CASUAL CONNECT SEATTLE 2010 CONTENT SCHEDULE |
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| Game Design | Games for Gamers | Emerging Trends | General | Mobile/ Smartphones |
Community & Social | Monetization | Development & Marketing | ||
Gamesauce: Pre-Event for Game Developers - Monday, July 19 |
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| The Gamesauce Conference is for those who have already discovered the great secret about making games: it’s fun, it’s cool and you get paid to do it. Gamesauce is designed for professional game developers in the fields of programming, art, game design, writing, level design, management and production. |  |
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| Topics include: 1. Game Development & Production, 2. Technical Mobile Game Development, 3. Alternative Funding & Exit Strategies, 4. Leadership & Professional Development, and 5. Audio & Music. | |||||||||
| Click here to view Gamesauce sessions on July 19th, the day before Casual Connect. (Casual Connect content is below) | |||||||||
Day 1 - Tuesday, July 20 |
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| Taper Auditorium | |||||||||
| 9 am | |||||||||
| Recital Hall | Founders Room | Triple Door | |||||||
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Development & Marketing Emcee Terri HARDIE |
Games for Gamers Emcee Juan GRIL, Joju Games |
Community & Social Emcee David NIXON, Oberon Media |
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| 11 am | |
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| noon | Lunch Break |
Lunch is served |
Lunch is served |
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Day 2 - Wednesday, July 21 |
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| Recital Hall | Founders Room | Triple Door | |||||||
| Development & Marketing Emcee Terri HARDIE |
Mobile & Smartphones Emcee Michael BRESLIN, bcg |
Community & Social Emcee David NIXON, Oberon Media |
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| noon | Lunch Break |
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| 5 pm | Mobile Mingle in the Founders Room, brought to you by Torque: 5 PM - 7 PM |
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Day 3 - Thursday, July 22 |
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| Recital Hall ... | Triple Door ... | ||||||||
| Emerging Trends Emcee Tim CHANG, Norwest Venture Partners |
Game Design Emcee
Laralyn McWILLIAMS, SOE |
Monetization Emcees Mihir SHAH, Offerpal Media Mike QUIGLEY, Social Gold |
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| 9 am | IGDA Casual Games SIG Meeting | ||||||||
| 10 am |  Metagaming: The Gamification of Life. Exploring Game Mechanics Outside of Games
Gabe ZICHERMANN, beamME Amy Jo KIM, Shufflebrain Keith SMITH, BigDoor Discussion led by Tim CHANG, NVP |
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| 11 am | |||||||||
| noon | Lunch Break |
Competing for the Social Games Dollar: New Ways to Monetize
Jeremy SHEA, GSN Labs Davin MIYOSHI, GSN Social Games Kenny ROSENBLATT, Arkadium Lunch is served |
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| 2 pm | Your Own Zombie Army - Driving User Behavior & Business Value with Game Mechanics and Behavioral Economics David TYLER, Bunchball |
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| 3 pm | Story, Narrative Design and Dialog: What Casual Games Should Be Doing Differently Edward KUEHNEL, EGK Interactive |
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| 4 pm | Bringing Your Casual Game to the iPhone, iPad and Portable Consoles: Make It Profitable Julia PALATOVSKA, G5 Entertainment |
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| 5 pm | |||||||||
GENERAL INTEREST
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 Jeremy LEWIS President & CEO Big Fish Games Ed VIESTURS Ed Viesturs is America's leading high-altitude mountaineer, having conquered the world’s fourteen 8,000-meter peaks – without supplemental oxygen – over a period of 18 years. Upon his ascent of Annapurna on May 12, 2005, he became the fifth individual in the world, and the only American, to accomplish this. Widely regarded as one of the all-time "greats" in the world of mountaineering, Viesturs is familiar to many from the 1996 IMAX Everest Expedition documentary. In 2002, Viesturs was awarded the historic Lowell Thomas Award by the Explorer's Club for “outstanding achievement in the field of mountaineering,” along with such notables as Sir Edmund Hillary. Join Viesturs as he shares his personal journey, using his own experiences to relate how important teamwork and perseverance is in any industry. |
DEVELOPMENT & MARKETING
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Ben ROTHOLTZ VP of Marketing PopCap Games Gruesome tales from the Plants vs. Zombies crypt: How a little flower defense game grew into a revenue redwood on a pea shooter budget Matt HULETT Chief Revenue Officer GameHouse Casual Games are on the fast track to become the next mainstream media, with the potential to connect millions of players around the world with gaming experiences that stretch across virtually any screen and venue. But in any industry that’s exploding this fast, there are bound to be some growing pains along the way. Hulett will address how our success and rapid growth as an industry has resulted in silos across the casual games space, and discuss ideas for how everyone in the casual business can deliver a more integrated, interactive, connected and fun player experience for casual games consumers everywhere. Sean CLARK Executive Producer Big Fish Games Developers need to approach success through the lens of an investment opportunity. In a world where game development is increasingly a “make-or-break” effort, augmenting passion and creativity with a risk/return weighted analysis is a necessary part of surviving and thriving. This session will look at the economics of a typical investment in casual, social and core games and the levers that exist to minimize risk and maximize return in each segment. The presentation will also use recent case studies to highlight both successful and unsuccessful game ‘investments’ by independent developers and some recent macro-level casual and social games market data. Peter LEVIN CEO and Co-Founder Glow Interactive David TYLER SVP of Sales & Business Development Bunchball Discussion led by Jesse REDNISS Vice President, Digital USA Network A discussion delving into what goes into developing a new casual/social gaming destination in an otherwise crowded market. How and why are these platforms being developed? What do they offer gamers’ that isn’t already available? How can new players (who aren’t from the traditional gaming space) compete with reigning powerhouses?
