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11:00am
Tom Westall Super Evil Megacorp11:00am - 11:45amRoom 2Cross Platform in Action - Taking a Game from Mobile to Console
Tuesday 9th July11:00am - 11:45amRoom 2We are seeing an increase in games taking the leap from our home computers and consoles to our pockets but what is it like going the other way? This talk will go through the experience of Super Evil Megacorp as they take the critically praised TMNT Splintered Fate from the subscription only platform of Apple Arcade to the Nintendo Switch.
This talk will cover two primary areas of game development, the business aspects of making successful games and then will take a deeper look at the game design implications of going from mobile to consoles.
We’ll explore key lessons from creating our first game on a subscription only platform. How we tried to optimise for a subscription model and what changes we’ve made for a console audience. I will also cover how we pivoted to a different business model for console release and the differences this means in our approach to product and marketing.
The next area I will cover is the UI / UX challenges we had in porting the game from a touch input control scheme to fully supporting controllers. Having witnessed a few games make this shift before to receive criticism of being a quick port I’ll discuss how we approached this to ensure we deliver a native console experience.
Session Takeaway
- How to optimise for a subscription platform
- When and why to take your game from mobile to Console
- What to consider when going from touch controls to PC/Console
- How to avoid being a quick mobile port.
- Differences in Marketing approach
- Console certification, what is it and how to pass!
12:00pm
Tom Storr The Experimentation Group12:00pm - 12:45pmRoom 2Growing Your Game: Learnings from Experimentation
Tuesday 9th July12:00pm - 12:45pmRoom 2At the Experimentation Group we help teams understand what their players really want every day. This session reveals what we’ve learnt about growing games from talking to teams and testing their ideas. You will learn what's worked with other teams and how you can start experimenting.
Session Takeaway
- Is experimentation right for your game?
- What are the best metrics to target?
- Where is the best place to start?
2:00pm
Sophie Artemigi Independent2:00pm - 2:45pmRoom 2How to Get Banned from the App Stores: An Intersectional Approach to Mobile Development
Tuesday 9th July2:00pm - 2:45pmRoom 2The first time most indie developers read the app stores’ rules is when they’re about to release their game. This poses a risk to the game’s success as adherence to these rules determines which players can see your game, and the likelihood of the game being taken down after release.
In this session we’ll be going over the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store’s guidelines from an indie developer perspective. We’ll cover the potential pitfalls that you may not anticipate if you’ve never released a mobile game before.
We’ll also approach this topic from an intersectional lens: How do queer developers make games about their sexuality if sexual content is banned? How do minorities discuss their experiences of violence if depictions of targeted violence are restricted? As developers and curators, how do we balance our responsibility of keeping our players safe and our desire to tell truthful and compelling stories through our games?
Session Takeaway
- What is and isn’t allowed on the App Store and Google Play Store
- Mobile game self publishing
- Mobile game design
3:00pm
V Buckenham Downpour3:00pm - 3:45pmRoom 2From “alt-ctrl” to Touch Screens: Designing for that Strange Lump in Your Pocket
Tuesday 9th July3:00pm - 3:45pmRoom 2I used to design games that used alternative controllers, and now I make apps for phones. And I find this is a useful perspective to bring to the design process - starting with the phone as an object you hold in your hand, and thinking about what actions feel pleasurable, what affordances it has, and how it exists within a social context.
In this talk, I'll go through some of these affordances, and talk about things we can learn about designing for phones, taking examples from my career making games such as the digital boardgame Beasts of Balance, prototyping at Niantic, and making my game creation app, Downpour.
Session Takeaway
- How mobile design compares to designing for custom controllers
- Techniques for validating mobile UX early on
- How to design for in-person word of mouth
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There are no sessions on this day.