Registration opens at 9 am! Come on down to Te Papa and get yourself sorted with your conference badge, ready for a 10 am start.

We'll run through some basic housekeeping, show you where the bathrooms are, all that useful stuff. 😉

Keynote

Esports isn't new, but the growth of the industry over the past few years has been exponential. Globally esports have arrived in a huge way, but what is the current state of play in NZ? Amy Potter shares her perspective on the growth of this new-to-NZ industry as an employee of NZ's largest esports broadcaster.

Network, network, network. It’s a buzzword thrown around constantly in discussions around working in game development. Make friends with the right people, get into the right circles and you’ll be grand. But what does networking even mean? How do you do it, especially if you get shy and anxious meeting new people? And doesn’t it feel a bit inauthentic to be trying to only make friends with people who you think are beneficial to your career? In this talk, Noni will discuss these questions by delving into her own experiences and learnings - including a few mistakes along the way, because we've all got them.

In 2016, Louis created an event called Delete, where videogames are made during an eight-hour jam, immediately exhibited in a public space for five hours, then deleted permanently. These events create a new space in videogames, a transient platform where the games need to be aware and take advantage of their short lifespan. It's an important, unique, and easily created space. The games made at delete aren't just destroyed, they're made specifically to be destroyed, and they couldn't exist in any other context. The more contexts that exist, the more diverse and unique videogame experiences can be created, so go out there and make some yourself!

Do games have the ability to make players more empathetic IRL? And are there simple design tools to achieve that? Games offer designers unique tools to engage players in empathetic experiences. In this talk, Moana Minson brings her experience as a Narrative Designer and Games Researcher to delve into creating scenarios which stimulate an empathetic experience of minority perspectives. Meanwhile, Calliope Ryder will focus on bringing scientifically tested strategies for affecting and uplifting players’ behaviour beyond the game world. Attendees will leave with a clear design framework on how to elevate their players to empathic behaviour - not only in the game world, but in their real lives as well.

Three key lessons from NZ that everyone can take regarding building communities. Kelsey Gamble discusses what she's learned about New Zealand communities that everyone can benefit from.

Video game demos were a consumer positive cereal box highlight, but more recently, demos have fallen out of favour. Diverse monetisation plans, refund policies, and poor sales figures have all contributed to the demise of playable demos. However, some developers, indie and triple A, continue to release demos to varied success. In this talk, Tana will help us explore different types of playable demos and dissect the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to creating and releasing a demo for games.

In our closing day one note, Humphrey will share his perspective on what it means to be a gamer with a disability, and how important it is for games to be a safe and accessible escape - especially when the real world is as hazardous and painful as it is when your skin is as fragile as a butterfly's wing. Join Humphrey on a journey of games accessibility tips and tricks, and what it means to see a company like Xbox make disability accessibility the mainstream. He's guaranteed to give you a new perspective of how we can interact with our play.

With the assistance of Bethesda, Play by Play is thrilled to be bringing back Treat ‘n’ Greet! A non-alcoholic networking event with a delicious twist, the goal of Treat ‘n’ Greet is to provide Play by Play attendees with a fun, safe, and delicious environment to make new friends and catch up with old ones. If you’ve ever been at a networking event and thought “this is great but there really aren't enough donuts here” then Treat ‘n’ Greet might just be your jam (see what we did there?)!