Interview: Full Time Indie or Game Company Employee?
Mike BithellThomas Was Alone, Volume
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Creator of Thomas Was Alone talks about pros and cons of being an indie or joining a game company - and the path to do either!
1st airing: 12:00pm PST 2nd airing: 08:00pm PST
Talk: How to Make Consistently Profitable Indie Games
Ryan ClarkCrypt of the Necrodancer, Incredibots
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Ryan Clark, the creator of Crypt of the Necrodancer, who made a profit in 8 out of the 10 games he released, 3 of which making millions, teaches how he does it. He shares a practical framework with clear steps to follow. He then discusses what makes an awesome game trailer (with loads of examples), and he explains why he believes that the marketplace for indie games is not really becoming much more competitive than it already was.
1st airing: 01:00pm PST 2nd airing: 09:00pm PST
Case Study: Attracting 1 Million + Players with Lean Development
Eduardo Lamhut (BitCake Studio)Holodrive
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Co-creator of 1M+ players Holodrive talks about Lean Gamedev, the inner workings of a 7 people indie studio, and the Game Founders incubation program.
TUESDAY - Feb, 27th
1st airing: 11:00am PST 2nd airing: 07:00pm PST
Interview: How to Tell What Games Will Be Profitable
Ron CarmelWorld of Goo, co-founder of Indie Fund
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Co-creator of the legendary World of Goo and co-founder of Indie Fund, Ron leverages his experience as a professional investor in indie games to discuss how to stay realistic in today's overcrowded market.
1st airing: 12:00pm PST 2nd airing: 08:00pm PST
Case Study: Should You Make Your Own Engine?
Nathan HurdeGame Pencil Engine
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Nathan, who created the Game Pencil Engine from scratch, talks about his experience while doing that, talks about limiting scope, and share tips for tool development.
1st airing: 01:00pm PST 2nd airing: 09:00pm PST
Talk: 37 Common Mistakes Indie Developers Make
Tim RuswickGame Dev Underground
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Gamedev youtuber Tim Ruswick discusses 37 mistakes that most indies will make at some point, and gives tips on how to avoid them.
WEDNESDAY - Feb, 28th
1st airing: 11:00am PST 2nd airing: 07:00pm PST
Talk: Long Term Strategies That Lead to Success
Starlight SkyesTwitch Partner, Gamedev Streamer
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Twitch Partner, artist and marketer talks about how to overcome fear, and discusses habits and long term strategies that lead to success.
1st airing: 12:00pm PST 2nd airing: 08:00pm PST
Interview p1: Managing Risks Early On To Avoid Landmines In The Development Of Your Game
Adam SaltsmanCanabalt, publisher of Night in the Woods
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This is the 1st of 3 parts of a deep dive on Adam's strategy to greenlight projects at his indie studio. On this 1st part, he talks about the importance of managing several types of risks in game development. Plenty of actual examples from his own work, specially as a publisher / mentor in the development of Night in the Woods.
1st airing: 01:00pm PST 2nd airing: 09:00pm PST
Talk: Rethinking Structure to Improve Your Stories
Xalavier Nelson Jr PC Gamer columnist, narrative designer
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On his talk, Xalavier explains how watching Wet Hot American Summer can help you make better stories and games, by rethinking a story's structure to improve your game.
THURSDAY - Mar, 01st
1st airing: 11:00am PST 2nd airing: 07:00pm PST
Talk: Getting Your Game Noticed and Making it Stand Out on the Store
Lucy BlundellOne Night Stand
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On this very practical talk about marketing, Lucy Blundell, the creator of One Night Stand, shares plenty of details and important tips on how to make your game stand out, by making smart decisions about your promo art and your logo.
1st airing: 12:00pm PST 2nd airing: 08:00pm PST
Interview p2: Analysing and Finding a Good Core For Your Game
Adam Saltsman Canabalt, publisher of Night in the Woods
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This is the 2nd of 3 parts of a deep dive on Adam's strategy to greenlight projects at his indie studio. On this 2nd part, he starts exploring how to analyse a game idea from several different angles to make sure that it's a good idea to work on. He also covers some of his thoughts on how to iterate on mechanics and other aspects of a game to nail down a concept worth expanding into a full game.
