Starting a studio is like walking a tightrope. To keep yourself in the air, you need to juggle a variety of responsibilities, and do it with flair.
Hear from one of Australia's most exciting young studios on the challenges of starting and sustaining an Innchanted adventure.
Growing a community online can seem harder and harder these days. There are countless other publishers and developers, each with their own social media pages, all trying to do the same thing. In this environment, it can be difficult to stand out and "compete" for an audience.
This presentation will cover some of the ways that may help you break through the global video game industry landscape and build a community online, through the lens of our Bethesda Australia & New Zealand social media pages.
How do you have a 'face' of a company, without anyone wanting to constantly show their face? How do you engage with fans when you can't talk about what you are making for another year?
This talk looks into the relationship between developer and (potential) fan, with a focus on taking positive customer experience to the digital platform. There will be a lot of questions posed, anecdotes told and very likely a reference or two to Gilmore Girls and craft beer (sorry, not sorry).
Talk: Player Hygiene: How to Mitigate Abuse and Cultivate Communities
Speaker: Gabriella Lowgren
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single studio in possession of a good game, must be in want of online harassment.”
Salty Austen
As our industry grows, and the way people behave in online spaces evolves, so must the management of our players. This talk will first look into some of the reasons we have seen shifts in player behaviour towards developers and video games, before exploring ways both in and out of game to foster positive and supportive communities.
It is important to consider the safety of a game’s developers, players and community managers. By implementing community driven game features and creating a framework within which to build strong and conscious communities, developers can decrease the amount of abuse they receive, as well as that of their staff, and other players.
Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way
Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.
Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.
Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.
Talk: Strategies for Quality Content™
Speaker: Emily D’Elia
Market competition is brutal. We face a saturated digital landscape, falling engagement rates, sceptical consumers and the dreaded a l g o r i t h m. A good game can fail if it is not a competitive game. So, how can we add value to our core product offering in order to help it reach the heights we want? When it comes to marketing your game in 2019, “content is king”.
This talk will explore how developers can leverage their unique IP for kick-ass content that creates added value and a competitive edge. Using an example of a game she just made up, Emily will take the audience through the key pillars of creating a competitive content marketing strategy.
The talk will ask developers to consider a more targeted approach to their content and suggest ways in which they can employ SEO principles and empathetic storytelling to reach niche audiences. It will cover different types of marketing content and match them to appropriate channels and purposes.
There will also be a discussion on the management of visual assets and include examples of free software tools developers can use to get started. Remember: games are for everyone, but yours doesn’t have to be.
Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way
Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.
Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.
Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.
Talk: Wild Life: Critter Clash Paid User Acquisition Postmortem
Speaker: Katie Stegs
As the competition in the mobile market increases, how do unknown or independent games grab a slice of the market? Is it possible, and how do you do it? Big players with unfathomable budgets hold their positions for years at a time, and every chart position and keyword has a price. Join Katie Stegs as she discusses how a small team with limited resources was able to put their first title in front of millions of potential players.
Lumi Interactive’s debut title, Critter Clash released in 2019 on Android and iOS. This talk will detail the platforms, partners and pitfalls of paid user acquisition for Critter Clash.
Katie will outline platform relationships, partnerships and budgets, and will do a detailed breakdown of two different UA analysis methodologies. She will share her UA set- up, pipeline and internal tools in order to highlight effective and ineffective uses of UA. This talk will be accompanied by all the real data, from the CPIs and CPAs achieved to the pre-launch and post-launch, featuring Lifetime Value (LTV) and Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) of real players.
Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way
Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.
Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.
Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.
Talk: Making Games More Interactive on Twitch
Speaker: Richard Deveraux
Streaming has become a big part of how people engage with games from tuning in to watch their favourite streamers, to cooperatively playing a game through text chat via Twitch Plays. With Extensions, Twitch has made it even easier for developers to add viewer interactivity to streams with games like Borderlands 3 now offering in-game loot for viewers that participate in live-streaming events.
Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way
Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.
Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.
Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.