PlayCap – Women Redefining Game Investments

The games industry is evolving, and so is its investment landscape. PlayCap is uniting a global network of women from the games industry to fund the next generation of studios and game tech companies. In this talk, we’ll explore how PlayCap is challenging traditional investment models and accelerating the success of the companies it supports. Whether you’re a founder, investor, or industry professional, join Bibbi Wikman, founder of PlayCap, to discover what sets PlayCap apart in the world of game investments.

Speaker Bio

Bibbi Wikman is the founder of PlayCap, an international investment network of around 200 experienced women from the games industry. PlayCap members invest through equity and project funding while also offering strategic expertise to support early-stage game studios and game tech companies.

The Price is Right: Mastering Steam Discounts

The talk will cover different aspects of discounting, mostly focusing on Steam. From understanding market conditions and available research to exploring different sale types, their benefits, and proven strategies. In the end, the aim is to gain insights into best practices for effective discounting.

Speaker Bio

Originally from Latvia, Alisa has been working in game marketing for the past seven years, specializing in data analysis and business strategies. At Game Drive she tackles topics from sales and discount management to ad setup, performance evaluations, reporting, and forecasting.

Game Drive has a vast portfolio of games with among others:
Isonzo, We Were Here Franchise, Shapez 2, Nubs!

Demystifying Creativity

What drives us to think outside the box? Where does a fresh idea originate? And how can one truly gauge originality? This talk delves into the core of the creative process, blending insights from psychology, neuroscience, and personal experiences. It aims to unpack the intricate dance of inspiration and dissect what gives birth to original thought through grounded exploration of the mechanisms behind creativity and what needs to be done to arrive at originality.

“Demystifying Creativity in Video Game Development” is a thought-provoking talk that delves into the elusive nature of creativity and originality in the realm of video game creation. This presentation explores the intricate balance between innovative ideas and the practical challenges of measuring creativity, shedding light on how these factors influence the development process in the gaming industry. Through a blend of psychological insights and real-world examples from game development, the talk aims to unravel the complexities behind what makes a game truly original and engaging. It addresses the tools and methods used to quantify creativity, the impact of these metrics on the creative process, and how developers can harness this understanding to push the boundaries of what is possible in video games. The session promises a deep dive into the heart of creativity, offering valuable perspectives for game developers, designers, and enthusiasts alike

Speaker Bio

Fawzi Mesmar is an award winning Creative Director, Game designer, author and public speaker who has been in the gaming industry for over two decades in a career that spanned the middle east, New Zealand, Japan and Europe working for companies such as Ubisoft, EA, Activision Blizzard, Gameloft and Atlus to name a few. He has worked many titles that have been enjoyed by millions of players worldwide including entries in Beyond Good and Evil, Mario Rabbids, Battlefield and Star Wars franchises. He is also the author of “Al-Khallab in the art of game design” the first Arabic language text book on game design and “demystifying creativity on originality in game development”. Fawzi was also the recipient of the Ambassador award in 2024.

Games Fawzi worked on:
Star Wars Outlaws
Beyond Good & Evil
Mario+Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
Battlefield 2042
Star Wars Battlefront II
Battlefield V
Sanya
Orten was the Case
A Tiny Sticker Tale
Super Adventure Hand
Future Unfolding
千年の巨神
ぼくのレストラン3
Candy Crush Saga
Candy Crush Jelly Saga
Persona 3 Social
Ice Age Adventures
Wonder Zoo: Anima & Dinosaur Rescue
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

The Games Monitor 2025

The Games Monitor is a critical part of proving the size and scope, but also the opportunities and threats that affect the Dutch Games Industry. In collaboration with and with support from the ministry of Education, Culture, and Science the Dutch Games Association has created a new edition of this critical piece of statistics. The latest version of the Monitor will be available after being presented at INDIGO ‘25.

Speaker Bio

Christel van Grinsven is the project coordinator voor the Games Monitor 2025. Currently, she is wrapping up all activities of Dutch Game Garden.

As part of the management team, she has helped build Dutch Game Garden to be the game hub/clubhouse for the Dutch Games industry and to be an internationally visible player in the game start-up scene.

With a background in regional development, she has 10+ years of experience in managing international (serious) game projects where the games industry meets education, research, and clients in various sectors, such as healthcare and education. This has given her a vast knowledge of the industry and experience in research, project management, policy advisement, and innovation combined.

