For this month’s featured video, we selected the following from PAX Australia that took place this past October 2017:
Fifth Anniversary Day of the Devs Event Preview
There are many indie games showcases in the world of interactive entertainment. Some are attached to conferences and expos, while others are standalone events. But, there are few celebration of indie game development that are as large (and also free) as the Day of the Devs annual event in San Francisco, now in it’s fifth incarnation.
To get a sense of the milestones the Day of the Devs festival has crossed since the first event in 2013, scope out these numbers: Day of the Devs has showcased 199 indie games, brought in over 18,500 attendees, raised $230,000 in charity through Day of the Devs Humble Bundles, and required 3,700 volunteer hours and 27 sponsors to pull off the event over the years.
In 2017, this indie games festival will take place on November 11th in San Francisco, bringing with it, naturally, indie games aplenty, including a previously unrevealed new titles, live music, food and more.
Now, we’re at the heart of what makes this festival tick. The (very) full list of indie game titles on display, which are listed alphabetically below, linked to their development pages. If knowing which demos haven’t been played in public before is important, then keep an eye out for the bolded titles.
- 29
- Aegis Defenders
- Anamorphine
- Ape Out
- Bad North
- Battle Chef Brigade
- GNOG
- Bernband
- CHUCHEL
- Crossing Souls
- Dead Static Drive
- Do Not Feed the Monkeys
- Eden Obscura
- Everything is going to be OK
- Regular Human Basketball
- Gang Beasts
- Genesis Noir
- Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy
- OK K.O.! Let’s Play Heroes
- Good Night Traffic City
- Gorogoa
- Griftlands
- Harold Halibut
- Hello Neighbor
- Hot Lava
- Into the Breach
- Keyboard Sports
- Knights and Bikes
- Laser League
- Light Fingers
- Luna
- Mineko’s Night Market
- Minit
- Ni No Kuni 2
- Nour
- Celeste
- Ooblets
- Original Hill Farming
- Overland
- Pikuniku
- Pine
- PLANET ALPHA
- Pode
- Flipping Death
- Return of the Obra Dinn
- Rhythm Doctor
- Riverbond
- Runner3
- Session
- Small Talk
- The Gardens Between
- The Occupation
- The Rig
- The Swords of Ditto
- Tidy Up
- Tunic
- UFO 50
- Untitled Goose Game
- Vaccination
- Wandersong
- Wargroove
- Way of the Passive Fist
- Where the Water Tastes Like Wine
- Wilmot’s Warehouse
Bonus round: the YouTube trailer for Day of the Devs highlights the games in one snazzy cut.
But wait, there’s more games to explore. Girls Make Games and Gameheads will be at the event to exhibit creations from the younger game dev set and talk about the resources they provide for underrepresented groups in the game development community.
If you cannot attend the event, not to worry. There are still perks for gamers, in the form of a Day of the Devs Bundle, from event sponsor, Humble Bundle. Included are these games: Everything, Full Throttle Remastered, Abzu, Flinthook, Day of the Tentacle Remastered, TumbleSeed, Grim Fandango Remastered and Loot Rascals. Along with the games is a VIP ticket to Day of the Devs. The bundle is available for purchase here for $9.00+ until just before the Day of the Devs event, on Sunday, November 12 at 11:00 AM PST.
For all the information about Day of the Devs, the official festival website can be found for perusal at www.dayofthedevs.com. To sign up to join the festivities, RSVP on the Eventbrite link.
Game Developer Conference 2018 Updates
Game Developers Conference 2018 is still months away, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of fresh, useful news turning up about one of the flagship events for the game industry.
Aside from the recent news of conference registration opening up, now there’s plenty of other news, especially for potential speakers who can whip up a great presentation on short notice.
GDC Esports Day Talk Deadline Approaches
GDC Esports Day is the conference’s recognition of the fast-growing competitive gaming space, dedicating Monday on March 19th and Tuesday on March 20th. Notably, convention organizers aren’t looking to project how to Esports bigger (which doesn’t appear to be a problem, according to plenty of data) , but rather how to make it better. The deadline to submit a talk is Friday, November 3rd.
