LEVEL UP KL 2017 "Best Video Gamer Maker" @Connexion Nexus (CCEC), Bangsar South 11AM [7/11/2017]

Hasnul Hadi Samsudin, Vice President of Creative Content & Technologies at Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) (bottom, 2nd from right) posing with the LEVEL UP KL 2017 speakers at the opening ceremony

Hasnul Hadi Samsudin, Vice President of Creative Content & Technologies at Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) opening the third LEVEL UP KL today in Bangsar South

THE VIDEO GAMER MAKER are here!!!

LEVEL UP KL 2017 TO ACCELERATE THE GROWTH OF SOUTHEAST ASIA’S GAMES INDUSTRY WITH MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS 

☆  In its third (3) year, LEVEL UP KL 2017 stepped up its game and is set to impress with six days of games development related activities 

☆ Among the main highlights is the inaugural SEA Game Award, on event that recognises the best of games development in Southeast Asia 

☆ Major partnership announcements and a brand new games hub in Bangsar South are also expected, both in line with Malaysia’s ambition to become the preferred regional development hub for games development and delivery by 2025 

KUALA LUMPUR, 7 November 2017 - The games industry in Southeast Asia is about to get extra boost as the LEVEL UP KL 2017 Conference, in its third iteration, will be doing more than continuing the engaging discourse it is known for. This includes exploring cross-border alliances with regional associations and creating strategic partnerships with technology enablers to drive the region’s games development industry forward.

According to Hasnul Hadi Samsudin, Vice President of Creative Content & Technologies, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), the agency has continued to push for greater cooperation amongst nations within the Southeast Asia games community as it seeks to strengthen the region's position among global players. ”The Malaysian government recognises the games industry as an important engine of economic growth in the region. The support we receive from LEVEL UP KL year-on-year, along with the solid alliance with prominent players in the games industry, indicates this region has what it takes to drive this robust, dynamic, and multi-nationai industry. More importantly, this positive development has positioned us as an emerging games producing region.” 

[Massive Opportunities for Games Development]

LEVEL UP KL, taking place in Kuala Lumpur from 4-9th November 2017 is among the largest games development conferences of its kind in the region and will be featuring games development related content, covering business and technical aspects of the industry, future-shaping trends, keynotes, and high level sessions with esteemed panel speakers from all over the world. The event this year is expected to gather over 700 participants, speakers, and exhibitors from Southeast Asian countries and beyond. 

The six (6) days event is targeted towards industry players and the games community at large, including developers, publishers, vendors, technology providers, students, and academicians, with the focus on driving meaningful conversations that could translate into future partnerships and collaborations.

Among the key line-ups for LEVEL UP KL 2017 are:

☆  The Southeast Asia Game Jam (4th and 5th November): A 36-hour game jam, organised by the Malaysian chapter of International Game Developers Association (IGDA Malaysia), will showcase promising games developers from the region where they will display their raw skills and creativity in the art of game-making. The goal of this Game Jam is to have participants create games in a collaborative environment under a tight deadline.

☆  Workshops and specialised tracks (6th and 9th November): Hands-on workshop with the world’s top games industry experts on various topics, such as games design, concept and environment art, and audio. 

☆  Business Connection Program (6th November): A business matching and networking platform for delegates to build networks, connect, and explore potential business opportunities with participating companies. 

☆  LEVEL UP KL Conference (7th and 8th November): The main two (2)-day event, featuring top industry players from around the world, will cover both business and technical facets from various games development platforms, such as mobile, PC, and console. Among the prominent speakers featured this year are Danny Koo from Marvel Entertainment, Brian Recktenwald of Naughty Dog, Appxplore’s Desmond Lee, and Falk Au Yeong who is with SoundtRec Malaysia. 

☆  Industry showcase and exhibition (7th and 8th November): This showcase will feature the work of the SEA Game Awards finalists alongside other indie games developer studios and an exhibition of product and services from companies operating in the games industry.

☆  The Southeast Asia Game Awards (8th November): Organised by MDEC and supported by MYGameOn, the SEA Game Awards is created to recognise outstanding, artistic, and creative efforts for technical and gameplay achievements in the games industry within the region.

Inaugural SEA Game Awards Signals Promising Future for Games in the Region Touching on the newly introduced SEA Game Awards, Hasnul shared, "The games industry in Southeast Asia is particularly unique as each country possesses their own characteristics and capabilities. Through the SEA Game Awards, we hope to position the region as a serious global player and provide countries within the region an opportunity to showcase their distinct characteristics to the world. In the long run, we expect to see larger international studios and publishers looking at Southeast Asia for its human capital and coming on board as active investors.” 

Over 75 game submissions published and unpublished from indie game developers, studios, game publishers, and students have been sent in, with 30 games shortlisted as finalists. The awards are divided into 10 categories including Best Visual Art, Best Game Design, Best Rising Star, and Audience Choice Award. 

The award ceremony will take place on 8th November at the Connexion Conference and Event Centre in Bangsar South where the Conference is currently taking place. 

[Cross-border Collaborations and Industry Partnership to Spur the Games Ecosystem]

While the games market in the region represents only 4% of global consumption, it is forecasted to grow with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30% between now to 2018'1. This will be mostly due to Southeast Asia's large and youthful population as well as its position as a beneficiary of technology commodities. In Malaysia alone, the industry contributed over RM464 million of export sales in 2016 and is growing at an equally impressive rate of 37% from the year before. This potential growth presents massive prospects for Malaysia as it aims to become the preferred regional hub for games development and delivery by 2025, an inspiration that is in line with the country's Digital Economy initiative. 

