SESSIONS
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPSInsiders Guide to Video Game Outsourcing
Kaj Swift, Outsourcing Manager at Backbone Entertainment
This enlightening lecture will touch on many of today’s most relevant outsourcing challenges including the best disciplines to outsource, pricing tiers, major video game and outsourcing trends, marketing, how to best set up effective art pipelines, navigating and negotiating complex contracts and best practices.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPSEVE Online: Customer acquisition and retention in an 8 year old MMO
Nikola Cavic, Senior Sales Manager at CCP Games
EVE Online continues to grow its player base, year after year. In this presentation, Nikola Cavic explains the performance of the game’s acquisition channels in the past eight years and the effectiveness of retention methods against the churn rate.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPS10 mistakes to avoid when you publish your games online
Yan Marchal, Managing Director at Sanuk Games
Yan Marchal will describe 10 mistakes he made, so that you don’t have to make them.
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BIZ/PRODCONFERENCESelected Projects Conference
Selected Projects Speakers
At Game Connection, our aim is not only to organize great events, but also to support the industry. This is why we will hold the second edition of Selected Projects. This program is for independent studios and teams with great games and projects which they want to present to key players of the industry.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/PANELInvestors want to be now where the game industry is going to be tomorrow
Guillaume Lautour, Partner at IDINVEST Partners
Coming Soon
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BIZ/PRODCONFERENCESelected companies conference
Selected Companies Speakers
the best 10 companies of the year will pitch their activity and projects.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPGalaxy On Fire - An Original Mobile Game Success Story
Michael Schade, CEO & Co-Founder at FISHLABS Entertainment
Michael Schade will lead us through the evolution of the Galaxy on Fire series and illustrate its ongoing advancement across platforms.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPMonetizing Each of Your Games on a Dedicated Website - Taking a Different Angle for Game Monetization
Konrad Holubek, Business Development Director at Games Passport + Sébastien Borget, Chief Operations Officer and co-founder at Pixowl
In this presentation we will be talking about how a platform is taking an innovative approach to help game developers monetize their content.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPUsability on a Shoe String – Making it Matter
Christopher Viggers, Studio Development Director at Blitz Games Studios
Chris Viggers contends that Usability Testing is neither inherently expensive nor complicated and offers practical insights into and solutions for setting up a custom system, no matter what the size of company or budget constraints.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPFour Principles Of Efficient Game Development
Jurie Horneman, Creative Director at Mi’pu’mi Games
Jurie Horneman describes four areas where time and money are often lost, why this is so, and what you can do against it.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPTen Do's and Don'ts of Developing Motion
Guy Bendov, CEO at Side-kick
The lecture focuses on the process of developing a motion-controlled game, with ten Do'd and Dont's as overall guides.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPMetrics, benchmarks and buckets of money
Nicholas Lovell, Director at GAMESbrief
Who is making what in an online game? What conversion rates can you expect ? What is a whale and how much, exactly, do they spend.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPBehind Heavy Rain: A look inside the design and pipeline techniques
Damien Castelltort, Technical Director + Christophe Brusseaux, Graphic Director | Quantic Dream
This session presents an overview of Art production pipeline and Tools developed on Quantic Dream´s Heavy Rain.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPStaying On-Course by Constantly Changing
Michael Capps, President at Epic Games
In this lecture, industry leader and Epic Games president Dr. Michael Capps reviews Epic's successful techniques for adjustment and reinvention in the ever-changing games industry.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPGateway to China: The Mobile Games Market in China and how you can access it
Oscar Clark, Evangelist at Papaya Mobile
In this presentation you will learn about the current state of the Chinese Mobile Games market.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPFree to Play
Teut Weidemann, Online Supervisor at Ubisoft Blue Byte
This talk covers all “out of client” topics, which are the key things you need to operate a f2p game successfully.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPHow to market digital titles
Steve Fowler, General Manager at [a]list games
In this session Steve will outline the strategies and tactics that can be successfully employed in this new marketing environment.
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BIZ/PRODSESSION/PANELCloud gaming – An overview of the players of this brand new industry and of the opportunities for publishers and developers
Cédric Genin, Head of New Services at SFR
Cloud Gaming opens new perspective for the industry. Cedric Genin will open the panel with a global presentation of what is at stakes in this market segment and why this kind of services should be widely adopted around the world.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPJapanese market and successful japanese social games
Tsuyoshi Tanaka, Executive Director at GREE, Inc.
This session will introduce the market trends of social gaming networks and successful case studies from GREE in Japan.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPMobile Game Arch workshop Session 1: Mobile Games – Is there a real opportunity for a European Mobile Games Industry or has Europe lost the battle?
Maarten Noyons, founder and general manager of the IMGA
This session gives an overview about the current satus of the mobile game industry in Europe.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPMobile Game Arch workshop Session 2: Mobile Games tech talk. How can we create a better mobile eco system and standards? And what is that anyway?
Tommy Palm, President at Fabricationgames
This session analyses challenges for the mobile game market from a technical perspective
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPMobile Game Arch workshop Session 3: The business of mobile games; 118 App Stores, fragmentation and what role for the Operators? And who is making money?
