Sweden Game Conference 2019: Full Schedule

Welcome to the Sweden Game Conference 2019 schedule!
Enjoy your stay in Skövde!

09:30 CEST

Skövde Investment Day

Wednesday October 16, 2019 09:30 - 16:00 CEST
Speed Talk Stage - Expo Hall

13:00 CEST

Conference Opening: Swedish Games Industry & Anders Ygeman, Minister for Energy and Digital Development

Conference opening!
Opening remarks by Anders Ygeman, Minister for Energy and Digital Development.
The board of the Swedish Game Industry discuss the current state of the industry.

Speakers

Anders Ygeman

Minister for Energy and Digital Development

Wednesday October 16, 2019 13:00 - 14:00 CEST
Pilgor

Main Theme, Panel

14:00 CEST

Why Design Matters - Applying Ethics to User Experience Design and Why We Should Care

In the childhood of game development, a discussion around problematic contents of games and the design of game most likely ended in the statement "but it's just a game". This talk goes in to why we need to think about experience design through the lens of ethics and how to go about it.

Speakers

Åsa Roos

Lead UX Designer, BioWare

Åsa Roos is a veteran game developer from Sweden. She started in the games industry about 19 years ago as a game designer for mobile games. From these humble beginnings her career has spanned everything from small games and consoles to triple-A titles. She's currently working as... Read More →

Wednesday October 16, 2019 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
Pilgor

Design

15:00 CEST

Applying the principles of Producing in creating a better future

How do we create a better future through our games? This is a question that is hard to answer in a sentence. So let’s start simple. First we define the structure that we need, then we build the right team and then find simple ways to create the message that we, as an industry, want to send to our players.

Speakers

Ruxandra Nicolescu

Game Producer, Gameloft Cluj

Ruxandra started her gamedev career more than 10 years ago, as an independent game developer. Despite the fact that her project was not a commercial success, it helped her decide what career path to follow. In 2012, Ruxandra joined Gameloft in Cluj-Napoca, Romania as a QA Lead, then... Read More →

Wednesday October 16, 2019 15:00 - 16:00 CEST
Pilgor

15:00 CEST

How to build a Game IP as an indie

Building Game IPs are building universes that are believable, exiting and that players can't get enough of. But how do you start building your fanbase? What IP should you focus on? How and where to spend your money? This is how PocApp approached the subject and what I wished we knew before we started building our game IP with Castle Cats.

Speakers

Dilaram Massimova

Co-founder & CEO, PocApp Studios

Dilaram is a former Skövde University student that started PocApp Studios together with like minded classmates in 2015. She has since then released three game titles with varying success and built a successful game IP from scratch as the CEO and Game Producer at PocApp with 2 new... Read More →

Wednesday October 16, 2019 15:00 - 16:00 CEST
Catniss

Biz / Start Up

15:00 CEST

Why outsourcing makes sense for game audio

A case for the benefits of using an outsourcing partner for audio and music work in games, and best practices for a successful collaboration between a game studio and their external partner.

Speakers

Erik Brattlöf

Studio Manager & Interactive Producer, Red Pipe Studios

Erik Brattlöf is the studio manager and executive interactive producer at Red Pipe Studios. He has been working with interactive audio for more than 10 years. He has one of the world's biggest game backlogs known to man.

Erik Olsson

Founder & Creative Director, Red Pipe Studios

Erik Olsson founded Red Pipe Studios in 2006 together with Tobias Norman and Mikael Frithiof. He has been working professionally as a sound designer since 2001, across many different mediums and platforms. He loves puzzle games and running.

Wednesday October 16, 2019 15:00 - 16:00 CEST
Ashka

Sound Design

16:00 CEST

Moving Forward

It all started at DSUG Skövde. I dreamt of the big studios and not sure how to get there, or what I wanted to be. But here I am now. How did I end up here? What choices did I make and what obstacles did I have to take on? How do I set up my goals and how can they change over the years? Let me tell you my story, a story I wished I heard back when I was a student.

Speakers

Gabriel Flamm

Cinematic Animator, DICE

I’m a gamer, dreamer, partner and father of two children. I play games whenever I have time, I dream about the future and fun projects I want to realize, and I always keep the child within me alive. To me, life is all about seeing the opportunities available, for me and the ones... Read More →

Wednesday October 16, 2019 16:00 - 17:00 CEST
Pilgor

Animation

16:00 CEST

Deadlime Stories: 100 Games Later

After releasing around 100 small games (Self-Published, Working with Publisher, Work For Hire) with my company Deadlime Studios (Rebranded, Ex Kappsule Studios), i compiled a list of things we did good and bad while growing our studio. This talk will cover most of my lessons:
1) What I've learned from our first “Big Fail” entitled ”2048 Battle”, a 2048 realtime multiplayer game on which we worked for about 6 months. The game was packed with features and it has been released without considering proper marketing, while the store had over 2000 similar games.
2) What we’ve compiled from working on games that have been featured globally by Apple. Working together with Colin Lane and releasing Battle Golf Online a realtime multiplayer golf game.
3) Self-publishing our game Mad CEO on Kongregate and working closely with our users by gathering live feedback via the chat system and implementing what they wanted. Getting the game from 3.3 to a 4.0 rating and hitting 1 million gameplays. Working together closely with publishers for the mobile version, what they offered and when we had to reconsider working with them and trying a new market and investment.
Finding success with our first major title and how we realised we jumped a few stairs. Changing the team mentality from creating small games to a full 1-week schedule liveops game that we successfully grown in the past 1 year
5) Key takeaways from all our conference travels, all our team building efforts. All between the lines of creating the games.

