The Largest in Scale Game x VR Forum in Taiwan “2015 Taiepi Game Developers Forum” 《Monument Valley》Producer Neil McFarland Gives a Speech on the First Day!
Date: 2015/07/23
Under the expectation of all independent game developers, the Digital Education Institute (DEI) of Institute for Information Industry (III) and the Taiwan Division of International Game Developers Association (IGDA) held collectively the 4th Taipei Game Developers Forum (TGDF) and declared the beginning of the event on July 23rd at Taipei International Convention Center! The event was one of the most large-scaled idea exchanging meeting for game developers in Taiwan. The topics of the forum were brought up to the stage alternatively including game creation experience sharing, programming techniques, visual art, the discussion of game design methodology, and gaming group building as well as market trend anticipation, etc.
The first speech was given by《Monument Valley》producer Neil McFarland.《Monument Valley》has been given Apple Design Award 2014 and showed up in one of the most famous television series 《 House of Cards 》. Moreover, it was also the winner of the most important game award in the world, “Game Developers Choice Awards”, and carried off 3 imperative awards including innovation, visual art, and the best mobile game award. Neil shared his own unique observation and developing experience and talked about the link between two vital aspects of game development, “Pricing” and “Rhythm”. The speech attracted more than 500 audiences and a considerable number of senior developers came for the cause.
Chih-Hao, Tsao, founder of the independent game studio Muse Games, and Keenan Mosimann, winner of IGF and the famous Youtuber “Criken”, shared their experience about how to use Youtube as a promotion channel, analyzed the promotion strategies on Youtube and the elements which are able to be transformed into effective on-line videos, and provided ideas about how to make the best use of social media as well as target the accurate audiences. Lots of developers came to the speakers for further consultation.
At the exhibition, the center of attention is the area where HTC first published its “Vive Headset” which attracted lots of audiences waiting to enjoy the fresh experience. III Digital Education Institute, one of the hosting units of the event, Section Manager Tomas Fan, indicated that the game industry in Taiwan has developed over 25 years and that during the quarter of the century; the industry has faced various new opportunities and challenges continuously. The industry has gone through the challenges of the coming of internet era as well as the advent of mobile phone generation. In the era of post cell phone games, there comes much advanced technology applications. This year, on the GDC and E3 show, all major brands presented the technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). These technologies integrate various wearable devices, smart phones, and mobile network, which bring more possibilities for the industry. Therefore, the event invited HTC to exhibit its latest VR device “Vive” in the hope that participants of the event could have much more imagination for the future.
In recent years, the game industry has gone through revolutionary changes in a short period of time especially in the mobile game domain. According to the statistics given by experts in domestic game market, the total value of the industry has reached 18 billion NTDs in 2014. It is expected that the amount will surpass 25 billion NTDs in 2015. The regional ranking of Taiwan on Google Play has reached the 5th globally only after Japan, Korea, America, and Germany. Additionally, the market for mobile games will come to a growth rate of 15 percent this year with a turnover scale up to 29 billion USDs. III Digital Education Institute Deputy Director General I-Chang, Tsai at the opening ceremony indicated that he hopes the most valuable originality and creativity of Taiwan can grow with Taipei Game Developers Forum where domestic and foreign game developers can grasp every learning opportunity and consult from each other.
On July 24th, 16 speeches in total started at three different locations. The host Ming-Yang, Yu shared his insight about the balance point between turnover and brand building, who is the funder and producer of the latest “Proud of Taiwan” Rayark Inc., which is the first Taiwanese firm to be given a developer specific area on Apple App Store. The latest work of Rayark, 《Implosion》, set a sale record of 3 million copies all over the world.
The speakers also included WeGames Corporation Managing Director Mimi, Shu, Monkey Potion founder Wei-Chiao, Cheng, 7QUARK game producer Ping-Chen, Kuo, ACHTUNG senior member Po-Kai, Kang, GaussToys co-founder Jung-Hao, Liang, Ligersoft CEO I-Cheng, Kuo, Nomads founder Lo, Yen, table game developer Jesse, Li, Yoits table game workshop founder Chung-Yueh, Liu, Rayark CTO and co-founder Chih-Yuan, Chung, etc. They shared the knowledge of the latest professional technology as well as the trend of the industry.
III Digital Education Institute and International Game Developers Association Taipei Division held the 4th Taipei Game Developers Forum on 23rd July. The event invited III Digital Education Institute Deputy Director General I-Chang, Tsai (left) to give a speech at the opening ceremony and 《Monument Valley》producer Neil McFarland (right) as the invited guest to present the first speech.
III Digital Education Institute held 2015 Taipei Game Developers Forum on 23rd July and attracted lots of industry representatives to participate in this event.
On 23rd July, HTC first published its “Vive Headset” in the exhibition area at 2015 Taipei Game Developers Forum and a large number of participants waiting in lines to get the first-hand experience.
【Media Contact】
SNSI(III): Thomas Fan、Lucy Cheng Tel: (02) 6607-6664、6607-6715
Planning & Evaluation Division(III):Meredith Chang, Joy Yen, Freesia Shen
Tel: (02) 6631-8638、6631-8640、6631-8643