David MacQueen, Director at Strategy Analytics
This session discusses the ecosystem of mobile games from a content developer point of view.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPChinese mobile gaming market 101 – ski with the Penguin
Li Ying, Deputy General Mananger of Tencent Wireless Game Product Department
During this session you will learn a lot about Chinese mobile games markets, mobile games players, the main distribution channels, the role of mobile operators, device manufacturers and social networks.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPInto the Cloud with Amazon Web Services
Matt Wood, AWS Evangelist at Amazon Web Services
This talk will introduce the Cloud platform offered by Amazon, and use real world case studies to discuss how you can make use of Amazon's massive scale and operational experience to build highly scalable games, from mobile to social, and move to market more quickly.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOP10 crucial lessons to create social games
Pierre Dumas, Independent Producer
A session to take care of about technology, design, target, virality, analytics, business model and a guess about the next waves of games.
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPMobile Game Arch workshop introduction: How can mobile game developers can get involved in European funding?
Jean Charles Point, owner at JCPC
This session is a short introduction for all those from trhe developer community , who would like to become involved in EU support systems
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPMobile Game Arch workshop conclusion
Maarten Noyons (IMGA), Tommy Palm (Fabricationgames), David MacQueen (Strategy Analytics)
This session will conclude the Mobile Game Arch workshop
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BIZ/PRODSESSIONS/WORKSHOPPlatform and Social Game Interaction: Case Studies on Japanese, US and Global Markets
Ethan Fassett, SVP of Product at OpenFeint
How do platforms interact with social games and impact game design?
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Game DesignSESSIONS/WORKSHOPFun is Boring: Designing Games That Have Neurological, Psychological and Physiological Impact
Ari Hollander, CEO & Technical Director at Firsthand Technology Inc.
The speaker briefly describes some of the implications of how people are evolving to experience media in a new way.
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Game DesignSESSIONS/WORKSHOPStory Structure For Games
Susan O'Connor, Writer at Susan O'Connor Writing Studio
In this session, award-winning game writer Susan O'Connor will shine a light on how stories are structured, and how game developers can bend that structure to create compelling stories that make the most of the gaming medium.
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Game DesignSESSIONS/WORKSHOPTelling tales: the importance of narrative in gaming
Dan Connors, CEO at Telltale, Inc.
How do you make people care about your story, become fans and buy more of your games?
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Game DesignSESSIONS/WORKSHOPDesigning Better Kinect Experiences
Ben Board, European Developer Account Manager at Microsoft Xbox
How do you make fun and usable game experiences without a controller? Come and hear what Microsoft has learned from working with all our Kinect developers.
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Game DesignSESSIONS/WORKSHOPContemporary UI – when art and design collide!
John Nash, Studio Design Director at Blitz Games Studios
John Nash will contextualise modern interface design by discussing why designers need to adopt a new approach, why new interfaces are a force for change and how art and design are converging to make them a reality.
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Game DesignSESSIONS/WORKSHOPBringing a whole universe to life: Casting and directing DC Universe Online
Alex Keller, Voice director Company at Sony Online Entertainment
Voice director Alex Keller from Sony Online Entertainment will talk about casting and directing hundreds of unique characters in SOE’s DC Universe Online
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Game DesignSESSIONS/WORKSHOPHow to Manage (French) Game Designers
Marc Pestka, Co-Lead Designer at DONTNOD Entertainment
How Marc sees the role of Game Designers, their high level function, what moves them and how to measure their performance.
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Game DesignSESSIONS/WORKSHOPMaking “Truly Social” Games
Noah Falstein, Chief Creative Officer at Suddenly Social
This lecture will explore the design decisions that can help us make more truly social games for all platforms (including mobile) while still boosting the critical factors of reach, retention, and revenue.
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Game DesignSESSIONS/WORKSHOPOne-Page Designs
Stone Librande, Creative Director at EA/Maxis
During this talk Stone will show numerous examples of one page designs from Diablo III, The Simpsons and Spore. He'll discuss what works and what doesn't and explain how you can use similar techniques to communicate key design ideas to your team.
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Game DesignSESSIONS/WORKSHOPPaidia and Hypernature
David Calvo, Creative Consultant at Ankama
Exploring the possibilities of digital landscapes and textures, this inspirational talk is a whimsical take on poeisis, bridging the gap between social networks and games.
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Game DesignSESSIONS/WORKSHOPOn Monsters and Metrics
Stephanie Kaiser, Product Lead at Wooga GmbH
The talk is structured along the four topics: engagement, virality, monetization and non-metric factors in game development for social networks. Besides discussing key performance indicators, the attendees might fall in love with wooga’s monster characters and several robots.
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TechnologySESSIONS/WORKSHOPTackling the multiplatform challenge without growing your team
Dietmar Hauser, Head of Console Technology at Sproing Interactive Media GmbH
Developing on multiple platforms simultaneously presents a formidable set of challenge. This session is about how these challenges can be managed.