Speakers

Radu Ziemba

General Manager & Game Designer, Deadlime Games

Radu Ziemba has started Deadlime Games (Kappsule Studios) in 2015, with the aim to create outstanding games. Releasing over 100 small titles, he’s latest titles include: Battle Golf Online, Bloxorz Remastered, & Mad CEO. Radu's also involved as a teacher for young aspiring game... Read More →

Wednesday October 16, 2019 16:00 - 17:00 CEST
Catniss

Biz / Start Up

17:00 CEST

The proper care and feeding of your haters!

If you make things on the internet, which is most of us making games, you will encounter people who hate said game or the company you work for. Hanna will walk you through the proper care and feeding of those haters, why you should care about them and why you should, in fact, feed the trolls.

Speakers

Hanna Fogelberg

CCO/Peasant handler, Landfall Games

Hanna Fogelberg is the community manager/peasant handler at Landfall Games. Landfall is an indie studio based in Stockholm and the makers of Totally Accurate Battle Simulator, Clustertruck and Stick Fight. After a couple of years working with community and communication for events... Read More →

Wednesday October 16, 2019 17:00 - 18:00 CEST
Pilgor

Community

17:00 CEST

Building a Strong Portfolio as a Concept Artist in the Game Industry

Having worked as a Concept Artist for almost 5 years, Viktor wants to share his favourite tools of how to get your concept art portfolio to max level. We'll dive into deeper topics, such as finding your core-passion, the strength of your own ideas and how to develop your own style, as well as more practical tips on how to push your portfolio material to the next level: layout, order, and direction for your portfolio is vital if it's gonna be a memorable one. Where do you want your portfolio to take you?

Speakers

Viktor Blomqvist

Concept Artist, Stunlock Studios

Wednesday October 16, 2019 17:00 - 18:00 CEST
Catniss

Graphics

18:00 CEST

Game Dev Pub! SpelUtvecklarPub

Wednesday October 16, 2019 18:00 - 22:00 CEST
Hållbar

Social, Party

10:00 CEST

The secrets to lasting leadership - two decades of experiences

These days, everyone is expected to be a leader, regardless of role and title. I'll share my observations on leadership and how you can become better at leading yourself and positively impact/influence those around you. I'll mainly draw from my experiences in the games industry but also share what I've learnt from working in other sectors. Expect concrete examples, tangible tips and some anecdotes collected over 20 years. My wish for you is that you'll leave with inspiration that helps you move along your path, whatever that path might be.

Speakers

Susana Meza Graham

Advisor & Investor in Games & Tech, N/A

Susana is an experienced games industry professional who spent the last 14 years growing companies and helping people develop their video games industry careers. She has extensive knowledge of branding, publishing, marketing & PR, most notably from Paradox Interactive where she held... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 10:00 - 11:00 CEST
Pilgor

Biz / Start Up

10:00 CEST

Hidden in the Park – how research on online sexual grooming was turned into a mixed media augmented reality board game

The game Hidden in the park is intended for use in a school environment and the target group is 8 to 10 year old children. The purpose of the game is to create a pedagogical situation in which risks with sharing information online can be safely experienced off line by playing the game. We will present how a research based game design has been developed into a finished game in collaboration between researchers at the University of Skövde and professional game developers at IUS Innovation. Specific focus will be on how game evaluations have been planned, performed and communicated between the researchers and IUS Innovation as part of an iterative design process to fully ensure that the research based game mechanics are kept intact throughout the production of the game. We will share our experiences of this process from the researchers' and game developers' perspectives. Hidden in the park is a mixed media augmented reality board game, with the central game mechanics based on substantial and original research on online sexual grooming. From a body of 12000 pages of true chat logs from a Swedish social media site, four sexual offender strategies were extracted: flattery, coercion, bribes and threats. These offender strategies serve as the basic game mechanics in the game. The game is basically a treasure hunting game, and it has no sexual or frightening content. Each player hides a treasure and gets in return 4 clue cards that might reveal the treasures' hiding places. Therefore players should mind these clue cards not to reveal the location of their treasure to other players. A NPC in the game will use the offender strategies extracted from the original research on online sexual grooming to lure players to take photos and send them to the NPC. The game will be released during September of 2019 and it will be delivered free of charge to all preliminary schools in Sweden.
The final game has been funded by The World Child Foundation, IUS Innovation, Svenska Postkodslotteriet and the University of Skövde.

