Momentum builds for Casual Connect Kyiv

The Casual Connect Seattle spin-off event, which takes place from October 22nd to 24th at the RUS Hotel, Kyiv, Ukraine, aims to throw the spotlight on not just the casual games industry but also the fast-growing pool of dev talent in Eastern Europe.

The Casual Games Association is hosting the event, which will ofer all written and spoken content in both Russian and English.

"As interest in the Eastern European games market continues to surge, Casual Connect Kyiv has become one of the most anticipated conferences hosted by the Casual Games Association. Fueled by rapid globalization and a depth of engineering talent in Russia and elsewhere, casual game development in Eastern Europe is at an all-time high," the association told CasualGaming.biz.

Online registration and more information on the event can be found by visiting http://kyiv.casualconnect.org

The speakers roster so far is as follows:

Featured Speakers:

• Paul Thelen, Founder and CSO, Big Fish Games

• Alexander Lyskovskv, CEO and co-Founder, Alawar Entertainment

Topic: Understanding the Power of Advertising

• Making Money Off Web Games – The Pain Free Way. Ada Chen, Product Marketing Manager, Mochi Media

• How to Develop Blockbuster Online Games. Joel Breton, Director of Game Development, MTV Networks’ AddictingGames

• Building a world class gaming brand & taking it global - A casy study for the emerging markets. Rohit Sharma, COO, Zapak Digital Entertainment

Topic: Multiplayer, Social, Community and Massively Multiplayer Games

• It's Always More Fun with More Than One - Success with Multiplayer Games. Kenny Rosenblatt, CEO and co-Founder, Arkadium

• Creating and Distributing Multiplayer Games. Alisa Chumachenko, Director of Marketing and Advertising, Astrum Online Entertainment

Topic: Game Production

• Our Secret Recipe for Success.

o Alex Bessonov, Founder, Floodlight Games
o Alexey Meleshkevich, Founder & CEO, Melesta
o Andrey Goncharov, CEO, GO! Games
o Andrey Fomin, CEO, Puzzle Lab
o Yaroslav Yanovsky, CEO, Enkord
o Igor Bukhman, COO, Playrix Entertainment
o Pavel Raikkonen, Director of Marketing, Nevosoft
o Ion Hardie, Producer, Reflexive Entertainment

• User Testing. Aaron Norstad, Senior Producer, PlayFirst

• How to Structure a Licensing Relationship in a Way That Really Works. Lloyd Melnick, CCO, Merscom.

Topic: Game Design

• Principles of Game Design

o Vitaliy Romanov, CEO, Nevosoft
o Igor Elovikov, V.P. of Production, Playrix Entertainment
o Alex Bessonov, Founder, Floodlight Games
o Andrey Matkovskiy, Producer, I-Play

• From North America to Western Europe: How is the consumer different?

o Steven Smith, CEO, Fresh Games
o Thorsten Kolisch, Managing Partner, Intenium
o Jeremy Snook, Lead Producer, RealGames

• Game Development in Eastern Europe

o Kirill PLOTNIKOV, Head of Games Producing Department, Alawar