The Independent Game Developers" Association (TIGA) has announced a new European development conference to complement ELSPA/London EventCo"s European Games Network trade show at ExCeL in September.
The European Developers" Forum will take place from September 1st to 3rd, and consists of two days of wide-ranging conference and one day dedicated to mobile entertainment. The EDF has the support of the TIGA membership, its Board, "key developers" from across Europe and tools and technology providers.
The timing of the event means that just as the European Games Network trade show clashes with ECTS 2004, the European Developers" Forum will now clash with CMP"s Game Developers Conference Europe, which is due to run from August 31st until September 3rd at Earls Court. This is bound once again to raise concerns about splitting delegates" focus between two distant but similar events.
The TIGA board is currently convening a steering committee with a view to ratifying the full EDF conference programme in mid-June. At the moment the committee consists of Chris van der Kuyl (VIS/BAM!), Hermen Hulst (Guerrilla Games), Herald Rigler (Sproing), Jason Kingsley (Rebellion), Mark Hewitt (Elixir) and current TIGA chairman Ian Baverstock (Kuju Entertainment), with more names to be announced over the next few days.
TIGA chairman Baverstock this week explained the thinking behind the EDF. "We see this event as being about the people involved in game development in Europe, about the technology and about business developments in the global games development sector," he commented. In addition to EGN and the EDF, ExCeL will also play host to consumer show Game Stars Live, which runs from September 1st to 5th.