Arthur HUMPHREY Founder and Lead Designer Last Day of Work Ron POWERS VP of Product Management and Business Development PopCap Games Paul THELEN Founder, Chairman and CSO Big Fish Games Mark SKAGGS Vice President of Product Development Zynga Tony BARTEL President GameStop Discussion led by Joel BRODIE Founder and President Gamezebo Because every good session deserves a sequel (or, in the case of the casual games industry, 2 or 3 or 4 good sequels), it’s Hype vs The Real Deal, Part 3. Members of our elite panel will be queried on a series of key trends in casual games and have to publicly go on the record to proclaim whether that trend is full of hot air or is a huge opportunity as we think it is. Trends to be discussed will include: Did low price points save the industry? iPhone vs Android. Exclusivity: the good the bad and the ugly. Is Facebook here to stay? What happened to the Wii? Retail? The finer points of farming and much much more! Mari BAKER CEO PlayFirst This session, by Mari Baker, president and CEO of PlayFirst, will explore the trials and tribulations in building engaging and enduring game brands. Using the ever-popular “Dash” brand as a case example, Baker will discuss the basic elements necessary to create, publish and market game brands that touch a cord with millions of consumers around the globe. Pertinent market research will be shared to show how transitions in the game industry drive brand development from a business perspective. Baker will also discuss how brands today are extended across platforms beyond the traditional PC download, to delight game players where ever and when ever to play, be it on mobile devices such as iPhone and iPad or on social networks such as Facebook. Arthur HUMPHREY Founder and Lead Designer Last Day of Work Had enough lectures about how to monetize your IP, how to sign a better publishing deal, how to finance your studio, and especially how to innovate? This talk will focus on something that often gets forgotten at game conferences: the games. Specifically, we will examine the increasing popularity of God Games, starting from their roots in core gaming, and into the present and future with mega-hits like Virtual Villagers, Pocket God, and other present-day examples. A focus will be on design and implementation considerations that are needed to make these games accessible to casual players, the pros and cons of the genre, and amazing crazy fun game design. Jason ROBAR VP and GM of Studio Gazillion Entertainment What’s it like working with an IP holder? How do you tackle bringing to life the Marvel universe in a casual and family friendly MMOG? From art style to missions, social space to game play, join the Vice President and Studio Manager of Gazillion’s The Amazing Society as he addresses those challenges (as well as others) that his team tackled while making a mass market Marvel MMOG, Super Hero Squad Online. Chris DeWOLFE CEO Mindjolt Dean TAKAHASHI Lead Writer, GamesBeat VentureBeat Former CEO and co-founder of MySpace, Chris DeWolfe brings a unique perspective to the social games space. As CEO, he built a Goliath in MySpace, growing the network from inception through it's purchase by NewsCorp, and beyond. Now, as CEO of Mindjolt he's entering the crowded space of online games with a goal of accelerating growth through a very grounded strategy. In this session, Chris will share observations of how the goliaths compete, and where they have chinks in the armor, exposing opportunities for scrappier companies. Specifically, he will draw on his experience building one of the largest high traffic web environments, and will explain how he is putting this knowledge to use now in the real world as he builds out Mindjolt as the preferred platform for independent developers. Michael KALKOWSKI Managing & Creative Director GameDuell GameDuell is one of the best monetizing, as well as one of the largest casual games communities in the world. In the last 7 years they developed and optimized over 50 social games and many engagement enhancing features. Hear about some of their biggest mistakes and learnings. Are you testing your products with the right users and in the right way? Are you drawing the right conclusions from your data? Are you getting the best out of your development team? Are you focussing on the right features? Tomer BEN-KIKI CEO & Co-Founder Oberon Media Multiplatform convergence continues to be a powerful strategy for casual game developers and this is even more true now that social games have risen as a “platform” in their own right. Tomer Ben-Kiki discusses the challenges for developers and distributors as well as the benefits to those who embrace multi platform convergence for the benefit of the end user. Jeff BARR Senior Web Services Evangelist Amazon Web Services Social games can quickly attract user bases measured in the millions or even in the tens of millions. Gathering sufficient processing, networking, and storage resources to deal with this onslaught of traffic can be difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. The unpredictable shape of the adoption makes it impossible to acquire resources ahead of demand. In this session, you will see how cloud-based resources can be the ideal solution to this conundrum. Advertising - A "Must-Have" for Any Casual or Social Gaming Business Shannon CALLIES Group Planning Manager Microsoft Brand marketers are anxious to reach the 450 million people who play casual and social games. Shouldn’t monetization of this enormous, untapped audience be easy?. The reality is only a small percentage of today’s casual games audience are willing to pay for content, whether it’s a game transaction, subscription or microtransaction. To effectively monetize these users and ensure an optimal revenue model, casual games advertising is a must-have for today’s marketers. In this session, learn how to monetize the casual gaming audience in ways that are lucrative and valuable from a business and end-user perspective, but also deliver positive, impactful brand awareness. Rewarding Your Audience Wherever They Are Josh GLANTZ VP & GM Publishers Clearing House Online Your customers are consuming messages in many places these days and in this ever changing media landscape it pays to be platform agnostic. It also pays to reward your customers for interacting with your brand. The question is however... how can you effectively do this in the right place, at the right time while also ensuring that you target your ideal customer. During this interactive seminar Josh Glantz, vice president and general manager of Publishers Clearing House Online will discuss the importance of program portability and reaching out to existing and potential customers wherever they are. He will also explain the value of rewards and how to make these work most effectively in many different