To strategically and effectively capitalise on this potential, MDEC is set to announce cross-border collaborations with regional organization at its Partners Announcement session, involving Discovery Nusantara Capital (DNC), Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP), Taipei Computer Association (TCA) and Tokyo Contents Incubation Center (TClC) among others. The announcement will also see the agency partnering up with platform and technology providers including Google, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Amazon to power up LEVEL UP Inc - the newly built incubator facility in Bangsar South that will provide comprehensive support for talent development and business enhancements for the games industry. 

For more information on LEVEL UP KL 2017, please visit http://Ievelupkl.com/.

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'1 South East Asia Game industry Talent report 2016, MDEC 

About LEVEL UP KL:

LEVEL UP KL is an annual South East Asia Games Developers conference led by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) to drive the growth of games industry in Malaysia and the region. it seeks to be the premier platform for the region that brings together the local, regional, and international community of games developers, publishers, and technology providers to gather, learn. and share the latest information of content development technologies and business trends in the industry. For more information on LEVEL UP KL. please visit http://levelupkl.com/.

About Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation MDEC:

Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation or MDEC (formerly known as Multimedia Development Corporation Sdn. Bhd.), an agency incorporated 20 years ago under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia. spearheads the development of Malaysia’s Digital Economy. its mission is centred on driving investments, building local tech champions, catalysing digital innovation ecosystems and propagating digital inclusivity. 

MDEC is also responsible for ensuring that Malaysia continues to develop digital innovation and nurture local information, communications and technology (ICT) talent, while attracting participation from global lCT companies to invest and develop cutting edge digital and creative solutions in the country. To know more about MDEC’s efforts and initiatives in driving Digital economy, please visit https://www.mdec.my/. or follow us on Facebook at  https:://www.facebook.com/MyMDEC/and Twitter at @mymdec

November 7th TUESDAY

@NEXUS 1

9:30am>  LEVEL UP KL 2017 Opening Speech
Hasnul Hadi Samsudin, Vice President, Creative Content & Technologies, MDEC
9:45am>  Keynote: The Future of Virtual Worlds Luis Cataldi (Epic Games)
10:45am>  Tea Break
11:00am>  VR/AR Development WeiGing Ngang (HTC Vive)
11:40am>  Emerging Game Markets Sho Sato (Media Create)
12:20pm>  Lunch Break
1:40pm>  Panel: Bridging Funding Expectations
Mohan Low (MDEC) Moderator
Sam Shafie (pitchIN)
Irene Umar (DNC)
Melissa Foo (Armoury Ventures)
2:20pm>  Panel: Sound Design Experience for Multiple Platforms
Falk Au Yeong (SoundtRec Malaysia)Moderator
Shota Nakama (SoundtRec Boston)
Gwen Guo (IMBA Interactive)
3:00pm>  Panel: Working with Influencers to Grow Your Game Audience
Jeff Sandhu (BFM Radio) Moderator
Michelle Tan (Fundeavor)
Nicholas Sagau (MP Labs)
YuBin Ng (Astro)
3:40pm>  Tea Break
4:10pm>  Sharing Session: Taipei Game Show 2018 
Kellie Liu (Taipei Computer Association)
4:30pm>  Sharing Session: Adobe Creative Cloud - The Modern Platform for Content Velocity
Rajesh Patil (Adobe)
4:50pm>  MYGAMEON Launch
by Media Prima Labs
5:10pm>  Keynote: Leveling Up with Hajime Tabata and His FFXV Team
Wan Hazmer (SQUARE ENIX Co.,Ltd.)
7:00pm>  Shuttle Bus at 6:30 pm to
Networking Night @ Ruyi & Lyn, Bangsar Shopping Centre
11:00pm>  Session End

November 7th TUESDAY
@NEXUS 2+3

9:30am> LEVEL UP KL 2017 Opening Speech
Dato' Yasmin
9:45am> Keynote: The Future of Virtual Worlds
Luis Cataldi (Epic Games)
10:45am> Tea Break
11:00am> VR/AR Development
Weiging Ngang (HTC Vive)
11:40am> Emerging Game Markets
Sho Sato (Media Create)
12:20pm> Lunch Break
1:40pm> Panel: Bridging Funding Expectation
Sam Shafie (pitchIN) Moderator
Irene Umar (DNC)
Melissa Foo Suyin (Armoury Ventures)
2:20pm> Panel: Sound Design Experience for Multiple Platforms
Falk Au Yeong (SoundtRec Malaysia)Moderator
Shota Nakama (SoundtRec Boston)
Gwen Guo (IMBA Interactive)
3:00pm> Panel: Working with Influencers to Grow Your Game Audience
Jeff Sandhu (BFM) Moderator
Michelle Tan (Fundeavor)
Nicholas Sagau (MP Labs)
YuBin Ng (Astro)
3:40pm> Tea Break
4:30pm> Sharing Session: Taipei Game Show 2018
4:50pm> Sharing Session: Adobe
5:10pm> MYGAMEON Launch
5:30pm> Keynote: Final Fantasy XV - Monster of the Deep
Wan Hazmer (SQUARE ENIX Co.,Ltd.)
7:00pm> Shuttle Bus at 6:30 pm to
Networking Party @ Ruyi & Lyn, Bangsar
11:00pm> Session End

November 7th TUESDAY
@Oak Room

11:00am> Unreal @ LEVEL UP KL
Developing the Next VR Game
Christopher Murphy
12:20pm> Lunch Break
1:40pm - 3:40pm> Google @ LEVEL UP KL
Monetize Your Game with Google
Jill Lee
Game as a Service using Firebase 
Thye Yeow Bok
Machine Learning and the Future of Marketing
Aimen Khan

Connexion Conference & Event Centre - CCEC

No 7 Jalan Kerinchi

Bangsar South City, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur 59200