Kitfox Games: GDC 2019 Talks
A helpful list of the talks we did — for free!
Hey everyone!
At GDC this year, most of the talks the Kitfox team did were recorded and are available on the vault for free. We love sharing knowledge, so scroll to learn about how we made dungeons intimate, tragedies in ‘The Shrouded Isle’, why fashion in games sucks, the design of ‘Six Ages’, and more.
How to Run a Studio Without a Surprise Hit
Speaker: Tanya X. Short (Captain)
Link: https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1025696/How-to-Run-a-Studio
Description: A 10 minute microtalk with realistic examples of how to run a small game studio without a surprise runaway hit. These game studios have been in business for about 5 years, and employ each between 4–10 people.
At 20:20: Tanya talks about Scrappy Success and Kickstarters.
The Narrative Innovation Showcase
Speaker: Tanya X. Short (Captain)
Link: https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1025690/The-Narrative-Innovation-Showcase
Description: In five short-format talks, leading innovators in game narrative will share stories behind their innovative creations: the ambitions they had, the challenges they faced, the solutions they invented.
At 10:50: Tanya talks about “Making Dungeons Intimate”.
Why Fashion in (Most) Games Sucks, and Why You Should Care
Speaker: Victoria Tran (Community Developer)
Link: https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1025774/Why-Fashion-in-(Most)-Game
sDescription: Fashion in games is one of the most downplayed parts of the medium; just like in real life, clothing is an outward expression of one’s personality. A game’s choice of dress or even the ability to HAVE different outfits (and not just color swaps) is both the gamers’ expression of themselves and a way to create more diverse and interesting environments. Character customization, after all, could be considered another form of dress up. Offensive or lackluster fashion can be a representation of the troubling perspective that games have no space for “feminine” interests.
Game Discoverability Day: NOTICE ME: The Grind Behind the $272K Funding Success of ‘Boyfriend Dungeon’
Speaker: Victoria Tran (Community Developer)
Link: https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1025710/Game-Discoverability-Day-NOTICE-ME
Description: What goes into a “hit”? Luck? Virality? A catchy game title? ‘Boyfriend Dungeon’ certainly seemed like an instant success, amassing a large following and reaching its $65k crowdfunding goal in just over 6 hours , but the work that goes before, during, and after are often not known to the public. It’s time to break it down. What strategies worked… and didn’t? How did the Kitfox Games team attract press? Did social media matter that much? How did a 5 person team manage? How did their community help? Let’s lift the veil on the numbers and technical aspects behind the indie discoverability grind!
Designing ‘Six Ages’, a Storytelling Strategy Game
Speaker: David Dunham (Developer, A Sharp)
Link: https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1025740/Designing-Six-Ages-a-Storytelling
Description: Indie cult classic ‘King of Dragon Pass’ was released in 1999. Despite critical accolades and enthusiastic fans, its blending of myth, storytelling, and simulation remained unique until its spiritual successor, ‘Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind’ came out last year. Designer David Dunham will share how the distinctive design elements work in ‘Six Ages’. He’ll show how the pieces fit together to create a re-playable emergent narrative with an overall story arc, interesting and helpful advisors, and a strategic simulation of politics. He’ll explain how a text-based game achieves immersion, and describe the tools that let a small team create a game with as much text as the first four Harry Potter novels.
A Cruel Fate: Emergent Tragedies in ‘The Shrouded Isle’
Speaker: Jongwoo Kim (Programmer)
Link: https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1025677/A-Cruel-Fate-Emergent-Tragedies
Description: Most management games have a utopian ethos, telling emergent narratives about community growth and economic prosperity. ‘The Shrouded Isle’, by contrast, is a dystopian simulation, depicting a dwindling, island community that kills its members to serve a dark god. As conventional management mechanics are thematically inappropriate, the gameplay focuses on systems that intentionally subvert players’ expectations and drive them to cause their own downfall. This talk will be part design postmortem of ‘The Shrouded Isle’ and part analysis, examining three techniques that designers can use to create emergent tragedies.
