During the recent couple years, the quality of the software we are all using every day has decreased so dramatically that using computers everyday is just... not fun anymore. It used to be a great thing letting your creativity take over, but nowadays even the smallest thing is a total chore because all software is irreparably broken. Wonder if this has to do with AI adoption.... probably just my imagination.
In this talk, I’ll share my journey of building a globally connected game studio from Zambia and what it really takes to grow a gaming ecosystem in emerging markets. Beyond just making games, I’ll talk about the importance of innovation, partnerships, government engagement, and positioning gaming as part of Africa’s digital and economic future.
Through my experiences working with organizations like the Presidential Delivery Unit, Xbox, PlayStation, Xsolla, and AWS Game Tech, I’ll explore how African studios can build sustainable businesses, create globally competitive IP, and open new opportunities for young creators across the continent.
The session will also touch on how gaming connects to innovation, youth empowerment, digital transformation, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), while sharing lessons on building communities, ecosystems, and international partnerships from Africa to the world.
This is both a personal and industry-focused talk about the future of African gaming and why the next generation of globally successful game studios can come from Africa.
Edwin Kapesa is the Founder and CEO of Chroma Pixel Games, one of Africa’s emerging game development and interactive entertainment studios focused on building globally competitive African IPs. With over 10 years of experience in the gaming industry, Edwin has become one of the leading voices driving the growth of gaming, esports, creative technology, and digital innovation ecosystems across Africa.
Through Chroma Pixel Games, Edwin has worked with global platforms and organizations including Xbox, PlayStation, Xsolla, AWS Game Tech, Snap AR, and Coinbase. His work spans game development, publishing, blockchain innovation, AR/VR, esports, digital communities, and emerging technologies.
Edwin is recognized for bridging gaming, fintech, blockchain, and innovation ecosystems in Africa. He was among the first developers in the region to create a mobile money payment solution dedicated to video games, helping explore localized payment infrastructure for African gamers and developers.
Beyond gaming, Edwin actively engages with innovation and policy ecosystems, including working with Zambia’s Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU), a strategic institution supporting innovation and national development priorities closely aligned with the Office of the President. Through these experiences, he advocates for gaming and creative technology as drivers of youth empowerment, digital transformation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth across emerging markets.
He has spoken at international and regional events including Europe Creative Week in Russia, PlayPort Kazan, MozFest, Africa Fintech Summit, Government Tech Summit, and Entrepreneurs Connect, where he shares insights on African game development, digital ecosystems, innovation, global partnerships, and the future of gaming in Africa.
Edwin’s mission is to help build a globally recognized African gaming industry while creating opportunities for the next generation of creators, developers, and digital innovators across the continent.
The currency of ideas presentation explores where ideas come from, how to generate ideas, and how artist's can discover their unique fascinations to improve their skills. In the talk we also look at popular real life examples and how these artists applied this technique.
Kiara Maharaj (Kiara in the Forest) is a writer and illustrator from South Africa with an online audience of over 450K followers across social media platforms. Her illustrations are done using gouache and watercolor, and are based on settings, characters, and creatures from her fantasy short story series: The Polkadot Files. Before publishing her first paperback anthology and working publishers such as 3dTotal, Page Street, and Maskew Miller, her short stories have been published by Short Story Day Africa, Articulate Africa, Fairytalez, and shortlisted in the Wilbur and Niso Smith Adventure Writing Competition. She is currently an ambassador for Prime Art, a leading distributor of art supplies in South Africa, and KUM Germany. Her latest book Watercolor Wizardry released in bookstores worldwide on March 3rd 2026. She exhibits at Comic Con Africa to launch her books.
This interactive talk will cover how I ended up at Playtopia for the third time in my monster-making art journey, and what I learned along the way about games, play, and divination. It will also include an (optional) game for the audience and a guided visualization to the monster cave.
I'm an artist who loves monsters and fun. I made a video game called Monster Garden, which was shown at Playtopia in 2018, and then I created a deck of “oracle cards” based on the game, which I used for interactive group readings at Playtopia in 2025. In the past I have also shown selections of “physical games” (folk games, improv games, etc.) at indie games festivals and play festivals. Most recently I have been working on a monster-making workshop.
For years, only the biggest studios sold games directly to players on PC. That is changing fast. Xsolla processed more than $1B in PC direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales in 2025. In this talk, Dogan Zenginer explains why D2C is becoming the new publishing standard alongside Steam, not instead of it. He shows how studios of any size can keep more of each sale, own their player relationships and launch their own stores. The talk includes real examples from Microids, Team17 and Techland.
Hello, I'm Dogan Zenginer, Business Development Manager at Xsolla, responsible for Türkiye and Africa. I work closely with both mobile and PC game developers and publishers, helping them grow through monetization and direct-to-consumer strategies. My role focuses on supporting studios in reaching new markets, optimizing their revenue streams, and building sustainable businesses within the global gaming ecosystem.
So you're stuck, in an endless loop of prototyping and job hunting? Or are you just sick of working your corporate job? Steam release that trashy prototype you did 3 years ago! I DID! This talk is about why or if you should release your tiny game, the pros, the cons. But most of all whether this release is right for YOU! I just released my own prototype* Hurl, and I think you should release your own small game too! We will look at shifting industries, your personal portfolios, why its good practice, and why people care about your game being released and not about your prototype.
Ben Crooks has been making games for over 10 years and has worked with some of South Africa's biggest indie studios... But mostly he has made FAR too many prototypes. You have probably played them at Playtopia. Now he is releasing them, and making you listen to him rant about them! He has also won some awards and stuff but he doesn't like gloating.
Ben is the founder of Kiss A Fish, his own game studio, he's a big boy now! He is releasing his small games and trying to SURVIVE off of them. Working the dream... but can he live it? Good luck Ben!
Prison of Husks started as a solo developer project with a demo on itch.io and fewer than 2,000 wishlists on Steam. This talk takes you on the publishing journey, from a small, low-budget project to a major marketing plan, with features in several of the biggest and most popular showcases. We will show how the budget and plans have adapted and changed over time as the strategy evolved, and how we are working with Tammy and her tiny team behind the game. We will show real numbers — both money and wishlists
Astrid is the CEO of WINGS, an investment fund for games by studios founded or co-founded by women and gender-marginalized devs. Previously CEO and Founder of Triple Topping Games, she was an advisor to Kowloon Nights and served on the board of Global Game Jam. She's also a part time law student, because why not.
Krista is Head of Content & Influencers at WINGS, where she helps indie games find their audience through social media strategy, content creation, and creator campaigns. She’s spent seven years in community and marketing roles across the games industry, working with many amazing indie teams, including those behind Winter Burrow, Sledding Game, Bad Magpie, and Camper Van: Make it Home to name a few. If you see her in the wild, say hi!
In this talk I will layout the creation process of Plum Road Tea Dream. A videogame with an unconventional approach to creating. From the collaboration between a theatermaker and some game designers and a bunch of artists to game-jamming the project together in residencies in cultural institutes, to how many collaborations and contributions helped us with our signature eclectic style.
Samuel Baidoo (they/them) (1992, Belgium) is a multidisciplinary artist, performer, artistic mentor and game designer whose practice seamlessly bridges the worlds of visual arts, contemporary choreography and game design. Central to Baidoo's artistic investigation is the construction of intuitive archives—carefully weaving together text fragments, manga aesthetics, documentary elements, cinematic film stills etc. This process serves as a framework to unpack autobiographical experiences, navigate complex social themes, and cultivate meaningful channels of connection with the surrounding world. Baidoo has developed a distinct artistic signature that deliberately challenges traditional genre boundaries, creating immersive, thought-provoking spaces that resonate deeply with diverse audiences.
