IndieXchange, a brand-new event at IndieCade that brings game creators and game funders together. IndieXchange is one day of content tailored to the indie developer’s needs and a VIP mixer just for game makers. Take part in any or all of the three focused clinics, then relax at the informal cocktail party.

PR Clinic: Promoting Your Game
You’ve had your heads down for months, and the game is almost finished. How do you get the word out to the game community? This focused workshop, a PR boot camp for indie developers, will be full of tips on what things you need to assemble for reporters and how to find and approach them, what you can do yourself or how to choose a PR agency partner. The speaker will give you samples of press releases and pitches and talk about strategies that will help you generate interest for both the game and your studio brand. 

This is a hands-on no-holds-barred workshop on the Art of the Pitch for anyone interested in how to show off their game project in the best possible light. Learn how to hone your talking skills, find the right key phrase that best describes your project, and practice other tips and tricks with the pros in the business. Fine-tune your technique and maximize the effectiveness of a five-minute elevator pitch!

Whether you’re starting up a studio or interested in submitting your game for distribution, it’s important to understand the basics of IP and contracts. This workshop introduces a primer on IP as it relates specifically to videogames, covering such issues as trade secrets, patents, and copyright; we will also review a basic work for hire agreement and a distribution agreement. This session will be tailored to your current needs so please come with any issues you are currently working with.

In my talk at IndieCade 2011, I’d like to tell you about some of the experiences I’ve had at Naughty Dog in my role as Lead Designer on the Uncharted series, and how profoundly the ideas about game design that I use every day have been affected by indie games.

I love independent games, and I grew up playing them in the UK on the first generation of home computers. At that time, all games were indie games, in spirit at least. The ‘bedroom programmers’ of that generation were my first mentors when I joined the game industry, and I’ll talk about that DIY spirit of creating something from nothing, and how vital it still is today.

The visionary creators of the indie games of 2011 have used the game-making tools of this generation to do amazing things - to give expression to emotions barely seen in videogames before, to develop new styles of play and even new genres of game, and to explore subject matter considered untouchable by the mainstream.

The world is changing at an incredible rate; both indie and AAA game creation is changing too. I have a lot of strong opinions about good and bad ways to make games, about the nature of human minds and of creativity.

The title of my talk is about gameplay - the beauty of systems and the risk introduced by random or complex elements at play. It’s also about creative risk-taking: so take a risk, and come to my talk!Richard Lemarchand’s keynote will take place at the Ivy Substation, it will also be shown over coffee in the Creators’ Lounge.

Steve Swink, co-creator of Shadow Physics and author of “Game Feel,” will speak about the definition, constraints, ethics, and mercurial nature of experimental design.

What makes a game good? or bad? or better? Video games can be “well played” in two senses. On the one hand, well played is to games as well read is to books. On the other hand, well played as in well done. Building on the ETC Press book series, our speakers (to be announced soon) look at video games through both senses of “well played.” The goal is to help develop and define a literacy of games as well as a sense of their value as an experience. Simon Ferrari (on “Desktop Dungeons") and Michael Abbott (on “Way") take the stage for Well-Played Session I.

I keep saying I’m trying to design SpyParty to be a “deep” game.  What makes a game “deep”?  What does “deep” even mean?  What’s the difference between “deep” and “hard” or “complicated” or “meaningful” or any of a host of other adjectives that might describe a game design or a gameplay experience?  How does game depth relate to multiplayer versus single player, or player-skill versus avatar-skill games?  Join Paul Sottosanti and myself (Chris Hecker) in a conversation about these and any other depth-related topics you bring to the session.

Any system of interactivity can of course be explored: If X happens, what are the consequences?  What are all the ways in which pattern Y expresses itself, and to what do those expressions lead?  By inspecting the structure of a system in this way, we can find the core ideas of the system, and see how those ideas illustrate fundamental truths of our universe.  We present a game design aesthetic that values looking for systems that express these truths in the cleanest possible way.  We explain how this is different from more-traditional combinatoric design techniques; we show examples from our games and describe a method for applying the aesthetic in general.

