Official report
The conference Flash GAMM Kyiv 2009 passed successfully jn December 5-6, in Kyiv!
For two days the conference-room of the Lybid Hotel warmly welcomed the guests from different cities of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Latvia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Holland and the United States.
Totally 183 participants attended the conference. It’s a new record established by our event. And if not for the necessity to close the registration earlier due to the limited capacity of the hall, then we could expected for not less than 200 people. This proves that the interest to flash game industry as well as the the demand for the conference grows year by year.
The first day was devoted to marketing and sales, the second – to the aspects of game development. On the whole 12 lectures were presented and 2 round tables held.
Many visitors made special mention of the conference level rise. And despite of organizing an ideal event without any mistakes is very difficult we hope that our faults were not so material as to influence on the overall impression of the event.
We still have a lot to strive for and to improve, but we are going to apply all the efforts for Flash GAMM to be called one of the best game conferences in the CIS territory by rights.
We would also like to express our gratitude to our sponsors – Alternativa Platform, I-Jet, SPIL Games, Flexis, Alawar, Wheemplay, Real, RTL Group, Arkadium и KaiserGames.
Thanks to all the speakers, all the participants, to everyone who helped to organize this event. We did it together!
See you the coming spring in Moscow on Flash GAMM Moscow 2010!
Yours faithfully,
Flash GAMM Team!
PS: For those who didn’t manage to come, we offer we offer a detailed report on the event.
ОOfficially-unofficial organizers’ report.
December 4. Friday. A day before the event.
Early morning. A car loaded up to the top with suitcases, printed materials, banners, equipment, all sorts of inventory and organizers rushes from Dnepropetrovsk to Kiev.
Kiev greets us warmly — with the sun shining and no traffic jams. Our flat, unloading the stuff, the airport, meeting our dear foreign representatives in the airport.
In the evening, when the hall empties, the organizers start arranging the seats, setting banners, adjusting the equipment, putting printed materials in the packets. The work keeps in full swing till midnight…
December 5. The first day of the conference.
It was even earlier than 9:00 that the people started to move up to the reception. The guests were met by the charming girls from Absolutist.
We worried a lot that we could lack chairs but despite of the full house there were enough seats for everyone.
The participants greeted their good acquaintances, made new ones, and even managed to find new job.
The conference started right according to the schedule. The organizers addressed the audience and thanked the sponsors.
As we have already mentioned, the first day was devoted to marketing and sales.
The first lecture was presented by Dmitry Isakov – I-Jet Technical Director. He amazed the audience with his appearance, coming on the scene in a fur cap, sheepskin coat and felt boots with a shovel in his hands, which among other things the organizers brought from Dnepropetrovsk :о)
Dmitry revealed us a secret of a successful social game and the methods of its monetization. And also offered the developers to collaborate.
After the lecture a lot of participants wished to communicate with Dmitry… and the shovel :о)
By the way, during the two days of the conference its online translation was provided. Special thanks to Igor Ruzanov and Rostislav Siryk for its organization.
The second lecture was presented by Martine Spaans SPIL Games Licensing Manager who talked about the peculiarities of international flash games business. One of the zests of her presentation was the presence of various hamsters on the slides.
The organizers promised to provide simultaneous translation, the headphones were even handed out at the beginning of the conference, but, unfortunately, a problem with an interpreter appeared and we had to improvise. Martine’s lecture was interpreted by Alexandra Skripka, and Yuval’s – by Tatyana Garat.
Perhaps, it was one of the most unpleasant moments of the conference overlooked at its organization. But we hope that it didn’t spoil the overall impression of the conference. The guilty have already received their punishment, repent and promise not to make the same mistake next year.
The third lecture was presented by Alexander Karpovich, Alternativa Platform CEO. He spoke about the ways to to attract capital and earn a lot of money of Flash 3D.
Alexander’s lecture was followed by lunch and a coffee-break during which the heated discussion of the lectures continued in the hotel restaurant.
