Speaking of GDC, our very own Dmitri Williams (CEO of Ninja Metrics) will be speaking at the event. Dmitri’s first presentation will involve Social Impact in Design and Acquisition which reveals benchmarking stats for the game industry, never before seen. His talks start on Tuesday, March 3rd at 3PM PT. He’ll also be covering Analytics 101 and 201 later in the week. For more information, take a look at Dmitri’s GDC 2015 schedule here
.
Surviving a Game Conference
GDC, the largest conference for game developers, is less than a week away. As the event quickly approaches, it’s important to be prepared so that you can get the best possible experience.
For a first time attendee, conferences can be overwhelming due to confusing floor plans and large crowds. Study the floor plan and map beforehand to plan out where you want to be during a specific time.
You’ll also want to make the most out of networking opportunities during the event. Try and book meetings with potential clients and the press before the event to save you time and help organize. When meeting someone new, it helps to have a mutual contact present to introduce you to one another.
Most importantly, attend as many keynotes and tracks as you can, to take all of the information in and get the most out of the conference experience. There’s a lot to learn from fellow game developers and industry leaders.
For more tips on surviving at game conferences (and learning how to party at them), take a look at this article on PocketGamer.
The Latest Stats on Smartphone and Tablet Gaming
A new report by research firms App Annie and IDC has discovered that the world is using more than 1 billion smartphone and tablets for gaming, which is roughly 15% of the world’s current population.
Making up 75% of the smartphone and tablet gaming market is Android, whose use has grown 5.2% over a year. Apple lost 2.3% smartphone and tablet gaming year over year, and other mobile OS’s (such as Windows Phone) lost 2.8%.
Head to VentureBeat’s article here for more findings from the report.
Free and Great Tools for Indie Developers
Making video games doesn’t have to be hard for the average indie developer, thanks to a large variety of free tools. From game engines, to graphics, to sound and video editing, there are many platforms to choose from.
You can take a look at indie game developer E. Zachary Knight’s personal suggestions here on Gamasutra. For a few other tools, check out one of our older blog posts free game dev tools here.