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Calling all indies developers! Here’s how you can take your game to the next level at Pocket Gamer Connects Toronto

Read up on why you, a super talented indie developer looking to level up, need to be at Pocket Gamer Connects Toronto this July.

Calling all indies developers! Here’s how you can take your game to the next level at Pocket Gamer Connects Toronto

Come one, come all! Pocket Gamer Connects Toronto is only a few short weeks away and it’s prime time to register and get in on all the career opportunities early.

If you’re an indie developer looking to take the next step in your career, Pocket Gamer Connects Toronto is where you’ll want to be July 6-7. Not only will you get the opportunity to connect with 750 delegates from all around the world at this game industry gathering and hear from 120 of the industry’s top leading authorities about some of the most pressing topics facing us today, you will also get unlimited opportunities to get discovered. If you’ve been looking for the opportunity to get on the radar of investors, publishers or making contact with representatives of companies like Electronic Arts and Google, Pocket Gamer Connects Toronto is the place to be.

We have an endless array of opportunities dedicated to helping indie talent get discovered and take their careers to the next level. If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to really invest in your career and make life-changing connections, don’t waste any more time. Head over to our website today and book your ticket for this unmissable conference – you can take advantage of our generous discount for indie developers and get massive savings as an Early Bird buyer if you act fast.

Wanna know more? Read on below to find out the 8 reasons why you as a developer looking to take your career to the next level need to be at our Toronto show next month.

1. Set up a booth in our Big Indie Zone
The Big Indie Zone is an exclusive expo area within the conference dedicated to indie developers and their games. It offers developers the chance to pre-book a 2-day demo table (including conference passes, making this an excellent value option) and present their awesome creation to fellow Connects delegates within a conducive setting.

The zone runs for the full duration of the two days and is always a vibrant and very popular segment of any Connects conference.

Whether you’re a publisher looking for new talent, an investor in search of your next focus, a service provider keen to share the benefits of your tools, or even a developer hoping to exchange ideas with your contemporaries, swinging by The Big Indie Zone comes highly recommended.

2. Join our Indie Developer Competition
Want to showcase your game to the world but don’t necessarily have the funds to pay for a booth in our Big Indie Zone?

Not to worry! We’ve got a competition just for you.

This year, we’re running an exclusive competition where indie developers can enter a draw and potentially win a free expo table and tickets to attend the conference.

To enter the draw, fill out this form. You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain by this potential exposure! Hundreds of publishers and investors will be walking by it over the two days, the opportunities to make connections that can take you to the next level are endless.

3. Pitch to experts at our Big Indie Pitches
The Very Big Indie Pitch is a bigger version of our regular BIP events, which sees indie developers present their games to a panel of expert judges looking for critical feedback - and a share of a promotional prize package worth thousands of dollars. We have two pitch competitions running at our Toronto conference, one for mobile, smartwatch or handheld games and another for PC or console games. Getting signed up for these couldn’t be easier, you can submit your game at this link any time before Monday, June 27th for consideration.

4. Find funding for your game at Investor Connector
Are you a game maker looking to secure investment for your next big project? Or perhaps you’re an investor looking for an exciting new opportunity. If so, Investor Connector is tailor-made for you!

Investor Connector selects applicants for one-on-one meetings with investors and VCs looking to spend the right kind of money in the right sector.

We’ll set aside a quiet space where pre-selected companies looking for funding and investors get to connect one-on-one to discuss their potential involvement.

If you’re a developer looking to take part, please go here. If you’re an investor looking for exciting new opportunities, please go here.

Keep in mind that the deadline for applications is Monday, June 27.

5. Make first contact with publishers at Publisher SpeedMatch
The Publisher SpeedMatch session enables shortlisted developers and publishers to make initial contact during a dedicated one-hour stint of speed-date style meetings.

These short meets aren’t obviously designed for closing a deal, but enable an initial contact that can be followed up with a longer meeting during or after the conference. (Of course, everyone is still free to make as many meetings as they’d like using the standard MeetToMatch meeting platform – free to all delegates.)

If you’re interested in taking part simply fill in the application form here. The deadline for applications is Monday, June 27.