Right after lunch Stephan Keiss, Wheemplay Ltd. CEO and an official representative of FGL in CIS proceeded with his lecture.
Stephan must have won the audience because during a break he was surrounded by game developers eager to talk to him personally.
The fifth lecture was read by Yuval Ziv – VP Operations and Business Development at Gate2Shop. It touched the matters of online payment industry, the role his company plays in it and the advantages their own system offer for the use in flash games.
Last but not least – Maksim Korablyov, the Director of Arkadium Representative office in Ukraine shared the experience of Arkadium in promo-games development and selling.
The first day was concluded by a round table on the topic «Present and Future of game web industry».
The agenda included the following questions:
1. What is the part of individual developers flash games in the industry? How can they earn?
2. What is needed for a small team to organize its own business on the flash content?
3. Cooperation in a flashers team: is it necessary to assign a special gamedesigner?
4. Development management in teams – that to use?
5. The phenomenon of social games – whether it is possible to enter the market with small projects?
6. Investments in the flash business.
7. What is the prediction for flash business for the next year?
The participants of the round table (left to right):
Alexander Karpovich – CEO of Alternativa Platform,
Isakov Dmitry – Technical Director of I-Jet,
Nazar Rubashny – CEO of Garbuz Studio,
Timofey Matskevich – Representative of Alawar in Ukraine,
Stephan Keiss – CEO of Wheemplay,
Artur Ostapenko – CEO of Avallon Alliance,
Maxim Donskih – social games sector manager of Аструм-Mail.ru
The round table moderator was Valeriya Mallayeva. Despite of the tiredness of the first conference day, the discussion appeared rather vivid and interesting.
After the conclusion of the first day of the event the whole company moved to Bochka beerhouse for the After Party organized by the participants themselves, for what we are ere extremely thankful.
The establishment satisfied everyone. The space was enough, many kept plying between the tables, make acquaintance with new people and communicating with the familiar.
By the way, Flash GAMM Kyiv 2009 was the first event to gather all the managers and co-managers of Ukrainian, Russian and Belorussian Flash platform users groups.
December 6. The second day of the conference.
For many participants the morning of the second day started with mineral water :о)
As well as it was with the first day if the conference, Valeriya Mallayeva, told her words of welcome to those few brave people who came for the first lecture.
And the first lecture was presented by an artist, animator and programmer Oleg Akimov, who shared his experience of creating flash adventure.
The participants, developers forming the major part, must have been really looking forward to the second day of the conference devoted to the aspects of game development, because Vitaliy Khit’s prognoses to expect most part of them for lunch proved wrong. By the end of Oleg Akimov’s lecture the hall was almost full.
The second lecture was read by Vitaliy Khit himself – the CEO of Absolutist. In the participants’ opinion Vitaliy’s lecture was one of the most interesting and informative during this conference. And his 1,5 moves rule opened the developers a new way of looking flash gamedesign.
The third lecture was presented to the audience by the father of Alternativa3D engine, Anton Volkov. It was already the third time that Anton came to Flash GAMM as a speaker and one of the most eloquent and interesting for then listeners, by the way. Taking into account this peculiarity of his we had put him in schedule right before lunch in order to have some extra time if the fixed wouldn’t have appeared enough.
And so it happened. More than that, the time was not enough even for the questions, that is why almost Anton spent almost the whole lunch answering the questions of the indefatigable audience in the hotel restaurant where the coffee-break took place.
After lunch Alexey Anikutin, a flash developer of SKAZKA, spoke about creating games using Unity 3D.
After the lecture the participants all together congratulated Alexey on the occasion of his birthday!!
Next speaker, Igor Makeyenko, Art Director of Wheemplay, covered the specific features of graphics for the premium games segment. The lecture was interesting and spiced with humor.
После доклада Игоря организаторы решили провести церемонию награждения конкурса игр, т.к многим участникам надо было уходить раньше, чтобы не опоздать на самолёты и поезда.
After Igor’s lecture the organizers decided to hold a game contest award ceremony, as many participants had to leave earlier in order not to miss trains and plains.
