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.

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.

How to Collaborate with Artists

1:00pm eastern time
Speaker: Klemens Franz

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

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

7:30pm eastern time
Speaker: Marshall Britt

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.

Keynote Speaker:
Reiner Knizia 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.