Hey I attended a few talks today. Here's my notes:

Breaking In w/ Emily Gulrian
- Not Cut and Dry
- Job is not same as career
- Epic is game dev & tool company
- Having a job doesn't make you an artist - making art makes you an artist
- Don't wait!
- Do research to find info on companies
- Improve! Don't stop.
- Have to have solid examples, a good portfolio
- What are you good at? Don't be a jack of all trades.
- Research salary & payment / benefits, cost of living
- Know what motivates you
- Don't go into game industry for money - go into insurance, etc
- Know what you want: structure, innovation, etc
- What do you need? Strong portfolio, passion, and culture fit
- Make resume simple: email, jobs, portfolio, etc should be clear
- Internships are great!
- Keep info relevant.
- Best stuff on portfolio only--don't include old things, it makes you look bad
- Prepare for interview--social situations, not just interview questions
- Projects, projects, projects
- Never stop learning
- Keep good habits to keep yourself healthy & on top of things
- Only include things you know

Question: Would a commercial indie release sub for professional experience, even if it's not financially successful? Resounding YES.

## Hiring process at Epic
- epicgames.com/careers & @EpicTalent
- Portfolio review by HR
- Portfolio review by Expert
- Skills test
- HR phone interview
- Expert phone interview
- On-site interview

Marketing with Sergey, creator of Steam Spy
- Steam is biggest game service in West (China has a bigger one)
- 22,482 games released total, 7,696 in last year (2017)
- Top 100 games account for 50% of revenue

- 9500 median owners for game
- 5000 for indie games
- 1500 for indie games in 2017

- $5.99 median price for game on Steam
- $3.99 for indie games
- $2.99 for indie games in 2017

- $150,000 for top 2000
- $160,000 for top 2000 in 2016

- 2000 indie games in 2015
- 13624 in 2018

- 65 million own indie game
- 24 million own five or more

- $20 and $60 best price points (by profit/sales)

- 64% of Steam users speak Chinese
- 18% English
- 13.9% from US
- 23% own games in US

- US is biggest market, followed by Germany

- 2017 best year for Valve
- Most games fall at tail end, driving down average
- Direct smaller effect than Greenlight

- Consoles very profitable for indies
- Nintendo Switch is like mobile marketplaces

- Discoverability #1 problem for indies
- Steam has terrible discoverability

1. Press
2. Advertise/market ASAP, don't want until before release
3. Have a plan for release
4. "Network like hell" - Attend PAX, E3, etc

...

Think it would be useful for some of you .

I'm going to post my notes from a talk about patents and a talk about marketing/funding later.

ECGC was awesome!

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(That's me! Of course...)

Thank you! We do look surprisingly similar, haha.

Here's my notes from the patent one. This one was really interesting! There's a marketing one I'll post later, too. Still have to transcribe it.

Gaming the Patent System w/ Daniel rose
- Copyright doesn't protect gameplay
- PUBG vs NetEase, PUBG claims copyright on gameplay, will (probably) lose
- To protect gameplay, patent!

## Using IP
- Offensively: lawsuit, DMCA, injunction
- Defensively: contersuits, protecting via prior art, cross-licensing
- Asset: licensing, obtain VC funding, buy-out/acquisition, tax break

- Zynga has 700 patents
- Ubisoft has 200
- Others have more or less

Patent must be:
- new
- non-obvious
- eligible (not abstract, not software per se, on it's own)

Try for middle-ground: not too general, not too specific.

- Groups TC2100, TC2400, TC3600, TC3700 govern most patents relevant to games; 70% allowance
- Some AU are more forgiving, some are not; try and maneuver into forgiving AU
- Use different language--using different words or examples can steer towards a better AU

- Look at title, field, abstract, claims, figures

- Avoid e-commerce terms; AUs responsible have high rejection rates
- Don't focus on player
- Try and make it so it be can applied in other fields if possible (e.g., AI)

- Provisional patents are good during development: secret but allow securing an earlier grant date

## Patents
- Patent is the right to exclude others from using IP
- Requires disclosure
- Costs 15,000-25,000 USD

## Copyright
- Copyright: right to make copy
- Protect creative expression
- