This talk offers an inside look at the production of Split Fiction from an artist’s point of view. We’ll explore the structure of the team, methods of collaboration across disciplines, and how creative ownership shaped the project’s visual direction.

Creativity is a muscle, and this talk breaks down the eight core “creative muscles” we all need to make great games. From vision to execution, we’ll explore practical routines for training and strengthening those muscles in yourself or your team. The talk is about Art, but the model is applicable to all creative crafts in games.

A brief overview of what a pipeline developers role is in the industry is, techniques to implement an effective pipeline and common traps many games studios find themselves in when designing (or not designing) their pipelines.

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How to set realistic scopes, build effective timelines, structure your team, and set up project management that actually helps you ship? Our panel of experienced producers will share the production tactics and hard-won lessons that keep projects on track without burning out. We'll cover what works in practice, not just in theory.

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Rami Ismail will spar with the audience about the most critical things to know in (independent) game development, the things you've always wondered about, and the things you didn't realize you should wonder about.

A summary of 20 years of best practices on how to make games and be financially successful doing it, including the importance of developers associations, especially for indies.

Godot is one of the most successful open-source game engines, but what does it take to sustain and grow such a project? This talk goes into the organizational efforts behind Godot's development, from managing donations and community contributions to balancing user expectations and volunteer efforts.

Traditional hierarchical game making is struggling - mass layoffs, stagnant wages, crunch and burnout - we have all been personally affected or know someone that has. What if there was a more equitable and stable model for how we could be performing our craft?A model with a focus on worker empowerment, pro social community building, and equitably distributing the value of your work?In this talk, I will outline what worker cooperatives (genossenschaften) are, how they work, and what it takes to found them in Germany.I will also share my experiences, values, and conceptual framework for why you might consider pursuing this studio model

Join Character Artist Jasper (Ninja Theory) and Technical Animator Leonie Wolf for a fireside chat exploring how art and technology come together to bring characters to life. Discover their career journeys through AAA and indie studios, insights into modern pipelines, and advice for aspiring game character artists.

Working in the game development industry comes with special challenges. If left unchecked these challenges can lead to mental health problems, about which many of us might feel overwhelmed or insecure. The lack of awareness and knowledge gaps let mental problems become a taboe to talk about openly. Using my background in psychology, this talk is intended to break the taboe by sharing some basic knowledge and tips for coping mechanisms on some of the most common mental health challenges in game development, such as lack of motivation, stress, crunch and burnout.

Unfortunately, Sven won't make it for his talk due to travel delays. His Game Show and Street Fighter tournament will take place on Saturday as scheduled!
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Did you know that Blind people like to play video games? Unfortunately, many games are not accessible. But, with today's technology and effort from the game community we can change this! Join BlindWarriorSven on his journey in the world of video games and explore different ways of accessibility. Let's get accessible!

By Jane Katsubo (Senior Concept Artist at Larian Studios)

Elena Dimopoulou will show how to capture and create game-ready animations using Xsens mocap and Unreal Engine. She’ll walk through how to record realistic movement, clean up your data, and bring your characters to life quickly and easily.As Greece’s first female Unreal Authorized Instructor and an award-winning technical artist with over a decade of experience, Elena shares practical tips and creative insights to help you make the most of your mocap and Unreal workflow, taking your skills further.

Get a practical tour of the Epic Games ecosystem: Learn how to best utilise Unreal Engine, MetaHuman, Megascans, Fab, UEFN, Epic Online Services, and the Epic Games Store to streamline production, add online features, grow audiences, operate live games and services, and unlock new revenue streams.

Neurodiversity is all around you — your team, peers, partners, and players — inadvertently affecting the "day-to-day" of making games. This talk will give you the map to avoid common pitfalls, and the tools to shape the environment where every brain (including yours) can thrive.

Investment in games has undergone significant changes over the last five years. From "free money" and sky-high valuations to consolidation and funding draught. Where is games invesment headed? The medianet GAMES Investment Summit is bringing international experts  together at Games Ground, to discuss this question and new ways of funding games. This final panel will close out those sessions, featuring some of those experts, and open the discussion to the wider conference audience.

During this interactive workshop, we want to dig together into how what thriving, inclusive mentoring ecosystem for female and non-binary game developers could or should look like. We’re inviting senior female and non-binary game industry professionals to join us for a strategic brainstorm session to envision a dedicated support environment that is accessible and tailored for the needs and expectations of female and non-binary employees and entrepreneurs in the game industry.

