Games have gotten increasingly expensive to make, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Using the things he learned from making games like Skyrim and Fallout, Nate will explain how he has approached creating large indie games that would typically be out of scope for a solo developer. His first indie game The Axis Unseen had a world 5x the size of Skyrim and released exactly on time after 3.5 years of production. In his next game you can use anything you can find as a weapon to get revenge on the ultra-rich while traversing multiple unique locations, so it has even more art and systems complexity. By listening to this talk you’ll understand how that goes from an absurd and impossible idea, to one that is 100% viable for a solo dev. He will talk about smart art direction choices that make content creation easier, production methods, picking the right software for the job and how to prioritize things.

Since 2024, Steam has intensified the number of changes concerning storefront and store page optimization. I will examine these updates and analyze their impact on our products, determining the best strategies for adaptation. This presentation will focus specifically on elements related to in-store product presentation, such as screenshots, graphics, and other visual assets.

Building progression systems isn’t just about features it’s about longevity. Over time, even small design flaws can become massive production headaches. This session will explore how to think about system design not as a one-time solution, but as a living, evolving structure. I will share lessons learned from years of building and maintaining progression systems across AAA and mobile projects. I'll focus on how to plan for change, communicate across disciplines, and set up systems that empower, not constrain, your future self and your teammates.

Key Takeaways:
1. Learn a mindset for sustainable and adaptable system design
2. Discover practical methods for version-proofing data-driven systems
3. Improve collaboration between design, QA, and engineering

All of this backed by real examples from PCF and Plarium

The indie games space has never been more crowded, and the once tried-and-true routes to building a financially sustainable studio have never been less reliable. Serious and impact games aren't a quick fix, but - whether as an additional revenue stream or an all-in business model - they offer access to alternative funding pipelines, institutional partners and often ready-made audiences. Drawing on experience building an educational/social impact games studio into a multimillion-dollar business and leading serious game jam initiatives with NGOs, governments and UN agencies, Global Game Jam executive director Maria Burns Ortiz makes the case that serious games aren't just altruistic but smart business.

Honest discussion about how AI is reshaping QA in the games industry — what is already changing, what is still hype, and where QA professionals may need to adapt next. Practical, direct, and forward-looking - a panel discussion focused QA professionals and developers who want to understand how testing, quality, and QA careers may evolve in the age of AI.

Preparing to pitch your game, but unsure how to find the right partner that covers your needs as a developer? This talk will explore the pros and cons of publishing a project financing agreement, or simply doing it all by yourself. There is never one model that fits all, but how to find the model that fits you?

Classic postmortem of the 2003 hit and its troubled sequel from 2005. How development looked 25 years ago and what mistakes should be avoided even now.

What happens when a single button transforms the rules of the game mid-play? In this talk, we explore the design and engineering of dimension-shifting mechanics—where one space becomes four distinct gameplay modes, each re-skinning the environment and rewriting combat, traversal, and interaction. Using our upcoming rogue-lite Cosmo Tales as a case study, we'll walk through the core challenges: readability under constant state changes, fair encounters across modes, and systems that stay stable while everything reconfigures. Expect concrete problems, the solutions we landed on, and practical takeaways for anyone building rapid, multi-mode gameplay that feels clear, cohesive, and satisfying.

For decades, Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) has been the standard for AAA engines. However, as hardware evolves toward massive multi-core parallelism, the limitations of OOP have become bottlenecks for scalability and iteration speed.
This session dives into the development of "WoT: HEAT," using a pure ECS engine designed to power the next generation of World of Tanks games. We will explore the architectural shift required to move a massive AAA live-service game into a data-oriented paradigm. Attendees will learn how a pure ECS approach facilitates determinism, simplifies multi-threading, and allows a single unified engine to handle diverse gameplay systems.

Q & A with Nate Purkeypile

As game development scales in complexity, teams face growing pressure to create larger worlds, higher-fidelity assets, and multi-platform content—often with limited resources. This session explores why optimization must be treated not as a late-stage technical task, but as a core production and business strategy. We’ll discuss how studios can reduce risk, prevent performance bottlenecks, streamline outsourcing, and accelerate iteration by building optimization into their pipelines from day one. Drawing from real-world industry practices, attendees will learn practical approaches for designing scalable asset workflows, enabling consistent quality, and preparing for the future demands of AI-generated and user-generated 3D content.

