Sweden Game Conference 2018: Full Schedule

Welcome to the Sweden Game Conference 2018 schedule!

13:00 CEST

Conference Opening: Swedish Games Industry

Conference opening! The board of the Swedish Game Industry discuss the current state of the industry.

Wednesday October 17, 2018 13:00 - 14:00 CEST
Pilgor

Topics Game development, Research, Education

14:00 CEST

Leveling the playfield: Funding for non-cis-male dominated projects - where to get it and what to think about when applying

Early stage funding for game projects is hard to come by, and it can be even harder if you’re not the typical team investors think they are looking for. The panel will discuss Coffee Stains initiative Leveling the Playfield, it’s impact on the industry, risks, possibilities and the future of investments in the industry.

Moderators

Johanna Nylander

Policy Affairs, Swedish Games Industry

Johanna Nylander manages Policy and Public Affairs at the Swedish Games Industry association. She studied game development in Skövde 10 years ago, and has since then also worked as Nordic marketing manager at an international mobile games company, published a book on public health... Read More →

Speakers

Jenny Brusk

Lecturer, University of Skövde

Laura Bularca

Professional Dragon, Valiant Game Studio AB

Laura has a background in games journalism and switched over to the development side in 2009. She’s worked at companies like FunLABS/Activision, Milestone and SimBin, before moving over to Sweden Game Arena and Gothia Innovation. In 2018, she moved to Stockholm and joined her friend... Read More →

Petter Henriksson

Speaker, Landfall Games

Petter Henriksson has been developing games since 2012 and has then worked on both successful and very unsuccessful projects. He is currently working on Totally Accurate Battle Simulator handling self-publishing, marketing and some code.

Wednesday October 17, 2018 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
Pilgor

Main Theme, Panel

Topics Game development, Business, Publishing

15:00 CEST

Digital nomad: Working with sound across several teams, countries and cultures

In this day and increasingly digital age, we are more and more dependent on our technology. Through it, our world grows more connected and we get closer to cultures and people we used to be far away from. I work in with sound and music for games, I use the freedom technology brings to work with people and projects in remote locations and with different cultures than my own. How does one work across borders? Cultures? Come and find out!

Speakers

Martin Kvale

Krillbite Studio

Martin lives in Norway, but travels the world working on audio for small teams. He is experienced in work and travels over the course of the last 6 years and you have probably shared a hug already at some conference! Has done sounds for Among The Sleep, GoNNER, Bad North, Teslagrad... Read More →

Wednesday October 17, 2018 15:00 - 16:00 CEST
Pilgor

Audio / Music, Talk

Topics Sound, Global perspectives, Indie

16:00 CEST

Ditch Toxic Systems So We Can Finally Love Video Game Romance

Ditch Toxic Systems So We Can Finally Love Video Game Romance” is a critique of the presentations of romance in video games. While many of us seek romance in games, it is largely not intersectional, does not speak to most of our lived experiences, and, sets harmful and toxic expectations, ultimately harming players. This talk identifies and critiques specific systems and will dismantle, for example, the kindness tokens model, as well as argue for replacing them with mutual and rewarding depictions of romance that embody the habits of positive, fruitful relationships.

Speakers

Elie Abraham

Elie Abraham is a composer, sound designer, voice actor, and unyielding game jammer. Elie is known for speed-making music, has worked on 100+ jam games since the start of 2017, and holds the world record for number of games soundtracked at a single game jam. In Helsinki, Outside of... Read More →

Wednesday October 17, 2018 16:00 - 17:00 CEST
Pilgor

Narrative, Talk

Topics Design, Romance

17:00 CEST

The Human Cost of Game Development: A Former Telltale Dev's Post-Mortem

Games are an incredible medium that can inspire, allow us to escape, and provide countless hours of fun. But what is the cost of their creation? Is the toll game creation can take on its creators worth it? Hear from one of the devs who was recently terminated by Telltale Games about her experience both at the company and in the immediate aftermath.

Speakers

Emily Buck

Creative Director, Buckshot Interactive

Emily Grace Buck is a narrative designer who was part of the recent studio closure at Telltale Games. Emily drew attention to the human cost of the mass layoff online by sharing statistics and stories about her coworkers, creating #TelltaleMemories, andhelping to resurrect #TelltaleJobs... Read More →

Wednesday October 17, 2018 17:00 - 18:00 CEST
Pilgor

Narrative, Talk

Topics Narrative, Design

10:00 CEST

Kittens on Fire: Designing immersive storytelling

In this presentation, I’ll talk about storytelling (from text blocks to dialogues to environmental art) and narrative design. Drawing from games like Dark Souls, Night in the Woods, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and various isometric RPGs that I may or may not have been involved in developing,. I’ll talk about how narrative designers help shape the overall experience, and how we can improve our craft and build living worlds for our games. At the conclusion, I’ll outline tips and techniques to help fledgling designers find the right voice and the right direction for their games.

