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:
Opening, keynote, and other related speeches:
Links to Portfolio Showcase Projects:
Link to Full Playlist: Link
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