The National Association of Software and Services Companies announced the full conference program and speaker line-up for the NASSCOM Game Developer Conference 2016, India’s premier games development conference, taking place from 10 to 12 November, at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre in Hyderabad, India. New speakers joining Big Boss Entertainment, Fireproof Studios and Stoic include a keynote from art director Jolyon Webb from Natural Motion and sessions from Mark Skaggs of Moonfrog Labs and chief science officer Manisha Nagpal from Dharma Life Science.
With close to 20 years of experience making games across a wide range of platforms, genres and business models, Jolyon Webb will discuss how to support efficient processes and produce quality artwork. On the other hand, there’s Mark Skaggs who will present an in depth game workshop covering how to design a game from a blank page and how to “engineer fun”. Manisha Nagpa’s session will discuss how to use games to change and balance personality traits, while Soumyajit Deb from Qualcomm Research will present VR – through the ages, the Past, Present and Future.
Additionally Amol Gurwara, director of product development from electronic arts, will discuss Producing Mobile Games for Multi-Year Success with a Global Audience. Durgesh Nadkarni, VP and head of centre of excellence – Serious Games, Tata Interactive Systems, will discuss Serious Games development in his talk entitled Application of Gaming Principles for Learning and Development in the Corporate Sector and European deputy editor Matthew Handrahan of Gamesindustry.biz will present a session on PR or Die: Five Practical Tips (and one harsh truth) for working with the games press.
“As we move into our eighth year, the NASSCOM Game Developer Conference 2016 grows in strength, with a speaker line-up and program that provides our delegates with a healthy mix of some of the best regional and international games development and business experience out there”, said NASSCOM Gaming Forum, chairman, Rajesh Rao. “NGDC 2016 sees the introduction of the Virtual Reality Pavilion that will show off the best home grown VR experiences from Indian studios, as well as a showcase for the makers of board games with a Board Game Pavilion, plus Pitch and Match – a matchmaking tool for delegates to set up meetings before they reach the conference to maximise their time and get the most out of the conference”.
The 2016 conference is set to feature speakers from a wide range of regional and international tech companies, developers and publishers, including Electronic Arts, Google, Corona Labs, Samsung Tizen and Unity Technologies. Highlights include a special Women in Game Development panel and meet-up, hosted by Unity Technologies, Google workshops (Design Sprint and Firebase workshops) and a Tizen workshop.
With an expanded expo floor featuring more Indian games, country pavilions and a new virtual reality pavilion where developers can register to show off their VR and AR experiences, NGDC 2016 might be the biggest showcase of Indian games development and business talent, and the ‘go to’ event for international participants looking at India as an opportunity to venture into.
The NASSCOM Gaming Forum Awards 2016 will also recognise achievements in Indian games development and encourage the creation of original innovative IP in India. Curated networking events include investor, publisher and gamesbond pitch sessions that will give Indian game developers the opportunity to meet with investors, publishers and business executives.
