Talk: Engineering Live Ops on Call of Duty: WWII

Speaker: Josh Caratelli

Post-launch support can bring a host of tough engineering challenges to a development team; some of which can be foreseen and others which can’t. However, with the appropriate planning and best practice engineering principles in place, the issues which arise can be mitigated or outright avoided.

This presentation covers a variety of engineering practices used at Sledgehammer Games both pre and post-launch for Call of Duty: WWII to ensure the best possible experience for both the players and the development team.

Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way

Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.

Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.

Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.

www.gcap.com.au

Talk: Unpacking Game Design: Creating a game without fail states or scores

Speaker: Wren Brier

A zen game about taking items out of boxes after a move might sound extremely niche. But Unpacking by Brisbane studio Witch Beam has garnered international attention from players to industry folk alike. It’s been invited to showcases, nominated for awards and even gone viral, all in its first year of development.

The game lacks many conventional game design components: there are no scores, no time limits, no fail states, no consequences to choices, no dialogue. What’s left when all of that is taken away? How do you tell a story through such strict limitations? And why design a game like this?

This talk will cover extracting gameplay from unexpected places, finding a balance between puzzle and player expression, and how to stuff 69 household items into an isometric kitchen.

Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way

Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.

Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.

Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.

www.gcap.com.au

Talk: Visual Game Design: Keeping Teams Aligned Through Minimal Documentation

Speaker: Alex Carlyle

Keeping large teams aligned with the vision of a game is always challenging. Having spent many years creating design documents and battling to keep teams up to date with the latest direction of the game, I developed alternative methods that were faster to update and iterate and more effectively allowed team members to consume the information that they needed to make the best game they could.

I will talk about learnings from projects like LA Noire, the benefits of visual communication and creating environments that encourage teams to view and talk about the game they are creating, improving overall collaboration and alignment.

Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way

Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.

Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.

Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.

www.gcap.com.au

Talk: Subverting Genres: I Think I Rogue-Like You

Speaker: Lucy Morris

Roguelike, dating sim, RPG - every genre definition evokes certain expectations from a player of mechanic, function and content. When we dig in to a genre, examine these expectations and subvert elements of how they function, we can explore interesting mechanic innovations within sometimes tired (and unsuitable) labels for games.

Using Starcolt's first title ‘Best Friend Forever’ as an example, we'll take a look at the upsides and downsides of using genre definitions, and how we can twist and explore these to work in our advantage as game designers to create fresh, interesting experiences.

Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way

Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.

Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.

Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.

www.gcap.com.au

Talk: Can I Have That in a Spreadsheet Please?

Speaker: Cherie Davidson

Collecting, tracking and communicating complex relational data is the everyday work of producers and leads in teams. “What's the status of our game? How does our workload track against our timeline? Are my team members working effectively towards a shared goal? Is another play test cycle feasible before release?” What tools and processes can we use to make the answers to critical questions like these tracked, visible, and easily digestible?

In this talk, Cherie will leverage her production experience from Media Molecule and as a Melbourne-based freelancer to propose various tried and tested methods of collating and viewing this interconnected data.

Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way

Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.

Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.

Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.

www.gcap.com.au

Talk: More Cards Against People Mismanagement

Speaker: Emilie Poissenot

With the right tools, leaders help a team navigate the tumultuous waters of game development and stick together until they reach their destination. You can be that guiding light!

In last year’s talk, I condensed some of my favourite people management tools into cards that help empower team members, bond with them and troubleshoot tensions. This year, I want to further

build your deck with techniques focused on communication, motivation and coaching, so you’re better equipped to lead the way for your team.

Whether you’re currently in a leadership position, aspiring to be or needing tools to better your relationship with your manager, this talk will give you practical tips to improve your team interactions as soon as you’re back in the office.

Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way

Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.

Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.

Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.

www.gcap.com.au

Talk: What to Expect When You’re Expecting (A Producer)

Speaker: Lisy Kane

When considering bringing on a producer or if you're in the throes of onboarding ones, what are the considerations and questions you should be asking yourself and the team to ensure they are the given the best opportunity to level up your studio?

Lead Producer from League of Geeks, Lisy Kane is going to talk through what production looks like at LoG as well as exploring what types of production roles are out there and how they can fit (or not!) for your team.

Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way

Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.

Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.

Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.

www.gcap.com.au

Talk: Pitching Games to Publishers

Speaker: Cheryl Vance

Cheryl Vance, Co-Founder of Prideful Sloth, walks through the not-so-subtle art of pitching to publishers. This talk is aimed at answering the question: what exactly does it take to get publishers to (happily) part with their cash?

This session will help guide developers through the less trodden path of publisher funded development, giving an understanding of the steps, resources, and general preparation required in pitching to publishers.

This includes putting together pitch decks, budgets, and schedules; answering what it means to enter into a partner-relationship; navigating the ancillary resources you may need; and hopefully busting a few myths along the way!

Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way

Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.

Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.

Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.

www.gcap.com.au

Talk: Production Process, Publishing & Platforms: A Simultaneous Release Crash Course

Speaker: Samuel McCully

Shipping games is hard, it gets harder when managing a simultaneous release across multiple different platforms. So what happens when you discover a week before launch that you're missing localisation on two platforms? Or you've announced your release date with one platform having still not passed certification?

This talk is designed to offer some best practices on how to manage different platform releases and mitigate some of the risks involved, using personal experience as to where things have been less than ideal before launch of past projects.  

Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way

Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.

Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.

Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.

www.gcap.com.au

Talk: The Life Of a Japanese Composer, with Manami Matsumae

(ft Alex Aniel as translator)

Speakers: Manami Matsumae & Alexander Aniel

Manami Matsumae, the legendary Japanese composer best known for her work on Mega Man (1987), Mega Man 10 (2010), and Mighty No 9 (2016), will be visiting Australia for the first time to attend MIGW 2019. In this talk we’ll learn about how the Japanese video game landscape has changed from the 1980s to now, and what the life of a Japanese video game composer entails in 2019.

This session will feature an extended Q&A component, so bring your best questions, your best spirits, and get ready to chat with one of the industry’s most iconic composers.

Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way

Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.

Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.

Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.

www.gcap.com.au