Speakers

Marcus Laitila Ekelund

Marcus Laitila Ekelund is a Project Manager at IUS Innovation’s Skövde office, where he and his colleagues focus on bringing the power of interactive media and games to areas within healthcare and education. He is currently working with The Rural Economy and Agricultural Societies... Read More →

Ulf Wilhelmsson

Lecturer, University of Skövde

Ulf Wilhelmsson is associate professor in media, aesthetics and narration at the University of Skövde, Sweden. He holds a Ph.D from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. His research interests lies primarily within computer game studies and integrate film theory, cognitive theory... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 10:00 - 11:00 CEST
Ashka

Research

11:00 CEST

Working fast and killing your darlings without hopefully killing your team

This talk explores how indies can use their advantage of being able to move and change direction faster compared to the bigger players. By using rapid prototyping, the early death of darlings and by being welcoming to changes Flamebait has been able to find great game ideas fast. This talk will explore the Flamebait way of making games and try to analyze the benefits and potential drawbacks of their methods.

Speakers

Mattias Lindblad

CEO & Game Designer, Flamebait Games

Mattias is an alumni of University of Skövde, currently co-founder and CEO of Flamebait Games where he works game design and business stuff. Flamebait has since it's founding in 2016 shipped Passpartout: The Starving Artist followed by Verlet Swing. During his time at Flamebait he's... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 11:00 - 12:00 CEST
Ashka

Biz / Start Up

11:00 CEST

Launching Twice: Redefining what it means to release a game

For years, the launch of a game was considered the pivotal part of an indie release. But who says you can't just launch again? In this talk, Michael Cox will cover the process of launching a game, how a studio might recover from a failed release, and how to launch twice.

Speakers

Michael Cox

Director Of Marketing, Crows Crows Crows

Michael Cox is the director of marketing for award-winning studio Crows Crows Crows (The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, Accounting+, Dr. Langeskov). Prior to Crows Crows Crows, Michael worked with dozens of studios to successfully kickstart games, and has launched titles for over... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 11:00 - 12:00 CEST
Pilgor

Marketing

12:00 CEST

Valiantly Onwards! Designing a long life for a tiny studio

We are not (yet!) making a sustainable income from our games and still survive as a company. This is our Valiant story from the beginning until present day and some insights and hopes for the future. It features publishers, investors, hustling, stressing, loving and caring, all for the welfare of a tiny armoured hedgehog. We aim to give you an inside glimpse into one small indie studio, and offer suggestions for how you can explore the bountiful possibilities out there!

Speakers

Anna Jenelius

CEO & Creative Director, Valiant Game Studio AB

Anna Jenelius is the Founder, CEO & Creative Director of Valiant Game Studio. Her previous experience includes being a solo indie developer, senior QA manager at Paradox, a game design teacher at Future Games, and a freelance game writer. When not making games, she enjoys tabletop... Read More →

Laura Bularca

Professional Dragon, Valiant Game Studio AB

Laura has a background in games journalism and switched over to the development side in 2009. She’s worked at companies like FunLABS/Activision, Milestone and SimBin, before moving over to Sweden Game Arena and Gothia Innovation. In 2018, she moved to Stockholm and joined her friend... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 12:00 - 13:00 CEST
Catniss

Biz / Start Up

12:00 CEST

Satisfactory: A Journey Through Many Iterations

Since 2016 we've been working on this 'little' game best described as an open-world first-person factory building simulator. It's a game woven around the pillars 'Construct, Automate, Explore & Exploit.'. Designing an interface that felt fitting to this world was a challenge in itself. Satisfactory and its UI have gone through many iterations, different styles, and many tests. Nathalie is here to talk about the importance of this process, and the importance of designing with your community, while moving through Early Access.

Speakers

Nathalie Verweij

UI/UX Designer, Coffee Stain Studios

Nathalie is one of the UI/UX Designers at Coffee Stain Studios. She was brought on-board in 2016 to take on the challenge of being Coffee Stains' first full-time UI/UX employee. Since then both the studio and its project have grown, and both are far from done growing. Nathalie will... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 12:00 - 13:00 CEST
Pilgor

Design

12:00 CEST

Weekly releases - Break up with crunch and find new love through constraints and goals

Face it, crunch isn’t romantic and it doesn’t by default make your game better! Crunch isn’t healthy in any way and it’s not something you want to introduce as a culture to your company. Why use crunch, when you can use constrains and clear goals to make a good game? A game that your audience will like. A game that you can be certain to release, without risk of running out of money halfway through the project.
During my 5 years working on the game Star Stable Online we have never failed to deliver a release to our players. What is worth to mention is that we have weekly releases, and we have been able to deliver those without crunch for the last couple of years.
In this talk, I want to share and give insight in how you can work and think when designing and creating content by using constrains and goals. How you can still create a good game for your audience without having to sacrifice your personal life, family and health in the name of crunch.
Main take away: How you as a game developer can use constrains and goals as tools to deliver good products without stress and crunch but still get it finished before the deadline!

Speakers

Karoline Forsberg

Lead Designer, Star Stable Entertainment

Karoline Forsberg works as a Lead Designer at Star Stable Entertainment, the studio behind the big online horse adventure game – Star Stable Online. When she doesn’t work on the game, she makes fancy cocktails at home, for whoever comes and visits her! Besides fancy drinks, her... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 12:00 - 13:00 CEST
Ashka

Design

12:00 CEST

Lunch is served 12:00-14:00! Lunch ticket required, see description for menu

Non-veg: Beef chili with black beans, coleslaw, tortilla, tomato salsa and crème fraiche

Vegan: Pulled jackfruit with coleslaw, tortilla and tomato salsa

All courses are served with salad, bread, butter and soft drink or water.