Key Learnings:

Why optimization belongs in pre-production, not during crisis mode Learn how early planning prevents expensive rework and late-stage performance problems.
How to structure scalable asset pipelines that support large worlds and high content volume
Understand frameworks for integrating optimization into art, tech art, and engineering workflows.
How optimization improves business outcomes
Explore how production efficiency, predictable scheduling, and better outsourcing practices reduce cost and risk.
How to prepare for AI-generated and UGC-driven content growth
Learn why future pipelines must be able to ingest, validate, and optimize unpredictable assets at scale.
How to deliver consistent performance across multiple platforms See how early pipeline decisions make cross-platform development easier and more sustainable.
How optimization increases iteration speed and creative freedom Understand the relationship between technical constraints and creative flexibility.

Throughout this talk we will explore why version control is the gaming industry's lord and savior and how significant its impact is on it. We will go through real life examples, common mistakes and how version control, when properly used, can address them: from solo dev to AAA studio. When you leave the room, you will have a clearer notion on why this is something that no dev should be afraid of!

JetBrains Rider is the ultimate game development IDE for Unity, Unreal Engine and Godot, and we keep on making it better. We’ll look at new and improved workflows across coding, debugging, analysis, and AI-assisted features that can help you work faster and smarter and write better games. The session is demo-driven and focused on ideas you can adopt gradually—regardless of engine, project size, or team setup.

Modern players want more than updates. They want involvement. In this session, we explore how to shift from reactive communication to intentional community design. Learn how to identify meaningful feedback, empower creators and modders, navigate criticism, and build a collaborative relationship between studio and player base.

What changes when you move from creating animation to leading artists? And what stays the same across film and video games?

In this talk, Animation Director Guillermo Dupinet shares lessons from over two decades of experience across both industries. Focusing on creative judgment in real production environments, he explores how leaders make decisions under pressure, how meaningful feedback shapes performance, and how artistic quality can be protected within tight deadlines and shifting realities.

This session is for artists, seniors and aspiring leads who want to better understand what truly helps when guiding creative teams in production

An honest conversation about relocating internationally for work in the games industry - the opportunities, sacrifices, culture shocks, and life-changing experiences that come with it.

Raw, funny, emotional, and highly practical two-man party talk focused on giving attendees realistic expectations rather than corporate answers.

This talk will cover both the artistic and technical perspectives of the system. I would explain how Technical Art works closely with Environment Art to ensure procedural tools meet visual, production, and performance requirements. The session would include a deeper technical dive into our building generation pipeline, key design decisions, common challenges, and lessons learned during production.

My goal is to provide practical insights that are directly applicable to teams working on procedural environments, especially where close collaboration between art and technology is required.

Where is it that the tech designer can really make the difference? Your designers are blocked, your programmers are buried in tickets, and your tools somehow make everything slower. You think you need a tech designer, and you are probably right. But this talk isn’t about hiring one, it’s about placing one.
We’ll break down how tech designers act as system owners, cut through handoffs, tame chaotic systems, and turn fragile pipelines into scalable content production…and why, if you get it wrong, nothing actually improves.

How to create and work with emotion, not only in mobile ads. We'll talk about evolutionary reasons for feeling emotions, what to do and what not to do when creating your marketing creative.

This workshop introduces the Gamebadges project and its outputs for education, aimed at educators, school representatives, and students. The main focus is the competence map of the game industry, which helps students understand roles, identify skill gaps, and plan their learning pathways. It also supports curriculum alignment with industry needs. The session will briefly present the related system of badges and micro-credentials currently piloted in schools.

Martin Pernica and Johny Darkwah

AI is becoming a practical tool that can help teams save time, reduce repetitive work, and improve everyday workflows. This mixer session will explore how AI can support day-to-day operations, from communication, planning, research, and documentation to task management and process automation.

The session is designed as an open discussion for registered participants interested in practical ways to use tools such as custom agents, Custom GPTs, and AI-powered workflows within their own teams, projects, or studios.

In his talk, Executive Producer of KCD2 will explore the production process Warhorse used in developing their award-winning game. Starting from the fundamentals of the production, he will go into tricks and custom made solutions for that project, and give candid assessment of what worked and what didn't.

Czech game developers are connected through various professional, national, and regional associations that continuously work to grow the Czech game dev ecosystem. What benefits can this collaboration actually bring?

Presentation of the activities and goals of individual organizations: Czech Game Developers Association, Game Education Association, Game Cluster, Game Devs Ostrava, and Visiongame. Followed by a discussion with their representatives.

