Game Republic started the year with a packed house of 100 game developers for the Narrative Design and Trends Forecast 2024 at Avenue HQ in Leeds, sponsored by Revolution Software. Check out the gallery below the article for photos and some of the social media feedback.
The event featured a packed speaker schedule, beginning with an announcement about Game Republic’s Official Partners for 2024 – Red Kite Games, Escape Technology and Barclays! We’re delighted to have them back as Official Partners and fantastic supporters of Game Republic and the network.
The event started with the game trends forecast – a presentation from Head of Games B2B at GamesIndustry.biz, Chris Dring, delivering a definitive sum-up of the complex picture of the last few years of the games industry, with predictions (and caveats) for 2024 which included larger developers, publishers and investors likely to focus and play it safe this year, with safe bets and licensed games, but with opportunities for indies to fill the gaps in the first half of the year. AI would be used more for development and will continue to be a major topic, as will subscription expanding. Chris also identified the growth of Epic’s Fortnite as a platform for all kinds of games – and speculation of a new “Switch 2” from Nintendo and new iterations of PS5 and Xbox from Sony and Microsoft as things to expect.
Creative agency Other Things’ Richy Pears provided top 5 tips on marketing narrative games with soundtrack and trailers to highlight key ways to promote games and the marketing advantages of narrative games. Tips included knowing your players, finding your game’s superpowers and spending smarter not harder.
Ben Board from Epic Games followed sharing opportunities with Unreal, including new features of Unreal Engine 5.3, the Epic Store and the expansion of Unreal Editor for Fortnite, which as Chris Dring referred to, is expanding to include LEGO Fortnite, Fortnite Rocket Racing, Fortnite Festival and of course, Battle Royale – a complete games-making and publishing platform available everywhere that Fortnite is played.
Next up was the Narrative Design panel, with stellar writers from games, TV and graphic novels – Rhianna Pratchett (Tomb Raider, Mirror’s Edge), Paul Cornell (Doctor Who, Marvel) and Charles Cecil (Broken Sword, Beyond a Steel Sky) – with Dr Jackie Mulligan from Game Republic hosting. We’ll have a full write-up of the panel on the site soon – there were so many insights and great stories shared, but topics discussed included creative processes, tips for narrative games with low budgets, trends in the sector and new technologies.
Afterwards conversations continued with attendees enjoying networking with the speakers and other developers, educational partners and affiliates. Big thanks to Revolution Software for sponsoring, Barclays Eagle Lab for hosting the event at the Avenue HQ venue, our Official Partners Escape Technology, Red Kite Games and Barclays and to all the fantastic attendees who braved the artic blasts to attend and make this such a super start to the year. Next event is an exclusive Game Republic members only webinar with Valve Software on the 8th February. Check your inboxes for the code to access it.
If you would like to attend events like this, but are not a member of Game Republic – you can find out about joining the network here.