The tweet below covers all the details, including a link to submit a talk.
Looking for GDC Esports Day speakers! If you have words on how to make Esports better, send me your talk idea here: https://t.co/gPBspjSsTw
— Patrick Miller (@pattheflip) October 23, 2017
Lead Design, Tools Tutorial, Board Game Design Talks Submission Opportunity Expires Soon
From the Game Developer Conference’s site itself, a summary of other opportunities to submit talks to still-open categories was listed, which we’re sharing below. Whether you’re into analog game play or next-gen digital tools, there’s plenty to consider if you’re a speaker with a specialization in these categories:
Board Game Design Day: Submit talks via this form before November 1st! The Board Game Design Tutorial is a one-day deep dive into the art and science of designing non-electronic board (and card) games. Featuring multiple notable speakers from the world of board game design, this is an opportunity to get deep into the design mechanics behind innovative and popular board games, and hear about the design ethos that has shaped standouts in the resurgent world of board game development.
…
Level Design Workshop: Submit talks via this form before November 3rd! The 2018 edition of the popular Level Design Workshop is run and organized by Joel Burgess and Clint Hocking, and will feature 5-7 speakers from around the industry talking about all aspects of level design.
Tools Tutorial Day: Submit talks via this form before November 3rd! The Tools Tutorial is a deep dive into the state-of-the-art techniques and processes for building tools that enable game development teams to ship awesome games. Topics will range from usability and workflow to studio services and automated testing, and all the technology in between. Listen to experts from studios large and small talk about their experiences shipping the tools that ship awesome games.
Apply to Volunteer at GDC 2018 as a Conference Associate
Ah, to be a conference associate (CA) at GDC. These folks attend the conference with full access at no cost, get paid for it, help GDC attendees and join what is reputed to be a tight-knit community of other CA volunteers, one that stays with them as they grow and developer within the game industry. If that sounds like a slice of heaven, then you’ll want to scope out this opportunity at this conveniently placed link. The chance to apply to be a conference associate ends on December 22nd.
As more key news from GDC 2018 emerges, Events for Gamers will be tracking it and spreading the word!
Product Review: WaterField Designs Cargo Laptop Bag
WaterField Designs is a San Francisco-based bag, backpack, sleeves crafting company — a company that at first glance seems to understand the mobile, tech-savvy market in which it is headquartered. In fact, the company even offers Nintendo Switch cases for adopters of Nintendo’s hit console. But, for the purpose of this feature, we’re taking a look at the WaterField Designs Cargo Laptop Bag, in chocolate leather and black.
Look and Feel:
Have you ever wanted to feel like an undercover agent, maybe an adventurer, or a world traveler (maybe you already are one or more of these things)? As soon as you pick up and take a good look at the WaterField Cargo, you’ll immediately feel something akin to those sorts of roles when you hold the bag or sling it over your shoulder.
 Behind the leather front of the WaterField Designs Cargo bag |
 Front of the WaterField Designs Cargo bag |
The dark brown (chocolate) front leather flap has a pleasingly worn look and feel to it, with a few scuffs and scrapes that make it feel already comfortably broken in. One of the first things you might notice is the diagonally placed YKK zipper, which opens to reveal a a zippered pocket with a sleeve and a signature gold lining that contrasts the darker exterior nicely.
Flip the front flap and you’ll see the black leather backside of the flap and a zippered half moon pocket, also with a sleeve. This pocket is ideally sized for chargers, smartphones, passport and other easy-to-access tech and information.
Before exploring the rest of the bag I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention one key feature on the bottom of the front flap: the paraglider-type buckle to cinch everything in place. This style of buckle certainly struck me as more secure than an average backpack when the metal clasps click into the locked position.
In the zippered main compartment, this is what matters most to travelers: the compartment where a laptop and — a smaller companion compartment immediately next to it — where a tablet can fit. Both are padded to offer extra protection to laptops. The tablet pocket has a soft inner lining, which would be extra-helpful for protecting open touch screens as one might see with a tablet. The soft inner lining was a nice extra touch in the bag design. Two pockets for business cards and three for pens and pencils round out the interior features.
