How can games developers successfully pitch their projects virtually? With physical events being on hold for much of 2020, games developers looking to secure publisher deals or even garner interest in their games have to do it in a remote way. In the first part of this special episode of Inside Indie Games, guest presenter Will Freeman, speaks to Sophia Aubrey Drake (The Big Indie Pitch) and Mike Rose (No More Robots) about the best ways to nail that virtual pitch. Part 2 of this special episode will be published very soon.  ..read more

A short introduction to the Inside Indie Games Podcast, brought to you by the UK Games Fund.  ..read more

From games developer, to business development and finally to publishing. Paul Kilduff-Taylor from Mode 7 knows a LOT about the independent games development industry. In this bonus episode of Inside Indie Games, we discuss how teams and individuals can best approach pitching; why those seeking investment should research the kind of funding they're pitching for, translating the investor's goals to their project and the basic pitfalls indie devs looking for funding should be aware of.  All indie dev studios should tune in!  ..read more

Olly Bennett is the CEO of Cardboard Sword - a game development studio based in the North East of England.  Olly has worked in the games industry for over twelve years, across six companies, with roles in QA, Design, and Production.  Before starting Cardboard Sword, he was associate producer on Sony’s LittleBigPlanet on PS Vita. It was a redundancy that led to Olly and one of his former colleagues taking the leap to form Cardboard Sword.  That was six years ago, and in the early days, they made the bulk of their money doing consultancy work for a range of clients. But, understan ..read more

In the second episode of Inside Indie Games, we speak to Phil Charnock of Draw & Code. His company raised over £25,000 on Kickstarter to fund their first product, SwapBots.  Phil brings some fantastic insights and advice for those interested in funding future projects.  Draw & Code is a unique company; Phil describes them as creative content marketers who stay ahead of the curve by embracing immersive technology and spatial computing.  But like any company, revenue and turnover are vital to survive and thrive long term, and the bulk of Draw & Code’s revenue still com ..read more

Helen Andrzejowska is one of the three founders of Ocean Spark Studios, a video game development company formed in late 2016, and based in Huddersfield, Yorkshire.  Helen came from an art background, going on to study Video Game Development at the University of Huddersfield, where she met her two now business partners, Zach and Ellie.  As we’ve heard so far in this series, some game development studios prefer to focus on a niche market, focusing on one particular area of making games, whilst others prefer to take a more all-rounder approach.   So, did Helen herself decide to sti ..read more

Katie Nelson is one of the founders of Blueprint Games, the company behind the very fun 3D platformer ‘Billie Bust Up!’.  Blueprint are a brilliant example of a real community driven platform. They have an engaged and vocal fanbase who they can rely on for constant and instant feedback around anything they’re working on.  In this episode, we’re going to dive into that, and find out Katie’s tips and insights around growing and utilising a community around your creative projects!  ..read more

In this episode we're talking to Mark Backler, founder of Fourth State and Sketchbook Games. Right now he's focused on Lost Words, a narrative-based game set inside a diary. Lost Words is available to add to your wishlist on Steam now here. Mark's background is in really big games development companies, such as Lionhead Studios and Electronic Arts, but just a few years back he jumped out of that world to start his own company.  Mark offers a tonne of advice; from how to build your team, to getting the most value possible from industry events and the awards they often run.  ..read more

Kirsty Rigden is the Development Director at FuturLab - an award-winning game studio based in Brighton.  Kirsty’s been with the company since 2010. But her career in the industry began back in her university days, when she got a summer job testing games for the BBC.  She went on to gain more experience, working as a tester for a mobile company called I-Play. Kirsty told me that this was in the days before the iPhone, and, as she put it, “before it was cool to make mobile phone games”.  From game tester, she then progressed to the role of junior games designer at that same compan ..read more

In this episode we're diving into the subject of building and managing an online community as the core of your audience.  As game developers, securing engaged and passionate fans is confirmation of success. But your fans aren't just your customers, they're also your biggest marketers. Fans are the ultimate focus group for getting feedback, testing ideas, and developing new concepts.  So how do we go about gaining and retaining those fans? How do we build that community around our game, and our brand?  Should you consider hiring a dedicated community manager? And if so, how do y ..read more