Here's what you missed at PC Connects Seattle 2019's CodeShop and PC Revolution tracks
By Alex Calvin, PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor
The PC Connects conference made its North American debut earlier this year, setting up shop in Seattle on May 13th with a wide array of speakers from around the industry.
The afternoon sessions kicked off with the CodeShop, a series of talks about the more technical side of games development featuring none other than Epic Games and ED Music. That was before we moved on to looking at the future of the industry in our PC Revolution series of discussions, featuring talks from ID@Xbox's Chris Charla, Valve vet and Stray Bombay Company co-founder Chet Faliszek, Network N's James Binns and much more.
You can check out everything you missed from the Seattle show here.
1
CodeShop - Unreal Engine: Rapid Prototyping using Unreal Marketplace
The landscape of rapid prototyping has changed with the availability of triple-A quality game assets to developers for low or no cost. Using practical examples, Unreal Engine evangelist Christian Allen will discuss benefits, lessons, and tips for using content from the Unreal Marketplace for prototyping and feature implementation in Unreal Engine, including gameplay, performance, and project structuring for the best chance of success. Attendees of varying skill levels on both triple-A and indie projects will benefit from the points discussed.
2
CodeShop - Audio for Pre-existing IP: A New Approach
This talk from ED Music's Erik Desiderio will discuss how to create a new vision when working on a property that has an extensive history. How much can you change the sound and direction of audio for the new project? I’ll use examples from Star Trek: Fleet Command, Diablo III: Rise of the Necromancer, Adventure Time VR, and other projects that I’ve composed music and created sound effects for.
3
The PC Revolution - ID@Xbox turns Six
The boss of Microsoft's ID@Xbox indie publishing scheme Chris Charla tells us how the program has supported independent developers, how the market is changing, and what the future holds for indies in the Microsoft ecosystem.
4
The PC Revolution - Refereum Hub
Newly launched community hub product where Refereum connects up and coming content creators to all sized PC developers, to help drive revenue for their favourite titles while growing their own audiences. CEO Dylan Jones tells us more
5
The PC Revolution - Everything Wrong
With years of visiting developers around the world and talking with them about culture and process, Valve vet and Stray Bombay founder Chet Faliszek challenges the base assumptions developers make when starting a studio. The talk questions our default positions on power dynamics, communication, work focus, and other topics.
6
The PC Revolution - The Future of PC Marketing
Media veteran and founder of PCGamesN publisher Network-N James Binns shares his insight into how you can get the word out about your game in 2019 and beyond
7
The PC Revolution - Game Changers: Three Business Disruptions Upon Us
Your near future includes three seismic developments that'll change how games & studios make revenues and how games are designed: connective tissue (the social media goliaths & Discord are encroaching on the direct player relationships), spectating (the younger cohorts increasingly consumes games linearly), and subscriptions (which do not play nice with the F2P & premium revenue models). Eric Goldberg, who previously forecast the ascendance of mobile, social media, and F2P, outlines the new playing field of the early 2020s.
8
The PC Revolution - The Store Panel
Our final session at The PC Revolution track is looking at the evolving landscape for buying and selling games in 2019. The previous year saw new players entering the sector, but is what they are offering good enough to entice developers? Our panel explores this strange new world in which we find ourselves
Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.
