Roundtables

Six new roundtable topics from have just been announced!  Join leaders from as they share their thoughts on the future of the video games industry. Roundtables facilitate new networking opportunities that will enrich the attendee experience with compelling topics which will be explored from the varied perspectives of table participants. This is an excellent networking opportunity paired with premier idea sharing. Click here for more information on the Roundtables.

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Claire Baert

Consultant, Citizen Science Games
Video games to tackle 21st century greatest challenges
With citizen science games, players actively contribute to real science. They already help find protein structures (Foldit), design RNA molecules (EteRNA), generate data for the largest research on dementia in history (Sea Hero Quest) and could be the next ones to discover an exoplanet (EVE Online). Game developers can make powerful and engaging games, and games can become tools leading to scientific discoveries. Let's discuss how the games industry and scientists can collaborate to give players opportunities to solve today's biggest challenges.

Nick Button-Brown

Executive, Near Future Society
How Games can teach Social responsibility and critical thinking
2018 brings Games an opportunity to teach social responsibility in a way that no other medium can deliver. This roundtable will look at some examples of how Indie titles have addressed social issues successfully and how those messages were delivered. Should we be dealing with subjects like Immigration, Psychosis and Mental Health, making them part of the ongoing narrative. Let us discuss as a panel the subjects that Games have a responsibility to consider, for example how the depiction of War within Games should be impacted by the rules of the Geneva Convention.

David Helgason

Founder and Board Member, Unity Technologies
Anything Unity
David loves meeting current and future users of Unity. Join him on a roundtable to discuss the past, present, and future of Unity as an engine and platform.

 

Ollie Lewis

Co-Founder, Near Future Society
What games can learn from Science?
2018 brings us a confusing and changing world. How can we use an awareness of psychology, neuroscience and an understanding of the present state of the world to create appealing, compelling and therefore commercially successful games. This session will discuss the benefits of combining Hard Science with Social Science, and how that can impact on designing games. We will talk about how we can work with scientists outside of our industry to create meaningful reasons to play games, as an evolution compulsion loops.

Bill Roper

Chief Creative Officer, Improbable
Promoting a Culture of Creativity
There is a direct connection between promoting a creative culture, building the right team, and creating great projects. We'll share ideas and examine how to bring structure to the creative process, establish best practices for fostering creativity, and put design principles first.

Kelly Wallick

Kelly Wallick

CEO and Founder of Indie MEGABOOTH, Chairperson of Independent Games Festival (IGF)
Curating for the Future - How Discoverability and Audience Diversification Shapes our Industry
It seems everyone has an opinion on how to address the curation and discoverability issues arising from high volume, open platform distribution. So what's working? What influence does how, and who, we curate for affect the overall landscape of the gaming industry at large? How do we find and retain the diversity of audiences needed to create and grow a healthy ecosystem? What methods can we use to connect these audiences with new and emerging content? This is especially important on the fringes of the independent scene, but the ripples can be felt in both big and small studios across the industry. Join Kelly as she facilitates a conversation around the quietly influential role of curators, tastemakers and the big and small decisions that will shape the future of gaming.

 

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