Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle 2019 will take place on May 13th to 14th. To give you a taste of what to expect, we'll regularly be publishing interviews with the speakers at the show.
For more details on PGC Seattle and to book a ticket, head to the website here.
In today's Speaker Spotlight we're talking to Martin Jurasek, UX game designer at Slovakia-based games developer Pixel Federation.
Jurasek has been at Pixel Federation over the last 6 years and has worked on many different aspects of game design. UX design quickly became a passion of Jurasek’s as he gained valuable experience as the lead game designer on free-to-play ship collector title Seaport, acting in the role from day one to its global launch in 2018.
At PGC Seattle, Jurasek will host a talk entitled 'Using Data to Design Onboarding'.
PocketGamer.biz: Tell us a bit about the company
Martin Jurasek: Pixel Federation is a games development and publishing company headquartered in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Founded in 2007, the company’s most successful titles are free-to-play browser and app games Diggy’s Adventures, Seaport, TrainStation and Emporea. It is one of the top 20 Facebook game development studios in the EMEA region.
What does your role entail?
Mostly working with other members of the development team (game designers) to ensure that our designed experiences will be understood by the players.
Just go out there and start doing something. Doesn't matter if it is a small asset or some GDD concept, just grind that experience as you are used to from computer games.Martin Jurasek
In short: communication (yes, that is in my opinion alpha-omega and we should put more emphasis on this 'skill' when developing new games) documentation, UX research, wireframing, prototyping and many more.
Why did you want to work in the games industry?
Ever since I was a little kid I was in close touch with computer games, so it always felt like a dream.
What advice would you give to anyone looking to get into it?
Experience + Execution > Theory + Ideas.
Just go out there and start doing something. Doesn't matter if it is a small asset or some game design document concept, just grind that experience as you are used to from computer games.
What are your thoughts on the industry in the last 12 months?
*Does the Fortnite dance*
What major trends do you predict in the next 12 months?
Lots of battle royale games - especially on mobile.
How has the games industry changed since you first started?
The overall quality of mobile games is growing every day. The free-to-play market is maturing (super aggressive shady monetisation is less prevalent) and acquisition costs are growing.
Which part of the Connects event are you most looking forward to and why?
Networking is about to be my main 'Connects' activity.
Find out more about Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle 2019 on the website.