media environments. And... you may just win something! Matt LASHEY VP of Strategic Insights Lifetime Networks at A&E Television Networks Margaret WALLACE CEO Playmatics Nicole LAZZARO Founder XEODesign, Inc. & XEOPlay, Inc. Join top experts in games and social media as they present some never-before-seen research and data on the ever-evolving online and social gaming industry, and learn how research data are used to drive results-driven decisions in games. Daniel BERNSTEIN CEO Sandlot Games Sean ELLIOT VP of Business Development Playrix Entertainment Wade TINNEY CEO Large Animal Bryan BOUWMAN Co-Founder HipSoft LLC Arthur HUMPHREY Founder and Lead Designer Last Day of Work Discussion led by Vincent CARRELLA Director of Licensing at Shockwave.com Shockwave / MTV Networks As the digital landscape changes, and the pricing model for downloads becomes obscure, with diminishing profit margins for the developer, how can studios maximize revenue from their efforts more effectively and consistently? Many developers are exploring (and profiting from) platforms other than traditional downloads – online, iPhone, Wii, retail – these are some of the avenues that today’s developers are utilizing to expose their IP to larger audiences. David NIXON Executive Producer Oberon Media Kenny ROSENBLATT CEO Arkadium Peter NEGULESCU President iWin Discussion led by Sean ELLIOT VP of Business Development Playrix Entertainment The future of the traditional downloadable space is not clear and companies whose bread and butter used to be in this area are looking elsewhere for growth and players. Come hear representatives of some of the known developers and publishers in the portal space speak about their experience taking their ip or building new games for the social nets. This session will contain several mini post-mortems of successful projects focusing on the design and production challenges of a move from downloadable to social. |
COMMUNITY & SOCIAL GAMES
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Steve CHIANG President of Studios Zynga Social gaming has changed the way millions of people have fun and connect with friends around the world. As the Web’s social explosion continues, consumers are dictating how they want to play, invest and express themselves on multiple platforms and devices. In the booming global app economy, game developers with the best user experiences and most diversified approach to their business have more opportunities than ever to delight consumers worldwide. Steve MERETZKY VP of Game Design Playdom Dave ROHRL Creative Director Playdom It's been an incredible year in gaming's hottest sector, and Dave Rohrl and Steve Meretzky present their popular annual recap of the most interesting developments in social gaming. In the last year, social games moved beyond just mobs, farms, and poker (although there were plenty of all three!). We saw fish tanks, vampires, ninjas, zoos, offices, and hotels. We saw treasure hunts, city builders, collectible card games, light shooters and pretty hardcore strategy games. Dave and Steve point out the most interesting games of the year - both the popular and hidden gems - and put them into the context of the larger trends going on in the industry. They also make bold predictions about what to expect in social gaming during the coming year. Max LEVCHIN Founder & CEO Slide Philip ROSEDALE CEO, Founder and Chairman of the Board Linden Lab The games industry has always been a hit-driven business. As the industry moves online, social games are no different. Sticking true to this model, most companies find themselves on a constant treadmill dedicated to churning out new games to keep their audiences playing. However, some argue this model simply is not sustainable. In order to build a long-term business, you must build long-term and valuable relationships with your users. The way to achieve this is by creating communities. Max Levchin, the founder and CEO of Slide Inc., and Philip Rosedale, creator of virtual world Second Life, will discuss the importance of building communities that fuel virtual economies. Rex NG CEO & Chairman 6waves For many game developers, social networks are a new and exciting medium for monetizing and distributing games. While many envision social networks as a plug & play marketing solution, given the increased competition and a lack of a centralized consumer ranking system, game penetration rarely grows organically without additional marketing and promotional support. How should developers conduct marketing and promotions on social networks to get the most bang for their buck? And even if a game is able to beat the odds and grows organically, how are developers able to compete with large marketing and promotional budgets to make their game top in its genre?
Jens BEGEMANN Founder & CEO wooga Johan PEITZ Director of Social Games Muskedunder Interactive Social Networks were big in Europe long before they were big in North America – and while Facebook has debunked the theory that Social Networks are inherently regional – the numbers show that the folks in the EU certainly haven’t lost any of their fervor for this sort of Internet community. If you pursue global success for your social game, you can’t afford to ignore that a large percentage of your audience lives “across the pond.” Success in the EU isn’t any harder (or easier) than success elsewhere, but the audience there has some unique quirks. Come find out what they are and why you should care.
Jia SHEN CTO & Founder RockYou This session will cover best practices for engaging the world through Social Media. Learn how to design social games, social brand interactions, and monetization strategies that ensure high levels of engagement.
Kai BOLIK CEO & Co-Founder GameDuell Today we see that the times of the early "super wins" in social games are over and the social games market has become more mature. In the US, the initial gold rush with heavy viral growth has ended for most games companies. Increasingly, we now have to pay for marketing on social networks as in any other media. The social networks in Europe have offered less extensive opportunities for viral growth from the outset. Therefore, ROI-driven marketing execution and CRM is much more important now across all geographies. Can newcomers still make money and grow? In this session we will have a look at the changes in the social games arena and talk about key business and marketing implications for the months to come.
John PLEASANTS CEO Playdom In a rapidly growing industry, leading social gaming companies are looking in many directions to expand their business and increase their profits. From game innovation and 3rd party publishing deals, to branded content and games on multiple platforms, what has been done right so far and how do companies choose the right path to success moving forward?