6. Learn expert insight from our indie-focused topic tracks
We have 15 topic tracks at our upcoming Toronto show, meaning that there’s truly something for everyone at this unmissable learning and networking extravaganza. However, we always keep our audience in mind when deciding on the topics we’re going to be tackling at our conferences, and we want to make sure that we’re equipping our attending indie developers with the best possible insights that you need to take your career to the next level in 2022.

Pocket Gamer Connects conferences always have two tracks entirely dedicated to indie talent – Developer Toolkit and Incredible Indies, which cover everything from what you need to have in your toolkit to succeed to how you can survive and thrive in the ever-changing indie landscape. These tracks will put you in direct contact with those who have paved the way in the indie landscape before you, and you can get questions you didn’t even know you had answered by industry-leading experts. Beyond this, we also have tracks like CFO Insider, giving you an exclusive opportunity to get advice from top financial executives in the industry to elevating your financial strategy this year, and our first ever Ads x Brands x Games summit, which is entirely dedicated to giving you the most current advice when it comes to getting your branding right and upping your monetisation strategy with ads. You’ll come away from this conference ready to take on the world with all your newfound, cutting-edge strategies – and that’s just from listening to our world-renowned speakers!

Want a closer look at what you can expect from these developer-focused tracks? Here’s a sneak peek at what you can expect:

  • How to Survive 10+ as an Indie Mobile Game Dev with Sean Megaw of Rogue Harbour
  • Ensuring Game Stability: How to Find, Monitor, and Fix Issues in Your Game with Firebase Crashlytics with Sam Edson and Elena Doty of Google Firebase
  • How to Integrate Gameplay and Story with Jenna Hume, Dexter Woltman and Sara Hardin of Brunette Games

7. Use our meeting scheduling platform as a launchpad for long-lasting connections
Our sophisticated Meet2ToMatch meeting platform goes live a few weeks before the conference actually takes place, which means that at any moment now, meetings will start being scheduled and getting booked up. We know how all-important those meetings with publishers, investors and other developers are, and getting your foot in the door can be a bit difficult in-person at times – so, the sooner you get access to our meeting platform and start scheduling those meetings before the conference even starts, the better.

If you sign up today, you’ll be the first to be notified when our meeting platform goes live, and you can take advantage of being the first to book your meetings with some of the most sought-after delegates that will be present at our conference next month. Remember that we’ve got some big companies and incredible industry experts that will be present, and their schedules get booked up fast – make sure that you’re in early so you can secure a meeting with those industry leaders you’ve been dying to meet.

8. Enjoy special ticket discounts for indie developers
Indie developers are the lifeblood of the games industry, and we want to make sure that we make it as accessible as possible for you to attend our conferences. So, we have a very special discount for indie developers and indie developers only that can save you hundreds of dollars on your ticket to Pocket Gamer Connects Toronto! Plus, our Early Bird discount is still available and will apply to your ticket if you buy it before prices rise, so take advantage of these incredible savings and book your ticket now for the best price possible. Head over to our website and grab your ticket for our Toronto show as soon as you can.

Book your ticket now!
Take advantage of the massive savings available to you as both an indie developer and Early Bird ticket buyer. Take a look at all the ticket options we have available on our site and decide what the best one is for you – the prices are currently the cheapest they’re going to be before the conference kicks off, so take advantage before prices rise.

Special accommodation discount in Toronto
We understand the hassle that booking your conference accommodation can cause, especially when it’s in a city you’re unfamiliar with. In order to make your accommodation booking and stay go as smoothly as possible, we have partnered with the fantastic Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel to grant our attendees an unparalleled hotel deal in Toronto (the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel also happens to be our conference venue!). Don’t miss out on the incredible rates you can get if you book using this deal. You won’t have to worry about finding a safe and secure hotel that will have the conference going on just floors below. Book your accommodation through this link as soon as you can before our delegates book it out.

Want to get involved?
There is no better place than Pocket Gamer Connects events to share your wealth of knowledge with the games community at large, and we would like to extend the invitation for renowned producers, developers, executives and leaders in the space to lead a session on a topic they’re passionate about and have expertise in at our upcoming Toronto show. If you think you might be a fit and this sounds like something you’d love to do at our Toronto conference, complete our speaker submission form or get in touch with sophie.atkin@steelmedianetwork.com direct to discuss further!

Marketing Executive