Christophe De bont 
17/01/2017Last Thursday FLEGA, along with Start it @KBC and the Cronos group, hosted a cosy New Year’s drink in Antwerp. Thanks to all who attended and everyone who made this event possible!
Before diving head first into drinks, finger food and game showcases, the event was kicked off by a round table discussion about the lifecycle of a game. Moderated by FLEGA’s David Verbruggen, a panel consisting of Pajama Llama’s Dave Van Verdegem, PreviewLabs’ Bernard François, Sileni Studio’s Karel Crombecq and I-Illusions’ Dirk Van Welden discussed various challenges in different production stages of game development.
Round table discussion in full swing. Photo by Hasan Ali Almaci.
Here are some interesting takeaways and tips from the discussion:
- During pre-production, it’s a good idea to test out several ideas and prototype them.
- Make sure your funding is balanced – simply relying on friends, fans, and family isn’t going to cut it. Look into various funding options like VAF Gamefonds, Creative Europe Media, or Digital Plan Belgium seed capital.
- Get out there and TALK to people. You’ll meet people who will try and help you secure funding.
- Never underestimate the scope, timing and budget of a project. Know your burn rate and keep a close eye on your resources.
- Marketing and PR are key: send out personal mails to bloggers and journalists, don’t give away Steam codes too easily as they are sometimes sold for personal gain.
- When collaborating with a publisher or PR agency, only work with renowned partners whose reputation gets damaged if your game tanks. Try to negotiate as much details into a contract.
- When things go south with your publisher or PR agency, Belgian law overrules any contract. You can invoke breach of trust to get out of almost any contract.
- Get out there and show off your game as much as possible.
After the round table people could enjoy delicious grilled cheese sandwiches. Photo by Hasan Ali Almaci.
Afterwards everyone was treated to drinks, delicious grilled cheese sandwiches and game showcases of Space Pirate Trainer, Flotsam and sU. Check out some of the photos!
You can’t drink and drive but you sure as hell can drink and shoot down spaceships. Photo by Hasan Ali Almaci.
Once again a big thank you to the panel members, Start it @KBC and Cronos for the spotless organisation and you for visiting. See you at the next FLEGA café!