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What makes a space safe - and what makes it feel unsafe? This panel brings together community builders, creators, and leaders to unpack the elements of psychological safety and belonging. You’ll leave with practical tools for protecting your own wellbeing, creating safer environments for others, and understanding why feeling seen and heard isn’t just nice, it’s necessary.

This session offers a look at how Hazelight builds collaboration into the core of its games. It introduces the design vocabulary we use when shaping mechanics, abilities and the concepts that guide how players interact and communicate. You will also hear lessons from the development of Split Fiction and how those insights can help shape even better co-op gameplay.

In times of global uncertainty and widespread dystopian storytelling, the road towards hopeful futures seems hard to be found. Stories about war, impossible choices and horrific tragedies do a fantastic job of capturing our attention. However, they also set the expectations for the boundaries of our perceived reality.

This talk explores the psychological impact of stories on individuals and societies. Which emotions do they leave us with? Two narrative designers will provide practical narrative tools and strategies on how we can create engaging positive narratives that empower players.

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Every great game starts with an idea — but turning that idea into a project requires focus, research, and pragmatism. In this talk, Timo shares a hands-on framework for breaking down concepts before kickoff: defining the true core of your game, mapping its primary building blocks, and researching both within and beyond your genre. The session provides actionable tools to turn creative sparks into buildable, convincing game concepts.

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Meet experts from Kickstarter, 11 bit studios and more at our Friday afternoon mixer. Explore how to expand your game into new media formats, from storytelling and partnerships to creative funding paths. Feel free to bring your ideas, curiosity and discover new ways to grow your IP!

A review over the artistic process in Nomada studio, from firsts concepts until composition in unity.

As Xbox evolves, what it means to be Independent game on Xbox is also evolving. Hear the latest on our evolution and strategy, and learn the best ways to find success and maximize impact for your games within the Xbox ecosystem

Everything you need to know about working with content creators. From key distribution to creator programs, creative content ideas for TikTok, YouTube, Twitch and everything in between.

Participants will learn key concepts in developing level designs for action type games, and write, conceive, draft, and pitch level design concepts with an eye towards building them. But it's more focused on equipping people with early conceptual skills, (without using GenAI help...)

20 min - Intro + Key Design Concepts
45 min - writing / designing level design concepts
10 min - break.
25 min - pitching, presenting, storytelling.
15 min - Q&A

At the end of the workshop with a series of Level Design concept documents they can take home and build their own levels, however they choose to do so.

(MAX 10 active participants! registration At this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd2b1at5dohS3JvalneM25AXeP0Kuxb9KHSrC5Pt9RSfckQ1A/viewform?usp=header )

Every game is a battlefield, not on the screen, but in your mind. AI is learning how to predict your every move, yet human designers, shaped by life, culture, and struggle, still know how to push buttons no machine can reach.

This talk uncovers the hidden psychology that keeps players hooked, revealing how autonomy, mastery, connection, and sensation can be turned into tools of power. Who manipulates you better, an algorithm or a human? By the end, you may not trust the games you play… or the people who make them.

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Producer Fireside Chat with Lauren Hunter (Square Enix Collective) & Maria Maunula (SUPERCELL)

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What?
A discussion oriented workshop about human sexuality as a driver for creative work and game design. The workshop fosters ownership, conscious design, freedom and responsibility in a safe and intimate discussion environment.

Why?
To spark constructive and honest dialogue about sexual drivers and their effect on representation in games. To support creative workers in owning the design choices they make and help them reflect and communicate the motivation behind those choices.

For whom?
For game designers, artists, creative directors and anyone interested in character design, narrative design and realm design.

Prerequisites?
Willingness to engage in a reflective discussion about the aforementioned.

Deriving from my experience as a games professional and a performing artist, I will walk the group through 2 interactive lectures, each followed by a group discussion.

You might think developing your first game was the hardest part — but often, the real challenges begin when you start working on your second. Sure, you’ve gained valuable experience — and if things went well, maybe even earned a bit of money — but now it gets even more serious: expectations rise, pressure builds, business decisions grow more complex, and their impact on creativity feels stronger than ever.

So how the heck do you turn all this into a sustainable business?

Join a panel of seasoned indie developers who’ve been through it all — the highs, the hurdles, and even the hard landings — as they share honest lessons, wins, and failures from their journey between “we made a game!” and “we’re building a studio.”