Thursday October 17, 2019 12:00 - 14:00 CEST
Lunch Area

Social, Lunch

13:00 CEST

Level Up for a Better Next Generation: Be the Champion for Your Youngest Players

Right now, millions of children are playing your games. Today gaming has transformed into a global industry with great influence.
How can you support your youngest users to become empowered digital citizens?
What are their rights and why should you care?
How do we give them access and protect them at the same time?

Gaming can be used to empower and educate the young generation, but has also been subject to concerns and criticisms from time to time. While some may be misdirected, there are actions the industry can -and should- take to make gaming more inclusive, safe and sustainable for the young generation.

Speakers

Lulu Li

UNICEF Sweden

Spending her childhood playing her Nintendo 8-bit NES and with an early career peak at the local video game store, Lulu is passionate about gaming in all forms. Having worked many years with sustainability and responsible business at international companies, she is currently working... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 13:00 - 14:00 CEST
Catniss

Main Theme

13:00 CEST

The fine art of "Good enough"

Let's get this out of the way – perfection is overrated! How can you do "good enough" and still deliver a great product? What is actually "good enough" and how do you define it? How and why the "good enough" approach helps create a healthier working environment? This talk will give answers to all those questions and how you can also embrace the "good enough" way of producing games.

Speakers

Nika Bender

Product Owner, Star Stable Entertainment

Nika is a Product Owner at Star Stable Entertainment, the company behind the world's biggest MMORPG horse themed game Star Stable. She previously worked with community management and CRM. Nika’s secret skill is making things happen, and she's accompanied by two trusty feline ov... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 13:00 - 14:00 CEST
Pilgor

Management

14:00 CEST

No Code, No Problem…with HiberWorld

There are hundreds of thousands of game developers and hundreds of millions of people that wish they could make a game. Coding is the major barrier that most people come up against in their dreams of making their own game. Hardware requirements, huge software downloads and cost are other factors that discourage the average person from making a game. Hiber is changing that by removing these barriers and making game creation and sharing so easy and accessible that there is nothing stopping anyone, other than their motivation to make a game. Join Mattias Johansson, the Chief Creative Officer, Co-founder and visionary of Hiber, as he presents the platform’s forthcoming Touch Creation Mode which brings codeless game design to mobile phones and tablets. The Creator Generation finally has a way to build share and communicate through games.

Speakers

Mattias Johansson

Co-founder & Chief Creative Officer, Hiber

Mattias Johansson is co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at Hiber and has over 20 years of experience in interactive media including digital creative, technical director and developer at leading digital agencies such as Framfab and DigitasLbi.

Thursday October 17, 2019 14:00 - 14:30 CEST
Speed Talk Stage - Expo Hall

Tech

14:00 CEST

Story-centric game design: A practical framework for developing interactive narratives

Video games are typically designed around systems and core mechanics, with characters and narrative added later, and world-building sprinkled on top. For games where story is front and centre, however, there’s value in turning this convention on its head. How do you successfully design and develop games from a “story first” point of view, without sacrificing interactivity or the player experience?

In this talk, we’ll look at practical frameworks and techniques for developing games where the narrative comes before — but not at the cost of — systems and mechanics, with concrete examples drawn from Red Thread’s Draugen and Dreamfall Chapters.

We’ll also talk about how Red Thread employs a design philosophy called ‘The Box’ to help communicate the game’s vision and story-centric approach to the development team and external partners.

Speakers

Ragnar Tørnqvist

Red Thread Games

Ragnar Tørnquist is a writer, producer and creative director with twenty-five years of game industry experience. His first commercially released title was an adaptation of the 1996 movie “Casper” for the first PlayStation…and Sega Saturn. His latest game is the recently released... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
Pilgor

Narrative

14:00 CEST

Games For Future: New Trends and Challenges in Chinese Video Game Culture

This presentation provides a panoramic introduction to the past, present and future of Chinese video game culture. Concentrating on both production and consumption, it presents four phrases of game industry in China initiated from late 1990s. It concludes that a higher level of diversity and creativity is under construction in a context greatly dominated by Chinese big game companies. The talk then showcases how new areas like esports, serious games and indie games influence Chinese culture, exploring new industrial trends in terms of traditional Chinese culture and trans-media narratives. Finally, it suggests that how game education could empower Chinese future game industry.

Speakers

Jing Sun

Director of Game Research Centre, Perfect World Education

Dr. Jing Sun is a game scholar based in Beijing, China, and currently serves as the Director of Game Research Centre at Perfect World Education. Her research interests concentrate on game studies, culture studies and critical theories. Her academic works includes her PhD dissertation... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
Catniss

Research

14:00 CEST

Raising Issues of Ecological Sustainability through Game Design

In this talk, Rebecca and Björn will talk about the challenges involved in translating a serious, complex, and frustrating subject – which also seldom has direct easy answers and solutions – to an engaging game experience. Throughout 2019, they have been part of a team of developers who have collaborated with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences to create the game prototype 2030: Klimat-spelet. 2030 is a game for younger audiences, and it intends to introduce them to the deeply complex issues of food production, food consumption, and its effects to the climate. Food production and climate change can be daunting and disheartening to tackle, enough so that it can demotivate people and keep them from actively engaging in pursuing more knowledge and participating in discussions regarding the topic. One of the main goals of the game is to provide a more playful and manageable way to start dealing with, and experiencing, different aspects of the topic. During the project, Rebecca and Björn has worked to find ways in which this issue can be presented in a way that doesn’t misrepresent the subject, and that challenges its players to start asking questions rather than taking everything they see at face value.