Speakers

Colin McComb

3lb Games

Colin McComb has been a professional writer/game designer since 1991. He’s co-owner of 3lb Games, which offers VR development and software services consulting (most recently working with Monomi Park to bring Slime Rancher to VR). He was Creative Lead for Torment: Tides of Numenera... Read More →

Thursday October 18, 2018 10:00 - 11:00 CEST
Pilgor

Narrative, Talk

Topics Narrative, Design, Game development

11:00 CEST

Company Culture - Epic Battle

Agnieszka Molska Jakobson works at Ghost Games in Gothenburg as associate development manager, but her biggest focus is on the team. She is closely cooperating with the Ghost leadership championing positive change and strengthening the company culture.Born in Poland, became a teacher there and after moving to Sweden decided to change professions, following her true interests like project management, company culture and continuous improvement.

Speakers

Agnieszka Jakobson

Thursday October 18, 2018 11:00 - 12:00 CEST
Pilgor

Biz, Talk

Topics Business, AAA, Corporate culture, Game work

12:00 CEST

Leading Companies & Global Initiatives in the Game Industry

Jillian will discuss exactly how and why she started her own companies, discussing wins with failures while providing advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. There will be a focus on keeping your company and initiatives diverse and inclusive while helping drive towards a better, more positive industry.

Speakers

Jillian Mood

Jillian Mood & Partners

Jillian Mood jumped into the game industry after working in television. After over 10 years of running HR, PR, Marketing departments, and dozens of initiatives she built her own empire! Today, running Conferences, Game Jams, a marketing and PR firm across gaming and tech is the continuation... Read More →

Thursday October 18, 2018 12:00 - 13:00 CEST
Pilgor

Biz, Talk

Topics Game development, Global perspectives

13:00 CEST

The Unreal Engine in 2018 and beyond!

A look at the current state of the Unreal Engine, and what our vision is for the future. From Fortnite and its impact on the engine, through our push for high end mobile, developments within the film and automotive industries, to our focus on building a sustainable platform for indie developers. The work we are doing with rendering and raytracing, as well as a look at recent Unreal Engine releases and which improvements you can expect in the months ahead.

Speakers

Sjoerd De Jong

Evangelist, Epic Games

As Evangelist for Epic Games, Sjoerd travels through Europe to talk about and teach the Unreal Engine. With 19 years of experience in the Unreal Engine, Sjoerd is an expert at a wide range of content creation topics. Throughout his diverse career he has worked in everything ranging... Read More →

Thursday October 18, 2018 13:00 - 14:00 CEST
Pilgor

Tech, Talk

Topics Tech, Programming

14:00 CEST

Befriending the enemy - how to handle SJW commentary

Any non conventional game can nowadays earn the label of Social Justice Propaganda. If you make “Social Justice Propaganda” you have a good chance to be called a “Social Justice Warrior”. Is this good or bad and how can you respond to this kind of comments? This is a reflection on how to interpret, handle and react to SJW commentary from a developer with two “Social Justice Propaganda” games under her belt.

Speakers

Laura Bularca

Professional Dragon, Valiant Game Studio AB

Thursday October 18, 2018 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
Pilgor

Biz, Talk

Topics Business, Community, Marketing

15:00 CEST

4 Signs your publisher is stealing your money

I step by step go through our journey into self-publishing. I explain why we used to get publishers. How it was to work with them. What they were good/ bad at. What we were afraid it would be like and what I turned out to be. I present common split scenarios that exist, which ones I think are fair and why.

With TABS we had the opportunity to choose whatever publisher we wanted but in our internal discussions we kept coming back to the question "what do they do". Since we couldn't figure that out we didn't know the value of what they were providing.
Because of this, we decided to self-publish. We accepted that we might be worse at it than them but if we tried and failed. At least we would know what we were paying for in the future.

Self-publishing has taught us a lot about marketing and the platform process. I explain how I tackled self-publishing from 0 experience. What I found was surprisingly hard and what was surprisingly easy. I also supply tips if someone would like to try it themselves.

The talk title sounds very Anti-publishing. The talk is not anti-publishing itself and mentions a lot of positive aspects of working with publishers but the goal is to supply people with some initial tools to go into self-publishing if they feel up to it

Speakers

Petter Henriksson

Speaker, Landfall Games

Thursday October 18, 2018 15:00 - 16:00 CEST
Pilgor

Biz, Talk

Topics Business, Publishing

16:00 CEST

Fast Travel

Fast Travel is a slow journey towards a single button. It’s a brand new story, a play through of a sci-fi game that doesn’t exist and a fragmented look at time and design.

Speakers

Ste Curran

Design consultant, London South Bank University & Freelance

Ste is a designer, consultant, speaker, radio presenter and Maraoke host. He solves problems, sings poorly and writes very bad bios.

Thursday October 18, 2018 16:00 - 17:00 CEST
Pilgor

Other, Talk

Topics Narrative, Design, Sci-fi

19:00 CEST

Award Dinner (Separate ticket)

The Official Gala Dinner. Separate ticket is needed!

Thursday October 18, 2018 19:00 - 22:00 CEST
Pilgor

Social, Dinner

Topics Social

10:00 CEST

Creating games in a game world

LocoRoco – The birth and development of a SIE IP and a higher sense of awareness.