My key takeaways from how to make it as a solo developer from scratch. Including but not limited to, the trials of developing by yourself, the ultimate power of creative freedom, marketing your game as you want & what to look out for as your own business representative in deals and contracts. Oh and enjoying all the money yourself.
Kela is a solo developer, previously known for her cute adventure game Mail Time (TikTok famous) and hot takes on twitter (rip). Now making a new game after a dark burnout period and ready to tell you how to not burn out but do have success.
"Art is political. Saying otherwise is by itself a political act." And so what? It's just a book! It's just a game! But is it really? A war game skyrockets firearms sales. A teenager's game allows millions to virtually protest. A blockbuilding game becomes the cornerstone of free journalism. The societal power our media hold is tremendous.
Through this talk, we'll explore the many physchological, societal and phylosophical reasons that make games, our art, so important in today's society. We'll explore how our games affect the world and how we are responsible in the way we represent it.
Cindy Lauper once said: "Rock and roll can save the world". Maybe games will too.
Hippolyte Caubet is a French indie dev and professor of sociology of games. He directed "The Blood on our Controllers", a documentary made to shine the light on the close relation between the video game industry and the military industrial complex, and the problem of Arab representation in games. Currently creative director of Good Citizen: an absurd revolutionary antifascist game, member of the Game Impact non profit and college teacher, he dedicates his work to trying to build a brighter, bolder and more inclusive future for the game industry.
Through an academic and creative lense, he explores the societal and political impact of games. Not seeking to bring simple solutions to complex problems, but to spark thinking on their impact as game creators on the way they represent the world.
What happens when Steam collapses? How do we prepare for enshittification? Where can you stand, when it all falls down?!
Much like social media and the rest of the internet, the games industry has become increasingly reliant on centralized platforms that wield enormous power over how we make, sell, and play our games. As benevolent as our current overlords may seem, storefronts change, APIs disappear, business models curdle, and digital "ownership" remains conditional. Nothing lasts forever.
This talk is a practical (slightly paranoid) field guide to building for the exit. Explore delightful experiences from creators blazing the trail for a new independent games movement, and discover how portable identities, player-owned data, and interoperable communities can help you survive the inevitable downfall of platform monopolies by creating a more free, fun, and resilient future for games on the open web.
Cousin Vagabond is a fiercely independent retired game designer building new technologies for having fun on the open web. Through projects like rpg.actor and atmosphere.games he is helping make the internet weird, wonderful, and worth exploring.
Have you heard that scientists have no idea how AI works? Guess what, that's just a marketing phrase. Everyone should know how AI works, so let me share some of the details about how this awful technology has managed to crawl its way into the mainstream. During this talk I will explain in layman's term how LLMs operate and why they're a total waste of resources that nobody should rely on.
Mad scientist of video games. Creator of Thelemite, McPixel series and many other games you have never heard about. Lover of retro hardware, still creating games for old computers.Currently on a quest to create every video game ever.
A talk about bringing artists from both Games and Animation industry, to make our video games look like a million bucks.
Bongane is an environmental concept artist driven by a passion for film and video games. He has a decade of industry experience in his craft and is currently using his skills for freelancing and helping indie developers with art direction. When Bongane isn't creating rich fantasy and culturally inspired artwork, he likes to lift weights and experiment with photographic lenses.
This talk is meant to change the way that people think about Microsoft PowerPoint, as well as ALL the tools that happen to be available to them. It will showcase how useful PowerPoint is for planning, prototyping, communication, diagram creation, image editing, sprite development, and ultimately for making games. PowerPoint is basically a digital whiteboard with a bunch of extra capabilities - and that's awesome!
People often limit how they think about the tools available to them based on their intended purposes. But if you can look past that, you'll quickly see just how many day-to-day things can be used to improve your game development pipeline.