In case that is not enough storage in a “bag of holding”, the back features two document-sized open pockets. The back, like much of the body is composed of a high-density 1050 Denier ballistic nylon body, which should go a long way to extending the life of the outside of the bag and the contents inside of the bag.
Speaking of heft, this bag weights in at just shy of three-and-a-half-pounds, which, for its size, felt surprisingly light.
Performance:
In the field, the Cargo bag performed like a trooper, or perhaps like a field general. I tested it by carrying a Microsoft Surface Pro 2 (about 2 lbs) and an older HP Pavilion 13.3″ laptop with its power brick (about 6lbs) and a Lenovo Yoga 500 15.6″ series laptop with power supply (about 8 lbs), during several hours of stop-and-go errands over two days. The HP laptop fit in the intended compartment while the Lenovo was a better fit for the main compartment outside the sleeve. This is not a shoulder bag intended to hold and carry a desktop replacement gaming rig laptop.
 The HP Pavilion laptop and Microsoft Surface fit comfortably in the WaterField Cargo bag |
 The WaterField Cargo holds the larger Lenovo Yoga in the main compartment with the Microsoft Surface in its pocket |
Because of the generously-sized padding included with the shoulder strap, I did not feel like I was carrying over eight to ten pounds of gear with me. Typically, it’s easier to carry that much bulk and weight more easily in a backpack, but even slung around my neck and across my shoulder, the weight in the Cargo bag felt better balanced and more manageable to me than in other shoulder bags I’ve used. I didn’t carry an excess of paper with me while on this test run, but that which I did carry I did in the half moon pocket under the leather flap and it was easily accessed with a free hand.
Bonus: I was unexpectedly complimented on the bag in a coffee shop, where the dark brown leather-black nylon style did indeed stand out.
Pros:
- Durable, thanks to the ballistic nylon
- Pleasingly stylish leather flap
- Extra secure with a paraglider-type buckle
- More pockets than a clothing store pants department
Cons:
- Premium price tag narrows down its target audience
Ideal for:
With a price tag at $349 retail, I’d highly recommend this high-performance shoulder bag for the mobile businessperson or developer who has spare budget to put into their baggage. If so, they’ll have a bag that adds plenty of extra “oomph” if a seasoned but distinctive style is important and subtracts needless worry about the safety of their essential gadgets on the go. The WaterField Designs Cargo Laptop Bag has both of these aspects very well-covered.
November 2017 Game Industry Events Calendar
To help you plan attendance for this month’s game industry conferences, conventions, festivals and other events, we post a consolidated list of events each month. View the complete October event list below!
Click here for the main calendar view.
November 1-3: Game Connection Europe (Paris, France)
1-5: PLAY17 – Creative Gaming Festival (Hamburg, Germany)
3-4: BlizzCon (Anaheim, USA)
7-8: GameSoundCon (Los Angeles, USA)
8-12: Yorkshire Games Festival (Bradford, UK)
9-11: Nasscom Game Developer Conference (NGDC) (Santa Clara, USA)
14-15: DevGAMM Minsk (Minsk, Belarus)
16-19: G-STAR (Busan, South Korea)
16-17: Madrid Mobile Summit (Madrid, Spain)
27-30: SIGGRAPH Asia (Bangkok, Thailand)
28-3: AzPlay (Bilbo, Spain)
This list is obtained from the main calendar. Did we miss an event? Let us know!