1st airing: 01:00pm PST 2nd airing: 09:00pm PST
Case Study: 4 Big Pitfalls To Avoid When Making Ambitious Games
Pedro MachadoNo Place For Bravery
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Co-creator of No Place for Bravery makes an honest assessment on mistakes his team made that made their game take much longer to take shape. This team's game is one of those projects that immediately look awesome and can get a lot of eyeballs. Pedro discusses some of the problems that are often not visible for people looking from the outside, and shares what he and his team learned while tackling those issues during 2 years of development.
FRIDAY - Mar, 02nd
1st airing: 11:00am PST 2nd airing: 07:00pm PST
Talk: Creative Direction for Indies
Tanya X ShortMoon Hunters
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The co-founder of Kitfox Games and creator of Moon Hunters gives a talk on creative direction and how to engage and inspire your team around your vision.
1st airing: 12:00pm PST 2nd airing: 08:00pm PST
Interview: The Only Things That Players and The Media Will Know About In Your Game
Adam SaltsmanCanabalt, publisher of Night in the Woods
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This is the 3rd of 3 parts of a deep dive on Adam's strategy to greenlight projects at his indie studio. On this 3rd part, he covers what is a realistic scope, and how to evaluate a game idea's potential by thinking on how it looks / sounds like when looked very superficially - which is the only thing that players and the media are seeing when they decide to purchase or cover the game.
SATURDAY - Mar, 03rd
1st airing: 11:00am PST 2nd airing: 07:00pm PST
Interview: What Indies Think Works, What Actually Works
Cliff "Cliffski" HarrisDemocracy, Gratuitous Space Battles
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The legendary founder of Positech Games, who was already a solo indie developer since much before there was such a thing as an "indie developer", leverages on his 37+ years of experience as a games programmer to explain what most indies do wrong in terms of marketing, and why most of them are disappointed with the financial results of their games. He shares some very solid advice on how to tackle your gamedev career as a long term project, consistently building skills and habits to gradually increase your odds of being successful.
1st airing: 12:00pm PST 2nd airing: 08:00pm PST
Talk: You Are Spending Way Too Long Making Your Game
Jake Birkett Shadowhand
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After his seminal talk "Surviving 11 Years Without a Hit", the creator of Shadowhand and consistently sustainable indie developer comes back to show sales data from all of his games, and goes on to analyse how profitable each one really was (the results are not what you think!). By collating data from several sources, he gives some ballpark estimation on how much money a game can make on its first week of sales, and on its first year, and then explains why he will probably never make another game that takes more than 6 months to develop.
1st airing: 01:00pm PST 2nd airing: 09:00pm PST
Case Study: Making and Shipping a Game in Three Months
James StoneJump Gunners
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The creator of Jump Gunners and Xenosis tells how he made and shipped a game in 3 months, without crunching or having a meltdown. In an example of pragmatism, smart choices and good planning, James managed to pull off the impossible: to actually deliver a game exactly on time! In his talk, he shares exactly how he did it, and what you can leverage from his experience so that you too can meet your deadlines and deliver your game.
SUNDAY - Mar, 04th
1st airing: 11:00am PST 2nd airing: 07:00pm PST
Interview: Moving Forward Towards Your Goal
Edmund McMillenSuper Meat Boy, The Binding of Isaac
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The creator of Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac covers a number of important subjects, ranging from how to be a good game designer to how to evolve as a game developer. He talks about some of the big pitfalls to avoid, and how to make consistent progress so that you can finally achieve your goals!
1st airing: 12:00pm PST 2nd airing: 08:00pm PST
Talk: Turbo-Charging Your Evolution as a Game Developer
Gabriel Dal SantoPro Indie Dev, co-founder of Pixel Cows
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On this "I wish someone told me that 15 years ago" type of talk, the organizer of the conference leverages on his experience working on 30+ games to show you how to take the fast track and evolve much faster as an indie developer. While most indies act semi-randomly while being driven by choices they don't even realize they made, he shows that you can take control of your own evolution by understanding how all of the pieces connect in your journey to become a pro indie developer. By making deliberate choices ranging from what projects to work on all the way to simple things like what game to make on the next game jam, you can take control of your indiedev life so that you can be where you wanna be much faster than you will if you just keep doing what everyone else does.