The time is here when a game studio can manage and build their own consumer relationships through social platforms. At Casual Connect Asia, Serena Proudfoot, Vice President of Production and partner at Oddity Labs, gave pointers on how to create and maintain healthy business to consumer relationships. “It is definitely really important to not only focus on the reviews that aren’t so good and the negative feedback. Focus on the good feedback. Thank people for taking the time to review and to review you well. It definitely goes a long way.” said Serena.
DOWNLOAD SLIDES
For more than ten years, Serena Proudfoot has been involved with the games industry, producing titles for consoles, PC, web, mobile and other platforms. During this time, while producing these titles and managing teams of various sizes, Serena has witnessed the transition from strictly console to social and mobile games, experience which is very helpful in her work today.
A Most Enjoyable Opportunity
Today Serena is Vice President of Production and partner at Oddity Labs, overseeing production of all projects, as well as founder of a mobile app startup. The most enjoyable aspect of the work is the opportunity it gives to travel throughout the US and the world.
Serena has enjoyed video games since childhood, but never expected to have a career in the games industry. During their college years, Serena began doing some coding and became involved with the games industry by doing some menu UI and web coding. Although coding is not usually necessary for managing the production of projects, Serena says, “It sure helps to understand it.”
The greatest challenge in game development, as Serena sees it, is the QA process. But when the game launches and you know people are playing it, the greatest rewards come.
The Latest Trends in Casino
The most important developing trend in the games industry will be real money gaming. As a resident of a state where gambling is legal, Serena is seeing groups pushing the limits when it comes to real money gaming and legislation, getting closer to making it happen.
And online gambling is going to catch up to social casino. Although today, Serena recognizes “There is still a large gap between the age where people consider themselves gamblers and the age where people consider themselves gamers, as the years pass, that gap will close.”
Serena expects that in the future, Apple Watch and Oculus will become platforms for social casino as people become more comfortable with the technology. After all, five or ten years ago no one thought people would be walking around with gaming consoles in their pockets.
Opportunities are also coming in skill-based casino, another area where Serena has seen various groups developing these types of games, with the momentum and excitement continuing to build.
To those who are interested in a career in this area, Serena says, “Work hard, don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty, and never give up!”
Comments