Hey there! I’m Erik Prinz, a South African game designer and developer focused on creating meaningful and impactful experiences. I have a Master’s in puzzle and game design from Wits University, was a key game designer on Nyamakop’s Relooted, and am the current Lead Technical Designer at Edge of the World Studios. My work is grounded in both research and hands-on development, with experience spanning game, puzzle and level design, technical implementation, and iterative prototyping.
I approach my work with curiosity and adaptability, and am always looking to grow through new challenges and experiences. Above all else, I love making games for people, and live for the moments when players truly connect with something that I’ve created.
Creative work increasingly arrives with an invisible demand: know exactly what you’re making, make it commercially viable, present it professionally and prove that it deserves to exist. But play asks something different of us. It asks us to follow curiosity before certainty, make things without knowing whether they will work and treat experimentation as meaningful in itself.
Drawing from my work across design, storytelling, community experiences and self-initiated creative projects, this talk explores how reclaiming creative agency can begin with a simple shift: allowing the attempt to count as a success.
Rather than measuring every idea by whether it becomes profitable, polished or permanent, what changes when we approach creative work as a playable prototype? The talk considers how small experiments, temporary experiences and even unsuccessful attempts can help us build confidence, discover new directions and remain creatively alive.
Jade Ludski is a Cape Town-based creative strategist, experience designer and multidisciplinary maker. Through The Social Atelier and IRL Gather & Co, she creates participatory events, community experiences and creative projects that invite people to connect, experiment and play. Her practice spans design, storytelling, experiential marketing and cultural programming. She is especially interested in creative agency: what becomes possible when we follow curiosity before certainty, make ideas tangible and allow trying to be a form of success.
A bit of an overview of my game jams at the massive, the SFA jams, my solo jams, and self organised jams with other members of the community over the last year (by the time I give the talk). The topics and game types we covered, the process and the lessons i learned. Really interested in sharing about the surprising and wonderful journey of collaborating with other rad people and the amount of skill share that happens by default in the right environment! I would also love to share some things I've learnt as an artist picking up godot and being inspired to create my own games too, not just design for them. It's been incredibly empowering and my goal is to share that feeling to inspire others looking to get involved .
I’m an illustrator, storyboard artist and animator from Cape Town. For over 10 years, I’ve helped small businesses, NGOs, and online platforms tell their stories with humor and compassion. My work spans illustration, character art, storyboarding, animation, and digital design, always with a focus on the human aspects of art — connection, relationships, and emotion.
I also draw very silly things and think we should all be doing that more!
I enjoy feeding back into the professional communities around me, and I've found a lot of joy in going to game jams, animation jams and art jams, where collaboration and group inspiration is vital. It's been teaching me a lot about the social value of art, and how important that is to cultivate as human beings. I value collaboration, clear communication, and delivering both artistry and technical fluency to whatever project I'm working on.
If I'm not drawing, reading or writing profusely, you'll find me in the garden with my cats, tending my plants and watching the sky.
I have been the apprentice and trainee for the Legendary Hollywood Foley Veteran, Michael Broomberg
Hi, I'm Viwe Mama. I've been a fanatic of everything related to audio for the last decade and have had the privilege of becoming a full time Foley Artist and Editor for the biggest Netflix Shows in South Africa. I've been a gamer longer than I could count and this year I've fully integrated my skills into sound design for gaming and hope to share my findings of some of the most useful teachings I've learned on my journey.
Jonathan wants everything: to make a game that is full of heart, that is easy to work on, and that is a critical and commercial success. In this talk, he begins with a blank canvas and builds on it piece by piece to show how Dressmaker was designed to check all of those boxes. While any success has a great deal of luck, he hopes to share some practical advice that can be used on game projects of any size and genre.
Jonathan Hau-Yoon (he/they) is a game developer at Free Lives in Cape Town with over 15 years of industry experience, mostly as a tech artist. The last 7 consecutive games he has worked on have been hits, including Broforce, Fortnite and co-creating BAFTA-nominated Terra Nil and viral indie sensation Dressmaker.