September’s been quite a busy month here in slab, from Roadshow events to our recent launch of our website. The Road to IGDX has been a fruitful experience, and we wanted to talk about it!
For those who don’t know, the IGDX, or Indonesia Game Developer Exchange is an annual event organized by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics in collaboration with the Indonesian Game Association (AGI), as part of the ongoing effort to increase the technical qualities and business capabilities of the Indonesian game developer. IGDX was held successfully back in 2019 and 2021, bringing together many game industry stakeholders, nationally and globally, to share their knowledge and expertise, as well as build valuable networks with hundreds of Indonesian game developers.
In 2022, IGDX is running on a larger scale by combining hybrid on-site activities and a series of online meetings which include the IGDX Academy, IGDX Business, IGDX Conference and newly added, IGDX Careers.
Slab has been on the road to IGDX, and participated in three roadshows, and became one of the sponsors for the IGDX Academy roadshow in the city of Bandung last September 8th. In addition, Sebastian, Founder and CTO of SLAB, became one of the mentors at IGDX in 2022 sharing knowledge regarding the gaming industry to game developers in Indonesia during the Academy and Career sections!
Sharing his thoughts, Sebastian tells about his mentoring experience for IGDX, and his tips when working on one’s game app!
Sebastian: It’s amazing to see such a high amount of energy and drive to build great games. There is a lot of confusion what and how to do certain things but most of the time openly talking about helps already to lead to a more specific path.
The most important aspect to consider [when developing games] is focus. Of course some studios still need to live on work-for-hire projects to fund their own projects but reducing these and picking projects which also help them building their own IP is tremendously important. Also a big pitfall I have seen is that, because you’re uncertain and somewhat insecure of what project to chose to build your own IP, that detracts and makes it very difficult to build a really great game, so my advise always is to try to find out what works as quickly as possible, certainly there is no lack of ideas and quite the opposite actually so you’ll need to talk with potential players and your games target audience as early as possible, try to refine and get as much as possible out. Do some very basic artwork, one-level games to get some quantitative metrics and then decide as quickly as possible on the most promising topic but never forget that you, as a game developer/studio, also need to be passionate about it. Players have a very good instinct and can easily see if you are just in for the money or you’re really passionate about making that specific game.
This is also Sebastian and Anant’s first IGDX event, and have made their way to the Surabaya roadshow, and will be heading for the October IGDX event in Bali!
On-site at the venues, Four Points by Sheraton in Bandung, and Double Tree Hotel in Bandung, was Nita Femmilia, our marketing head for the Indonesian market, who had some thoughts to share about the roadshow events!
How was your experience during the roadshows? What were the moments that stood out to you the most in the events? Are there any event types you found particularly interesting?
Nita: Participating in the 2022 IGDX roadshow is a very exciting experience. How come? Because the event was able to open fresh minds about the development of the games industry on a local (Indonesian) and global scale. There were event featured speakers who were experts in their fields and who shared their exciting experiences, both when they failed and when they got up and achieved success. The materials provided also vary, so that we have many opportunities to ask questions to get detailed and broad answers and insights. I think this is the most prominent thing about this event: anyone gets the opportunity to be able to upgrade their knowledge so that in the future they can move more precisely.
What opportunities have been provided to the game developers with IGDX 2022 by SLAB? What opportunities did SLAB get in these events?
Nita: In this event, SLAB provided opportunities through solutions to help game developers in Indonesia not hesitate in distributing or marketing a mobile game application. SLAB also answered to all game developers’ doubts in competing to attract the attention of the target market. SLAB is here to give power to your game application so that it can increase good results for download or install traffic. This is an amazing opportunity for SLAB because it has the opportunity to build relationships with game developers in Indonesia who are known to have good quality in making game applications, so SLAB believes that this is a shared opportunity for SLAB and game developers to achieve success and be at the point of success.
Can you tell us some fun stories in your interactions with other participants? What did you learn from them?
Nita: Making new friends and being able to establish good relationships is one of the fun things about participating in this event. By communicating with them, we are able to find out what game applications are currently being processed, what problems have been encountered so far, what the obstacles are, whether actions have been taken, and whether or not solutions have been found. Knowing all of their stories and complaints were enjoyable because it allows the game developer and SLAB to communicate and build trust between each other. Because establishing a good relationship is a long-term goal that has a good impact on both parties.
Turning a more few questions to Sebastian and Anant, Founder and Strategy +Operations director, regarding their thoughts!
How have these events helped game developers and publishers?
Sebastian: I believe that you can’t develop games on your own, it’s tremendously valuable to speak with other game developers, service providers and publishers who are frank and direct. It helps to see your projects from a different point of view and sharpens your focus and gives you a great amount of new ideas.
How would you encourage aspiring game developers to join events like these? What can they get out of attending these kinds of events?
Anant: This event has been specifically created for the Indonesian game developers to get together, network and also learn some new trends coming up in games, where they can find resources to help them develop games. So for the developers, this is a great forum for them to problem solve with like-minded passionate game developers and also know more about what’s happening in their sector.
And that concludes our highlights for IGDX events so far! Got a story or insight to share about IGDX? Tag us in our socials about your experience meeting with slab or chat us up in our live chat!