This technical session breaks down the C-Engine's optimization for PS5, XSX, and Steam Deck. We will analyze the City Builder system, data streaming for high-res textures, and dynamic memory allocation. Detailed focus is placed on Ray Tracing Illumination algorithms and Height Shadow Maps, including CPU/GPU efficiency tests and debugging workflows. We will examine the architectural trade-offs between Performance, Balanced, and Quality modes, supported by side-by-side RT vs. non-RT visual comparisons and LOD scaling data to demonstrate precise hardware resource management.

This presentation explores the journey of Bytebond (previously known as Bzzz! Together in power), beginning with its victory at the Game Access Conference 2022 and finishing with a successful market release. We will talk about the transition from a prize-winning prototype to a polished commercial product, highlighting the strategic problems overcome along the way.

This session introduces the essential principles of UX design for anyone working in game development, regardless of discipline or seniority. The core premise is simple: every role in a development team influences the player experience, and understanding fundamental UX concepts enables better decisions across the entire production pipeline.

The talk will outline how people naturally perceive, process, and respond to information, and how these behavioral patterns can be leveraged to design more intuitive games.

No prior knowledge of UX is required. Participants will walk away with a practical understanding of what UX is, why it matters, and how to start applying its core principles in their everyday work.

In the world of Virtual Reality, immersion is often described as a "bubble"—fragile, beautiful, and incredibly easy to burst. We spend millions on high-fidelity graphics and powerful hardware, yet the smallest oversight in a physical interaction or a sensory mismatch can instantly pull a user out of the experience.

This session dives into the psychology and "micro-mechanics" of the virtual feeling. We will explore why human perception craves sensory feedback and how to master the art of "Touching the Invisible"—using subtle haptic cues, spatial audio, and intuitive design to convince the brain that the digital world is real.

We’ll move beyond the theory to look at practical applications across industries, questioning whether current breakthroughs represent a slow evolution or the spark of a true technological revolution. Finally, we will discuss why the principles of immersion aren't gated behind a headset; they are becoming the new standard for all digital human-computer interactions.

Agenda
1. Introduction: My journey in XR and quick dive into my research.
2. Defining the Bubble: What is immersion, and why is it so easily broken?
3. The Sensory Gap: Why the "virtual feeling" is a biological necessity, not a luxury.
4. Touching the Invisible: Techniques for creating tactile illusions without physical constraints.
5. Evidence of Impact: Analyzing the data—does high immersion actually improve outcomes?
6. Practical Realities: Implementation strategies for industry and entertainment.
7. Evolution or Revolution: Predicting the "Great Future" of immersive hardware.
8. The Universal Standard: Applying immersion principles to non-VR environments.
9. Q&A: Open floor for discussion and deep-dives (10 Minutes).

Agnieszka Gałecka and Filip Šťastný

A successful Steam launch starts long before the release date. This mixer session will focus on how developers can prepare their Steam presence, from store page setup, visuals, trailers, tags, and wishlists to messaging, timing, and community building.

The session is designed as an open discussion for registered participants who want to improve their launch strategy, ask questions, exchange experiences, and explore practical steps to help their game reach the right audience.

Industry veterans discuss how to keep players engaged and hooked for the long haul, sharing best practices alongside the harsher lessons learned from the development of Gray Zone Warfare, The Wizards: Dark Times, Silent Hill 2 Remake, the Fallout series, Skyrim, Starfield, and Arma. Learn how creative direction, art direction, and environment design play a vital role in a video game's longevity.

What does "stability" actually mean in the 2026 games market? Join our panel of industry experts for a conversation about what it actually takes to land a job today. We’ll dive into hiring essentials - like portfolio impact and universal skills - before exploring how LLMs are transforming both recruiting and job hunting.

Have you ever gotten lost in a level? Were you not able to see in the dark areas? Did you think there was treasure where there wasn't? Lighting is one of the last elements of videogame production, being able to make or break your gameplay and storytelling. In this talk we will look at various examples of common mistakes in game lighting and how you and your team can avoid them before it is too late.

What if game music could rebuild itself every time it loops?
This talk explores the so-called "Adaptive Chain System", a compositional method that turns looping background tracks into endlessly evolving musical experiences.

This system uses modular “chunks” of music that reconnect in different combinations each time the loop restarts. The result: even if the player stays in the same area for twenty minutes, the music never feels repetitive or static.

Each playback creates a new, logically consistent chain that feels composed by hand, yet adapts naturally in real time. This approach bridges traditional composition with adaptive game logic, showing how small musical building blocks can create infinite emotional variation without losing musical structure.