Picking Up Things in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

How MachineGames developed a first-person game focused on hands-on experiences and adventure over action. This talk goes through the design process for developing the GRIP system (grab, reach out, interact, push), the hurdles of encouraging hand-to-hand combat over gun combat, and the never-ending pursuit of creating authentic Indiana Jones interactions.

Speaker Bio

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Zeke Virant is a lead game designer at MachineGames. With over 10 years of experience in game development, he has designed and contributed to indie games, as well as AA and AAA titles. Before games, Zeke wrote and directed experimental operas and cleaned people’s apartments.

Games Zeke worked on:
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (2024), Call of the Wild: The Angler (2022), theHunter: Call of the Wild (2017), Soft Body (2016), Palace of the Organizer (2014)

We Released A Game In The Godot Engine And It Was Great

But why was it great?
Fresh with the experiences of releasing tower defence Rift Riff on Steam, Adriaan and Franz dive into the benefit of open-source; the capabilities, features and performance of the Godot Engine; how five different game dev disciplines adapted Godot to their workflows; and what support currently exists for multi-platform, SDKs, plugins and storefront integrations.

Speaker Bio

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Adriaan de Jongh is a Dutch game designer best known for his work on the indie game hit Hidden Folks, a black & white interactive searching game. Adriaan is also known for designing experimental games that move people out of the normal space of video games by challenging players to dance together, touch hands, or share other social interactions.

At the age of eighteen, Adriaan taught himself to code. He co-founded Game Oven in 2011 and designed and marketed all the experimental games the studio released for almost four years. After Game Oven closed, Adriaan collaborated with different people for different projects, gaining more experience in programming, business, and marketing. This led to the release of Hidden Folks in 2017, which was received overwhelmingly positive by players and critics and has allowed Adriaan to continue to work on various projects. Adriaan is currently making the tower defense game Rift Riff.

Beside making and selling games, Adriaan actively contributed to the Dutch and international game developer community. Among his initiatives are: Midgame Fund, a group of Dutch game developers reinvesting their success in other Dutch games; docontract.com, a free plain-English agreement generator for game developers; and the Dutch Game Industry Directory, a directory that aims to list all games and companies in the Netherlands. Adriaan was board member of the Dutch Games Association and has been part of many juries and committees, such as the Creative Industries NL’s Digital Culture Fund advisory committee, the Flanders Audiovisual Fund advisory committee, and the Independent Games Festival’s Nuovo jury. Adriaan is also a sponsor of the Godot Foundation.

Games Adriaan worked on:
Rift Riff (2025)
Secret Shuffle (2022)
wurdweb (2021)
Hidden Folks (2017)
Schakelaar (work for hire, 2017)
Jelly Reef (Game Oven, 2014)
Bounden (Game Oven, 2014)
Friendstrap (Game Oven, 2013)
Bam fu (Game Oven, 2013)
Planet Challenge (work for hire, 2013)
Fingle (Game Oven, 2012)

Speaker Bio

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Self-taught freelance video game technical designer and programmer specifically with the Godot Engine. Franz comes from a 10-year career in Wind Power engineering, but after being laid-off and re-examining what makes him happy, he radically shifted both industry and profession.

Games Franz worked on:
Currently working on Rift Riff, a 2D-pixel art tower defence game.

Animating the Dragons of Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Bringing a dynamic and immersive Boss Fight to life under tight deadlines—challenge accepted!

In this talk, Camille will share key insights from the animation process, including concepting, strategic planning, and how to communicate clearly when working remotely. She’ll share how I navigated certain constraints and a few ways to animate more efficiently those high-impact encounters.

Speaker Bio

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Camille is a French animator living in Amsterdam, with over 10 years of experience in interactive entertainment. She’s specialized in creature animation; developing the movements of gameplay enemies and boss fights for companies like Guerrilla, BioWare and Motive Studio (and making it fun and challenging while she is at it!)

You can follow her adventures in the podcast Au Coin du Checkpoint (in French) that she co-animates and produces, where they talk about lore, worldbuilding and interactive storytelling : podcast.ausha.co/au-coin-du-checkpoint.

And you can see her animation work on her website : https://camillemarjoux.com.