VR Arcade Summit: 2017 Preview
The Virtual Reality Strategy Conference takes in San Francisco this week, on the 25th and 26th. More than one conference on virtual reality, it’s a three-dimensional trifecta of boutique events that covers its event namesake, enterprise VR and VR arcades. In particular, let’s take a look at the VR Arcade Summit, a half-day event on the 26th that follows the successful two-day VR Arcade Conference from earlier in the year in Silicon Valley:
Why, when there are so many VR conferences and events in the world, is a VR arcade conference a unique addition to the rich portfolio of events? Perhaps the best argument is the potential long-term value of the VR arcade market. This recent Forbes article conjectures that VR arcade gaming might take a decent bite out of an estimated $45 billion market value for VR by 2025. While VR is widely perceived as being in the midst of a “trough of disillusionment”, where hype has been deflated and expectations adjusted in the near-term, there is arguably positive expectations for virtual reality in the longer run. The VR Arcade Summit will no doubt address current realities and future hopes for large-scale deployment of virtual reality hardware and content in the entertainment arena content.
The summit includes eight sessions and several hours of access to the expo floor, which will showcase attractions and technology demos. Attendees from the earlier VR Arcade Summit may recognize a few of the agenda topics for this summit, but the topics remain relevant, insightful and interesting and may be updated for interested attendees — while being presented in a condensed half-day form amidst the other VR topics presented at the VR Strategy Conference.
If you’re interested in attending the VR Arcade Summit, registration remains open for business. Expo access is $25 and the full half-day pass is $245.
Use code VRARCADE100 today to get $100 off!
Editor’s Note: Events for Gamers is a media partner with the VR Arcade Summit.
Career Choices in The Esports Industry
Esports has become a real phenomenon in the last few years. The industry’s explosive growth worldwide has finally made people sit up and listen. Big business has seen the wisdom in investing in Esports, and the lucrative sponsorship deals for the best teams and players come from companies such as ESPN, Redbull and Coca-Cola.
Esports is also gaining recognition as a legitimate sport, with the inclusion of competitive gaming in September’s 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. Finland has become the latest country to recognize online gaming as a sport, and there are currently several other countries in the process of recognition. It’s come a long way from Atari’s Space Invaders tournament in 1980!
The world’s elite gamers are household names in certain countries, and even traditional athletes are becoming invested in Esports too. Brazilian soccer star Wendall Lira actually quit the physical football game to concentrate on his dream of becoming a professional FIFA gamer.
Most people won’t make it big as pro gamers, but there are other avenues to pursuing a career that’s involved with Esports. This infographic by Computer Planet shows that there are many diverse career options available in the Esports industry, from international tax manager to Esports commentator. As the infographic shows, salaries are pretty decent, and some of the jobs don’t require a great deal of experience or even Bachelor’s degrees to do.
Brands have realized that by becoming involved in the industry through advertising or sponsorship deals, they have a great platform to reach a young crowd of consumers. 61% of Esports viewers are under 35. With over 213 million fans watching competitive gaming in 2016, Esports is here to stay, and there’s never been a better time to get on the career ladder.
GDC 2018 Registration is Now Open
From GDC 2018: The Game Developers Conference® (GDC) returns to San Francisco March 19-23, 2018 and registration is open for the world’s largest professional game industry event.
Join the best and brightest in the game development community for 5 days of expert-led lectures, panels, tutorials and roundtable discussions on a comprehensive range of topics.
For the third year, the Virtual Reality Developers Conference™ (VRDC) takes place at GDC, covering VR, AR and MR experiences for games and entertainment, March 19-20, 2018.
Event Video of the Month – October 2017
For this month’s featured video, we selected the following playlist from Digital Kids Summit that took place this past August 2017:
Oculus Connect 4 Announcements Aim for VR “Sweet Spot”
The virtual reality-centric conference Oculus Connect 4 made an impact from the start, beginning when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg strode on to the stage. Announcements were made in hardware, software, partnerships and more — including for game developers and consumers — but the first announcement set the tone on broadening appeal:
Oculus Go
Between “powered by Oculus” Gear VR Samsung for mobile and the full-powered, PC-dependent Oculus Rift experience, Facebook determined a middle ground might be possible. The social media giant’s CEO outlined a broad objective where he stated that he wanted to see one billion consumers in VR. Immediately after making outlining that an objective, Zuckerberg announced the Oculus Go VR headset, a standalone headset powered by its own mobile computer and updated set of optics. No phone or cable will be required, and is expected to be available in early 2018 and cost $199.