Starting from a sketch on the train and with the intention “to make people smile all over the world”. Physics and flow as the driving mechanics and feel-good factor. How to develop LocoRoco characters, stages and sounds. The development of PS3 LocoRoco and PS@Home content. The realization of LocoRoco’s global reach. Life purpose and why do I make games? Can I make the world peaceful through my work? Illness in the family triggers a deeper existential investigation and journey. My next step. Message to the Swedish game dev community.

Speakers

Tsutomu Kouno

Sony Interactive Entertainment

Tsutomu Kouno is a Japanese game designer, born in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture. He graduated from College of Engineering of Nihon University and joined Sony Interactive Entertainment shortly after. He is best known as director and game designer of the video game series LocoRoco... Read More →

Friday October 19, 2018 10:00 - 11:00 CEST
Pilgor

Design, Talk

Topics Design, AAA, Physics, Mechanics

11:00 CEST

Narrative Panel/AMA

Ever wanted to ask people with decades of experience questions about game writing? What it's like to work on big titles for big companies? What pitfalls to avoid when applying to a writing job? What it's like freelancing as a writer? Well, here's your chance! We have some fantastic speakers in the narrative field this year, and it would be a shame if we did not bring them all together for a session and let you ask them about their experiences.

Moderator: Daniel Ström

Speakers

Elie Abraham

Emily Buck

Creative Director, Buckshot Interactive

Colin McComb

3lb Games

Evgeni Puzankov

Freelance

Evgeni has been working in this industry for about nine years. He was a scripter, a producer, an integrator, but most of the time he was writing. For past three years he has been a freelance narrative designer and doesn’t intend to look for a better way. You can check out his work... Read More →

Daniel Ström

CEO/Narrative designer, Guru Games

Daniel is a storyteller and game designer that designed his first tabletop RPG at 13 years of age. It had dark elves living in pyramids riding panthers. From there he moved on, and in 2013 he started his own game studio, Guru Games, together with a group of friends. He functions as... Read More →

Friday October 19, 2018 11:00 - 12:00 CEST
Pilgor

Narrative, Panel

12:00 CEST

Accidental Propaganda

Reality shapes our fantasy, our fantasy supports reality. Games are part of our culture as much as TV, movies, and books. Our predecessors did a lot of harm and a lot of good.
Now we’re trying to figure out our place. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not pretty. Let’s look back at what we’re and were doing and try to figure out what to do with it. It’s not gonna be a fun talk.

Speakers

Evgeni Puzankov

Freelance

Friday October 19, 2018 12:00 - 13:00 CEST
Pilgor

Main Theme, Talk

Topics Design, Narrative

13:00 CEST

Gears of Society - programming Frostpunk

Designing the behaviour of a small society in extreme conditions was not an easy task. Especially from the programming perspective. We had to translate the needs, subtle changes, reactions, habits and everyday hardships of the people into gameplay mechanisms and configurable numbers. And still make an egaging game. The talk will present design solutions used to address this problem from the programmers perspective.

Speakers

Aleksander Kauch

11 bit

Aleksander Kauch – Lead gameplay programmer in 11 bit studios. Worked on almost every 11 bit’s game including Anomaly series, This War of Mine and Frostpunk. Lectured in programming at Warsaw University of Technology and Academy of Games and Post-Production. Experienced in programming... Read More →

Friday October 19, 2018 13:00 - 14:00 CEST
Pilgor

Tech, Talk

Topics Tech, Programming

14:00 CEST

Worldbuilding our World

Why are you making games? Why are you making creative projects? For some people it is a way of earning an income (when you can!), for some it is to express themselves, and for some it is to imagine new worlds. There are lots of reasons why we choose to create. Many of us also make decisions about what kinds of things we create, and how we create them too. Some are also aware of how our creations affect others. This talk charges headlong into the idea that some of us are aware of what we’re doing when we bring a new world into this world. We’ll cover the different ways in which we shape our existence through our creations.

Speakers

Christy Dena

Universe Creation 101

Christy Dena is a writer-designer-director who works with games, film, digital and live performative projects. Her original projects have won multiple interactive storytelling awards, and her work has been commissioned and selected for touring with Experimenta, Babycastles, and The... Read More →

Friday October 19, 2018 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
Pilgor

Narrative, Talk

Topics Game development, Creativity

15:00 CEST

Level Art & Design in VR: A New Perspective on Space

As more games begin to explore Virtual Reality, it is important to consider how being immersed in a space influences the experience of a level. In this talk we will look at how to plan level pacing and build the environment in order to create the feeling and experience intended with a focus on implementation in Virtual Reality.

Speakers

Linnéa Harrison

Neat Corporation

Linnea began playing games during the ’90s, and through a passion for creating experiences she discovered that she also had a passion for making games. After shipping Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Mirror’s Edge titles, Linnea now works as Creative Director on the VR game Budget... Read More →

Friday October 19, 2018 15:00 - 16:00 CEST
Pilgor

Design, Talk

Topics Art, World building, VR

16:00 CEST

Games and politics - the panel

Speakers

Design

Topics Games, Politics