In short, this talk is a combination of the lessons we’ve learned when it comes to Game-Based Learning design, game development processes, requirement analysis, and real-world subject matter representations. We will also share experiences of how to test these types of games with younger audiences.

Speakers

Björn Berg Marklund

Lecturer, University of Skövde

Björn has been working with games, in particular educational games, since 2010, both as a developer and as a researcher. In his thesis, Unpacking Digital Game-Based Learning, he studied how developers, teachers, and students approach and experience the development and use of educational... Read More →

Rebecca Romin

CEO & Co Funders, Sunscale Studios

Rebecca is a University of Skövde alumni that since her graduation has worked with games from several different perspectives. As the CEO and co-founder of Sunscale Studios she produced a commercial indie game about cows, and as a technical designer she worked on an educational game... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
Ashka

Research

14:30 CEST

Work environment for gaming companies

Early-stage company with a growing work force? Bird & Bird lawyers Lucas Magnusson and Dasha Arntyr briefly explain the do's and don'ts when it comes to an employer's work environment responsibility

Speakers

Lucas Magnusson

Senior Associate, Bird & Bird

Lucas is a senior associate in Bird & Bird's International HR Services Group in Stockholm. He has broad experience from various employment related matters, including transfer of undertakings, mergers, M&A transactions, privacy issues and restructurings. Lucas has previous experience... Read More →

Dasha Arntyr

Associate, Bird & Bird

Dasha is an associate in Bird & Bird's International HR Services Group, based in Stockholm. She has a strong international background, providing her with a deep understanding of cultural variations when assisting in employment matters. She handles a broad range of employment law-related... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 14:30 - 15:00 CEST
Speed Talk Stage - Expo Hall

Management

15:00 CEST

Rehumanizing Game Developers

The relationship between game developers and the gaming community is wrought with dehumanization. This has resulted in the abuse of game developers as well as the manipulation of the gaming community resulting in distrust. This talk will attempt to answer why this happens and provide possible approaches to break this cycle.

Speakers

Jace Varlet

Community Manager, Coffee Stain Studios

Jace Varlet, 31 years old, 165cm tall. Not looking for anything serious.

Thursday October 17, 2019 15:00 - 16:00 CEST
Pilgor

Community

15:00 CEST

Games For A Warming World

We made videogames. That's what we did with our time in the 2020's, that final decade when climate breakdown could still be contained. But what if we made the games that humanity needed at this crucial moment? In this talk, game designer and climate activist Hugo Bille explores a few different ways game makers can rise to the occasion and accelerate the transition to a sustainable future. #GameDevsForFuture

Speakers

Hugo Bille

Game Designer, The Working Parts

After producing and co-directing the eco-adventure game Fe with Electronic Arts, Hugo Bille left Zoink in early 2018 to search for his own path as an indie developer. What he found was a world on fire.

Thursday October 17, 2019 15:00 - 16:00 CEST
Ashka

Design

15:00 CEST

Maps, maps, everywhere!

How to design a "better" map for your game. Maps (or a map) are necessary for your game even if your game is a hyper-casual puzzle game or a hyper crazy goatish game. I will show some basic designs of maps (like natural map, triangle, square, hex, area to area and so on) and pro/con of these designs. Best suitable for those who want to make a turn-based strategy game.

Speakers

Masatoshi Tokuoka

As a game reviewer and games media journalist Tokuoka-san contributed a lot to 4Gamer.net (one of the largest online PC games media in Japan) for almost 10 years. Also, he has been a column writer for Command Magazine Japanese Ed. (tabletop wargame magazine). As a game story writer... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 15:00 - 16:00 CEST
Catniss

Design

16:00 CEST

Only a fool….

…would invest in game developers, without operational experience from the
industry, still I persist. What do I look for in a team and in the idea? Are game
developer startups different form other startups? Some lessons learned, opinions
and other unsubstantiated claims.

Speakers

Stefan Lindeberg

Game Investor, Owner, Red Dawn Ventures AB

Stefan is a veteran when it comes to entrepreneurship and investments. He’s currently on the board of game company Fatshark, among other things, and his vast experience is invaluable.

Thursday October 17, 2019 16:00 - 17:00 CEST
Catniss

Biz / Start Up

16:00 CEST

Things we lost in the fire

Ste’s talks are intense pieces that ask questions; his aim is to teach people things he thinks are important in a way they’ll remember, influenced by the lessons he has learned from writing for theatre, radio presenting and stand-up comedy.

Speakers

Ste Curran

Design consultant, London South Bank University & Freelance

Ste is a designer, consultant, speaker, radio presenter and Maraoke host. He solves problems, sings poorly and writes very bad bios.