Games Camille worked on:
Horizon Forbidden West
Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Speedrunning a new studio: the Galaxy Grove story

In just 2.5 years Galaxy Grove went from a solo endeavour to a 16 team studio working on two games simultaneously, and the studio keeps growing quickly. The studio secured funding several times in a clamped down financial market and successfully released its first game only one year after hiring started. In this talk Joost will explain the very deliberate studio strategy and choices that enabled this, both from a business perspective and from a creative perspective. Topics include defining company goals clearly, determining market fit of game concepts and the importance of (financial) planning.

Speaker Bio

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Joost van Dongen is founder and creative director of Galaxy Grove, the studio behind Station to Station and the recently announced Town to City. Galaxy Grove specialises in unique management games with strong atmosphere. Before founding Galaxy Grove he was co-founder of Ronimo Games, where he was technical director on Awesomenauts, Swords & Soldiers, Blightbound and De Blob. He also made experimental solo games (Proun, Cello Fortress, Robo Maestro), made an album with cello music and has written over 100 articles on everything gamedev on his blog.

Games Joost worked on:
Town to City
Station to Station
Awesomenauts
Robo Maestro
Swords & Soldiers
Cello Fortress
Proun
Blightbound
De Blob
The Ageless Gate

How I found the one timeline where my passion project didn’t die

This is the tale of how my game Curiosmos went from a silly idea to reality. Buckle up for a story of passion and failure, depression and burn-outs, funding hunts, and the joy of video games. Curiosmos is the tale of creating your own luck in this most difficult time of an ever-changing video game industry.

Speaker Bio

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Céline is a self-employed game developer, based in Utrecht, the Netherlands, that collaborates frequently with other game developers. Her current project is a charming space adventure where you create your own solar system called Curiosmos.

Games Céline worked on:

Hidden Folks: Beach Update (design)
Hidden Folks: On Tour Update (design)
The Merlies (concept art)
Curiosmos (direction, art and design)

Surviving as an indie game studio for 9 years

Running an indie studio is a tough challenge and it seems to be getting harder every year. 9 years after launching our first game, our 15 people indie team has put their heads together and collected our biggest dos and don’ts for our future endeavors: Will we finally stop making games in all kinds of genres and stick with one? Was branching out to consoles and mobile a good idea or should we have stuck with PC? What about the decision to start a publishing label? Come find out!

Speaker Bio

Philomena Schwab is a game developer and marketing professional from Zurich, Switzerland. She wrote her master thesis about “Community Building for Indie Developers” and went on to co-found the indie game studio Stray Fawn which recently expanded into publishing. Philomena was named a Forbes 30 under 30 and currently serves in the selection committee of the WINGS game fund. As a co-founder and board member of the Swiss Game Hub, a co-working space and incubator for game devs, she supports the growth of the Swiss games industry.

Games Philomena worked on:

The Wandering Village, Dungeon Clawler, Niche – a genetics survival game, Nimbatus – The Space Drone Constructor

Big City Bliss: creating the world of Cat Cafe Manager 2

Join us on a visual journey, as we transform the sleepy little town of Caterwaul into the vibrant city of Covestadt in Cat Cafe Manager 2! We’ll explore our sources of inspiration, the visual fundamentals, how to incorporate storytelling into environments and how it all comes together in the game.

Speaker Bio

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Carmen is an art director and one of the founders of Roost Games, an indie game studio and cooperative with members across the Netherlands and Europe. Roost Games developed and released its first game, Cat Cafe Manager, in 2022 and is currently working on a sequel.   

With over 10 years of experience in the industry, Carmen has contributed to numerous entertainment titles as an artist and animator, including Renowned Explorers, _Godhood, Reus 2, and Tracks of Thought.

Games Carmen worked on:
Cat Cafe Manager (1&2), Reus 2, Tracks of Thought, Godhood & Renowned Explorers.

The Knightling’s Outskirts: From Concept to Release

The Outskirts is the starting region in the upcoming open world action-adventure game: The Knightling. This presentation will showcase the world-building approach to this region, such as the initial concept behind it, considerations during the iteration process, and the implementation of gameplay and content.

Speaker Bio

Sasha Lewis is an open world level designer / worldbuilder at Twirlbound, and is involved in the creation of ideas and implementation of content. She initially started at Twirlbound with an internship as part of her study at Breda University of Applied Sciences. After graduating the Creative Media and Game Technologies course, she continues working at Twirlbound as a medior designer.

