Back from the Gamelab Conference here are some first impressions:
- games are now seen as a cultural reference by the spanish gov. high expectations for developers.
- innovation on interactive devices and technologies open new opportunities. I liked what novarama did with invizimals using augmented reality and also what Nicolas Doucet presented for Sony. good for our project humanicca.
- dosen´t matter if you have 400 guys working on a game production or 4 people, planification is crucial, so as good comunication and neat integration between creativity and playability. don´t try to implement too many R&D unless you have time and $.
- Free2play and browsed based games seem to be the upcoming trend.
- Listening to users and letting them improve the product is essential. The production is not over when the game is published.
- iPhone games need to be at first 500 itunes list to be a good business.
- Ian Livingstone, eidos creative director, has passion for games.
- EA games CEO, Bryan Neider, did a good panel: dosen´t act as a mega star, and he is...
- Illion is really a world class entertainment company.
- Guys in the crowd were nice and friendly. More exchainging experiences rather than pitching projects.
- Not many investors, what are they waiting for?
- eRepublik has achieved 90% of it´s traffic by organic search. It started with a twitter message sent by it´s CEO Alexis Bonte. They have a very good product that has high traction from their users.
- Superb organization. Ivan is a really friendly guy.
If you did, don´t miss it next year. It worths the time and Gijón is the place.
