Casual Connect

Derrick Morton has been involved in the casual game industry since 1994. However, his interest really started when he was a child. Read more about Derrick Morton, CEO of Flowplay, and his views on the virtual economy at Gamesauce.      

    Digital goods and virtual currencies are now the defacto business model for most of the worlds most successful games. FlowPlay has taken this a step further by creating the concept of digital collectibles — virtual items that are one part cosmetic, one part game play advantage and one part financial investment for the [...]

As the digital landscape changes, and the pricing model for downloads becomes obscure, with diminishing profit margins for the developer, how can studios maximize revenue from their efforts more effectively and consistently? Many developers are exploring (and profiting from) platforms other than traditional downloads – online, iPhone, Wii, retail – these are some of the [...]

It’s now common knowledge that the game business on social networks (e.g. Facebook) is exploding. Many businesses around the world look at their declining traffic against the sharply inclining graph for Facebook, and are reminded how fast our industry can change. Three years ago, who knew what an “app” was in the context we use [...]

Audio & slides (44 MB) Ever wondered how to implement word-of-mouth marketing into your games? Come listen to the representatives of game industry, who will share their experience in game development and suggest various tools for making your game viral. Delivered at Casual Connect Europe, February 2010 DOWNLOAD John VECHEY (email) In 2000 John Vechey [...]

Audio & slides (59 MB) Many of the assumptions people in the casual games industry take for granted are no longer valid. In this session industry veterans will give you their “best of” insights on the recent changes. The game designer of the future needs to think different – about monetization, games as a service, [...]

Slides/Audio (92 MB) Rumors abound of great riches to be gleaned in the crowded forests and stratospheric user-bases of Social applications – so why have so few successful casual game publishers unearthed the secrets of Social success? Is there an opportunity for Social Games companies to tap in to the Casual Games audiences for customers [...]

Slides/Audio (51 MB) Developers, advertisers, and payment processors: how do they all fit together to form the business of social networks? Social Networking sites offer unique challenges to game developers in that we are no longer creating packaged goods, but instead, we are providing a service. Come learn the details of past models, such as [...]

audio & slides(36 MB) Even one of the most famous and most loved casual games, Cake Mania, faces the risk of losing a significant portion its audience in light of emerging MMOs, virtual worlds and new online gaming platforms. By incorporating the Cake Mania brand and gameplay into the Flash-based environment of ourWorld, Sandlot Games [...]

audio (29 MB) The casual games market is evolving. New types of online game experiences are expanding the audiences for casual games and introducing new business/monetization models. This panel will look at the many directions in which online game content is growing, from daily/episodic content and short-session games to richer online gaming experiences such as [...]