Dan FIDEN General Manager, USA Playfish With all this talk about social gaming, something fundamental to the concept is too often overlooked: meaningful social interactions. But when you consider gaming as a form, more often than not it's about bringing people together in a shared experience - whether collaborative, emotional, competitive, or educational. So why not think about how to design social interactions first, and how to make them great using game systems? In this session, I'll talk about designing social interactions first and how it's a way of thinking about games that began long before social networks existed. I'll also talk about why getting deeply and truly social is more important than ever to the success of your mass market game.
Hill FERGUSON VP Product Management & Marketing Zong Direct & indirect payments are not a "one size fits all" proposition. Approximately 5 minutes after you have your first monetization structure in place, questions begin to arise about whether you are really doing this “right”. Audience demographics, geography, and a variety of other factors come into play that impact user experience, costs and, ultimately, your revenues. So what is the “right" way? It depends on your specific situation, but different options offer clear pros and cons, and a few rules of thumb apply. Walk away from this session with a better understanding of how to optimize your payment offerings and flow.
Jeff REVOY VP of Social Networking GameHouse Ofer LEIDNER CSO & Co-Founder Oberon Media Will O'BRIEN VP of Social Games Big Fish Games Discussion led by Derrick MORTON CEO Flowplay It’s now common knowledge that the game business on social networks (e.g. – Facebook) is exploding. Many businesses around the world look at their declining traffic against the sharply inclining graph for Facebook, and are reminded how fast our industry can change. Three years ago, who knew what an “app” was in the context we use it today, let alone a “social graph”? Way back then, the internet-hop were still cut-and-pasting HTML into our MySpace pages. Change, though, can be a good thing – it engages new players, explores new methods for distribution and monetization, and opens new doors for game design. The pioneers in casual game distribution – GameHouse, Big Fish Games, and Oberon Media – haven’t achieved success by fighting or ignoring change. All three have been working hard to harness the social game “phenomenon” for their global developer and distribution partners. Each are ready to unveil the details for you – so don’t miss this opportunity hear all about it!
Susan WU CEO & Co-Founder ohai What's next for social games? What does it take to build a multiplayer online game that everyone will play? Can you get FarmVille fans to engage in more immersive worlds? Or get devoted World of Warcraft players passionate about a Facebook game? Does the next-generation social game more resemble an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) or an MMO? Susan Wu, CEO and founder of gaming industry pioneer, ohai!, shares 5 key lessons learned from launching the company's first next-generation social MMO, City of Eternals. She will also talk about ohai's design philosophy with respect to the ethics of social games.
Erik BETHKE Director or Product Zynga This discussion will be a very rapid review of the history of virtual goods and social media as applied to the virtual gaming space, that leads to understanding how these past trend lines will predict the future direction of social gaming. The speaker formally created and ran GoPets a virtual world featuring People, Pets and Gaming, and last year joined Zynga the world’s leader in Social Gaming. Applying experience from being based in Asia for 6 years and the intense learning from Korea Erik Bethke will sketch out some likely future directions for the social gaming industry.
Albert LAI Co-Founder Kontagent This workshop will cover the top 10 social game metrics that top social game developers are looking at to understand, gain actionable insights, and predict the value of their users and social games. An important topic of this talk will be the discussion of Life Time Network Value of users within a social game environment as it relates to customer acquisition costs and in-game optimizations.
Nick BERRY GM of Analytics GameHouse
What do you really know about your social games customers? How old are they? What do they watch on TV? What brands do they follow? Who should you be chasing for sponsorship opportunities? Where should you be advertising? The more you understand about your customers, the more efficiently you can attract, retain and monetize them.
In this first public presentation of its unique social games data mining experiment, GameHouse will share Facebook demographic and user information mined over the last six months. Millions of data points have been captured; the results tabulated and summarized. Nick will present eye-opening findings around Facebook’s top consumer brands and top social games. Discover intriguing user preferences, from the brand of trainers FarmVille players wear and the TV shows watched by Bejeweled Blitz players, to the brand of fast food enjoyed by Collapse! players and the unique combination of games different users choose to play. This is your opportunity to mingle with the leaders in the Community & Social sector of the casual games industry. Drinks and appetizers provided by Playdom.
