devcom 2017

With their debut title EVERSPACE, the veteran team at ROCKFISH Games created a surprise hit on PC and console by combining a high-quality 3D space shooter with roguelike elements, unusual storytelling, and optional VR support. At the beginning of the project, in a situation of an unexpectedly canned previous work for hire production, the team had to come up fast with a strong vision within a competitive, yet niche genre to secure funding to develop this new IP before running out of business. Michael Schade, CEO & Co-Founder of ROCKFISH Games, will walk the audience through a 12-step process, which enabled the team to turn around the doomed studio into a creatively and financially independent position, eventually.

Takeaway: The talk will cover how the team came up with a winning game idea, how it was pitched to publishers, platform holders, and the community in different ways, how it was successfully rolled-out before, during and after Early Access / Game Preview, and what the major learnings were in the entire process.

Audience: While this is mainly a talk from a management point of view, it also touches aspects of Game Design in several ways. It is targeted to an intermediate to expert audience level.