growing community of businesses that believe they can be a net positive to planet and society, and I want you to join them.
These companies, known as B Corps, believe that business can be a force for good. Independently graded by B Lab, they’re for-profit entities that have been verified as an organisation committed to reaching the highest levels of social and environmental responsibility. You don’t need to become an official B Corp to act like one. The gaming industry has a massive potential to do good, and it's time to take sustainability seriously.
We must do better not just because of the impact of the climate crisis, but also because the business landscape is changing. Millennials and Gen Zs, who already dominate the market in size and will soon do so in purchasing power, prioritise sustainability and make consumer choices that align with their views. Doing good business is good business.
If you’re in a small or medium-sized business, this session will help you create a plan of action on how you can do better by your workers, the environment and the society at large.
Session Takeaway
- Delegates will learn more about why sustainability is a good business choice – not just for the planet, but for future-proofing their studio
- They will also have an understanding of how to take the first steps towards more ethical conduct, and the process of becoming a more socially and environmentally conscious business
- Lastly, they'll be equipped with data and resources to put their plans into action and start making incremental changes towards sustainability
Creating Among Chaos: Finding Your Flow with a Noisy Brain
While trying to build up a support group for neurodiverse individuals within our studio, not only did we realise there were _far_ more of us than we originally thought, we also discovered that we were all struggling in similar areas. All of us were experiencing issues with overwhelming amounts of information and emotional dysregulation that made sitting down and getting the work done impossible. We soon began to swap references, psychological studies, and our own tried and tested methods that have helped us maintain our attention when working - or more specifically, reach a state known as “hyperfocus.” Hyperfocus is described as an “intense fixation on an interest or activity for an extended period of time” and is often triggered by engaging in “special interests.” By exploring what types of activities trigger these "hyperfocus" states for us, we can begin to understand which elements we need in place to be able to concentrate on our work as well.
In this session we discuss our unique challenges as neurodiverse designers in the games industry, and share some of the methods we've discovered while trying to manage our noisy brains. We talk short attention spans, burnout, and how our passion for zone games has helped us to discover our own creative flow state while we work.
Session Takeaway
Through our session we hope to:
- Raise awareness of neurodiversity within the games industry.
- Provide methods for finding and maintaining a creative flow when working.
- Encourage others to bring their authentic self to work.
Games Talent Acquisition Roundtable
Keywords Studios is a Games Service provider that combines the cross-functional expertise of our Game Development and [Art Services](https://www.keywordsstudios.co...) teams. Collaborating across our global integrated network of 70+ studios, delivering the highest quality video game content to key developers and Publishers.
Myself (Shane Barnfield) and Eduardo Goncalves, both Directors of Talent Acquisition for the Create Service (Game dev & Art) at the Keywords Group would have a roundtable discussion with Stuart Godfrey (Recruitment Manager), Ben Potton (Development Director) and Rhys Cadle (Design Director) about some of the challenges to attract and retain games art and engineering talent, the initiatives in place at the studio to overcome them, the opportunities that remote hiring can represent and as well tips to start/develop a career in games.
Main topics of the roundtable are as per below:
Games Talent market
- Attracting and retaining senior talent
- Talent Market supply
- Agency Recruitment: Pos and Cons
- Growing a diverse studio
Regional challenges & opportunities:
- Hiring Overseas staff
- Brexit
Application/Interviewing process:
- Remote interviewing
- Remote tests
- Application readiness
- Graduate recruitment
Session Takeaway
- Ways to overcome the low talent supply
- Attracting and retaining Senior Talent
- DE&I talent initiatives
- Games industry application process/requirements
Overcoming the Imposter Syndrome
Overcoming the Imposter Syndrome
Do you sometimes feel like a fraud? Well, you're not alone!
In this presentation, I will explain you what the Imposter Syndrome is, what its implications are, and which effects it could have on you and your work.
I will also share a few tips on how to tackle the Imposter Syndrome and ensure you feel empowered.
Come & join me on this journey of transformation!
Session Takeaway
- You will get a better understanding of what the Imposter Syndrome is
- You will receive some tips (and exercises) to tackle the Imposter Syndrome
- You will get closer to finally boost your confidence, own your successes and embrace your brilliance!
Tech Leadership in Games
Join Develop’s roundtable discussion on the oft-overlooked topic of technical leadership in the video game industry. Whilst public post-mortems, retrospectives, and interviews tend to focus on studio founders, and creative and game leads, strong technical leadership is a crucial aspect of building a successful game.
Unfortunately, finding reliable resources and guidance on technical leadership can be problematic. Engineering blogs and social media prioritise exciting technical solutions, or zeitgeist debate, leaving leadership strategies and support in the shadows. This can lead to a knowledge gap for incumbent and aspiring technical leaders, who often have to rely on personal networks or an extrapolation of a discussion from another field.
This siloing of knowledge can lead to stagnation and limit growth opportunities for individuals and the industry. Good leadership is hard, so why not give it the same attention and effort that you might give to a technical challenge? This roundtable aims to bridge the knowledge gap by providing an open forum for technical leaders to share their experiences, strategies, and insights. Through this discussion, attendees will improve their leadership practices, and make meaningful connections to advance their careers and the industry as a whole. Learn from your peers and become better (absolutely no guarantees).
Session Takeaway
- Practical improvements to your leadership skills, covering topics critical to you, in areas such as: team and studio leadership, strategy, process and direction, engineering and delivery, and personal development
- An awareness of best practice, and a refresher on what you should be doing as a leader
- Make new connections
- Fun debate, and hopefully some new motivation
