The Best of Brighton: This year’s must-see talks and sessions at Develop

THE KEYNOTES

Everything You Wanted to Know About Kickstarter (But Were Afraid to Ask)

Tues | 9.30am to 10.15pm | Room 5

Kickstarter’s head of games Luke Crane is on hand to dispel myths and help developers better prepare for their crowdfunding campaigns.

Legends on the Future: Hideo Kojima in conversation with Mark Cerny

Weds | 9.30am to 10.15am | Room 2

Ahead of his award in the evening, Kojima discusses his career and inspirations with fellow Development Legend winner Mark Cerny.

Reach for the sky: Why disruptive technology deserves disruptive design

Weds | 10.15am to 10.45am | Room 2

Bossa Studios reflects on how breakthroughs in technology have changed not only the way games are developed, but also the type of titles devs can create.

Funomenal Feel Engineering

Thurs | 10am to 11am | Room 2

Funomena CEO and Journey producer Robin Hunicke discusses how devs can provoke emotions from their players as shown by the studio’s upcoming game Luna.

DEVELOP AWARDS 2016

As always, Develop will be hosting its awards evening on the Wednesday at the Hilton Metropole’s Oxford Suite. Kojima will receive the Development Legend award, while hundreds of studios compete for the usual prizes. Book your place at www.developawards.com.

THE EXPO

A showcase of the latest demos, tech and more, running across both the Wednesday and Thursday.

New this year is a VR and AR gallery showing off what ambitious studios are accomplishing with this emerging technology. Meanwhile, the Develop Bar & Networking Lounge and Indie Showcase also return.

Exhibitors this year include: Audiokinetic, Autodesk, Boss Alien, GameSparks, NaturalMotion, Perforce, PlayStation, Soundcuts, Unity and Unreal.

WHAT’S NEW?

This year, Tandem has added a Virtual Reality track to the main conference and introduced two initiatives designed to help devs find finance for their projects.

The Games Funding Forum, another Tandem event, will run alongside the Evolve track on the Tuesday, as well the new Pitching & Funding Workshop – an all-day masterclass in presenting your game to investors.

MUST-SEE SESSIONS

Pitching & Funding

Funding Models: What to raise and when

Tues | 11.15am to 12pm | Room 6

Execution Labs’ Jason Della Rocca shares case studies that demonstrate the best ways to finance various types of video games.

Evolve

The Road to the Next Generation of Development: HoloLens

Tues | 5pm to 5.45pm | Room 4

French developer Asobo Studio reflects on its experience of developing for HoloLens and the challenges AR devs face.

Business

The Four Yorkshiremen of Console Development

Weds | 11am to 11.45am | Room 6

Develop editor James Batchelor hosts a Q&A session with experienced console developers. With apologies to Monty Python.

Design

Let’s Talk Narrative, with Rhianna Pratchett

Weds | 11am to 11.45am | Room 2

Mediatonic writer Ed Fear talks to Rhianna Pratchett about her 18-year career and the challenges of working in game writing.

Design

Increase Your Innovation

Weds | 5pm to 5.45pm | Room 6

Sketchbook Games’ Mark Backler discusses how devs can discover new ideas for their games, drawn inspiration from outside the industry and learn from game jams.

Marketing

Harness the Power of the Crowd to Get Your Game Noticed

Thurs | 12.15pm to 1pm | Room 6

Drawing on her own Twitch and Kickstarter experiences, BBC technology reporter Kate Russell gives tips on the best ways to promote your project.

VR

Don’t Go Alone – Take Me! How to make a social VR experience

UK indie Triangular Pixels offers advice on how to make virtual reality a living room experience, rather than an isolating one for single players.

Audio

Open Mic 2016

Thurs | 5.45pm to 6.30pm | Room 5

The traditional end to the Audio track: an open discussion about the state of sound and music in video games, chaired by John Broomhall.