One thing Ukie has learnt from the pandemic is that virtual events are an important feature to our calendar. As an organisation which represents the whole of the UK, virtual events allow participants and attendees to join from multiple hubs and beyond - bringing with them a unique collection of speakers and topics.
Our first virtual Hub Crawl kicked off with ‘Making Games for Mobile in 2023’. Salman Shurie from Gesinimo Games started proceedings by unpicking the development process of his viral hit ‘Tap Tricks’. Salman explained where he went right, and perhaps just as interestingly, where he went wrong and evolved from what he had learned. Additionally, the term ‘toy’ was used, because as Salman described, a toy should be something easily accessible and which comes naturally, therefore the UI had to reflect that. Listen to Salman’s talk here.
Next up was Reedah El-Saie from Brainspark Games, a current member of our Barclays Mobile Growth programme. Reedah explore her background in law (and if you watched Dax’s talk from last week at Brighton… you may notice a theme emerging!) and how mobile is the ideal platform for educational games. Listen to Reedah’s talk here.
Tristan Clark from Trailmix stepped up next with the story of their game ‘Love & Pies’ and the importance of storytelling where the café is literally and figuratively burnt down. Tristan explored how Trailmix wanted to make something nourishing in the mobile space, while staying within the bites of playtime that mobile players have become accustomed to. Listen to this in-depth talk from Tristan here.
Finally, we had Maria Sayans from ustwo games as our second Hub Crawl hero of the series. Maria discussed the story of ustwo games, the main challenges and opportunities present in the mobile space and how it may change going forward. A key takeaway was when she reflected on the rise of cosy games, thrilled that ustwo games have become part of that movement and how “cosy and wholesome is the start of the path towards being meaningful”. Accessible stories and gameplay that goes beyond entertainment for the player – encouraging emotions, thinking, connection and perhaps future action. Listen to Maria’s fireside chat here.
As always, a big thank you to our overarching partner Barclays Games and eSports and to our virtual partner, AWS.
Up next is Newcastle – see you there!
All of our Hub Crawls, both in-person and online can be found on our Eventbrite collection