schedule

FRIDAY
07
MAY
2021

Playtesting Your Games Online

6:00pm eastern time
Speaker: Andrew Kuplic

Playtesting your game is critical, and the internet can be your best friend when looking for playtesters. Learn how to find people to help, how to entice them, and what you can offer them in return for their efforts.

FRIDAY
07
MAY
2021

Pitching to Publishers

7:30pm eastern time
Speaker: Zev Shlasinger

When pitching your game design, what should you do? Perhaps more importantly, what shouldn’t you do? Learn helpful strategies to craft the pitch that will help you get your game to market.

Saturday
08
MAY
2021

How to Collaborate with Artists

1:00pm eastern time
Speaker: Klemens Franz

The internet is the perfect place to find great and extremely talented illustrators from all over the world. Most of them have not the slightest idea how visuals for boardgames work. Finding the perfect style for your game doesn’t automatically mean that it will be perfectly playable. The visual language of boardgames is old and young at the same time and mostly based on trial and error. It’s a language that has to be re-invented for every game. And it not only consits of illustrations, graphic-design and layout … it includes product development, material, usability, cost-calculation, psychology and so much more. A hollistic approach combined with hands-on experience seems to be the perfect combination but might be hard to find in a single person.
Klemens Franz will talk in his presentation about the process of how games are (visually) made and how to avoid traps and possibly expensive missteps. He talks about how you could bring people together to ensure that the final product will not only look like you have always imagined but also will be playable even better than your beloved hand-made prototype

Saturday
08
MAY
2021

Being a Game Designer is Like Being a Middle School Student

2:30pm eastern time
Speaker: Kathleen Mercury

Erratic growth, fear of failure, a willingness to do something cool because you think others might like it–to be a game designer, embrace your inner middle school kid. This might sound horrifying, because, well, it is, but let Kathleen take you on a journey of how designing games with and for middle school kids has led to her signing three games for publication. You’ll design a game too, so bring a piece of paper, four sets of five bits, and crafting supplies

Friday
14
MAY
2021

SELF PUBLISHING AND BUDGETING

6:00pm eastern time
Speaker: Curt Covert

What are the pros and cons of self publishing? How much will it cost to produce my game? Avoid the common mistakes for first time publishers, and learn how to ensure that all of your costs are accounted for when bringing your creation to life.

Friday
14
MAY
2021

Psychology and Game Design

7:30pm eastern time
Speaker: Martin Wallace

Musings on the psychological aspects of board game design. This presentation will look into how as a designer you must consider a number of elements which have a psychological dimension. It’s not just numbers, one must consider what feelings one wants the players to experience.

Saturday
15
MAY
2021

Social Media Marketing

1:00pm eastern time
Speaker: Debbie Moynihan

A strong social media presence can make or break a game designer’s product. With so many platforms, what are the right ones to use?  Which ones will yield the best results? Learn the insights so you can craft the perfect social media campaign for your creations.

Saturday
15
MAY
2021

Development: The Art of Working with a Shared Vision

2:30 pm eastern time
Speaker: Sen-Foong Lim

Sen will discuss the differences between development and design from both sides of the table as he discusses his role in taking good games and making them even better. How does a freelance developer help bring the vision of the designer and the publisher in line?

Friday
21
MAY
2021

A Degree In Game Design

6:00pm eastern time
Speakers: Stephen Slota, Ken Thompson, James Coltrain

From probability and statistics, to social behavior and psychology, higher education can offer advantages to a game designer.

Friday
21
MAY
2021

CROWDFUNDING

7:30pm eastern time
Speaker: Marshall Britt

Kickstarter has become ubiquitous with board games. There are essential components to a successful fundraising campaign. Learning how to fund your creation is a must-have set of skills in the world of board game design.

Saturday
22
MAY
2021

Setting Up Your Business

1:00pm eastern time
Speaker: Anne-Marie De Witt

Business organization is a skill set unto itself. Board game designer’s talents often reside in the creation process, many of which have never had to organize a company. Come and learn some critical strategies to help you avoid organizational mistakes which can otherwise prove costly and detrimental.

Saturday
22
MAY
2021

Keynote Speaker:
Reiner Kn
izia on Success as a Game Designer

2:30 pm eastern time
Speaker: Reiner Knizia

Reiner Knizia is one of the world’s most prolific and successful game designers. In this keynote speech, Reiner shares his wide-ranging experience of what brings success as a game designer. Reiner will also explain why you may want to do exactly the opposite of what he says – at least in some instances.

Reiner’s 30-minute talk will be followed by the opportunity to ask Reiner your most burning questions about all the topics of this conference and to – hopefully – elicit some well-kept success secrets from him.