Gamedev.world aims to be the first global developers’ conference

This weekend, dozens of game developers are offering up insight and strategy in the first-ever gamedev.world. It’s a global developers’ conference being held virtually, with talks streamed on Twitch and the event’s website. The event has a similar feel to the Game Developers’ Conference, held in San Francisco each year, but is accessible to anyone with an internet connection, making it one of the only truly global events in the industry.

“There is no truly global games conference – one that brings together all the prominent speakers, attendees, and perspectives from the various territories on Earth,” Event co-founder Rami Ismail said in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz. “Gamedev.world aims to be the first global games conference, covering the games industry and the medium of video games as global concepts.”

One of the major goals of the event, according to Ismail, is to break down language barriers in the development community. As such, each speaker will give their talk in their native language, and it will then be translated to Arabic, Simplified Chinese, English, French, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Speakers will be broadcasting from locations of their choosing as well. If you happen to miss a talk you’re particularly interested in, the entire event will be archived for future access.

For Ismail, this was the hardest part of planning gamedev.world. “All speakers will be working with us to make sure we have a good idea of what they’re going to be saying, ensure we capture and not translate jargon and trademarks, and to ensure a smooth and pleasant experience for speakers, translators, and our audience,” he told GamesIndustry.

Language is one of the last great barriers to global game development, Ismail said.

“The reality is that the industry is rather heavily segregated by language. There are enormous amounts of knowledge and perspective in each of these languages that are opaque and inaccessible for people who do not speak them, and it seems like we have the technology, resources, and opportunity to break these barriers down. At gamedev.world, we don’t see a good reason to wait any longer.”

Another goal for gamedev.world is to build a conference that is less exclusive than many industry events that currently exist. Conferences like GDC are filled to the brim with incredible insight from a host of industry veterans, but entry costs and the need for travel can be prohibitive. With gamedev.world, Ismail hopes to eliminate these obstacles.

This goal required quite a bit of outside help, Ismail told GamesIndustry, including gaining financial backing from a few different organizations. “We’ve been fortunate enough to build a global network of industry supporters and contacts, many of whom are helping in more or less involved ways. “We’re backed by a wide range of sponsors ranging from enormous multinational corporations to small independent teams that just wish for something like this to exist.”

Over 30 speakers will be presenting throughout the weekend, with representatives from AAA development, the indie scene, and everything in between. Discussion topics include world design, free-to-play monetization, challenges in programming, how to choose the right publishers, and lots more.

Gamedev.world will run from June 21 to 23.