IndieGameBusiness®

Indie developers tend to underestimate the importance of contracts for each and every element of game development early on and tend to steer away from the difficult subject matter a contract covers. In this talk, we will discuss ways to approach contracts and their content to make them less intimidating and how to help the recipients understand the contract and feel that everyone's best interests are being represented.

Crystal Sciarrino

Founder

SkyReach Studio

Developer and designer for the upcoming spooky farming ARPG Critter Crops. Crystal has been a software developer and game developer for nearly 5 years and has seen a lot of what indie dev teams of many sizes have experienced and had to handle.

To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: indiegame.business

Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: powellgroupconsulting.com

Watch the official live stream: twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness

Watch Indie's live stream: twitch.tv/INDIE

Join the Indie Game Business Discord: discord.gg/indiegamebusiness

The Twitters to follow -

Indie Game Business: twitter.com/BusinessIndie

Powell Group Consulting: twitter.com/PowellGrp

Jay: twitter.com/Powell_Jay

INDIE: twitter.com/TheRealIndie

Donate to Extra Life with our link: extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness

Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness

Audiences from around the globe should understand how the game development industry in Africa has developed will get more insight about it. We will discuss the current state and the possible future. Also, those who are interested in targeting the African market will have a sense of direction on how to go about it.

David Olamide

Co-Founder

Dimension11 Studio

I am an indie game developer from Nigeria with over 3 years of experience in the Gaming Industry. I co-founded a game studio (Dimension11 Studio) in Nigeria last year with a few of my Game Development friends. I work remotely as well with an Indie Studio based in Germany (Spheriearth Studio) specialized in making Environmental Games. I am also an undergraduate university student at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-ife, Nigeria. I was a site organizer of Global Game Jam in Ile-ife, Nigeria.

To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: indiegame.business

Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: powellgroupconsulting.com

Watch the official live stream: twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness

Watch Indie's live stream: twitch.tv/INDIE

Join the Indie Game Business Discord: discord.gg/indiegamebusiness

The Twitters to follow -

Indie Game Business: twitter.com/BusinessIndie

Powell Group Consulting: twitter.com/PowellGrp

Jay: twitter.com/Powell_Jay

INDIE: twitter.com/TheRealIndie

Donate to Extra Life with our link: extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness

Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness

The purpose of this session is to share our knowledge in various marketing areas and educate those who may not be as familiar with certain marketing areas. Featuring feedback from the publisher, media agency, and media executives, we'll answer any and all questions about how to optimize the marketing across a variety of channels.

To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: indiegame.business

Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: powellgroupconsulting.com

Watch the official live stream: twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness

Watch Indie's live stream: twitch.tv/INDIE

Join the Indie Game Business Discord: discord.gg/indiegamebusiness

The Twitters to follow -

Indie Game Business: twitter.com/BusinessIndie

Powell Group Consulting: twitter.com/PowellGrp

Jay: twitter.com/Powell_Jay

INDIE: twitter.com/TheRealIndie

Donate to Extra Life with our link: extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness

Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness

Game marketing expert and perennial sell-out IndieGameBusiness guest Chris Zukowski leads the charge in this session. He's taking a break from his usual full-speed sessions and is answering YOUR questions live this time around. This is your chance to ask anything you want to know about indie game marketing, Steam pages, stats, and analytics, etc!

Chris Zukowski

Founder

How To Market A Game

Chris Zukowski is a game marketing consultant and strategist. He has helped companies as diverse as Games as a Service company to Indie Publishers to single-person teams better understand their audience and communicate with them better. Every week he publishes a new article about how to market a game at his website HowTomarketagame.com

Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: powellgroupconsulting.com

Watch the official live stream: twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness

Watch Indie's live stream: twitch.tv/INDIE

Join the Indie Game Business Discord: discord.gg/indiegamebusiness

The Twitters to follow -

Indie Game Business: twitter.com/BusinessIndie

Powell Group Consulting: twitter.com/PowellGrp

Jay: twitter.com/Powell_Jay

INDIE: twitter.com/TheRealIndie

Donate to Extra Life with our link: extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness

Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness

Like them or not social media ads are a key way you can grow your wishlists and community. This session will cover the basics of ads and targeting and then open the floor to your questions.

