Develop Live: The full schedule revealed

Develop can finally reveal the full schedule for Develop Live, our first ever conference.

The event will take place on Thursday, October 2nd at The Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland and is aimed at developers and games services companies of all sizes. Head to www.develop-live.com to book your place.

The programme includes talks by 26 experts from well-known firms such as Amazon, Microsoft, Revolution Software, Dimensional Imaging, DeltaDNA, Speech Graphics, Newcastle University, Glasgow Caledonian University, University of East Anglia and UKIE – plus a slew of indie developers and British crime author Christopher Brookmyre.

You can find the full programme below, or by visiting www.develop-live.com.

Develop live is a full-day conference, with tickets also covering lunch and networking breaks, as well as an evening of networking drinks.

Tickets cost £149, with discounts available for students, indies and members of UKIE, TIGA and Scottish Games Network. Contact James.Batchelor@intentmedia.co.uk to find out more, or head to www.develop-live.com to book your place.

Develop Live is supported by event partners OPM Response and Abertay University. To find out more about our competitive sponsorship packages, contact Alex.Boucher@intentmedia.co.uk or call him on 01992 535647.

The full schedule is listed below. 

DEVELOP LIVE

9am to 10am Registration and Coffee

10am to 10.05am Welcome
James Batchelor, Editor, Develop

10.05am to 10.25am From novel to game and back again
Christopher Brookmyre, author

A summary of the experience of the Bedlam project and working with both the literary and games industries. As viewed through the experiences of award winning British author Christopher Brookmyre and UK based Indie game developer RedBedlam. Possibly the first true book and novel tie-in where the novel was written specifically to be followed by a game.

10.25am to 10.40am Video games psychology: How psychology can apply to video games
Berni Good, Cyberpsychologist

This short but no nonsense talk will largely focus on how psychology can be used and applied to the industry from design to monetisation strategies within gamer consumer psychology as well as ethical issues around using this science in an applied way.

10.40am to 10.50am Designing responsive cross-platform games
Graham Dobie, interaction designer, Chunk

When games are produced for more than one screen, there are so many factors to take into account: the changing area of gameplay, differing interaction models on different classes of device and the myriad restrictions of working and running within the browser. Graham Dobie, Interaction Designer at Chunk discusses how these issues can be overcome

10.50am to 11.10am Broken Sword 5’s financial model
Noirin Carmody, COO, Revolution Software

The studio behind Broken Sword reveals how crowdfunding helped to revive the classic adventure series, and what developers can learn from this example.

11.10am to 11.20am Facial performance capture goes 4D
Colin Urquhart, CEO, Dimensional Imaging

The continuing demand for more true-to-life facial animation across the games industry is driving the need for ever higher fidelity facial mo-cap data. Developers require tools that enable them to acquire this data in cost effective and time-efficient ways. Find out more about how and why 4D facial performance capture systems can offer this.

11.20am to 11.30am Art outsourcing: A facial animation production pipeline
Dr Gregor Hofer, co-founder & CEO, Speech Graphics

This talk will show via the example of facial animation, how specialised outsourcing can help teams scale and increase quality at the same time. In particular the talk will focus on high powered AAA production pipelines and the tools involved to successfully integrate external animation production into internal pipelines.

11.30am to 12.00pm Coffee break

12.00pm to 12.25pm Picking the right tools for the job: HTML5 vs Unity
Jesse Freeman, developer evangelist, Amazon

If you are looking to build true cross platform games there are two great options, HTML5 and Unity, but choosing which one to start with can be difficult. In this talk, Freeman will discuss the pros and cons of each platform by looking at the same game built in Phaser and Unity. He’ll also discuss publishing options for both platforms and how to create truly cross platform games from a single codebase.

12.25pm to 12.40pm Gaming for good: The application of video games in modern medicine
Cilein Kearns, medical illustrator & app developer

This talk will present current and future applications of video games in Healthcare, from medical and surgical simulation to pain management for children undergoing painful procedures in hospital. 

12.40pm to 12.55pm How sound should sound: Round 2
Eden Morrison, sound designer & Abertay graduate

Following his session at the IGDA Scotland Microtalks, Morrison speaks about the state of game audio, the oft ignored and much maligned runt in the litter of the game development disciplines. He will also discuss his belief in bespoke audio, as well as examining the advantages and disadvantages of licensed music and sound effects.