Games Sasha worked on:
The Knightling

Expanding The Game Producer’s Toolbox

Game Production is a complex job. You are responsible for the time, budget, scope, quality and the team of an entire game project. If you ask any producer for advice they inevitable answer: Well, that depends…

So, in an attempt to actually be helpful and practical I am going to give you several tips on how to expand your toolbox. These are lessons I learned, resources I found and advice I received through my nearly 8 years of working on various AAA projects.

None of these will be easy, but they can make things simpler. By the end of this talk you will have a list of things you can immediately start doing or start looking into. I have no doubt that some of them will be helpful to you.

Speaker Bio

Experienced AAA Producer at Massive Entertainment, a Ubisoft Studio

Gyms, Zoos, and Museums: Your documentation should be interactive

Everyone always mentions that people do not read documentation. This is also the case for us as game developers. So what can we do about that? First, it is important not to force everyone to read pages and pages of documentation. Usually, only programmers and other technical folks go through all the effort of reading up on functionality. So what about artists, and designers? Thankfully, solutions already exist: Gyms, Zoos, and Museums. Let’s look at examples, see how they work, how they can be built, and how they improve the development of your games.

Speaker Bio

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Robin-Yann Storm is a freelance Product & UX Designer for Tools. In the past he has worked as a full time Tool UX Designer in the AAA games industry on the ‘Glacier 2’ editor on which the Hitman series was built, the ‘Decima’ editor on which the Horizon series was built, and spent a few years working at Apple on AR creation tools such as Reality Composer and Reality Converter, which has made him well acquainted with the workflows of Pixar’s USD framework. He has consulted companies both big and small on workflows, tools, and UGC. Next to that, he created and organizes the Tool Design Roundtables, talks at conferences around the world, and has contributed a chapter about Tool Design in the book ‘An Architectural Approach to Level Design, Second Edition.

Rami’s talk

As a consultant, Ismail has assisted 748 developers (2023), been doing long-term consultancies with 51 studio’s, closed US$51M in deals and was credited on more than 157 games. At INDIGO he will use his knowledge and experience for a session full of useful (business) tips for developers.

Speaker Bio

Rami Ismail is a Dutch-Egyptian industry ambassador & independent games developer with over 20 genre-defining & award-winning titles across PC, console, web, and mobile. His development of tools like the industry-standard dopresskit.com, his prolific & popular public speaking, his work with governments and communities on all continents, and his highly-regarded consultancy and insights have helped shape industry opportunities for game communities & independent game developers of any kind, in any situation, and anywhere.

Cameras are the Enemy: Converting Games to the URP in Unity

Unity is one of the most popular game engines in the world, but time constraints often lead development to leave performance on the table. How well a game runs affects the general perception of your product, and perhaps most importantly how the console vendors react to your submissions for release on their platforms. When porting games to console we’ve often spent the majority of our time getting it to run at acceptable framerates while sacrificing as little visual fidelity as possible. Taking advantage of tools like the URP from the beginning can set you up for success from the beginning, so long as you accept the pitfalls and shortcomings in any system. Follow along as we look at some case studies where we used the URP to ensure we could hit our performance targets across all platforms.

Speaker Bio

Irish Game Programmer from Northern Ireland living and working in the Netherlands. After completing his Master’s in Computer Games Development at Queen’s University Belfast, he went to work for Codeglue in Rotterdam where he’s been ever since. Now Behaviour Rotterdam, he has spent nearly seven years helping them port games from across generations and platforms, led teams as a Programming Team Lead and is one of the go-to developers for Unity projects.

INDIGO Talks

Game Industry Insights & Expert Sessions

INDIGO Talks is a two-track conference featuring national and international speakers who offer a behind-the-scenes look at game development and share personal industry experiences. Some are familiar faces with long track records, while others take the stage for the first time to share fresh perspectives. Talks cover a wide range of topics, from art, design, production, and technology to the business aspects of making games.

What to Expect

🎤 Talks & Panels – From inspiring success stories to valuable insights, industry experts share their experiences on game development, creativity, and entrepreneurship.
🎭 Behind-the-Scenes – A unique look into well-known and emerging game projects, with honest stories about challenges and victories.
🧩 Creation & Innovation – Discover how developers shape their games, from artistic choices and design decisions to innovative production methods.
💼 Business & Entrepreneurship – Learn how to fund, market, and grow a game in an ever-evolving industry.

🔹 Note: Not all talks will be recorded.

2025 Speakers

Bibbi Wikman (She/Her)

Founder/Investor - PLAYCAP

“PlayCap – Women Redefining Game Investments”

Alisa Jefimova (She/Her)

Analyst - GAME DRIVE

“The Price is Right:

Mastering Steam Discounts”

Fawzi Mesmar (He/Him)

Creative Director - Ubisoft

“Demystifying Creativity”

Christel van Grinsven (She/Her)

Project Coordinator Games Monitor

“The Games Monitor 2025”

Zeke Virant (He/Him)

Lead Game Designer - MachineGames

“Picking Up Things in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle”

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Adriaan de Jongh (He/Him)

Game Designer

“We Released A Game In The Godot Engine And It Was Great”

Facebook

Franz LaZerte (He/Him)

Godot Programmer and Technical Designer

“We Released A Game In The Godot Engine And It Was Great”

Facebook

Camille Marjoux (She/Her)

Senior Creature Animator

“Animating the Dragons of Dragon Age: The Veilguard”

Facebook

Joost van Dongen (He/Him)

CEO / Creative Director - Galaxy Grove

“Speedrunning a new studio: the Galaxy Grove story”

Céline Veltman (She/Her)

Game Direction, Art & Design

“How I found the one timeline where my passion project didn’t die”

Philomena Schwab (She/Her)

Co-Founder - Stray Fawn Studio

“Surviving as an indie game studio for 9 years”

Carmen van Sleeuwen (She/Her)

Art director, artist & 2D animator - Roost Games

“Big City Bliss: creating the world of Cat Cafe Manager 2”

Sasha Lewis (She/Her)

Game / Level Designer

“The Knightling’s Outskirts: From Concept to Release“

Jim Hendriks (He/Him)

Associate Producer - Massive Entertainment, a Ubisoft Studio

“Expanding The Game Producer’s Toolbox“

Robin-Yann Storm (He/Him/They/Them)

Product & UX Designer for Tools - RYStorm

“Gyms, Zoos, and Museums: Your documentation should be interactive“

Facebook

PlayCap – Women Redefining Game Investments

Speaker Bio

The Price is Right: Mastering Steam Discounts

Speaker Bio

Demystifying Creativity

Speaker Bio

The Games Monitor 2025

Speaker Bio

Picking Up Things in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Speaker Bio

We Released A Game In The Godot Engine And It Was Great

Speaker Bio

Speaker Bio

Animating the Dragons of Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Speaker Bio

Speedrunning a new studio: the Galaxy Grove story

Speaker Bio

How I found the one timeline where my passion project didn’t die

Speaker Bio

Surviving as an indie game studio for 9 years

Speaker Bio

Big City Bliss: creating the world of Cat Cafe Manager 2

Speaker Bio

The Knightling’s Outskirts: From Concept to Release

Speaker Bio

Expanding The Game Producer’s Toolbox

Speaker Bio

Gyms, Zoos, and Museums: Your documentation should be interactive

Speaker Bio

Rami’s talk

Speaker Bio

Cameras are the Enemy: Converting Games to the URP in Unity

Speaker Bio

INDIGO Talks

Game Industry Insights & Expert Sessions

What to Expect

Bibbi Wikman (She/Her)

“PlayCap – Women Redefining Game Investments”

Alisa Jefimova (She/Her)

“The Price is Right:

Mastering Steam Discounts”

Fawzi Mesmar (He/Him)

“Demystifying Creativity”

Christel van Grinsven (She/Her)

“The Games Monitor 2025”

Zeke Virant (He/Him)

Adriaan de Jongh (He/Him)

Franz LaZerte (He/Him)

Camille Marjoux (She/Her)

Joost van Dongen (He/Him)

Céline Veltman (She/Her)

Philomena Schwab (She/Her)

Carmen van Sleeuwen (She/Her)

Sasha Lewis (She/Her)

Jim Hendriks (He/Him)

Robin-Yann Storm (He/Him/They/Them)

Partners