Gamelab Conference 2011 in Barcelona

Details

Parent Category: Expos and Conventions

Category: Previews

Published on Sunday, 26 June 2011 10:00

Written by Christopher Lai

This year’s Spanish Game Conference, one of the fastest growing events on interactive culture and industry in Europe, hosts the 7th annual Gamelab Conference June 29 – July 1, 2011 in Barcelona, Spain.

The most influential creators of the videogame world will be attending, including Japanese creator of the Metal Gear Solid saga, Hideo Kojima; British father of the so-called "God games" Peter Molyneux; and the American designer Cliff Bleszinski, one of the industry's "enfants terribles" and creator of the worldwide success Gears of War.

Gamelab Conference also features notable figures such as the visionary founder of Electronic Arts and Digital Chocolate, Trip Hawkins; the historical founder of Westwood Studios and current Vice President of Zynga, Louis Castle; the controversial designer, ex-IdSoftware, American McGee, and virtual world's pioneer Richard Bartle.

All speakers will review the main trends in the interactive entertainment industry and will analyze the influence of videogames in other cultural industries and their consumption. The massive success of online entertainment portals, the spread of audiovisual content in consoles' digital stores, the payment platforms associated to the different devices, the market of virtual goods, free2play and gamification are all revolutionary business and consumption initiatives. They have consolidated thanks to the success of the videogame industry, and other cultural industries are now following.

To complement the series of conferences, Gamelab Conference 2011 also hosts an extensive schedule of parallel events to promote professional networking, as well as bringing videogames to the general public.

The schedule includes round tables, networking areas and the Ceremony of the Academy of the Arts and Interactive Science, interactive and artistic exhibitions, contests, etc. All events and activities are available in both Spanish and English, with simultaneous interpreting.

Gamelab Keynotes and Sessions:

Wednesday June 29:

The Videogame Creative Industry: Chllenges and Opportunities
Featuring: Raúl Escolano (moderator), Santos Castro, Félix Riera, Juan Miguel Márquez and Roberto Álvarez de Lara
Videogames have grown as an industry, managing to adapt their business model to the ongoing changes in market conditions and consumers' habits. The experience in this industry is a clear referent for the rest of cultural industries which, plagued by piracy and other issues, are necessarily searching for new ways to make their contents profitable in a globalized, dematerialized world. At this debate, where the main financial and cultural Spanish institutions will be present, the main keys of the new digital business will be analyzed, drawing future outlooks that can be translated to the whole of cultural industries.

The Minecraft Story: How it All Started, and Where We Are Today
Featuring: Daniel Kaplan
This talk is mainly about the development of how Mojang grew from one guy to the nine-man working force it is now. What we are aiming for and how we are doing it is something that is going to be central in this talk too. There will also be room for Q&A.

An American Journey East
Featuring: American McGee
American McGee is known as one of the original members of id Software during the creation of Doom, as well as for his own original work, such as American McGee’s Alice. For the last several years, McGee has been running a studio in Shanghai called Spicy Horse, which runs the gamut from AAA to social games. In this interview session conducted by Brandon Sheffield (Chief Editor of Game Developer Magazine), McGee discusses his current and past endeavors, including the trials and tribulations (as well as benefits) of running a studio in China. Q&A follows.

Thursday June 30:

We Have Money for your Games
Featuring: Volker Hirsch ((Director of Strategy Scoreloop), Barry O’Neil, Javier Ulecia, Jan Vocke
In the discussion moderated by Hirsh, an international group that represents the various players in the financial ecosystem of the game (Venture Capital, project-based funding and financial consultants) presents a series of alternatives to finance development video games and game companies. Do you play social, mobile, interactive TV? Also try the hot topics for investors, platforms, bubbles and opportunities in sight.

BasketDudes – Strategies to Develop a Free2Play Title
Featuring: Fernando Piquer
More and more companies are taking into account the Free2Play distribution model. Bitoon Games is one of the Spanish companies to adopt this business model to create content. BasketDudes is the firm’s first title, with an international projection. Piquer explains the keys to develop a Free2Play title. Taking BasketDudes as case study, Piquer shows how to market a free product and the strategies for production, design and launch.

Innovation in Games - Fable the Journey
Featuring: Peter Molyneux
Video Games have seen massive innovation both technically and creatively since they first came into being. As they have become more polished, balanced and accessible, they have moved from being niche and hobbyist to a fully fledged mass market form of entertainment. Excitingly, they are still continuing to evolve; the invention of motion sensors has opened up massive potential for further innovation and the creation of new forms of games.

Peter Molyneux of Lionhead Studios has seen a great many changes and developments in video games over the past 25 years and now looks forward to what we can expect in the foreseeable future. He discusses the impact new technology will have on how games evolve, as well as look at the creative potential these new technologies offer. In particular, he explains in detail how Fable The Journey will use Kinect technology to create a compelling and well rounded entertainment experience. Speaking as both a gamer and game creator, Peter will also be able to demonstrate these new innovations live during his talk.

Friday July 1

How to Become a Videogame Professional?
The videogame industry employs professionals with different profiles, within four main roles: programmers, designers, artists and producers. In this session, professionals from each profile shares their experience first hand: their studies and training, how they got into the industry, and the overview of their daily tasks -- a seful set of advice for the new generation of professionals. Would you like to work in the videogame industry? Come meet a programmer, a producer, a gameplay designer and an artist first hand, who will share their experience and tips on how to break into the industry.

RTVE.es’s Desafio Champions, the first Free2Play football game right on your Browser
With: RTVE.es and Kotoc
RTVE.es and Kotoc present Desafio Champions, a free fantasy football MMOG played right on your browser with incredible 3D graphics, developed under Unity. Lets you create a football team in an ever growing fantasy universe.

As players keep advancing through the game, they can access new improvements for their team, like armors and powerful skills, in order to win over harder rivals each time in a global ranking and official championships. The social network integration allows them to challenge lists of friends, play as they chat and share the experience of the game. Desafío Champions joins one of the RTVE’s featured audiovisual contents, as the Sports is, with the interactivity and the entertainment. Also, it is the first release linked to the Desafío Champions animated series TVE is going to broadcast in the next months.

Changing demographics and consumer behavior, along with the mass production of games and new methods of monetization, lead to a change in the epic video game business performance. These changes directly affect the nature of economic risk to create games and, in turn, decide what kind of titles are created and who take advantage of new opportunities.

Those who cannot attend the show will be able to keep track of everything online at www.Gamelab.es, as well as through all main social networks, with up to date information.

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