Thursday October 17, 2019 16:00 - 17:00 CEST
Pilgor

Other

16:00 CEST

Creating Sustainable Public Outreach Projects through Games and Play

Speakers

Björn Berg Marklund

Lecturer, University of Skövde

Lissa Holloway-Attaway

Associate Professor, University of Skövde.

Lissa Holloway-Attaway is an Associate Professor in Media Arts, Aesthetics and Narration at the Division of Game Development and the leader for the Media, Technology and Culture (MTEC) research group at the University of Skövde. She teaches within the games development education... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 16:00 - 17:00 CEST
Ashka

Research

17:00 CEST

Business tricks Elon Musk doesn't want you to know

Business within the games industry is super unique, yet there are no schools for it?! For the first time ever, Petter reveals the tips and tricks you simply must know to succeed at Business within the games industry

Speakers

Petter Henriksson

Speaker, Landfall Games

Petter Henriksson has been developing games since 2012 and has then worked on both successful and very unsuccessful projects. He is currently working on Totally Accurate Battle Simulator handling self-publishing, marketing and some code.

Thursday October 17, 2019 17:00 - 18:00 CEST
Catniss

Biz / Start Up

17:00 CEST

With News as With Games - Using game engagement as a model for engaging young readers in local news

The digitalization of Swedish local newspapers has not been as revolutionary as the leap to digital has been for music, film, TV or for that matter games. The on-line news product more or less looks and feels the same as in 1997, while the added functionality and user services of Spotify, Netflix or Steam has set new standards that has been beneficial for both the consumer and the producer. Young users are increasingly turning to other sources than the local newspapers on-line versions for news, not least social media. Could a theory that explains what motivates players to play games be used as a model to reshape on-line news and by that motivate readers to engage with news?
In this talk I focus on a prototype that uses VR to simulate a location based Augmented Reality news service that might could be a way to escape from the boundaries of the small screen and how game engagement might be used to reach young readers of local news.

Speakers

Torbjörn Svensson

Lecturer, University of Skövde

Torbjörn Svensson is a PhD student at the Department of Computer Game Development, School of informatics, University of Skövde, Sweden, and a member of the research group MTEC, Media, Technology and Culture. He is currently doing his PhD studies in a research project called Level... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 17:00 - 18:00 CEST
Ashka

Research

18:30 CEST

SGC'19 Award Dinner Pre-Dinner Mingle! (Separate ticket required)

The Official Gala Dinner pre-mingle! Separate ticket is needed!
We meet outside the Pilgor Main Hall to mingle and have a drink.

Thursday October 17, 2019 18:30 - 19:00 CEST
Pilgor

Social, Dinner

19:00 CEST

SGC'19 Award Dinner! (Separate ticket required, menu in description)

The Official Gala Dinner. Separate ticket is needed!

Menu:
Starter:
Salmon varieties flavored with with orange, baked egg yolk & roasted fennel seeds served on the dumpling base with smoked lobster mayonnaise and herb salad

Vegan starter:
Variety of beetroot, polkbet & yellow beet with herbs from Nordamark and fig vinegrette

Main:
Chicken ballotine is served with a potato trine flavored with stored cheese from Falbygden, milled with powdered lentils, duck & root celery and roasted lemon veloute.

Vegan main:
Truffle-baked cauliflower, potato puree, millet with powdered lentil & celery and roasted lemon zest

Dessert:
Baked chocolate cream, roasted cocoa, honey crunch, raspberry & kohl panna cotta

2 drinks per person such as beer, wine, cider, mineral water
Coffee

Thursday October 17, 2019 19:00 - 22:00 CEST
Pilgor

Social, Dinner

10:00 CEST

Planning Art

How to attack the game art monster, avoid pitfalls and get to the castle "Release on time".

Speakers

Dan Falta

Coming from an illustrator background, Dan joined the games industry in 1997. Having no practical knowledge of digital art he created character animations for 1998 rpg title "The Gates of Skeldal" using classical Disney pen and paper method. Putting great emphasis on learning all... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 10:00 - 11:00 CEST
Ashka

Graphics

10:00 CEST

Creating an sustainable environment of trust!

When starting a studio from scratch in Malmö you have a luxury to do your best to set the tone for your coming team, workspace and community. In my talk I will share my thoughts on the work we did and still are doing for building a team and studio, on how to work for a sustainable environment when it comes to people, planet and profit.
How working thoroughly on the details of everything from napkins to the materials in the desk help set the environment you want and how that help your team to perform their best in the project.

How we work with an open communication and plan, so that the team feel trust and confident in sharing their ups and downs with you, and of course on how to make the most sustainable office you can!

I also will talk about the values in our office, how my leader style needed to change and still are changing to really keep up the values we have, and how that triples down in the interviews we have with candidates for our open roles. How we invite the team in the planning of the office, the activities we do and the knowledge we bring in to make them a part of the future of the place.

Speakers

Sara Ponnert

Studio Manager, Avalanche Malmö

Sara started in the games industry in the late 90’s and has worked with publishing, marketing, export sales and everything in-between. She is now a studio manager at Avalanche Studios new site in Malmö that she’s built up from zero the past year.

