SAE Alumni Association Europe

Master Session “Darq”

SAE Master Session

Zur SAE Community gehört der Austausch mit erfolgreichen Profis, die an den Campus in geselliger Runde mit uns wertvolle Hintergrundinformationen teilen.
Da wir euch derzeit dazu nicht an die Schule einladen können, bringen wir die Events für den Moment einfach zu euch nach Hause. Nehmt an den Zoom-Sessions teil, hört den Profis zu und kommt mit ihnen ins Gespräch. Zusätzlich wird die Session auf Youtube live gestreamt.

Zum Auftakt der Reihe gab es eine SAE Master Online Session mit Feardemic, Dreamloop Games und dem Spiel…

DARQ: Complete Edition

DARQ ist ein atemberaubendes Alptraum-Surrealismus-Spiel, das neunmal (!) nominiert wurde. Unter anderem für …
– Best Game
– Best Audio
– Best Sound
– Best Game Music
– Best Adventure Game
– Best Cover Art

Mehdi Benkirane, Business Development und Sales Manager bei Remote Control Productions, Europas größter Developer Family führte durch die spannende Stunde mit seinen Gästen

  • Scott Millard (Managing Director bei Feardemic – Publisher von DARQ) und
  • Joni Lappalainen (CEO bei Dreamloop Games – Porting Developer von DARQ)

Scott und Joni erzählten über die Entstehung von DARQ, ihre Jobs in der Games Industrie und ließen uns hinter die Kulissen blicken.
Im Anschluss standen die Profis in einer interaktiven Q&A Session Rede und Antwort.

Hier geht’s zum Youtube-Recording,

Unter anderem wurden folgende Punkte beleuchtet:

  • Wie ist das Spiel DARQ entstanden?
  • Wie und wieso wurde das Spiel gesignt?
  • Welche Kriterien gibt es für einen Spiele-Publisher?
  • Wie läuft der Prozess der Auswahl von Portierungspartnern aus?
  • Wie leitet man ein unanhängiges Lean Video-Spiel-Studio?
  • Kommunikation zwischen Hersteller / Vertrieb / Portierungspartnern
  • Warum ist Leidenschaft ein Antrieb für den kreativen Prozess?
  • Welche Herausforderungen gibt es beim Portieren?

 

Scott Millard:

Mr. Millard is Managing Director of FEARDEMIC sp. z o.o, a wholly owned subsidiary of BLOOBER TEAM S.A, a publisher of computer games and their related entertainment products.
Previously Mr. Millard had held various positions in games industry. Most notably the Asian distribution of Bethesda games including the Award winning Elder Scrolls Skyrim and Asia versions of The Elder Scrolls Online.
Previously Mr. Millard served as Managing Director of Namco Bandai Partners Singapore Pte Ltd and Namco Bandai Partners Korea Ltd, a post he held for near 7 years that saw him oversee the releases of dozens of triple A titles.
Mr. Millard was co-founder of a Korean Games Association that represents the interests of foreign and local publishers operating in the packaged games sector in the Korean domestic market.
In 2005 Mr. Millard held the post of Vice President, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Committee, European Union Chamber of Commerce Korea.
Mr. Millard’s also oversees e-commerce platforms and four physical distribution hubs across four countries for the world’s finest headphone manufacturer. He consults for several games industry organisations and companies, and is a regular blogger and producer of opinion pieces for various publications.

Joni Lappalainen

Joni Lappalainen is the CEO of Dreamloop Games, and an instrumental contributor to Finland’s gaming and startup scene. Joni serves as the Vice President of Tampere Game Hub, the Chairman of the Board at Platform6, the co-founder of Tampere Startup Hub, and as a regional coordinator for IGDA Finland.
Additionally, Joni has served as a member of the board of education for Oulu University of Applied Sciences, and as a producer for more than 20 game projects.
In his spare time, Joni relentlessly builds Finland’s gaming ecosystem by mentoring young game studios and plays video games under the judgmental eyes of his cats.