Whether you’re a composer, sound designer, or developer, you’ll learn how to transform static loops into living, breathing scores that stay fresh no matter how long the player lingers.

Godot has rapidly gained popularity in recent years, but many studios still question whether it is ready for serious production.

In this talk, I’ll share insights from research I conducted for two game studios evaluating whether Godot could be a viable engine for their projects. We’ll look at the strengths and limitations of the engine, what kinds of projects it is best suited for, and where it still struggles compared to other engines.

The talk will also include practical lessons from daily development in Godot — covering workflow, tooling, performance, and ecosystem maturity.

Rather than focusing on hype or opinions, the goal is to provide a realistic picture of where Godot stands today and when it makes sense to choose it over alternatives like Unity or Unreal Engine.

I will discuss the process of recording and designing a wide range of sounds for KCD2, as well as the challenges of creating an authentic soundscape. The session will also cover practical recording techniques, microphone setups, and selected implementation workflows used to bring the world to life in-game.

Times have changed, the AI tools are either opportunity or a destruction element in education processes - it depends on who you ask. In this panel we will discuss how particular courses changed in the post-covid AI era. The panel will focus on concrete cases of change and new approaches we as teachers had to design and apply on curriculum. We encourage the audience to participate, especially if you teach as well, any experiences and best practices shared are welcomed.

We'll dive into what balancing means for online PvE titles, when and how to start balancing in early development to retain control over the game as well as dos & don'ts of balance design. We'll compare data vs holistics to see why neither can be ignored and go over some precedences and stories to give perspective why online titles live and die based on how you balance your game and how you respond to the playerbase and what future may await you based on the choices make as a developer

The Core Challenge: The "Fun" Gap
The success of any video game hinges on the experience of "fun"—a notoriously elusive concept. In practice, materializing this experience requires constant iteration due to a persistent friction: the divergence between the Game Designer’s mental model and that of the end user. As Donald Norman established, mental models are internal representations of how a system works; they are often simplified and inaccurate. In game design, this leads to "Game Designer Catnip"—mechanics that designers find brilliant but which fail to resonate with real-world players who approach the system with entirely different expectations.

The Limits of Traditional Telemetry
For over a decade, gameplay traces and telemetry have been the gold standard for modeling behavior. However, these quantitative approaches face critical bottlenecks. First, they often lack a foundation in psychological theory, resulting in data that tells us what happened (a player died 10 times) without explaining why (frustration, lack of clarity, or intentional challenge). Second, traditional analytics are frequently siloed within "in-game" activities, ignoring the vast ecosystem surrounding the play session.

Expanding the Scope: The "Invisible Playground"
To achieve a true 360-degree vision of the player, we must look beyond the game engine. A significant portion of the player experience occurs in what Salen and Zimmerman call the "Invisible Playground": community forums, Discord servers, the modding scene, and even navigation through game menus.

This talk argues that a video game is not just a software product but a global Customer Journey. From the moment of acquisition to the interaction with technical support, every touchpoint matters. Just as a consumer's past experience with a brand shapes their future expectations, a player's history with a specific genre (e.g., RPGs) dictates how they evaluate your game. Traditional telemetry is blind to these external influences.

The Solution: NLP and the Internet of Behavior (IoB)
We propose an evolution of Game User Research through the integration of two powerful tools:

Natural Language Processing (NLP): By applying semantic analysis to the "Invisible Playground," we can transform qualitative feedback (player reviews, forum debates) into quantitative insights that complement gameplay logs.

Internet of Behavior (IoB): An extension of IoT, IoB focuses on analyzing data patterns to understand human behavior, intentions, and underlying needs. By capturing a wide variety of data—from navigation speed to platform-switching and geographic context—IoB allows us to infer the "why" behind the "what."

Moving Toward Adaptive Design
The ultimate goal of this hybrid approach is to move away from fixed archetypes. Players are not static categories; their motivations shift based on their mood, their social context, and their progression. By combining behavioral IoT data with semantic NLP analysis, studios can build a dynamic, 360-degree model of their audience. This allows for more adaptive game design, more ethical monetization, and, ultimately, a product that truly aligns with the player's mental model.

Everything you need to know about video game support from the Czech Audiovisual Fund in the Czech Republic

This talk will be held in Czech.

Let's support and reward the best of our Indie teams in categories of Best Game, Best Art, and Best Gameplay. And yes, you can vote too!