Friday October 18, 2019 10:00 - 11:00 CEST
Pilgor

Main Theme

11:00 CEST

Hard skills - why they are going to fail you

It's not a secret that gaming world is highly competitive when it comes to hiring a talent, we all are trying to make a better version of ourselves by polishing what we think matters the most -the hard skills. Is it an exceptional concept artist? Or a single point of failure principal developer? But, what if you're not quite there yet? In this session we will go through soft skills, what does it actually take to deliver a great product or land the job of your dreams, based on real life stories.

Speakers

Natali Petrovska

Ui Ux Designer, King

Natali is a UI/UX designer at King, where, for the last 3 years, she has been working to keep the world addicted to Candy Crush Saga. Natali has a background in architecture and art freelancing, which gained her invaluable analytical and entrepreneurial skills.

Friday October 18, 2019 11:00 - 12:00 CEST
Ashka

11:00 CEST

Loop Primer: Seamless and Fatigue-Free Music Looping Techniques for Interactive Entertainment

14-year game music veteran Gerard Marino will blast through 7 field tested looping techniques currently being used in AAA-console games, Indie-mobile games, and VR experiences alike. Gerard will demonstrate these techniques live in DAW (Steinberg's Nuendo).

Speakers

Gerard K. Marino

Audio Director, N/A

Gerard K. Marino exploded into the game music scene in 2005 as the principal composer for the original GOD OF WAR series. He further cemented his reputation for larger-than-life thematic orchestral writing with his contributions to LEAGUE OF LEGENDS, DC UNIVERSE ONLINE, THE AMAZING... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 11:00 - 12:00 CEST
Pilgor

Sound and Music

12:00 CEST

Optimizing all-the-things™ in Satisfactory

Satisfactory is a first-person open-world factory building game with a dash of exploration and combat built using the Unreal Engine. To ensure a game with nearly endless scalability will run on a wide range of hardware requires a great deal of optimization techniques. Learn how to tackle performance issues, what solutions exist in Unreal Engine, and what optimization patterns were used for Satisfactory to keep your computer from burning your house down.

Speakers

Snutt Treptow

9x Code Wrangler, Coffee Stain Studios

Snutt Treptow is a programmer at Coffee Stain Studios. He started out as a photographer and somehow ended up as a game developer. Has released games on everything from Playstation 4 to Commodore 64. Has also worn the producer hat. Doctors hate him - makes games just using this one... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 12:00 - 13:00 CEST
Pilgor

Tech

12:00 CEST

Lunch is served 12:00-14:00! Lunch ticket required, see description for menu

Non-veg: Chicken stew with coconut milk, red curry, lime leafs, bellpepper and onion. Served with rice.

Vegan: Lentil curry with coconut milk and lime. Served with rice.

All courses are served with salad, bread, butter and soft drink or water.

Friday October 18, 2019 12:00 - 14:00 CEST
Lunch Area

Social, Lunch

13:00 CEST

Game Creation for Healing

We make games for different reasons, one of them being a way to cope with difficult periods in our lives. We express ourselves through our work, and whatever we are dealing with while creating games can be reflected in them and experienced by our players. Game development has helped me heal during a time in my life when self-doubt was at its highest. My motivation to get through one of the lowest years of my life was due to having a personal project that gave purpose to my days and kept me on my learning path.

Speakers

Sara Schmetterling

Game Developer, Alvstoft

Sara is the sole developer of Trollskogen – an interactive fairy tale for children inspired by Nordic folklore. She previously worked for game engine companies, supporting users in creating their games. Today she works as a Content Coordinator at Mojang, reviewing custom Minecraft... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 13:00 - 14:00 CEST
Catniss

Main Theme

13:00 CEST

Simple aerodynamics and practical applications in all types of games

With a very easy mathematical formula, realistic and useful aerodynamic properties can be added to any dynamic body in a game. Weather the gameplay is completely centered around flying or you just need flying debris to be a little more realistic. Adding aerodynamic properties to an object can be very easy. And on top of that, water can be thought of as just "thicker air", so this is just as applicable under water.

Speakers

Tobias Johansson

Knackelibang

Tobias has been working as a programmer since 2013, starting at Stunlock Studios with Dead Island: Epidemic and later Battlerite. In Battlerite he was responsible for the AI architecture, worked on animation tech and created the VR camera tool "CamCrew". Now he is consulting at Guru... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 13:00 - 14:00 CEST
Pilgor

Tech

14:00 CEST

No Code, No Problem…with HiberWorld

Speakers

Mattias Johansson

Co-founder & Chief Creative Officer, Hiber

Friday October 18, 2019 14:00 - 14:30 CEST
Speed Talk Stage - Expo Hall

Tech

14:00 CEST

From Indie To AAA

A personal insight on how Indie Development could differ from AAA and what different types of development structures and IP handling one could face in the industry. Using my own journey as an example, what to have in mind and what to expect.