As you remember the rules were not specified strictly. We accepted new games, old games, promo games, incomplete games social games and each and everything. We had no clue how many participants could have come and games could have been sent. This contest was a kind of test version.
We specified 3 main nominations – Best Game, Creative Work and Next Year Bestseller, as well as a few Audience Awards.
The winner in “Best Game” nomination was called… *drumming…* Sergey Lazarev with his Wall Walker, awarded with a white netbook Asus Eee PC.
As the prize for his “Cretive work” Vladislav Oleynik received a large advanced keypad. For our contest he had sent 4 very bright and creative games which didn’t leave our strict jury indifferent.
”Bestseller 2010” – this nomination estimated incomplete games and prototypes which to the jury’s mind could become hits after their release. The winner in this nomination became Maxim Gryniv with his Huje Adventure.
The participants were also awarded with the following diplomas and prizes:
“For courage!” – Tablet Wacom Bamboo А6 to Sergey Krivosheya for being brave and first to send his mini-games for the contest.
“For principles!” – a beer keg to Anton Volkov for being the first among the sponsors to offer hes game for the contest.
“For productivity!” – to IT Premium, the company which sent a total of 43 games! On our site you may find only 5 of them.
“For large-scale involvement!” – to SKAZKA for most playable of the contest games in the shape of a huge box of candies in a fantastic wrapping with the note «An interesting quest game inside». :о)
“For Moxxi” to that very Moxxi we sent a notebook bag. We hope that Alawar will hand it in to her personally. :о)
“For glamor” to the game chosen by women focus-group from Absolutist. “Mahjongg Dark Dimensions” became the winner. And glamorous pink acoustic system left for Arcadium.
Besides a multimedia player was drawn among those participants who had filled in the form. Dmitry Gladilin from Evolution was its lucky winner.
After the award ceremony Artemiy Malkov, CEO of Flexis, expressed his view on the games of the Future and their role in mass culture.
As a result of the lecture we decided that the most important art for us is game development!
The round table of the second day, which topic was “Web games development technologies”, crowned the whole conference.
The following questions formed the agenda:
1. How do flash games develop and what are players expecting for?
2. Which technologies are needed? (sponsors, social networks, engines, server, tools/admin panel, what is lacked).
3. Which limits exist? (size, version, efficiency, ways of optimization).
4. What is in greater demand – vector or raster? (holy war).
5. What are the difficulties of developing a multiplayer game? (game balance, scalability).
6. Server part – inquiry – reply or real time?
7. Who does a team of flash game development consists of?
8. How team cooperation is organized? (remote/office, pipeline, communication, automation).
9. Release or eternal OBT? (prototyping, iterative approach).
10.How much does it cost to make a game? (terms, risks, hosting).
11. How to promote a game? (publisher, marketing, guerrilla methods).
12. How monetization can be increased? (advertising, microtransactions, average rate, experience).
As the round table drew a conclusion of the general matters of the second day – flash games development, the following people took part in it:
Anton Volkov – flash programmer of Alternativa Platform, the round table moderator,
Alexander Titov – flash programmer of Xenao Games,
Semyon Frish – flash programmer of Nucleart.net,
Marat Ismagilov – flash programmer of I-Jet,
Mikhail Antipin – flash programmer of SKAZKA,
Vitaliy Khit – flash programmer CEO of Absolutist, a successful programmer in his past.
And here a really hot discussion and holy war started. The round table dragged on till 19:00, considering that a few questions remained untouched. Well, we will put them off till next conference which is to be held the coming spring in Moscow, a day before KRI.
The conference came to an end. The organizers said their parting words and thanked all those present.
Really, thank you! Without you, dear participants and sponsors, this event wouldn’t have happened.
Each of you brought a little of oneself into it that have made it so special.
We are looking forward to meeting you at next conference. We promise not to disappear and not to spam.
Together we can create an ideal conference for flash games developers and publishers!
Lerika
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