Chris Faylor

Founder

vgReleaseList

With over 20 years in the video game industry, Chris Faylor has built and led marketing teams at such companies as Gearbox Software, Armature Studio, and Squanch Games, contributing to the success of franchises like Borderlands, Homeworld, Risk of Rain, and Trover Saves the Universe. He is also the founder of vgReleaseList.com.

To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: indiegame.business

Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: powellgroupconsulting.com

Watch the official live stream: twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness

Watch Indie's live stream: twitch.tv/INDIE

Join the Indie Game Business Discord: discord.gg/indiegamebusiness

The Twitters to follow -

Indie Game Business: twitter.com/BusinessIndie

Powell Group Consulting: twitter.com/PowellGrp

Jay: twitter.com/Powell_Jay

INDIE: twitter.com/TheRealIndie

Donate to Extra Life with our link: extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness

Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness

Building on years of grant writing experience and successful funding for Only By Midnight, I will share my perspective on how to craft funding applications both public and private.

Some highlights:

- Consider the human behind the application who is doing the reading. How to best engage their attention. How to not lose their attention.

- Consider the objectives of a public program, such as the CMF. They are not interested in funding your project because you want it to succeed; they have their own objective, such as stimulating employment in a sector. Understand how to read between the lines a little and make sure to weave this into your application.

- Consider the writing process, how to get support, and why it is so important to get additional eyes on your application before you send it.

- Consider how to speak to risk, which is a fundamental question for both private and public investment.

The audience takeaway, particularly for someone who is interested in applying for funding but hasn't done so before, is that there is a path to success through the process and resources available to help. Ideally, they would also gain some insight into a couple of key areas, the type that would help them strengthen their application and make the difference in achieving a successful application. This is the information that Andrew 5 years ago would have wanted to know, much of which I am fortunate enough to have received from my own mentors along the way.'

Andrew Czarnietzki

Only By Midnight

Andrew Czarnietzki is the lead developer, functioning as a Programmer and Designer. Andrew has over 15 years of experience in the games industry. He is a co-founder of Serious Labs and has shipped over 18 serious game titles as Programmer and Lead Designer, including a line of award-winning VR Crane simulators. Only By Midnight represents Andrew applying his expertise from Serious Labs towards the unique business, creative, and technical challenges found in making games.

To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: indiegame.business

Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: powellgroupconsulting.com

Watch the official live stream: twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness

Watch Indie's live stream: twitch.tv/INDIE

Join the Indie Game Business Discord: discord.gg/indiegamebusiness

The Twitters to follow -

Indie Game Business: twitter.com/BusinessIndie

Powell Group Consulting: twitter.com/PowellGrp

Jay: twitter.com/Powell_Jay

INDIE: twitter.com/TheRealIndie

Donate to Extra Life with our link: extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness

Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness

As a game developer, it’s imperative to do research and make data-driven decisions to support a game throughout its lifecycle. 

This comprehensive talk will provide insight relevant to the entire lifecycle of a game, and the content will be relatable to all developers, no matter where they are in their development journey. 

In the prototype/concept phase, I will cover how to conduct a competitive analysis to get a feel for what’s already in the market and how developers can position themselves for increased visibility. 

This phase includes understanding the best platforms for your game, interpreting player reviews, rankings, and critical and influencer reviews. For those in the production/development face, 

I will walk through how to conduct target audience analysis by using existing tools and resources available for free. 

Next, I will cover playtesting from a product and marketing perspective and the most important questions you should ask to help with marketing the game. 

Sales projections play a vital role in the pre-launch phase, and I will help developers create reasonable expectations for the performance of their game. 

Finally, I will cover post-launch tactics to aggregate sales data to form dashboards, how to track store reviews, and the importance of tracking promotions and discounts. 

By the end of this talk, attendees will have a complete set of guidelines and best data practices to guide them throughout the development process.

To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: indiegame.business

Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: powellgroupconsulting.com

Watch the official live stream: twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness

Watch Indie's live stream: twitch.tv/INDIE

Join the Indie Game Business Discord: discord.gg/indiegamebusiness

The Twitters to follow -

Indie Game Business: twitter.com/BusinessIndie

Powell Group Consulting: twitter.com/PowellGrp

Jay: twitter.com/Powell_Jay

INDIE: twitter.com/TheRealIndie

Donate to Extra Life with our link: extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness

Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness

Are we trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist yet in gaming? This session will elaborate on where the blockchain fits in with current modern gaming and talk about both the positive and negative impact it can potentially have on the future of gaming as we know it.

