CONFERENCE
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INDEPENDENT GAMES
The Independent Games Summit represents the voice of the independent game developer at GDC. It features lectures, postmortems and roundtables from some of the most notable independent game creators, including many former and current Independent Games Festival finalists and winners. The Independent Games Summit seeks to highlight the brightest and the best of indie development, with discussions ranging from game design philosophy, distribution, business, marketing, and much more. The Independent Games Summit takes place at GDC and GDC Europe.
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2012 HIGHLIGHTED SESSIONS
Ponycorns: Catching Lightning in a Jar
Ryan Henson Creighton (Untold Entertainment)
The ponycorns fanfare could easily have died off within a week, but Untold was determined to make as much noise as possible, given that initial spark. Attendees will learn about launching alternate revenue streams like the ponycorns merchandise store, preparing press kits, attracting mainstream media attention, entering contests, marketing with a non-existent budget, and following up with franchises or brand extensions, all in the name of amplifying initial interest in a project. When many speakers tell their success stories, they essentially talk about how they were struck by lightning. The take-away for the audience is to go out and somehow get struck by lightning too. Indie game developer Untold Entertainment Inc. was struck by lightning when their game Sissy's Magical Ponycorn Adventure went viral, receiving worldwide attention and acclaim - most notably because it was co-developed by a five-year-old girl. In this exciting and surprising session, Ryan Henson Creighton reveals how to turn your game project into a lightning rod to attract success, and how to bottle that surge of success without letting even a single spark escape.
Folk Games, Festivity and Subversive Game Design
Douglas Wilson (Die Gute Fabrik)
This talk encourages developers (especially indie developers) to embrace the limitations of motion control technology, rather than struggle against them. Drawing from his work on party games like B.U.T.T.O.N. and Johann Sebastian Joust, as well as a slew of offbeat case studies, researcher and developer Douglas Wilson describes how game designers might recapture the festivity and carnival atmosphere that have long been a hallmark of play culture. He argues that folk games offer useful precedents for developers working on physical games and explains why he finds it fruitful to think about motion-controlled games in terms of slapstick and subversion.
The Failure Workshop
Jamie Cheng (Klei Entertainment), Steve Swink (Enemy Airship), Scott Anderson (Enemy Airship), Colin Northway (Fantastic Contraption), Ron Carmel (2D BOY) and Amir Rao (Supergiant Games)
The popular Failure Workshop returns to GDC this year! Where last year dealt mainly with design issues, this year we'll also tackle failure across multiple fronts including business, marketing, and production. Ron Carmel of the Indie Fund will lead this lineup of notable independent developers as they showcase a project that failed and explain why they thought it was a good idea, why it failed, and what they gained from the whole experience. Scott Anderson & Steve Swink (Enemy Airship) will discuss Shadow Physics, Jamie Cheng (Klei Entertainment) Sugar Rush, Amir Rao (Super Giant Games) Bastion, Colin Northway (Fantastic Contraption) will discuss an unfinished game.
The Indie Soapbox Session
Ben Ruiz (Team Colorblind), Hanford Lemoore (Maquette), Matthew Wegner (Flashbang Studios), Rob Jagnow (Lazy 8 Studios), Tom Francis (Suspicious Developments), Phil Fish (Polytron), Mike Meyer (Independent), Alexander Bruce (Antichamber), Mike Boxleiter (Mikengreg), Steph Thirion (Little Eyes) and Raigan Burns (Metanet Software Inc.)
A stage full of prominant independent developers will step up to share what's on their mind. Expand your perspective! Individual topics will range as widely as the individuals themselves. What do these notable indies think about? What do they care about? Will someone inadvertently reveal the secret formula for success in 2012? Come and find out!
INDEPENDENT GAMES SUMMIT ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Kellee Santiago
thatgamecompany
Kellee Santiago is President and Co-Founder of thatgamecompany. thatgamecompany's goal is to make video games that communicate different emotional experiences, and expand the communicative possibilities of games. While earning her MFA at the University of Southern California she teamed up with fellow student Jenova Chen to develop the student-created game, "Cloud." The game went on to become critically acclaimed, after which the two decided to found their own studio, thatgamecompany, and landed a three game deal with Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. to develop downloadable games for Playstation Network. Their first two commercial releases, "flOw", and "Flower," went on to become award-winning and two of the top downloaded games on PSN.
Steve Swink
Enemy Airship
Steve Swink is currently working on a game called Shadow Physics. Before that, a game designer at Flashbang studios, creating games for Blurst. Before that, Neversoft, as a designer on TONY HAWK UNDERGROUND. He wrote a book one time, about the tactile sensation you get when you control something in a game and co-coordinates the Independent Game Festival and the Independent Game Summit. Steve teaches game design and level design at the Art Institute of Phoenix.
Matthew Wegner
Flashbang Studios
Matthew Wegner founded Flashbang Studios, an 8 year-old independent game developer best known for its "Blurst" portfolio of experimental games. Elsewhere, Matthew is an Indie Fund member, TIGJam organizer, photographer, conference planner, web/database programmer and unicyclist.
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