Mehdi Benkirane

Over the years, Mehdi has worn many hats allowing him to combine his passion for digital technology and business development. By observing trends and maintaining a high level of dialogue with key players in the entertainment/tech industry, he has led many budget sensitive go-to-market strategies ensuring optimal ROI, conversion, and retention rates. An SAE graduate himself, Mehdi has worked as an independent engineer for acts such acts such as Killswitch Engage, The Streets, and Tom Middleton prior to heading the coordination of the various academic departments across the Benelux and Francophone regions, after which he headed industry relations for the SAE group in Europe. Shortly after his career at SAE, Mehdi worked as a music publisher for games until he eventually committed fully to the Games Industry by joining Remote Control Productions as business development and sales manager. Mehdi’s core activities consist of positioning RCP’s family studios’ own projects with publishers worldwide as well as securing co-development and/or work for hire projects.

Feardemic Games sp. z o.o. is a publisher of computer games and related entertainment products.
Feardemics mission is to deliver to its audience quality entertainment experiences that evoke the most interesting and what some believe to be the most important of human emotions: fear, trepidation and revulsion. These are the feeling that keep us safe and warn us of impending disaster, and in turn frame our understanding of joy, elation and happiness.
Feardemic is more than just a publisher or game developer. It’s an idea and a philosophy. Feardemic is a full-service publisher and investor in intellectual property and game development studios. Feardemic is a subsidiary of Bloober Team SA, a publicly traded company behind a psychological horror classic Layers of Fear (2016) and a cyberpunk horror >Observer_ (2017) and Blair Witch (2019) and based in Europe’s cultural capital – Krakow Poland!

Dreamloop Games is a 15-person independent game development studio from Tampere, Finland. Our fun-loving crew has a mission to create rock-solid games that are fun to play, aesthetically polished, and challenging.

We have extensive experience porting Unity 3D and Unreal Engine 4 games from PC to consoles and deftly navigate console-specific certification processes. In addition to bringing our own title “Stardust Galaxy Warriors” from PC to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, we have a strong track record of helping developers and publishers successfully launch titles across all major consoles.
We offer a full art pipeline from concept design to finished game- or marketing/community-ready assets. We’re well-equipped to create full assets from scratch or step in as a part of a pre-existing pipeline.
Our audio team has extensive experience in producing and implementing game audio, as well as in composing music. Our critically acclaimed own-IP title Stardust Galaxy Warriors features a full-length album-quality soundtrack.
Dreamloop Games is a proud member of Remote Control Productions, Europe’s largest game development family.

Remote Control Productions
remote control productions (rcp) is an independent, internationally active production house and represents Europe’s largest developer family with 10 studios in 4 countries, a gamification company, an internal publisher and an agency for digital marketing. Since 2005 the Munich-based company together with its teams has shipped more than 350 projects for all major platforms including Angry Birds Epic, Bus Simulator 18, Angry Birds Evolution, Ostwind (Windstorm), Sacred Legends, Knights of Valour or Pet Hotel.

Unfold Games is a video game development studio based in Los Angeles, California. Founded by a former film composer Wlad Marhulets, the studio is known for its customer-first approach, open communication, and transparency. Their first title, DARQ, became one of the most shared PC video games of 2019 (Metacritic) and ensured its rapid growth, with multiple new projects planned in the near future.

 

Game at a glance DARQ:
Complete Edition tells the story of Lloyd, a boy who becomes aware of the fact that he is dreaming. To Lloyd’s misfortune, the dream quickly turns into a nightmare and all attempts to wake up end in failure.

While exploring the darkest corners of his subconscious, Lloyd learns how to survive the nightmare by bending the laws of physics and manipulating the fluid fabric of the dream world. Apart from gravity-defying puzzles, Lloyd will have to use stealth when around enemies. He has no chance of winning in an open confrontation since the creatures he will encounter are much more powerful and faster than him. Instead, he has to rely on careful planning to avoid getting detected.

While in development, DARQ won Best Of The MIX Award at PAX West 2018 and landed on the front page of reddit multiple times, becoming one of the most upvoted posts in the history of Reddit. Created almost entirely by a first-time solo developer (and a few talented contractors), DARQ launched to commercial success and critical acclaim on Steam and GOG. Since launch, DARQ has won numerous awards, competing both with indie and AAA titles (most recently, DARQ was nominated for TIGA’s Best Adventure Game Award, alongside The Last of Us Part II). Ultimately, DARQ became the 42nd Most Shared PC Game of 2019 (Metacritic).