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MOBILE & SMARTPHONES
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Quyen QUACH Sr. Manager, Games AT&T With the introduction of the disruptive iPhone and then the Android, how has the mobile market place changed? And how has the market stayed the same? Join us for some real in-depth data on the current mobile market place. Sean GALLIGAN VP Business Development Flurry Studying its aggregated set of billions of sessions tracked across more than 40,000 iPhone and Android applications, Flurry reveals key trends, insights and patterns to help mobile application developers. This session will share information about designing a better user experience, promotion and monetization of applications. It's must for any company with an iPhone or Android application, as well as companies looking to understand the space better before committing resources. Jason OBERFEST VP Social Applications ngmoco:) The iPad, iPhone, and Android platforms are seeing explosive growth in mobile gaming, but what business models are working? How does Android compare to iPhone and iPad? Are free to play social games on these platforms a passing fad or the business model of the future? What product design principles are important to long term success? In this interactive session Jason Oberfest VP, Social Applications at ngmoco:) will speak candidly to ngmoco's experiences testing all models and shares what the company has learned along the way. Rob SCHOEPPE Sr. Director of Production and Development Namco Networks Alex GREEN SVP of Business Development Aurora Feint Mike BRESLIN President bcg Michael BERGEN Sr. Manager, Developer Relations and Partnerships Nokia Discussion led by Craig HOLLAND CEO Freeze Tag What’s keeping you up at night? What’s on your mind? What burning question do you want answered? Come and enjoy a lively and open discussion with some of the industry’s most knowledgeable mobile gaming experts. Topics covered include: App Store pricing strategies, micro-transactions, multi-platform development, iPad, Android, and why you shouldn’t forget about feature phones. Bring your own topics for discussion. Michael KLUCHER Lead Program Manager Microsoft With the release of Windows Phone, game developers will be able to create amazing content rapidly through the power of Silverlight and the XNA Framework. This talk will give an overview of Xbox LIVE and publishing opportunities on Windows Phone for publishers. Technical topics will also be covered such as the basic application model of Windows Phone, enumerate Windows Phone core device characteristics, and walk through highlights of Silverlight and XNA Frameworks on the phone. All the information is presented with a goal of how you can go and get started developing your games for Windows Phone with the tools available today! Pat WYLIE VP of Big Fish Studios Big Fish Games Big Fish Games has 15 games on iPhone and was an iPad launch partner with the first head-to-head multiplayer hidden object game app, Amazon: Hidden Expedition. The company has explored and implemented a number of marketing, technology and monetization techniques on iPhone and iPad. Learn what worked – and what didn’t – in this informative session.
As the casual gaming community moves into the mobile space, gaming developers have a choice whether they should use the mobile web apps with feature rich widgets or the native application environment? During this session we will look at the technologies, distribution channels and market trends for mobile app development that would affect this decision. The session will also go over tips on user interface in web based mobile apps, HTML 5 and widgets on the Android and bada platforms. Sarah THOMSON Director of Business Development IUGO Mobile Entertainment Making it big in mobile is a challenge; too much competition, too many platforms, not enough exposure and DEFINITELY not enough respect! Things are changing; some more quickly than others. For over 6 years IUGO has managed to survive the pitfalls of the industry, the economy and its own challenges as an independent, bootstrap studio. The company has come out on the other side with 14 titles out on the iPhone, BlackBerry and Android. New partnerships and ambitious plans of mass distribution of their own IP while building company value and image are taking IUGO into a brave new direction. Sarah Thomson, IUGO's Director of BD, speaks to IUGO's unique journey and offers insight for other mobile developers on how to push through the challenges and actually become successful in this dynamic environment. The indie scene is at an exciting point in history for mobile and IUGO is leading the way! Ira FAY Senior Game Designer Electronic Arts / Pogo.com In this session, Ira will present a detailed description of the process of bringing Pogo.com games to the iPhone platform. Ira will discuss issues related to game design, production, business models, and creating games under conditions of significant uncertainty and market volatility. Session attendees should expect to gain an understanding of Pogo's iPhone development process, and pitfalls to avoid when undertaking new iPhone projects. This is your opportunity to mingle with the leaders in the Mobile sector of the casual games industry. Drinks and appetizers provided by Torque. |
MONETIZATION
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Matt SHEA Senior Vice President - Product Development WildTangent More than ever before, monetization is a hot topic in the games industry. The insane growth and hype of social games and challenging economic times has created a cottage industry of monetization options. This session will address the current monetization environment as well as how developers can position themselves for even broader success as the industry evolves. Jonathan CLAYDON Sr. Manager of Affiliate and Partner Marketing RealNetworks Sean SMYTH VP of Business Development Groupon Marc DUGAS Producer Backstage Discussion led by Alex RAMPELL Co-Founder & CEO TrialPay Over the last 2 years, offer-based monetization platforms have focused on creating a “wall” of ad-supported offers on the payment page or in an overlay. That basic formula has worked very well in the gaming industry, but it can work even better. This panel will examine how publishers are going beyond the offer wall and leveraging innovative advertising strategies to increase revenue and enhance the game experience. How can publishers work with advertisers to achieve in-game placements, deeper offer integration and special promotions that will really move the needle? How do advertisers think about this channel and identify opportunities for growth? How will advertisers adapt to the changing customer landscape as new players (Sony, EA, etc.) move into the space? Creating Successful Games: Lessons in Virtual Currency Josh LARSON President and COO Mochi Media This presentation covers winning strategies, gameplay mechanics and tips for developers to successfully integrate virtual goods into their games based on analysis and observations from Mochi Media's network of over 100 micro-transactions enabled games. With growing interest in this area, many developers are beginning to directly interact with their gamers through virtual goods. However, successful implementation of virtual goods requires careful balancing and consideration of gameplay mechanics and strategies. What is working in other games and how can you avoid the pitfalls that others have encountered? Josh Larson will present the lessons learned for developers from others' experiences.
