GDC 2025 Session Viewer
Independent Games Summit: The Show Must Go On: Maximizing Your Game's Visibility with Online Festivals
Dana Trebella (Founder, Spoke & Wheel Strategy)
Derek Leiu (Creative Director, Derek Lieu Creative)
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass - Get your pass now!
Track: Independent Games
Format: Lecture
Vault Recording: TBD
Audience Level: All
This talk will cover the importance of festivals and showcases as a part of your marketing campaign, how to choose the right festival for you, and how to plan your marketing beats and assets to maximize your chances of getting in. We'll share some marketing timing tips to both help you get in to your desired festival(s) and optimize your visibility if you do. We'll also walk through the importance of considering festivals when planning out your marketing cadence and beats from the beginning, and how to do this effectively.
Talking with organizers of some of the game industry's key festivals, we'll provide insights and tips to make your application stand out. We'll also walk through what makes a compelling showcase trailer, how to prep for the showcase, and how to maximize the opportunity.
Takeaway
Developers will walk away with a broader understanding behind the importance of festivals, how to plan out their marketing in advance to increase their likelihood of acceptance, what festival submissions are looking for, festival trailer do's and don'ts, and how to best prepare to take advantage of a festival opportunity,
Intended Audience
This talk is for developers who are interested in learning more of the ins and outs about festival submissions, how to increase their odds of getting selected, how to make the best festival assets and trailer possible, and how to leverage the festival for visibility and game success.
