GameMakers

Today we discuss Data Usage & Ethics in Gaming.  

It’s not just about what are acceptable practices when it comes to market intelligence, there’s a bigger picture around data that impacts privacy at the device level with Apple and Google impacting IDFA, and even further with the data by companies that may be in competitive situations to their customers. Note that it was just announced that Applovin has just acquired MoPub for example.  

Regular Hosts: 

- Joseph Kim, CEO of LILA Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/

- Brett Nowak, CEO of Liquid & Grit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-nowak-8920675/ 

Guest: 

- Lars Doucet, President of Level Up Labs. Twitter: @larsiusprime, Blog: https://www.fortressofdoors.com/ 

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

We discuss the future outlook and potential emerging opportunities for blockchain gaming.  

Who better to discuss than:  

1. Chong Ahn, VP of Product at Mythical Games (Blankos Block Party) 

2. Brian Peganoff, Ex-Senior Dir of Corporate Development & Strategy at Glu Mobile 

3. Mitch Zamara, Lead Designer, Million on Mars  

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

With long histories in product management specifically in the games industry, we have a REAL discussion on what it takes to be a great PM.  

Hardcore and real talk from guys who have worked on very successful products. I led the #1 top-grossing game King of Avalon plus a lot of other shit. Brett was a lead PM on Zynga Poker which was contributing 22% of Zynga's revenue at the time.   Real talk you won't get anywhere else. This talk is for hardcore PMs only!   

Follow this channel if you want to hear more philosophy on current and important issues in the F2P games industry.  

The story behind JK getting assassinated: HERE  

Recommended Books on PM: 

1. The Principles of Product Development Flow by Donald G. Reinertsem 

2. Principles by Ray Dalio 

3. Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink 

4. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz 

5. Atomic Habits by James Clear 6. The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh  

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Moonton's Chief Game Designer Skyhook talks about MOBAs and the keys to success for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.  

Questions asked:  

0:00 Intro 0:25 Classification of MOBAs? 

2:14 Difference in design between MOBA and RTS? 

4:07 How did Mobile Legends succeed when other MOBAs failed? 

5:57 What was the hardest challenge in Mobile Legends' success?  

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

In this deep conversation with Lars, we were able to speak to the key challenges that remain behind blockchain and crypto in gaming. 

Key problems discussed: 1. Degraded Blockchain Problem, 2. Some Problems with Play to Earn, and 3. The Problem with Land Sales.  

Links: 

- Lars Blog- The Fortress of Doors

- Degraded Blockchain Article (Lars post from Fortress of Doors)

- Land Speculators Will Kill Your Game's Growth (Game Developer)

Also check out the original, full interview with Lars that has a wider ranged discussion on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency on Super Stonk Bros here 

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

LILA Games CTO Avinash Pandey discusses key tech challenges in scaling mobile F2P games with Epic Games' Technology Evangelist Arvind Neelakantan.  

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Watch it on the GameMakers YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio

Deep discussion on what global strategic game publishers like Stillfront, SEGA, and Scopely look for when expanding into India from a development or market perspective.  

Moderator:     

- Justin Keeling, General Partner, Lumikai Fund  

Speakers:     

- Alexis Bonte, Group COO, Stillfront Group    

- Saito Go, Executive Officer & Head of Japan Asia Publishing, SEGA Corporation    

- Justin Scarpone, SVP & GM Asia, Scopely  

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Panelists discuss: 

1. How did you break into this industry? 

2. Gaming career choice versus traditional options? 

3. Different Roles? 

4. Sustained interest?  

Moderator:  

- Vik Agarwal, Lead PM, Zynga   

Speakers: -

 Poornima Seetharaman, Dir of Design, Zynga 

- Karan Gaikwad, Lead PM, Nukebox 

- Shilpa Gaur, Lead Marketing & Strategy, Cympl  

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Paul Leydon LILA Games Chief Creative Officer and former lead game designer on multiple #1 top grossing titles like King of Avalon (FunPlus) and Game of War (MZ), discusses his design and research methodology. He discusses the importance of doing the work and depth in making a hit game.  

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Watch it on the GameMakers YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio

In this conversation, we have some of India’s top game industry leaders.   

Speakers: 

#1. Manish Agarwal, CEO of Nazara

#2. Amit Hardi, CEO of Nukebox

#3. Salone Sehgal, Genera. Partner at Lumikai

#4. Anuj Tandon, Head of Corp Dev India & MENA at Krafton

The focus of the conversation is oriented around India as a game development ecosystem. We talk about What’s keeping India from becoming the next China or Turkey, what are the strengths of the Indian game dev scene, and how do we accelerate the local Indian gaming market.  This was the first of 5 sessions from the India F2P gaming conference. Be sure to check this out as well as some of the other sessions.   

Moderator: 

- Joseph Kim, CEO of LILA Games 

And you can always read about it in the GameMakers newsletter and get alerted to new events in the future: https://gamemakers.substack.com/