It's just weeks to go before Pocket Gamer Connects 2014.
Our first conference will be held in London on 20-21 January - you can find out more details here.
So to whet your appetite, we're finding out more about some of our speakers.
Pocket Gamer: Hello. Who are you and what do you do?
I'm Paul Flanagan, an advisor to Creative Mobile, the developer of Drag Racing on Android and iOS with over 175 million downloads.
My background is in venture capital and technology [at Ariadne Capital, J P Morgan, Citibank], and what I do can be traced back to a mis-spent youth hanging out in video game and pinball arcades in Canada.
What do you think has been the most significant event for mobile games during 2013?
From an industry perspective, the headline investment and M&A deals indicate that the stakes are being raised, which makes it more challenging and risky for everyone.
For Creative Mobile, the most significant event has been the beta release of Nitro Nation, our upgrade to Drag Racing.
What do you think will be the biggest challenges in 2014?
No big surprise; I'd say discovery and distribution. The main app stores are very hit-centric and have surprisingly poor referral and recommendation features.
Web solutions utilizing HTML5 and WebGL could have a big impact.
How will indie developers fare? Any advice?
Being an indie has never been easy. My advice to start-ups is keep the team small, focus on excellent gameplay, find good partners you can trust, and bootstrap incrementally.
Of course, networking at Pocket Gamer parties is essential!
How big do you think the East-meets-West opportunity is, and which markets are you most excited about in 2014?
Eastern Europe is big and tends to be overlooked. I also think there is a lot of opportunity in the emerging markets, where smartphone usage will explode.
What are you expecting to learn from attending Pocket Gamer Connects?
I look forward to hearing other developers' stories and I'm particularly interested to get updates on China, Korea and Japan.
What were your favourite mobile games of 2013?
I'm really into the Nitro Nation Beta. I can't wait for the production release.
Otherwise it's got to be Clash of Clans. Of course I'm only playing it for professional and market research reasons ... ahem ... but I've got to hand it to Supercell, it's really good. And, thankfully I've not spent as much money in it as Jon Jordan.
Another title that has really delighted me is The Room.
Finally, what's your New Year's resolution and what resolution would you enforce on the industry?
My resolution is to play more video games and I think that everyone in the industry should. Quite often we're too busy to play games, this has to be resisted!