Oculus Rift
Oculus Rift, as a promotional offer, dropped the cost of its flagship Rift product over the summer from $499 to $399, but at the keynote, it was announced that the price drop would be permanent. This was not the next announcement made at the keynote, but it points to an intent to surmount the so-called “trough of disillusionment”, where some see virtual reality right now.
Project Santa Cruz
The biggest update to Oculus’ upcoming wireless and cables-free standalone VR headset is the inclusion of the 6DoF (six degrees of freedom) controllers, tracked by four sensors built into the headset itself (as opposed to externally positioned). Developers will see Santa Cruz dev kits first in 2018
Venues
On the VR social and content side, Venues will be a new experience launching in 2018 that lets users virtually watch music concerts and catch premieres of new movies and TV shows with thousands of people. No specific content was announced at the keynote, but it’s worth hoping that eSports tournaments and streaming might be part of the content line-up in Venues.
Oculus VR Games
Oculus’ VP of Content, Jason Rubin, who had publicly stated that 2017 would be the “year of content”, built upon that foundation with several new high-impact announcements in gaming content.
Marvel Powers United VR: A trailer for the Marvel comic book Nordic hero, Thor, was shown. Within the arena combat-style game, he joins a pantheon of more than twenty heroes. The game is slated for a 2018 launch.
Ready at Dawn and Insomniac Games, developers who have been working to build names for themselves in VR games (notably competitive/eSports style), with The Unspoken for the former and Lone Echo and Echo Arena for the latter. Ready at Dawn is creating a new zero-G game and Insomniac is adding a new single-player campaign mode to its magic duel-themed game.
To close the game content portion of the keynote, a teaser video of AAA game developer Respawn Entertainment working on a VR game for the Oculus platform for 2019 was shown. Bringing in a name-brand developer, responsible for pre-2010 versions of Call of Duty and the Titanfall franchise, is a coup for Rubin, who has professed an interest in attracting high-profile developers to Oculus.
OC4 By the Numbers:
Last but not least, Oculus Connect 4, as noted by Mark Zuckerberg, was the largest of their events so far, with over 2,900 attendees, 44 talks and 100 speakers
For all the announcements, including game development-related and otherwise, from the wide-reaching Oculus Connect 4 keynote, check out this official Oculus blog post for additional info.
Mobile Games Forum rebrands as Gamesforum and announces first event in January 2018 (press release)
The Mobile Games Forum (MGF) is rebranding to Gamesforum and will be hosting its first cross-platform B2B event on the 24th-25th January 2018 in Central London.
The conference, which is set to be hosted in the County Hall in Westminster, will bring together 600 attendees from across PC, console and mobile for the first time in the history of the event.
Over 80 people speakers will join us on six different content tracks, providing their thoughts on topics related to Marketing and Business, Design and Development, The Global Games Market, Esports, VR and AR and Videogame Culture.
We can confirm that our six track hosts include Alysia Judge from IGN, Jordan Erica Webber from The Guardian, Stewart Rogers of Venturebeat, freelance games writer Will Freeman, Esports journalist Mike Stubbs and experienced tech journalist Monty Munford.
And our initial batch of announced speakers include Paul Heydon of London Venture Partners, Tracey McGarrigan of Bossa Studios, Vlambeer’s Rami Ismail, Newzoo’s CEO Peter Warman, Mike Bithell of Bithell Games, Alex Moyet from Curve Digital and No More Robots’ Mike Rose.
“Our aim for Gamesforum is to create an event that offers excellent speaking sessions, a professional environment to do business – whatever your company size and purpose – and a forum to exchange ideas,” said George Osborn, the incoming Event Director for the Gamesforum event.
“With the barriers between game platforms eroding and game businesses increasingly turning away from being labelled platform specific, we felt it was the right time to broaden our horizons – providing companies from across the industry with a great opportunity to kickstart their year.”