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TechnologySESSIONS/WORKSHOPHigh-performance computing for game development
Benoit Vimont, 3D Programmer + Ronan Bel, Engine Programmer | Ubisoft
Overview of the technical work done for the game "From Dust" (X360, PS3, PC).
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TechnologySESSIONS/WORKSHOPLLVM - unifying game technology
Andy Thomason, Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London
The state of the art in compiler technology and the problems facing the game industry in terms of standardization.
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TechnologySESSIONS/WORKSHOPThe Cameras of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Jason Gregory, Lead Programmer at Naughty Dog Inc.
Participants will explore the various kinds of cameras used in the game, the prioritized camera selection system, how designers can request and configure specific cameras, and how camera collision and cross-blending work in U3.
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TechnologySESSIONS/WORKSHOPGears of War 3 Analytics: Optimizing the Online Experience, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the BETA
Joe Graf, Online Architect at Epic Games, Inc.
Joe details the lessons learned from the Gears of War 3 BETA.
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TechnologySESSIONS/WORKSHOPAccelerating game physics for heterogeneous CPU/GPUs
Erwin Coumans, Bullet Physics SDK creator and principal engineer at AMD
The presentation will cover methods to accelerate popular game physics methods in rigid body, cloth and deformable simulation for heterogeneous architectures targeting both CPU and GPU.
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TechnologySESSIONS/WORKSHOPGame Tools as a WebApp
Mike Acton, Engine Director at Insomniac Games
This is the story of Insomniac Games experience so far. Mike will share the company most significant choices and the costs of those choices.
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TechnologySESSIONS/WORKSHOPOpenNI - Ongoing Motion Games Workshop
Jeremie Kletzkine, Business Development Manager at PrimeSense
Come and learn how to develop creative motion games using a 3D sensor and the OpenNI Open-Source SDK, a Free For Commercial Use environment.
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TechnologySESSIONS/WORKSHOPDe Re PlayStation Vita
Sébastien Schertenleib, Senior Principal Engineer of SCEE R&D
Playstation Vita uses a tiled based deferred rendering GPU which will be a bit unfamiliar to those who are used to standard PC or console GPUs. The talk will include tips and techniques found by studios working on the launch titles.
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Visual artsSESSIONS/WORKSHOPSArtistic vision and physical reality of light and color
Maël François, Lighting Technical Director at Pixar Animation Studios
Light and color fundamentals; using light to shape your world and drive the spectator and the player's eye; artistic vision and physical reality; playing with color and lighting in Toy Story 3; a world of reflection : character lighting in Cars 2
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Visual artsSESSIONS/WORKSHOPSDesigning facial rigs for game characters
Vladimir Mastilovic, Technical director specialized in facial rigging, founder/ CEO of 3lateral studio 3lateral
Presentation describes techniques for facial rigging used in many major game productions today while elaborating on possible improvements that could be made when next generation consoles arrive.
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Visual artsSESSIONS/WORKSHOPDeveloping an Efficient Character Pipeline for Games
Judd Simantov, Independent Contractor - Character Technical Director at Imaginari Animation Studios
The talk aims to help studios develop more efficient character pipelines for their games.
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Visual artsSESSIONS/WORKSHOPUV Mapping for Texturing and Lighting with 3dsMax 2012
Fred Moreau, Technical Director at Veloce Interactive
Touching on the latest features in 3ds Max 2012 to unwrap UVs for both texturing and lighting purposes.
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Visual artsSESSIONS/WORKSHOPThe Autodesk Middleware portfolio: Simplifying and Enhancing Game Development Pipelines
Kevin Booth, Games Technology Group Business Lead at Autodesk Media & Entertainment
During this session, participants will get a full, high level overview of the latest Autodesk middleware technology portfolio, including Beast, HumanIK, Kynapse and Scaleform.
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Visual artsSESSIONS/WORKSHOPVisual Arts in Game Design: It Pays to Be Flexible
Mike Hawkins, Senior Marketing Manager at Europe Kabam
This discussion will share tips on encouraging successful visual art development.
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Visual artsSESSIONS/WORKSHOPCan we put this in the game? Navigating IP laws on video game content
Vincent Scheurer, Owner at Sarassin LLP
Veteran video games lawyer Vincent Scheurer presents a fifty minute class on the IP rules which apply to game content, and how to deal with them.
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Visual artsSESSIONS/WORKSHOPSubstance: Smart Texturing for everyone!
Alexis Khouri, VP Strategy & Sales at Allegorithmic
New feature from Unity 3.4, 3ds Max and Maya, substances are tiny, multi output, resolution independent and highly customizable materials.
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Visual artsSESSIONS/WORKSHOPAlan Wake – Getting under the Skin
Saku Lehtinen, Franchise Art Director at Remedy
Art Director Saku Lehtinen speaks about the ‘light and dark’ of Alan Wake from the metaphorical level to practicalities.
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Visual artsSESSIONS/WORKSHOPNew Game - How to make your team excited
Sven Liebich, Head of Art at Bigpoint GmbH
Sven Liebich addresses a common issue when a new game idea is shaped and the preproduction starts: Everyone waiting for Game Design.