In this special session of the Experimental Gameplay series, we will be focusing collaboration. Several pairs will speak on this topic, using their work as a point of departure for an in depth discussion of experimental design processes. In particular, we’ll explore how close, intense collaboration with others impacts the outcomes of an experimental gameplay process.

Join us for kick-off party and Game Slam and hosted by PlayStation Home. Gamecreators from across the festival have three minutes to present their game and their process. Fast paced, fun, and a great way to learn about all the games and gamemakers in the festival. There is also a rumor that some of the conference organizers and speakers might be moonlighting as DJs.

A session NOT about games: Eddy Boxerman, Mary Flanagan, and Jake Kazdal will talk about their influences outside of games that has impacted and inspired their work and why. They will then discuss the importance (or lack thereof) of looking beyond games for the future of indie games.

In this talk, Mike Roush and Alex Neuse discuss what it means to have a creative and narrative vision while making games that are incredibly simplistic. Finding the story through simplicity not only becomes a design vision, but also a design challenge. The Gaijin founders will reveal the complete BIT.TRIP story and share with the audience how working within constraints and being open to input allowed them to tell a bigger and better story than if they had been working alone. Ideas about collaboration, focus, respect, and honor will be discussed as they pertain to game development in a team-based independent environment.

What makes a game good? or bad? or better? Video games can be “well played” in two senses. On the one hand, well played is to games as well read is to books. On the other hand, well played as in well done. Building on the ETC Press book series, our speakers (to be announced soon) look at video games through both senses of “well played.” The goal is to help develop and define a literacy of games as well as a sense of their value as an experience. Jamin Brophy-Warren (on “FEZ") and Jane Pinckard (on “Kiss Controller") take the stage for Well-Played Session II.

This is a free-range session about games that go beyond the confines of the polygonal frame. In other words big games, street games, args, playful disobedience, analog games or whatever you’d like to call them! Panelists will discuss design considerations, new approaches and what’s next in the genre.

Join OnLive for drinks at the Creators’ lounge.

Whose design will reign supreme? Join hosts Colleen Macklin and Eric Zimmerman as they challenge game designers with real-time game design. Three captains will pick teams of designers from the session audience and then everyone is given a theme, materials, and a secret ingredient. Before your eyes, the teams will create a real-world game. As they wrack their brains for the right recipe, get a sneak peek into how these game designers solve difficult design problems. And who knows? You might just witness the birth of a brand new game. 

Panel speakers Zach Gage, Robert Hodgin, Casey Reas, and Daniel Shiffman will present and discuss projects which use code as a generator of form, and explore the various ways in which procedurally generated elements can contribute to the mechanics, dynamics, and/or aesthetics of video games.

Adam Saltsman will be talking about why making games interests him. Topics may include ambience, not shooting things, procedural generation, the war in Iraq, and cultural footprints.

Want a sneak peak at the next wave of indie games? To see how finalists and ground-breaking indies are following up their successes? Project Next is a series of quick previews of unreleased games by a wide range of indie developers.

Now that we are a few years out from the artgame high water marks of Passage, Braid and The Marriage, it is time to reflect on the past, present and future of artgames. Panelists Daniel Benmergui, Brenda Brathwaite, Rod Humble and Eddo Stern will take on the importance of artgames, and games as an artform.

What makes a game good? or bad? or better? Video games can be “well played” in two senses. On the one hand, well played is to games as well read is to books. On the other hand, well played as in well done. Building on the ETC Press book series, our speakers, Nick Fortungo (on “J.S. Joust") and Tracy Fullerton (on “Halcyon") look at video games through both senses of “well played.” The goal is to help develop and define a literacy of games as well as a sense of their value as an experience.

Kris Piotrowski & Nathan Vella from Capy will be joined by representatives from Superbrothers Inc. and a telegraphic representation of rockstar/composer Jim Guthrie to reflect upon this unusually collaborative art + music + videogame project and look ahead to the [REDACTED] still ahead for S:S&S EP in 2011.