Jeremy SHEA VP GSN Labs GSN Davin MIYOSHI VP Social Games GSN Kenny ROSENBLATT CEO Arkadium GSN has extended their destination site technology to Facebook, launching the skill game monetization engine into the social market. From token tournaments to challenges against your friends with real cash payouts and leveraging popular brands, social games have a new tool with a proven LTV. Join us for a discussion behind the strategy, technology and partner perspective. Joel BRETON Director of Content AddictingGames Joel Breton, Director of Content at AddictingGames.com, part of Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group, will present a 30-minute case study detailing the launch of the AG virtual goods platform. Breton’s case study will explore the processes, challenges and rewards of entering the virtual goods market. In addition, the discussion will highlight the opportunities AG is providing to independent developers, who are now able to create and monetize their games like never before. Breton has overseen the growth of the site, which now holds a library of more than 3,500 games, receives more than 30 million visitors per month, and has become the largest youth-oriented online game site in the US. Vikas GUPTA Co-Founder & CEO Social Gold Virtual game economies present developers with new opportunities for monetizing online games. However, managing a virtual economy also presents new challenges as developers try to create their own worlds. Vikas Gupta will present on how to create, manage and optimize a virtual economy, including how to analyze spending habits, choose payment methods, manage inventory, and keep user data secure. Simon JONES VP Strategic Solutions Plimus In-app commerce provides a unique opportunity to extend the profitability of game titles. It also monetizes the install base and helps game developers tap into the social network craze of endless gaming. The core business dynamics of the games market make its adoption here inevitable. Simon Jones will talk about how to take advantage today of the opportunity to cross sell and, using case studies of other games vendors, will present how to plan and implement a game up-sell strategy. Eric GONZALEZ CEO Doubloon Lex BAYER GM Payments Business Playspan Ian SWANSON CEO & Co-Founder Sometrics Mark SENDO Founder & CEO Bodega Bid Lee LINDEN Co-Founder Tapjoy Come learn from those who have data from hundreds of games monetizing virtual goods. Using demographic and sales data from a number of current iPhone and Facebook games, experts in this field will explore what types of virtual goods are the most popular, what are the best payment options, the economics of a free-to-play app versus a paid application, and whether freemium is right for your application. Mini lectures include: · How to price your virtual goods, Eric Gonzalez, Doubloon · How to integrate virtual goods into your application for maximum revenue, Lex Bayer, Playspan · Who buys what and why, and how to hook consumers, Ian Swanson, Sometrics · The economics of ownership transfer of virtual goods, Mark Sendo, Bodega Bid · Monetizing and distributing mobile applications, Lee Linden, Tapjoy Robert CARROLL Social Game Adviser Offerpal Media Offerpal has been working with some of the top developers on Facebook to bring to light some real metrics from social games. During this talk we will be looking at the monetization and viral data from a number of current Facebook games to see who is paying, how developers are bringing users to their games and how game developers can stay in touch with their users. William GROSSO CTO and SVP of Product Live Gamer Virtual goods are one of the most important monetization strategies for game developers today. In this presentation, Bill goes in depth on the metrics, measurements, and merchandising secrets that developers and executives alike need to understand and master in order to run a successful virtual economy. An author on economics and a well-known software engineer, Bill melds a rare combination of economic know-how and cutting-edge technology, resulting in monetizaton strategies deeply seeded in market-proven wisdom yet creatively adapted for next-generation gaming. Mike QUIGLEY CMO Social Gold Mikhail SEREGINE Principal Engineer Social Gold Vikas GUPTA Co-Founder & CEO Social Gold Dan ZINK Principal Engineer Social Gold Luke BAYES Software Engineer Social Gold Join fellow entrepreneurs, developers and business people in this educational and interactive forum on monetization. Participants will choose one of four topics and brainstorm, ideate and share ideas in this a real-time, community-driven incubator. Session Moderator: Mike Quigley. Tracks and Breakout Group Moderators: 1. Payments 101 – How to integrate payment and currency options into your applications. Discussion led by Mikhail Seregine & Amit Fulay. 2. Manage Your Virtual Economy – How to manage inventory and analyze user data. Discussion led by Brian Sharon & Chris Houtzer. 3. Security – How to ensure your payment infrastructure is secure. Discussion led by Dan Zink & Vikas Gupta. 4. Flash Integration – For developers who want to focus on technical implementation of payments in Flash-based games. Discussion led by Luke Bayes & Mike Haswell. This is your opportunity to mingle with the leaders in the Monetization sector of the casual games industry. Drinks and appetizers provided by Amazon Payments. |
GAME DESIGN
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Matthew Lee JOHNSTON Senior Producer PopCap Games Games are games no matter the platform - and PopCap has proven that great games have legs with their cross platform strategy. With hits Peggle, Bejeweled, Zuma and Plants vs Zombies toping the iPhone charts, they make it seem so easy. Do not be fooled, while the professionals make triple axels and the vault look easy - we assure you this is no easy endeavor! Owais FAROOQUI Managing Director for North America King.com Everyone knows the largest demographic of online game players are women over 35, but when is the last time you had a chance to hear directly from this group? According to research, moms are increasingly older, more educated, and are now wielding nearly $2.1 trillion in spending power in the US alone. King’s Managing Director of North America, Owais Farooqui, moderates a panel of six avid social gamers who also happen to be moms. Be sure to bring your own questions, as we’ll be taking input from the audience live and through Twitter. Lloyd MELNICK GM, International Operations Playdom Practical pointers for project and studio directors on the importance of maintaining adaptable project and studio direction for maximal success. Lloyd will discuss changing a company’s business models to adapt to changes in the market. Specifically covering Merscom’s successful transition into the social gaming space and subsequent acquisition by Playdom. Laralyn McWILLIAMS Senior Producer Sony Online