Speakers

Kristoffer Kindh

Kristoffer worked with big titles such as Wolfenstein and DOOM and now works at Machinegames as a Senior Level Designer. He loves telling stories and crafting experiences in all forms of medium and is always open to have an hour or two long discussion about the industry and games... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
Catniss

14:00 CEST

All Your Press Questions Answered

Do you have questions for games press journalists? Here is your chance to get them answered! Laura Bularca will host a panel with Bryant Francis from Gamasutra, Adam Rosser from BBC and a few more special guests, where you will be able to tweet your questions live and get the answers and wisdom you seek!

Speakers

Masatoshi Tokuoka

Adam Rosser

Journalist, BBC Radio

Adam's been working for the BBC for twenty years and making the award winning 'Game On' for twelve.'Game On' is now the BBC's longest running games focused show that no one knows about.Before the BBC he worked in entertainment retail and for an image management design company. Adam... Read More →

Laura Bularca

Professional Dragon, Valiant Game Studio AB

Bryant Francis

Contributing Editor, Gamasutra

Bryant Francis is a writer and narrative designer from Los Angeles, California with a seven-year history of jumping back and forth between journalism and game development. His writing has been focused on exploring the boundaries of genre fiction and documenting how to connect with... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
Ashka

Other, Panel

14:00 CEST

Creating games to support emotional growth

We are surrounded by noise, movement, happenings. We can’t control what’s beyond our hands and yet, we try to do so. We usually suffer when we don’t accept causes or let go off bad things that had happened. How can we do something about this without making it too obvious?

My approach on game design is to use the tool of play to enhance the skill of emotional intelligence.

We need a world where we can understand compassion for others and ourselves. Where empathy is celebrated. And through designing games that have strong characters, compelling and personal stories, I think we can create an environment where people can come out of their personal emotional bubble, which many times is the root of suffering, and make them realize that they are not alone.

Speakers

Natalia Martinsson

Co-Founder & Game Designer, Killmonday Games

Natalia started creating games in 2012 together with husband Isak Martinsson. Since then they have created a few free games and their two big games Fran Bow and Little Misfortune. Killmonday Games was born after a long search for creative freedom. Natalia has been a creator and director... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
Pilgor

Tech Art

15:00 CEST

Creating the world of Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars

The team at Palindrome spent several years building the Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars IP. A big part of this was establishing the world, placing the vampire clans, creatures and humans into a world that fit them and their story. In this talk I break down how we developed the different clans, their architecture, lands, and visual identity. We take a look at what sets the people of Immortal Realms apart and how this shaped the design of the world while taking a closer look at the workflow behind some of the assets.

Speakers

Tobias Forsling

Palindrome Interactive

Tobias is the Head of Art at Palindrome Interactive with a background in environment art and a hint of tech art. Tobias started his journey into games about 4 years ago with his own company and the release of Thunder League and Lance A Lot. Then moving on to Tarhead Studios release... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 15:00 - 16:00 CEST
Catniss

15:00 CEST

Game Dev Culture: Crunch and Beyond

The labor issues many game devs face in the workplace are not unique to their place of work, but rather systemic problems that all of us face on some level. How can we, as individual workers, survive and avoid playing into a system that feels so clearly designed to work against us? Hear from the perspective of one dev who has made just about every mistake in the book on how to stop making them... or maybe even avoid them completely.

Speakers

Emily Grace Buck

Narrative Director, Gato Studio

Emily Grace Buck is a freelance game narrative person. She is currently working as the narrative director for The Waylanders with Gato Studio, as a writer on multiple interactive TV shows, on her own projects including a mentorship program with her own company, Buckshot Interactive... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 15:00 - 16:00 CEST
Pilgor

Main Theme

15:00 CEST

Networking Simple Behaviours Reliably

State-sync network layers have become easily accessible in recent years as commercial engines grow their features, bringing many new multiplayer experiences to players. Which is great! But sometimes they are a little buggy. In this talk, Karl will cover some techniques and things to keep in mind when coding object behaviours in a state sync system to reduce the number of network-related bugs and visual issues.

Speakers

Karl Bergström

Karl has shipped fast-paced F2P online competitive multiplayer games at Stunlock for 9 years with 5 years in the role of Technical Director, with Battlerite being the most well known title. Karl has experience architecting and implementing multiplayer systems that scale globally while... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 15:00 - 16:00 CEST
Ashka

Tech

16:00 CEST

Which three words

Ideas that sell; communicating your game to the audience.

Speakers

Adam Rosser

Journalist, BBC Radio

Friday October 18, 2019 16:00 - 17:00 CEST
Catniss

16:00 CEST

The Story of Everything: Writing Game Worlds into Life

How do games go from words on a page to living worlds? Discover what it takes to write a world bible and wrangle a bunch of random ideas into a story that makes sense. From gameplay pillars to hidden lore, discover the elements every creator needs to craft vivid, sustainable game worlds.

Speakers

Anna Megill

Ubisoft Massive

Anna Megill writes and designs narrative for award-winning games. During her fifteen years in the industry, she's worked for companies such as Arkane Studios, Airtight Games/Square Enix, Ubisoft, Hasbro, Nintendo, Remedy Entertainment, and ArenaNet. You've probably played one of her... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 16:00 - 17:00 CEST
Pilgor

Narrative

19:00 CEST

SGC'19 Official Party!

Friday October 18, 2019 19:00 - 23:30 CEST
Kårhuset Boulogner

Social, Party