Tickets are now on sale for Gamesforum, including passes for micro studios at under £100. Use the offer code LAUNCH10 before midnight on Saturday 14th October to get 10% off any ticket here.
eSports Zone No. 4
We’re back to bring you a new (but belated) eSports Zone. With plenty of news in the pipeline, such as the phenom competitive/eSports game PUBG (PlayerUnknown BattleGrounds) quickly building its business side, there’s plenty of news about products, events and tech and trends emerging from the eSports world. Let’s check out the rundown!
Amazon Brings Mobile eSports to Las Vegas!
Mobile Masters Las Vegas (MMLV) is scheduled for October 14-15 at the Millennial Esports Arena at Neonopolis, a new eSports studio in Las Vegas, which is one of the few arenas in the country dedicated exclusively to competitive gaming. $80,000 is on the table for the gamers competing against each in different games, such as Vainglory, Critical Ops, Power Rangers: Legacy Wars and World of Tanks Blitz. Name-brand eSports teams will competing for a piece of the prize, including Team SoloMid, Fnatic, SK Gaming, Echo Fox, Imperials, Immortals, ACE and others.
The tournament schedule (pun intended) will play out like this:
Saturday, October 14:
-
World of Tank Blitz – 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
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Critical Ops – 3:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 15
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Power Rangers: Legacy Wars – 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
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Vainglory – 3:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Attendee is free, with chances to win prizes too, but if you are not close enough to attend, fear not — the tournament will also be streamed live on the Appstore’s Twitch channel and streamed on the Fire TV via the Mobile Masters app. Upping their broadcast game further, Amazon will also rebroadcast the competition on the CBS Sports Network.
Stop by the official site for all the details we covered (and those we might not have) here: www.mobilemasterslv.com.
Red Bull Proving Grounds Spring Finals Video from Philadelphia
Staying in the eSports event vein, we start off with a handy-dandy excerpt from an email news announcement: “Red Bull released a new video featuring the champions of Red Bull Proving Grounds 2017 Spring Finals, Team Philadelphia. This 8 minute, documentary-style video tells the story of how this group of amateur Street Fighter players overcame the odds and represented not only Philadelphia but the northeast region at the premier fighting game tournament in the world, EVO 2017.”
Red Bull is conducting regional qualifying tournaments taking place on October 7th, in the interest of cinching a spot at the Red Bull Proving Grounds – Fall Season Finals in Chicago on October 21.
SteelSeries Announces eSports-Ready Gear
Bam-bam, one after another, gaming gear manufacturer, SteelSeries has announced two new additions to its accessories family. Namely, the Apex 150 Gaming Keyboard, which features new membrane switches, water resistance, “20 million click” durability and spiffed- up five-zone RGB lighting. In addition, specifically of interest to eSports and streamers folks might be the “SteelSeries Engine”, which features chat notifications with Discord, which can indicate new messages, mute status and more, and works in sync with other SteelSeries illuminated gear. Hardware with compatibility hooks and features for eSports and streaming services is becoming more of a trend on the hardware accessories side. This keyboard is listed for $150.
On the other hand (so to speak), there is the new SteelSeries mouse. the Rival 110. This particularly mouse is priced at $39.99, and is on the lower end of the high-performance gaming spectrum. The Rival 110 includes the SteelSeries exclusive TrueMove1 original sensor “, so according to their press release, it is as “accurate as the TrueMove3 which is found in the Rival 310 and Sensei 310, but features a lower maximum in counts per inch (CPI) and inches per second (IPS).”
1 to 1 tracking, as an eSports-level feature, is part of the feature set, as well as a six button ergonomic design and weighs in at 87.5g. Of course, obligatory customizeable RGB lighting is part of the package too. Last but not least, yes, the Rival 110 includes the SteelSeries engine software, and specifically with Discord, PrismSync and GameSense lighting. Rather than notifying a player of chat messages, as with the Apex 150, for the mouse it syncs up with certain in-game events for a more synchronized experience between the gaming experience and the RGB illumination.
That’s it for now., but you can sure we’ll be tracking news from the world of competitive gaming eSports and events. And, also be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the next amazing, wild, interesting chapter of eSports Zone!