Thomas Shiva

CEO, Founder

Digital Realm Entertainment & Enter Africa Org Rw

Natively Rwandese 29, Futurist Visionary Entrepreneur, Game Designer/Dev, Engr, Tech Expert. Founder and CEO of Digital Realm Entertainment Inc. /Co-founder of GIT (Geniuses In Technology), founder and owner of NEO-TRONIKS SYSTEMS INC

To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: indiegame.business

Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: powellgroupconsulting.com

Watch the official live stream: twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness

Watch Indie's live stream: twitch.tv/INDIE

Join the Indie Game Business Discord: discord.gg/indiegamebusiness

The Twitters to follow -

Indie Game Business: twitter.com/BusinessIndie

Powell Group Consulting: twitter.com/PowellGrp

Jay: twitter.com/Powell_Jay

INDIE: twitter.com/TheRealIndie

Donate to Extra Life with our link: extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness

Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness

In this session, I'll go over the entire roller-coaster of our development journey of launching our Xbox game during a pandemic including:

- dealing with mental stress and personal battles during a Pandemic

- pivoting our game design to work during lockdown

- integrating platform-specific features for Xbox

- working with ID@Xbox on approval and launch

- getting our community involved through live streams

- planning our roadmap and keeping up with our game as a service

- our spin on marketing and the uphill battle that it is

In the end, you will walk away learning from what we believe we did right and what we definitely did wrong during our development process, the approach we took to get to launch, and how we continue to improve our game post-launch.

Miranda Lowry

Co-Founder & Sofware Engineer

Black Hive Media

Mandy has been in the game industry for over a decade, self-publishing multiple titles across an array of platforms under her and her husband's indie game studio, Black Hive Media. She is a Microsoft GameStack Ambassador and has worked as a software engineer for various game companies over the course of her career.

To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: indiegame.business

Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: powellgroupconsulting.com

Watch the official live stream: twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness

Watch Indie's live stream: twitch.tv/INDIE

Join the Indie Game Business Discord: discord.gg/indiegamebusiness

The Twitters to follow -

Indie Game Business: twitter.com/BusinessIndie

Powell Group Consulting: twitter.com/PowellGrp

Jay: twitter.com/Powell_Jay

INDIE: twitter.com/TheRealIndie

Donate to Extra Life with our link: extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness

Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness

This talk will explore game publishing, from Fundamentally Games' perspective of their journey to shake up what it means to be a publisher. What do developers actually need and want from a publisher, how has the industry's transition to games as a service affected this, and how can publishers add value in today's market?

Ella Romanos

Fundamentally Games

Since 2008 Ella has been helping build and manage games development teams and projects, having started out as a programmer and co-founding game development studio Remode as a graduate. Prior to Fundamentally Games, Ella spent 6 years consulting with game developers, investment funds, and games-related organizations and has a deep understanding of the resources, funding methods, processes, and commercial considerations of taking games to market. She has been directly responsible for releasing over 50 games and has acted as head of the studio, executive producer and advisor, for many organizations, most notably, Pinewood Film Advisors, Agatha Christie Ltd, and Altara Games Fund. Ella also acts as a mentor and has provided input into academia including undergraduate and master's courses across the UK, and writing content and exams for AQA exam board’s games courses. She has been twice mentioned as MCV’s UK Top 100 Women in Games, named in Develop’s ‘Top 30 under 30’, and has sat on the board of directors of UKIE, the UK trade body for games, for 5 years.

To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: indiegame.business

Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: powellgroupconsulting.com

Watch the official live stream: twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness

Watch Indie's live stream: twitch.tv/INDIE

Join the Indie Game Business Discord: discord.gg/indiegamebusiness

The Twitters to follow -

Indie Game Business: twitter.com/BusinessIndie

Powell Group Consulting: twitter.com/PowellGrp

Jay: twitter.com/Powell_Jay

INDIE: twitter.com/TheRealIndie

Donate to Extra Life with our link: extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness

Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness