“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 2024”

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 2024. 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

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

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

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. 

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

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

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

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

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

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.

“From Attic Room to Skybox: Building Gamebasics Studio”

As a young programmer, I built Online Soccer Manager (OSM) in my attic room in Zoetermeer. It started as a passion project—a game where football fans could take charge of their own club, managing everything from tactics to transfers. That idea struck a nerve, and the game took off. In this talk, I’ll take you behind the scenes of how that small hobby project grew into a global platform with over fifty team members and more than a hundred million users worldwide. I’ll share the real story—legal battles, the shift to mobile, partnerships with top football clubs, negotiations with major game publishers, and the growing pains that come with scaling a company. You’ll hear about the technical and organisational challenges we faced, what makes an online game truly engaging, and how to actually earn money with it. I’ll also talk about the emotional side—personal setbacks, learning to let go, and what it’s like to eventually sell the company you built from scratch. This talk is for anyone dreaming of building games: whether you’re just starting out, already working on something, or just curious about how a game can go from attic to app store—and stay there. Whether you’re an indie dev, entrepreneur, football fan, or longtime OSM player—there’s something in it for you.

Speaker bio

Jeroen is a passionate leader at the intersection of game development, entrepreneurship, and education. As Chairman of the Dutch Games Association and GameLab Manager at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, he focuses his efforts on improving the future of the Dutch games industry. With over 20 years of experience, Jeroen is an award-winning game developer, investor, and seasoned entrepreneur. He’s best known as the co-founder and former CEO of Gamebasics, the studio behind the hit game Online Soccer Manager (OSM). Under his leadership, Gamebasics grew from a startup into a global success, reaching millions of players worldwide and culminating in a successful acquisition by Miniclip in 2021. Today, Jeroen shares his knowledge and experience to inspire the next generation of game creators—bridging the gap between creative passion and sustainable business. Games Jeroen worked on: Online Soccer Manager (OSM) Bondscoachspel / National Team Manager Plaza Challenge Match of the Week Poule & Play / 538 WK Poule Penguin Panic! Fun Platformer Avalon Avalon Arena

“Playfully Persuasive: Designing Change Through Games”

How &ranj Combines Game Principles, Behavioral Science, and Design Thinking to Drive Real Change

Speaker bio

Born in Rotterdam on July 13th, 1963, my journey into the creative realm began early, culminating in my graduation from the Willem de Kooning Academy in 1987, where I refined my skills as an independent designer and painter. Following graduation, I pursued a postgraduate course in Image and Media Design at the Utrecht School of the Arts. In 1999, alongside my good friend Marcus Vlaar, I co-founded &ranj Serious Games, a design studio dedicated to the creation and development of serious games. Today, &ranj is recognized globally as a leader in the serious games industry, with a footprint in multiple countries. Our team has successfully completed over 500 serious game projects, gaining substantial experience in utilizing games for behavioral change, education, and assessments. Motivated by a mission to drive positive change in the world, I am committed to creating games that are not only engaging but also contribute to significant societal improvements.Born in Rotterdam on July 13th, 1963, my journey into the creative realm began early, culminating in my graduation from the Willem de Kooning Academy in 1987, where I refined my skills as an independent designer and painter. Following graduation, I pursued a postgraduate course in Image and Media Design at the Utrecht School of the Arts. In 1999, alongside my good friend Marcus Vlaar, I co-founded &ranj Serious Games, a design studio dedicated to the creation and development of serious games. Today, &ranj is recognized globally as a leader in the serious games industry, with a footprint in multiple countries. Our team has successfully completed over 500 serious game projects, gaining substantial experience in utilizing games for behavioral change, education, and assessments. Motivated by a mission to drive positive change in the world, I am committed to creating games that are not only engaging but also contribute to significant societal improvements.

“SThings we learned the hard way about releasing our first game in China”

Thinking about launching your game in China? We were too! In February 2025, we released Blood Bar Tycoon, our very first game. After noticing some early traction from Chinese players (probably thanks to the vampire vibes), we decided to pay special attention to that market and teamed up with an Asian distributor. What followed was a mix of surprises: solid sales but low revenue, high refund rates, communication issues and cultural gaps impacting review behavior. This talk is based on our fresh, raw and very hands-on experience. We’ll share what worked, what didn’t and wrap up with the pros and cons of navigating this booming market on Steam.

Speaker bio

Virginie has always been driven by a passion for people, entrepreneurship and creation (and IPA beers, though that’s probably irrelevant here ^^). After a decade as a business coach in an incubator, she took the leap and co-founded Clever Trickster Studio with her business partner Ludo, where she navigates financing, HR and project management, making sure productions come to life. With the release of Blood Bar Tycoon, an ambitious and delightfully unconventional debut, she’s gathered firsthand insights into the highs and lows of game development, lessons she’s more than happy to share.

“Talking Numbers: Trends and Developments within 78 Flemish Game Studios”

The Flemish game industry is on the rise: record-breaking revenue, growing employment, and increasing international visibility. Based on the new 2024 report from Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF) and the participation of 78 game development studios, we highlight the key trends, challenges, and opportunities for the sector. What can we expect in the years to come? This talk is a must for anyone who wants to understand where the industry stands and where it’s headed.

Speaker bio

Head of Research at the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF). Passionate about video games data and cheese.

“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.

“Creating the Illusion of Tactility in Metro Awakening VR”

Virtual Reality is a perfect match for the Metro franchise, but despite advancements in hardware there are many challenges to be solved when creating the feeling of tactility without the sense of touch. Using practical examples, some theory and a few principles, this talk will cover the way Metro Awakening’s development team designed and created tactile interactions in this post-apocalyptic game world.

Speaker bio

Ruben Runhardt is a Principal Gameplay Designer at Vertigo Games (Vertigo Studios Amsterdam), dedicated to crafting amazing gameplay within Virtual Reality. With nearly a decade immersed in high-end VR development, Ruben has the skill and experience to push the medium’s boundaries to new heights. Beyond his professional work, he enjoys expressing creativity through diverse outlets, including cooking, pixel art, Lego and maybe even some hobby game development. Games worked on: Metro Awakening, Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR, Time Stall, National Geographic Explore VR, Term1nal, Landfall

“The Anatomy of a Perfect Console Store Page”

It’s a practical guide for developers, publishers, and release managers how to stand out in crowded digital console marketplaces. Participants will learn proven methods to avoid common mistakes, attract more players, and how to forge game’s visibility worldwide.

Speaker bio

I’m a Release Manager with more than ten years in the games industry. My sweet spot is guiding games through first-party submission with Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, making sure every milestone—from metadata tweaks to launch-day patches—hits the mark and the calendar. I spend my days side-by-side with developers, artists, and QA, clearing roadblocks, keeping quality sky-high across every platform, and ultimately helping players dive straight into great experiences the moment a game goes live. Games worked on: Asterigos: Curse Of The Stars Astor: Blade of the Monolith Black Skylands Broken Roads Deadside Despot’s Game Farworld Pioneers Graveyard Keeper Hello Engineer Hello Neighbor 2 Hello Neighbor: Search & Rescue Hellpoint Justice Sucks Kill It With Fire Kill It With Fire: VR Lil’ Guardsman MX Nitro Mayhem in Single Valley Not For Broadcast Not For Broadcast: VR Party Hard 2 Potion Craft Punch Club 2: Fast Forward Rhythm Sprout Secret Neighbor Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn Slim3K: Raise Against Despot SnowRunner SpiderHeck Streets of Rogue Tamarak Trail Tinykin Totally Reliable Delivery Service Trash Sailors Undungeon World War Z

““I love it when a QA plan comes together””

An introduction on creating a QA (Quality Assurance) plan for your indie title. “In the chaotic world of indie game development, a QA plan was sent to the backlog for reasons that didn’t hold up. The bugs promptly escaped from the engine into important builds. Today, though still ignored by many, games survive due to their testers. If your game has bugs, if no one else is looking, and if you can’t find them. Maybe you can create **The QA-Team**”

Speaker bio

Lead Publishing Producer at SOEDESCO Publishing and Founder of Otter Worlds; A company offering advice, support and self-publishing services for game companies. Worked on over 30 commercially released titles, both digital and physical on PC and console.

“The Power Of Paintings”

Solo-dev Thomas Waterzooi dives into merging modern art from the public domain with accessible game design to stand out and reach a new audience. He shares insights from creating the award-winning Please, Touch The Artwork series, with the sequel ranking 13th best rated game on Steam in 2024 and surpassing 700,000 downloads.

Speaker bio

Thomas Waterzooi is a solo-dev from Brussels (formerly Larian Studios/IO-Interactive) who makes accessible casual games inspired by art, culture and the human condition. His first game, ‘Please, Touch The Artwork’ based on the works of Dutch artist ‘Piet Mondriaan’ won awards at a.o. Google Play Indie Festival ‘22, Tokyo Game Show and an Apple Design Award nomination. ‘Please, Touch The Artwork 2’ was downloaded over 750.000 times and received over 4500 positive Steam reviews making it the 11th best rated game on Steam in 2024. Games worked on: Divinity Original Sin 1 Hitman Season 1&2 Please, Touch The Artwork Painting VR Please, Touch The Artwork 2

“The Web Game Dev Starter Kit: Tools, Tips & Tricks”

Is making a good web game as simple as porting a mobile or Steam title that performed well into the browser? (Spoiler: it’s not.) In this talk, Romy shares the ins and outs of designing specifically for the web, and why understanding browser players from the very start makes all the difference. She’ll dive into engines and tools you can use, important game design tips, and smart strategies to consider before you even begin designing. While there’s no magic formula for success, focusing on what actually matters for web players can dramatically boost your chances of making a hit.

Speaker bio

Romy’s been working across the games industry since 2017, from helping devs and publishers connect, to co-founding a small web game studio with her partner. Currently, she’s Business Development Manager at Poki, on the lookout for the next web hit game and teaming up with big brands to bring them into the browserverse. She lives in Utrecht next to a graveyard with her three cats, commutes to the Poki office in Amsterdam, and plays a lot of games (all in the name of research, obviously). In her downtime, she runs whimsical D&D campaigns and reads fantasy series like it’s a competitive sport.

“10 Commandments of Working with Content Creators”

Everything you need to know about working with content creators in 2025. We’ll cover YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, creative approaches, building relationships, offering incentives, negotiating, pricing, and everything in between.

Speaker bio

Marketing expert with over 10 years of experience in the gaming industry. As the co-founder of Black Soup, Timo has worked on international launch campaigns for titles like Destiny 2, World War Z and VALORANT. He is also the co-founder of Mostly Games, a Berlin based indie studio that recently released PEPPERED, an existential platformer. Games worked on: Destiny 2, Curse of the Dead Gods, Metal: Hellsinger, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, A Plague Tale: Innocence, World War Z, Frostpunk 2, PEPPERED

“(Almost) Everything You Need to Know About Hiring A Game Writer”

So you’re considering hiring a (freelance) writer for your project. But where do you start? This talk is a practical guide to hiring a narrative professional at any stage of your development. What writers can do for your team, what a narrative professional needs from you, and how to keep your writer happy and productive. It’s never too late to get a writer onboard, so let’s start now.

Speaker bio

Bertine van Hövell began making games in 2006 and never stopped. Nowadays she works as a freelance game designer and writer for very large companies as well as tiny one-person indies. She represents indies at the Dutch Game Association and a member of the jury for the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF). She’s currently working on a small title for her own studio. Games worked on: Old Skies, Stellaris, Hauma, At Eve’s Wake, Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad

“Level Up Your Game: How EIT Culture & Creativity Will Support Your Next Innovation”

Europe is home to world-class talent—but it captures just 11% of the €179B global gaming market. Ready to change the game? Join us to explore how EIT Culture & Creativity, the newest KIC from the European Institute of Innovation & Technology, is directly empowering creative entrepreneurs to turn bold ideas into groundbreaking successes across Europe. Learn how EIT CC is helping the EU gaming sector scale up, adopt disruptive tech, and compete globally through funding, business support, and a powerful innovation network. Whether you’re building a start-up or growing a studio, discover how to plug into this pan-European creative ecosystem.

Speaker bio

Susannah Montgomery is a Business Development Manager at EIT Culture & Creativity, where she connects stakeholders to drive innovation in the culture and creative sectors with a focus on gaming, media, heritage, and emerging technologies. With 12 years of experience managing collaborative creative projects, she specializes in making complex topics—such as digital rights, misinformation, and European values—tangible through playful interactive experiences. Recently, she has managed 12 cultural game jams across Europe for the Horizon Europe project, EPIC-WE and co-created fabricated: Unravel Fact from Fiction in Your Digital World, an award-winning exhibition engaging over 3,000 participants across Europe and the U.S. on AI and Democracy.

“Porting your game to console: everything you need to know BEFORE you start development”

By the time you decide to port your game to consoles, you’re probably stuck with whatever design and technical decisions you made when developing your game, and sometimes those decisions end up making your porting process difficult. As a console ports developer, I always wish I could tell game devs what to look out for *before* all the decisions are made and the game gets to me, so we could all save time and money and have faster, better, happier console ports! In this session, we’ll go through the most common issues and pitfalls that console ports run into, and how to handle them when designing and developing your game. We’ll talk about design decisions that can have a remarkable impact in the portability (or lack of) of your game, as well as technical and programming aspects that can make your ports harder than they need to be. By the end, you’ll come away with a little bag of dos and don’ts to apply to your current and future projects.

Speaker bio

Andreia “shana” Gaita is an indie developer working on games, tools, and ports. From her base in Amsterdam she runs her porting studio Spoiled Cat, helping indies ship their games on consoles. Her latest project is porting the Godot game engine to consoles, and improving its C# support for all platforms. For the past 20 years she has been involved in the development of cross-platform applications, services and libraries, embedding browser and game engines, creating bindings and making tools that help developers be successful, in companies such as Xamarin, Unity and GitHub. She hails from the sunny city of Lisbon, Portugal. Games worked on: Miniatures Tunic Rytmos WHAT THE BAT? WHAT THE GOLF? Tick Tock: A Tale for Two

“Roundtable: DEI as DLC: Optional add-on or core mechanic?”

As the games industry struggles with layoffs, political turbulence, and shifting priorities, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are increasingly treated like optional content. But is this retreat from inclusion a temporary cooldown or a sign of a systemic rollback? This roundtable invites you to explore the following question: In 2025, is DEI still seen as a core mechanic in our industry, or has it been shifted to DLC status — a nice to have, but not a need to have? We’ll explore the impact of deprioritizing inclusion on both the side of staff practices and the side of content. Participants will be able to share and reflect on challenges while discussing best practices for building and supporting inclusive studios/authentic game content even in uncertain times, and we’ll unpack how to move beyond checkbox diversity toward conversations that are truly nuanced and constructive. No matter your role in the games industry, this is a space to reflect, challenge, and reimagine the present and future of DEI in the digital entertainment space. This is a space for open conversation, not an echo chamber – so please feel welcome to join on in if this roundtable topic intrigues you.

Speaker bio

Allie Weis is the Ethics Coordinator in International Game Development and Internships Coordinator at Howest University of Applied Sciences: Digital Arts and Entertainment (DAE) in Kortrijk, Belgium. Hailing from Baltimore, Maryland, Allie graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Loyola University Maryland. As a recipient of a Fulbright grant, she relocated to Belgium and found herself most at home in Kortrijk, where she now lives with her toothless cat. While working at Howest DAE, she discovered the overlaps between her academic interests and digital entertainment. She served as a Community Manager at DAE before transitioning into her current position of Ethics Coordinator and host/producer of the ‘Game for Thought’ video series, tackling a different topic each month (i.e. accessibility, ethics and AI, crunch time, sustainability, inclusive recruitment). Allie has worked together with students to cultivate a Code of Conduct for the student community, highlighting the relevance and importance of ethics – even within a highly-technical curriculum. She also works closely with affinity groups on campus, ensuring that each student can be unforgivably themselves. She also teaches a course for all first-year students called ‘Career Skills,’ surrounding critical topics of personal and professional development, and is responsible for student internships. She is also the Vice President of the Fulbright Alumni Association Board in Belgium and believes strongly in intercontinental exchange and cross-cultural understanding. Fueled by coffee and enthusiasm.

“Building Games with Brands: The Why and How of working with external IP”

Why would you create a game based on someone else’s IP? What challenges can you expect when the IP is not your own? How do you prepare your production process for working with IP holders? In this talk, Maurice van der Boor will do a deep-dive into working with 3rd party IP. Maurice will highlight the strategic business opportunities and the production challenges when working with an IP that is outside of game studio ownership. Maurice will give actionable advice based on his 18 years of experience in game production and game studio leadership, covering many brand partnerships.

Speaker bio

Maurice van der Boor is a product and game-production leader with 18 years of experience in games. His journey spans console and PC production roles through to pioneering social-platform and mobile games. He excels at uniting creative vision, technical execution and commercial objectives to bring high-quality titles to market. Since 2024, Maurice has operated as an independent consultant, advising studios and publishers on product strategy, business development and providing end-to-end production leadership. He helps these teams refine roadmaps, optimize development pipelines and execute go-to-market plans. Maurice also produces games with his game studio Omni Play. Before, Maurice lead Azerion’s casual games studio team, which oversees a broad portfolio of games across many platforms on mobile and web. He was product manager at data platform Data.ai and product owner and game producer at CoolGames and Playlogic. Games worked on: Angry Birds (Facebook Messenger) Tetris (web) Smurfs Cooking (mobile & web) L.O.L. Surprise! (mobile & web) Operate Now: Hospital (mobile) Spin Voyage (mobile) Jewel Academy (web, messenger platforms) Auto Ninja (web) 40+ other titles across console, mobile and web

“The Opening Show with: JP & Brendan Greene”

We start off the morning with a fireside chat and two renowned figures on stage. JP van Seventer talks with Brendan Greene about building tools for tomorrow, holding on to a vision and how he believes building experiences will change.

Speaker bio

Jan-Pieter (JP) van Seventer is an internationally respected game industry professional with more than two decades of experience in creative entrepreneurship, incubation, and sector development. As Managing Director of Dutch Game Garden, the Netherlands’ leading incubator for game startups, he has mentored and supported over 300 game companies, many of which gained international acclaim. JP was among the first in Europe to pioneer structured game incubation programs starting in 2007, laying the groundwork for what is now a thriving startup ecosystem. With a foundation in Industrial Design and Mechanical Engineering, JP began his career as a game designer and 3d level artist, later co-founding a game studio and leading projects for platforms ranging from PC, mobile and console to VR/AR/XR. His work combines practical industry insight with a passion for systemic change, balancing creation with business thus making him a sought-after advisor to government bodies and cultural institutions. He serves on the industry advisory boards of Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUAS) game programme, University of Utrecht game programme and to the Dutch national Creative Council. JP is a frequent keynote speaker and workshop facilitator across Europe, known for his authentic storytelling, lessons learned (including the occasional “Messed up moment”), and strategies for building sustainable creative ecosystems. His approach blends creativity with actionable insights ideal for regions wanting to set up their own creative business infrastructure. JP has advised emerging gameclusters in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Malta, The UK, Canada, Germany, Colombia, South Africa and India.

“The Opening Show with: JP & Brendan Greene”

We start off the morning with a fireside chat and two renowned figures on stage. JP van Seventer talks with Brendan Greene about building tools for tomorrow, holding on to a vision and how he believes building experiences will change.

Speaker bio

Brendan Greene, widely recognized by his alias “PlayerUnknown,” is an Irish video game designer renowned for pioneering the battle royale genre with the creation of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG). Born on March 29, 1976, in Ballyshannon, Ireland, Greene’s unconventional path into game development began in Brazil, where he worked as a photographer and web designer. His passion for gaming led him to mod the military simulation game Arma 2 , resulting in the “DayZ: Battle Royale” mod, which laid the groundwork for the battle royale format. Greene’s innovative approach caught the attention of Sony Online Entertainment, leading to his involvement in developing the battle royale mode for H1Z1 . His vision fully materialized when he partnered with South Korean company Bluehole (now Krafton) to develop PUBG, which launched in 2017 and became a global phenomenon, selling over 80 million copies and influencing numerous titles in the genre. In 2019, seeking new creative horizons, Greene established PUBG Special Projects in Amsterdam. By 2021, he departed from Krafton to focus entirely on his independent studio, PlayerUnknown Productions. Under his leadership, the studio is developing a trilogy of projects: Preface , a tech demo showcasing their proprietary engine Melba; Prologue: Go Wayback! , a single-player survival game featuring procedurally generated maps; and Project Artemis , an ambitious multiplayer sandbox aiming to host millions of players in an Earth-sized digital world. Greene’s current role as Founder and Chief Creative Officer at PlayerUnknown Productions underscores his commitment to pushing the boundaries of interactive entertainment through technological innovation and expansive world-building.

“A Reality Check on Immersive Serious Games”

Drawing insights from his upcoming book, ‘Reality Check,’ Jeremy will provide a balanced perspective on the opportunities and challenges of building serious games for enterprise with immersive technologies. He will address the current state of the market and discuss a framework for integrating artificial intelligence to create the next generation of immersive experiences.

Speaker bio

Jeremy Dalton has delivered next-generation technology solutions for Fortune 500 and government clients worldwide. He established PwC’s first dedicated immersive technologies team globally, and served as an expert on the topic for the World Economic Forum. He is a champion of tech convergence, focusing businesses on the transformative power of integrating multiple technologies, including artificial intelligence and extended reality. His work has featured in the Financial Times, the Economist and the BBC, and has been cited by industry leaders including Google and Microsoft.

“Making The Spell Brigade: The Power of Self-Imposed Constraints”

Constraints often get a bad rap — as if they only hold us back. For the development of The Spell Brigade, we deliberately embraced constraints. The result? A faster development cycle and a more successful game. In this talk, I’ll walk through the specific constraints we chose (and some we didn’t choose), how they changed our process, and why I now believe thoughtful limitations are a game developer’s best friend.

Speaker bio

Hans Jacobs is the CEO and creative director of Bolt Blaster Games, a Belgian indie studio of seven developers. After starting out in the world of serious and educational games, the team shifted focus to entertainment, releasing their debut title, GAZZLERS — a roguelite VR shooter — in 2023 across Steam, PlayStation VR2, Pico and Meta Quest. Now, Bolt Blaster Games is working on their second game, The Spell Brigade, which launched in Early Access on Steam in September 2024. Games worked on: GAZZLERS The Spell Brigade

Host bio

<p>Adinda van Oosten combined her bachelor’s degree in China Studies with a degree in Game Design and Development and continued with a Game Design and Research MA in Germany. She taught her own Game design courses in 2019 at Lingnan University in Hong Kong.&nbsp;</p><p>Recently she is Teaching part time at HKU and provides tailored lectures at Lucas school of Arts and Deltion College, mentors at VAF and speaks at different international conferences. In 2020 she started the channel “Acreates” on Youtube; sharing in-depth interviews with Indie developers and boardgame developers from all over the world.</p>

Host bio

Co-Founder of Plan of Attack, Audra has 20+ years of video game PR under her belt, covering turf from San Francisco to New York and Madrid to Amsterdam. With an extreme passion for travel, you are more likely to find Audra at a video game conference somewhere in the world than at home in Amsterdam, but she does enjoy living the expat life in the Netherlands. Audra’s focus hovers around client relations, corporate strategy / messaging and business development.

Host bio

Swapped out a lucrative career in domestic games journalism to join the small but scrappy games team at VAF and help build the future of sustainable game development in Belgium. Hasn’t looked back ever since.

Host bio

Freelance game journalist for over 25 years. Started out in 1999 for game magazines (yes the ones made of paper) such as PC Zone Benelux, PlayNation and GameQuest, before co-founding Dutch industry paper Control Magazine.

Host bio

Juney is the XDI Operations Director at Electronic Arts, where she supports the XDI team with enabling 50+ EA franchises & central teams like FC, Battlefield, The Sims, Apex Legends and Frostbite through finding, signing and optimising external development engagements with uniquely diverse partners worldwide. She is also the Founder & Director of the Game Production Community, a 6.000+ member B2B game industry community of producers, project managers and leaders focused on exchanging knowledge & experiences in pursuit of sustainable, diverse, and profitable game development practices.

Host bio

With over 15 years of experience, Karel Millenaar is a dedicated game designer committed to advancing the field in the Netherlands. As a collaborative partner, he bridges connections that drive projects forward. His expertise spans game design, storytelling, illustration, and education, shaping experiences across various sectors. Karel has contributed to institutions like the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and the University of the Arts, Utrecht, and leads innovation as the President of Play at FourceLabs. Notably, he recently worked on Unexplored 2 as a game and narrative designer, pushing the boundaries of immersive gaming. Currently, Karel is co-designing a multiplayer OSR-inspired turn-based RPG with Ludomotion and exploring how games and game-making can enhance community resilience.

Host bio

Game industry creativeteran. I like to kickstart projects. Co-creator of the Unexplored-franchise, award winning composer & published author of fantasy, co-author of this year’s Games Monitor.

Host bio

Mehdi’s career started in music as a sound engineer and evolved into video games through academia in 2009 at the SAE group as Group Academic Director followed by industry relations. 10 years later, Mehdi joined RCP as BDM representing the interests of 12 studios. In early 2021, he took on business development at i3D.net, a game hosting company part of the Ubisoft group serving as VP until March 2025. Since fall 2024, Mehdi has been heading his business and strategy consultancy Zenith Pirates as CEO representing clients such as Modulate and Gate21 (a THQ Nordic studio), as well as advising studios such as Harakka Studios. Additionally, Mehdi serves as Chief Business Officer at GIN (Games Industry Network), a disruptive game industry centric professional social network.

Host bio

Naomi is a project manager games at Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF). She oversees all creation applications and believes in the power of a diverse, inclusive games industry. Driven by her passion for film, Naomi joined VAF in 2019. Fuelled by memories of beating her brother at Mario Kart 64, Tekken 3, and Twisted Metal 2 (in that order), she soon took an interest in the world of video games. Since 2022, she’s been a fulltime member of the small yet passionate games team of VAF. Besides all that, Naomi is a total film buff, punk-loving music junkie, aspiring bookworm, meme hoarder and an avid cilantro hater.

Host bio

Sly Emenike is a Game Producer and Game Developer with 9+ years of experience. He works at CoolGames as a Game Producer. Next to this, he has also released some web games in the past years with a small team.