12.55pm to 1.15pm Virtual Reality: Developers’ responsibilities
Katie Goode, games designer, Preloaded

As game developers we need to approach VR passionately but with caution. In such an absorbing environment we have a responsibility to take care of players, in order to allow them to be fully immersed (maintaining ‘presence’). Preloaded’s Katie Goode will be talking about how we have to be aware that such an intense experience can have both positive and negative effects, and what we can do to combat them.

1.15pm to 1.30pm Stop making video games
Brian Baglow, founder, Scottish Games Network

We live in aworld where rescuing princesses, collecting coins or blowing things up in ever more realistic detail is not really the point any more. SGN’s Brian Baglow says we can do more, if only we’d stop making video games and embrace the astonishing future and new opportunities which are in front of us.

1.30pm to 2.30pm Lunch

2.30pm to 2.45pm Hoots Mon: Finding your way in an increasingly diverse games development marketplace… with a puppet owl
James Parker, founder, Ground Shatter

Armed only with a slightly broken Powerpoint, a puppet owl, and fifteen years’ experience, slightly broken games developer James Parker attempts to rationalise his career and subsequent gigantic midlife crisis into a simple set of takeaway points from which others can benefit.

2.45pm to 3.10pm PANEL: User research methods in the industry
[Panel Chair] Dr Romana Ramzan, lecturer in games design, Glasgow Caledonian University
Graham McAllister, founder, Player Research
Steve Stopps, founder & CEO, Kumotion

Experts focus on helping developers to better understand how studying players and player behaviours can improve the game design process, as well as the importance of including user research in the overall development lifecycle and discussing the process of user testing in an indie studio vs triple-A.

3.10pm to 3.20pm How to build a one-man band
Nicoll Hunt, Head Honcho, I Fight Bears

Releasing and marketing quality games as a solo developer is a challenging undertaking, but as breakout hits like Thomas Was Alone, Retro City Rampage and Minecraft show, entirely achievable. Access to high quality tools, digital distribution and the ability to develop for multiple platforms has made solo game development more accessible than ever before. Hunt describes the challenges and obstacles facing solo developers and shares his methodologies and top tips for running a successful studio comprised of one single employee.

3.20pm to 3.30pm From pocket money to Flappy Bird and beyond: Things to know about copyright and games
Dr Daithi Mac Sithigh, reader-in-law, Newcastle University
Dr Tom Phillips, senior research associate, University of East Anglia

How does copyright law (and other legal mechanisms) promote or restrain the development of business models, creative platforms, and payment mechanisms? This talk – based on research conducted at the University of Edinburgh over the last year – provides developers with the most current information needed to understand the industry in which they work.

3.30pm to 3.40pm Why players don’t spend in F2P games – and how to change this
Chris Wright, co-founder & CTO, DeltaDNA

This session looks at how to build successful relationships with your players in order to improve both retention and monetization in F2P Games. It also argues that developers need to go beyond the reliance on basic metrics to focus on long term value of players through really understanding different behaviours and playing styles.

3.40pm to 4.10pm PANEL: Scottish ‘Beautiful Game’ winners
[Panel Chair] Andrew Webber, marketing lead – audience acquisition, Microsoft
Peter van der Watt, founder, Blazing Griffin
Charlie Czerkawski, co-founder & CDO, Guerilla Tea
Isaac Howie-Brewerton, creative director, Pixel Blimp
Donald Sutherland, Mogworks
Kasim Qureshi, Geared Kids

Following its Power Up: The Beautiful Game competition, Microsoft speaks to some of the Scottish independent developers that were among the winners about what they learned during the process and how they will approach their future releases

4.10pm to 4.30pm BAFTA Scotland Panel: Changing the Ratio
Dr Jo Twist, CEO, UKIE

UKIE CEO Jo Twist is joined by high-profile members of the games development scene [panellists to be announced soon] to discuss diversity in the industry and how it can be improved.

4.30pm to 6pm Networking drinks

Head to www.develop-live.com to book your place.