PLAY ME! Programme

PLAY ME! PROGRAMME

TALK DESCRIPTIONS

Strange Interludes
Jake Elliott, Cardboard Computer

"Kentucky Route Zero" is a magical realist adventure game published episodically over the last several years. In between episodes, developer Cardboard Computer have published a series of short, free, experimental games. These ‘interludes’ complement the game's story and characters with different perspectives and formal experiments. They also offer sometimes unexpected new points of entry into the project -- the interludes are transmedia works with video, sound, or print components. Cardboard Computer co-founder Jake Elliott will detail the history and design process of these interludes, and how they've shaped Kentucky Route Zero and its audience.
The console version of "Kentucky Route Zero, The TV Edition", is published by Annapurna Interactive.

Gaming PR – with more rock'n'roll!
Morten Skovgaard, Gameplay

Traditional games media as we know them are dying a slow death, disintegrating into multi-genre entertainment sites chasing ad revenue and obscure personal hardcore gamer blogs with limited or no reach at all. Print media are a thing of the past, with only a few international magazines still holding on to a steadily decreasing base of subscribers and newspaper coverage reduced to those few mega hits that manage to penetrate into the mainstream a few times every year.
 
With the traditional media channels all but gone, everyone who is not Rockstar, Electronic Arts or Ubisoft is scavenging for whatever coverage they can find out there. But where should you look for it? Who will take an active interest in you and your games? Why should they write about you at all? How can you get your message across and tell more people about your games? How can you optimize your PR and community efforts to best fit the current fragmented media landscape?

First tip: You probably need to be way more rock'n'roll than you think!

You Need Time: How DEEP ROCK GALACTIC found an audience
Søren Lundgaard, Ghost Ship Games

In this talk, Søren will take you through the many attempts that eventually placed "DEEP ROCK GALACTIC" on the radar of both players and publishers. These attempts included social media marketing, growth hacking, open development, media events, free Steam keys, trailers, and influencers. In the end, the most important aspect was a timeline which spanned nearly 18 months from first public reveal until launching into Early Access on Steam.

Tick Tock: A Tale for Two 
Tanja Tankred & Mira Dorthé, Other Tales Interactive

Tanja Lind Tankred and Mira Dorthé are the founders of Other Tales. They are currently working on "Tick Tock: A Tale for Two" which is a two-player co-op adventure game that is all about communication. Players have to unravel a narrative together, talk to each other about what they are doing and what they see in order to solve puzzles. The game is planned for release in 2019 and they will introduce us to the game and share their initial thoughts on how to bring this unusual game out to an audience that might not even know that they would appreciate this type of experience.

Coffee Stain's approach to Publishing: How we scout, spar and connect to the audience
Albert Säfström, Coffee Stain Publishing

Where and how do we look for projects and what determines if we sign them? How do we spar with developers? When do we nudge, push or take a step back? Also, how do we find an audience for the games? And when we do, how do we connect?