Entertainment The design process is about more than great ideas—it’s also about crystallizing those ideas into meaningful touchstones and goals, and presenting those goals to publishers, licensors, execs and your team. The 2010 Design Workshop starts with a license, platform and genre for developing a new casual game, then walks through the process of creating touchstones and describing the concept to others. During the session, your small work group will: · Develop a core concept for a licensed casual game · Create an elevator and feature-list pitch for your concept and deliver it to attendees · Revise the pitch and feature list when the unexpected occurs Join us for a fast-paced, creative workshop intended to improve critical thinking and public speaking, giving you better tools to help convey (and sell) your ideas to others! David TYLER SVP of Sales & Business Development Bunchball Status, achievement, reward, competition, self-expression: David Tyler, SVP of Sales & Business Development at Bunchball, describes how to address and leverage these fundamental human needs and desires through the use of mechanics from game design and behavioral economics. Learn how to use these mechanics to increase engagement, content creation and consumption, exploration, visit frequency, loyalty and affinity. Attendees will learn: * How to incent and motivate users through the use of mechanics like points, levels, leaderboards, virtual goods, challenges, and real-time feedback. * How "virtual" rewards are incredibly powerful * How to channel these mechanics to drive the behaviors that you want. * Whether to optimize for reward frequency or magnitude, and which reward frequencies deliver the best results * About behavioral economics: the biases and shortcuts that human beings have in their decision-making processes, that cause them to make irrational, but predictable decisions. And how to leverage this knowledge. * Concepts like loss aversion, the decoy effect, anchoring, commitment & consistency, scarcity, reciprocity, social proof and more. * How these mechanics work across demographics and geographies: men, women, kids, adults, U.S. and overseas. Sue BOHLE CEO The Bohle Company Direct-to-the-consumer channels have created a need for entirely new strategies for promoting titles. Traditional media is only part of the shopping bag of tricks a marketing person must employ. Social media, wherein friends tell friends what they are interested in, is a huge influence. Micro-targeting to niche audiences is key. This session would provide an overview of different techniques for promoting casual games and illustrate new concepts for promoting all types of games to a wide variety of audiences. Covered will be when and how to create pre-launch interest, generating reviews, using social media to drive registrations or downloads, and how to sustain on-going coverage and generate more sales for a title. Ed KUEHNEL Game Designer/Writer EGK Interactive Story and narrative design have become hugely important to casual gamers whose expectations regarding plot and dialog for casual games have soared. A ""hardcore"" games writer with experience on over a dozen casual games breaks down the process for creating a story, intertwining it with your gameplay and writing good dialog using lessons learned from working on successful big budget games and casual titles. Topics include: the unique challenges casual games offer during the narrative design phase and how casual studios are better positioned than their triple-A counterparts to tell a good story. Presentation includes real world examples. Luna CRUZ Producer/Designer Boomzap Entertainment Casual adventure games are gaining popularity over straight hidden object games. With a strong story, themed puzzles, and interesting characters, the writing behind a good casual adventure deserves more than just an afterthought in the production process. (Yes, it might even require the work of a real writer!) In this session, Boomzap Entertainment's resident writer/designer discusses the writing process behind their #1 game "Awakening: The Dreamless Castle", which was praised by users as having a solid and engaging story. She speaks on how Awakening's story was carefully integrated into gameplay, how the fantasy world was built, and the decisions made during development that affected the game's storytelling. With practical writing tips that are useful for all genres (not just adventure), this session is a must for writers, designers, and anyone who wants to improve the quality of their game's writing. Mark BAXTER VP Product, Co-Founder Fit Brains In order to reach new audiences and expand the overall market for games, it can be valuable for developers to explore new ways to engage mainstream audiences who have not yet found an interest in games. This talk explores the opportunities and challenges of delivering polished gaming experiences designed to offer players more life-relevant value. New demographics – including the many first-time gamers that have helped drive titles like Wii Fit to sell over 20 million copies – demonstrate a quickly-growing opportunity for purposeful entertainment infused with the strong production values found in top Triple-A and Casual titles. Mark DeLOURA Game Developer Advocate Google The Chrome Web Store launches later this year, giving game developers a channel to reach the 70M+ Chrome users with their web-based applications. What exactly is the Chrome Web Store? For that matter, what is a web app? In this presentation we'll talk about the store, the technologies you can use to create apps, and how you can get involved in the launch. Julia PALATOVSKA Business Development Director G5 Entertainment In one year G5 Entertainment has expanded its activity from mobile game development to publishing casual games on the iPhone, iPad and PSP - which was a great success. Come learn about best practices in game development and porting for various platforms as Julia Palatovska discusses the following topics: · Developing for small screens and constrained memory · Getting your game noticed · Achieving high ratings on the App Store · iPhone and PSP casual game case studies |
GAMES FOR GAMERS
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Justin COONEY Sr. Account Manager Sony Computer Entertainment America This session is for anyone who would like to know more about making money on the PlayStation Network and PlayStation Home. The goal is to offer solid examples of the various ways to make tangible income in order to drive positive sales for your company. Scott AUSTIN Director XBLA Microsoft Casual Games Xbox LIVE now means more than Xbox 360. In this session, you’ll learn the ways to get your game onto the Xbox 360 through Xbox LIVE Arcade or Xbox LIVE Indie Games. You’ll also learn about the upcoming launch of Xbox LIVE on the Windows Phone 7 and how to bring your games to this exciting new platform.
