Industry Day 2020

The Singapore Games Association (“SGGA”) held the Industry Day - the association’s biggest event to date - from 7th to 8th of August 2020. The Industry Day aims to bridge the gap between the education and development sectors of the games development industry and to become a nurturing ground for Singapore-based talents to springboard their careers in the industry. 

Industry Day continues the efforts of the former Singapore Games Guild, which started the annual event in 2018. This year’s edition, organised by SGGA, expanded its scope to include esports. The team and its supporting partners digitized the event for the first time through Zoom and Discord platforms. 

The first segment started off on a Friday night at 7:00pm (SGT) with an Opening Speech by Gwen Guo, our Chairperson. She introduced the vision for SGGA to include all facets of gaming – everything from games dev(elopement) to esports – and the mission of uplifting said facets to an internationally-recognized standard through networking, international communications and collaborations.

Following which, our first Keynote speaker was Teddy Dief, the Director & Co-writer at 🌴 (palm tree emoji project), and co-designer of the award-winning RPG, Hyper Light Drifter. Attendees had the chance to learn from his experiences as he shared his journey and thought processes in becoming a games designer in an exclusive pre-recorded video.

The talks that followed featured a diverse range of speakers from around the world, which included active and former members of AAA studios, indie developers, directors, (video) presenters, and many others across various sections of the industry – all of whom generously shared their experiences and learning points with the attendees.

An important aspect of the Industry Day is the portfolio showcase, where students were able to present their works to the industry, providing them with the opportunity to experience the pitching process and receive first-hand feedback about their work from the attendees and industry members. 

After each day’s talks and events, the attendees proceeded to the SGGA official Discord channel, where speakers and attendees mingled and interacted for the Networking portion of the event. 

The event peaked at 160 attendees, with at least 50 attendees per session. 

Overall, it was a huge learning experience as we pulled together not only the largest event of SGGA, but also successfully converted it online. We hope that the event has helped in bringing together individuals from around the world in a passionate exploration of the games industry’s prospects, and the craft that goes on behind it. In the time of COVID-19, it  is a reminder of just how small this world can be in this digital age, and that despite the quarantine periods, none of us is truly alone in this industry.

Here’s looking to the next time, and may it be held under better times.

Full List of Topics and Presenters:

No	Topic (and brief description)	Speaker (Name)	Title	Video Link
1	AAA - From SEA to Overseas “A look into the life in large, multi-national companies”	Zhou Xuanming (Mod)	Lead Game Designer @ Paradox Interactive	Link
		Der Hui Tai	Software Engineer @ Respawn Entertainment
		Seow Zong Hui	Game Designer @ Arc System Works
		May Ling Tan	Senior Game Designer @ Google Stadia
2	The Importance of Narrative “A tale in the dev. of a game’s story.”	Nicholas Chan (Mod)	Freelance Writer	Link
		Clara Fernandez-Vara	Associate Arts Professor @ New York University
		Fahmi Hasni	Indie Developer
		Cassandra Khaw	Senior Scriptwriter @ Ubisoft Montreal
3	Surviving Outside of AAA In Singapore “A look into Indie dev. in Singapore”	Shawn Toh (Mod)	CEO @ Co-Founder @ Battlebrew Productions	Link
		Zhang Zi Tian	COO & Co-Founfter @ Lionfish Studios
		Edmund Ching	Indie Developer @ Unexpec3d Developments
		Kim Naylor	Co-Founder @ LandShark Games
4	Being an Artist in Gamedev “How to build your career as an artist in games”	Stephen Leong	Producer @ VOLTA – A Keywords Studio	Link
5	Tips & Tricks for New Game Ideation “How to get your game design ideas across effectively”	Keane Tan	Senior Game Designer @ Riot Games HKSG	Link
6	The Role FB Plays in SEA Esports “A casual conversation around what it takes to build a platform”	Vivek Sharma	Vice President, Gaming @ Facebook	Link

7	How to Get A Job in Esports “4 varied ways to get a job into the world of esports”	Lysander Lim (Mod)	Esports Commentator / Host	Link
		Dan Pantumsinchai	Head of Strategic Partnerships @ Riot Games Southeast Asia
		Felicia Lim	Esports Marketing Director @ ONE Esports
		Beatrice Wee	Assistant Manager, Global Partnerships @ Secretlab
8	How Do Teams Recruit “A look into the other side of the recruiting table”	Jayf Soh (Mod)	CEO & Founder @ Resurgence	Link
		Yassine Jaada	Chief Gaming Officer @ PSG Esports
		Xiao Yi Zhang (Sean)	CEO @ Talon Esports
		Dr. Alan Bunney	CEO @ Panda Global

Opening, keynote, and other related speeches:

No	Topic	Speaker (Name)	Title	Video Link
1	Opening (Day-1)	Gwen Gwo	Chairperson @ SGGA Co-Founder @ Imba Interactive	Link
2	Keynote	Teddy Dief	Writer, Director @ 🌴	Link
3	Opening (Day-2)	Jayf Soh	Secretary @ SGGA CEO & Founder @ Resurgence	Link
4	(Shoutout) Plantopia	Alwyn Lee Daryl Chow  Ryuu Ho	Chief Potato @ Daylight Studios Board Game Designer @ Origame Designer @ Daylight Studios	Link
5	(Shoutout) GTR	Rick Nahm	Co-Found & COO @ GTR	Link
6	Closing Speech	Elicia Lee	Vice-Chairperson @ SGGA Co-founder and Managing Director @ Eliphant	Link

Links to Portfolio Showcase Projects:

No	Project Name	Team Name	School	Members	Video Link
1	Alphacore	Where's The Yaw Studios	Nanyang Polytechnic	Royston, Sam, Chris, Isaac, Coen, Wei Hao	Link
2	DodgeSaw	SeetGames	Republic Polytechnic	Seetoh, Jeremy	Link
3	Kindred	Team Arctic	DigiPen	Andrew, Hui Jian, Chun Yong, Victor, Brosnan, Cheng Weng, Jonathan, Adrian, Cassandra, Hakim, Irsyad	Link
4	Noire	Jellisense	DigiPen	Zachary, Audry, Dexter, Yao Ming, Vanessa, Benjamin, Bryan, Hanna, Shaw, Darren	Link
5	Link()	Aruki Games	Ngee Ann Polytechnic	Chase	Link
6	Pulverize	Aruki Games	Ngee Ann Polytechnic	Wei Qiang	Link

Link to Full Playlist: Link