When you create a game, you create a world of content that carries culture - of yourself, your team, your company, and your place of origin. While you can control the forces that guide your creative vision and shape your game’s world, you can’t influence how players in a dynamically changing global landscape will react to your game. More game creators are allowing this fear and uncertainty to paralyze creative direction and second guess their choices. Learn from the award-winning, 30+ year culturalization expert Kate Edwards about how to successfully navigate world-building in a cultural and political environment of increasing division.

Be honest: when someone at your studio says “We’ll let BD handle it”, do you actually know what that means… or do you just smile, nod, and hope they’re not talking about blockchain? You’re not alone.
“BD” (that’s business development, not bad decisions) is one of the industry’s most misunderstood job titles. It can mean deals, partnerships, pitches, publishing, or just being the person at every party with too many lanyards. So what the f*** do BD people actually do—and why does it matter to the rest of us?
In this lighthearted, no-BS panel, veteran actual BD humans will pull back the curtain. We’ll swap war stories, explain how the sausage gets made, and reveal why BD is more than just schmoozing at GDC afterparties (though, yes, there’s a bit of that too).

Takeaways:
• Finally understand what BD is (and isn’t).
• Learn how BD shapes deals, partnerships, and opportunities for studios big and small.
• Hear practical tips on working with BD people instead of wondering what they’re plotting.
• Laugh at a few industry horror stories along the way.

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Most game economy problems aren't math problems - they're journey problems. This talk reveals a simple, practical method to evaluate and improve game economies by understanding the player journey first. Learn how to spot basic errors and friction in your systems - no spreadsheets required.

Melanie shares her personal and professional path into the games industry—from studying 3D art to teaching, shifting into QA and project management, and ultimately founding her passion project KunstSpiel. Her story highlights the emotional realities behind career decisions, the value of uncertainty, and what it means to define success on your own terms. This workshop explores self-discovery, resilience, and aligning work with personal values. Through honest storytelling and reflective questions, Melanie invites participants to challenge conventional career narratives and consider how seemingly divergent steps can lead to meaningful, authentic careers in and around games.

Unity Gaming Services is a platform of backend and liveops products trusted by world class studios to support live games at any scale, with any engine.

During the talk I will showcase what Unity Gaming Services is, what developers should consider when building a multiplayer game from a service perspective and how UGS can be used to connect players via different architecture models for both Unity and Unreal engine developers.

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Hosted by Julianne Becker, Founder of The Rabbit & Co-founder/CEO of Coconat – A Workation Retreat.

The six selected indie game teams of The Rabbit Residency 2024 have spent the past week living and creating together in the countryside of Brandenburg — and now they’re heading to Berlin to pitch their games live!

Chosen from 95 applicants across 47 countries, these outstanding teams will present their projects to a jury of industry icons: Rami Ismail, Lauren Hunter, and Jan Halwe.

Featuring: Yukimi Soft · Neonature · Sentiment Games · Remulla · Heden Smugglers · Sharkbombs Studio

Supported by MBB and Berlin Sparkasse.

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Your cozy safer space in the gaming industry for creators from marginalised groups, allies, and the creator economy. Diversity needs space. That's exactly what we're creating together at Games Ground 2025. After our success at CAGGTUS, Indie Game Fest, and gamescom, we're returning to Games Ground.

In a relaxed atmosphere, we want to connect content creators from marginalised groups and allies who work with them, create spaces for mutual support, and strengthen open dialogue. The meetup offers you the opportunity to make new contacts without pressure, exchange stories, and set an example for a more diverse gaming industry – all while getting a tattoo. Excuse me? There will be little highlights on site to make the get-together even more enjoyable: vegan snacks will be provided. Choose from disposable tattoos, just like in childhood, or leave a wholesome message on our community board. What do you think you'll find there?

IMPORTANT: Please use your creator or business email address, as the Diversity Meetup is exclusively for content creators and people working in the creative industry. To maintain a safer space, tickets can also be canceled.

The B2B Party on Friday evening is where the Business Days truly come alive and end off with a bang. Powered by ByteRockers' Games with support from Sidekick Publishing, Blue Backpack, and Codecks, we’re rolling out a 2-hour open bar, a stacked music lineup (like the epic headliner, DUBTENDO) and our community vibes to keep the energy high. We're looking forward to having this party as a way to meet and celebrate together. See you there for a proper ending to the productive business days!