John MUNDY Creative Director AO3 Chris MILLAR CEO & Producer AO3 Two of the key folks behind Fat Princess talk about the good the bad and the ugly side of developing a hit downloadable game for PSN. Still in the top 5 games on PSN almost a year after release, Chris and John will walk you through some of the ups and downs that made Fat Princess a hit not only for the casual, but also for the hard core players. They will also talk about some of the amazing and unexpected enthusiasm coming from Fat Princess fans from around the world and how they used that momentum to consistently keep the community alive with the DLC content, Fat Roles. Andy MOORE Prime Minister Malotre Entertainment Come and learn how SteamBirds applied sane marketing practices and business models to a carve a niche out of a very crowded industry. Kris ANTONI Director Toge Productions There’s a connection between our obsession with zombies, the drive for world domination, and making an addictive game. Toge Productions will discuss the lessons learned from our infectious flash game Infectonator, as well as sharing why it’s so much fun being an indie casual games developer. Jim GREER Founder/CEO Kongregate David HELGASON CEO Unity Danielle DEIBLER Engineering Manager for Flash Platform Adobe Mark DeLOURA Game Developer Advocate Google Paul CUTSINGER Principal Program Manager Microsoft The web game industry has changed tremendously in the last 5 years. Unfortunately the technology behind it has not evolved as quickly. Will the next 5 years be different? Will Flash continue to dominate, or will there be a changing of the guard? Is 3D the killer feature, or is there something else that could disrupt the status quo. Our panel will include representatives from the top contenders, and we'll aim for a lively debate. David EDERY Principal Fuzbi It would take all day to comprehensively discuss how to build a studio, so this session focuses on two of the most important components to that question: how to create a great studio culture, and how to attract and retain the best employees for that culture. Expect a healthy serving of academic research and some interesting case studies. Steve TAYLOR President NinjaBee No matter how you categorize Xbox 360 players, every group finds something to like about Live Arcade, whether it's satisfying a puzzle itch, filling time between harcore first-person shooter sessions, or just finding something cool and new. Join one of NinjaBee's directors as he reviews lessons learned from Outpost Kaloki X, Cloning Clyde, Band of Bugs, A Kingdom for Keflings, Ancients of Ooga, and A World of Keflings, and tries desperately to figure where he fits in the increasingly bloody Live Arcade ocean.
Mario WYNANDS Managing Director Sidhe Interactive The online and download capabilities of modern consoles and handhelds have opened opportunities for independent developers to reach new markets traditionally only accessible by third party publishers. However, in tandem with these opportunities are numerous challenges and risks which threaten creative freedom and commercial viability. Using the original title Shatter for PlayStation Network as an example, Mario Wynands explains the various strategies Sidhe has employed to overcome the challenges and succeed critically and financially in this exciting space. It's Mingle time for everyone who loves game development! Drinks and appetizers provided by Torque. |
EMERGING TRENDS
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Tim CHANG Principal Norwest Venture Partners As casual gaming continues to grow in popularity and market share, significant trends are emerging. Come hear Tim Chang’s take on what’s hot and what’s not. Remember, today’s niche market may become tomorrow’s billion dollar business.
Gabe ZICHERMANN Author/Analyst beamME Amy Jo KIM CEO Shufflebrain Keith SMITH CEO & Co-Founder BigDoor Discussion led by Tim CHANG Principal Norwest Venture Partners How do we take games to the next level? Metagames. Beyond just being a farmer or a waitress in a fantasy world, gaming concepts applied to existing products and life experiences predictably drive loyalty and virality. Come learn about how companies ranging from airlines to grocery stores to online real estate moguls have implemented metagaming to drive revenue and growth.
Kunal SARKAR Co-Founder & CEO Lumos Labs Nadeem KASSAM Founder Pulse Tracer Jen McCABE CEO/Co-Founder Contagion Health Discussion led by Perrin KAPLAN Principal Zebra Partners With the overwhelming success of Wii Fit, Brain Age and dozens of other programs that help deliver mental and/ or physical exercise using ‘fun’ methods, a vital new gaming category is emerging. Hey, come to think of it, is Wii Fit a game, or a fitness experience? Will “games” ever become part of a recommended medical treatment program? What specific healthy outcomes may games contribute to, and how can they be measured so that distribution partners such as insurance companies and health systems find them credible? Last but not least, what are some emerging business models to make money making games that are good for you?
Jude GOMILA Co-Founder Heyzap Albert LAI Co-Founder Kontagent Prita UPPAL CEO Hooked Media Group Josh ROSE CEO Flying Wisdom Studios Discussion led by Jay MOORE Director of Business Development BitRaider Attracting and keeping players interested in social games has always been a complicated endeavor which has just been made more difficult with a number of changes which have limited the innate virality of games on social networks. Come hear how content creators are not only surviving but thriving with the changes.
Shanna TELLERMAN CEO Wild Pockets David PERRY CEO & Co-Founder Gaikai While monetization platforms often get all the press and attention, the truth is that the backend is what enables millions to enjoy the experience. Come and learn some of the key improvements and breakthroughs in the last year – and how next-generation networking and gaming infrastructure are creating new online gaming platforms (perhaps even replacing future generations of consoles!), and how your games can benefit from this evolution.
Greg JOHNSON SVP, Executive Creative Director & Head of Digital William Morris Elliot SOLOMON Director of Business Development Disney Online Studios Dave LONG Co-Founder & CEO Exponential Entertainment Robert TERCEK Board of Directors Creative Visions Foundation Discussion led by Mark FRIEDLER Founder MFConsulting In this panel, some of the biggest names in Hollywood share their involvement in gaming and their strategies for launching popular intellectual properties across the newer platforms of electronic entertainment such as smartphones and social gaming with innovative business models (free-to-play + microtransactions; virtual goods revenue-split vs. traditional upfront license deals, etc.) Milton SOONG Founder & CEO Zabu Studio Takahito IGUCHI CEO & Founder Tonchidot Elan LEE Chief Designer and Founder Fourth Wall Studios Discussion led by Jay MOORE Director of Business Development BitRaider As games on social networks and smartphones are becoming more common place, there are several new emerging trends inside of these markets. Come listen to the ‘who’s who’ of the emerging business models designed reach new audiences in social and mobile gaming. |