Alexis Kennedy has a storied career in gaming, literally. He has done guest-writing gigs for such prominent studios as BioWare, Telltale, and Paradox – and as the creator of Failbetter Games, he grew a two-person startup into a studio with 16 employees and over $1.3 million a year in revenue. As part of the Industry Insights track, Alexis will open the conference at Casual Connect Kyiv with a keynote lecture on game narratives and how to better marry stories with game systems. Many other experts will join Alexis in sharing their expertise with attendees over the conference’s three days of lectures and workshops.
Game Design
Several sessions in Industry Insights will focus on multiple aspects of game design. Ubisoft Game Designer Stanislav Costiuc will discuss how to elicit feelings through game interactivity while Epic Llama Games Founder Hernan Lopez will detail the do’s and dont’s of designing a graphic adventure. Those Awesome Guys Founder Nicolae Berbece will reassure players that it’s “OK to not know what you’re doing” in his solo presentation on making games work in a bootstrapped manner.
User Acquisition
Building a game is just half the battle though. In separate solo presentations, Appodeal COO Natalie Portier and Facebook Global Gaming expert Oksana Afonina will discuss advertising and user acquisition. Unity will discuss app growth and monetization in a dedicated session. The track will also host a roundtable session, where experts from Toca Boca and Amazon will engage with the audience on appstore discoverability.
VR & AR
Virtual and augmented reality continue to be big topics throughout the games industry and beyond. In a solo-presentation, Visual Arts Limited Co-Founder and CEO Nizar Romdan will discuss the studio’s journey through mobile VR gaming. In a joint-session, experts from Conspexit Games Studio will discuss believability and innovation in AR. A panel of experts from beatshapers, gumi, and Touch Press will also weigh in on building AR experiences with Apple’s ARKit.
Ukraine & Beyond
Of course, it makes sense to discuss Ukraine’s game development industry if you’re hosting a gamedev conference in Kyiv. In a panel, experts from Gameloft, beatshapers, and Values Value will do just that. G5 Entertainment HR Director Olga Abashova will go beyond game development to discuss how analytics can be applied to employee issues and better your work environment and femida.us Managing Partner & CEO Dmitri Dubograev will discuss the curse and blessing of partnering with celebrities to achieve your goals.
Added Benefits
In addition to Industry Insights, Casual Connect will also have a wealth of actionable insights attendees can benefit from through tracks and workshops in Market Navigation, Tech, Casino, United in Education, and United in Diversity. The conference will also host two major networking parties and provide attendees with exclusive access to their Pitch & Match networking system. Finally, the Indie Prize Showcase will display the latest in innovation and gaming that independent developers have to offer.
To learn more about Casual Connect Kyiv or to register, please visit the conference’s official website at http://kyiv.casualconnect.org.
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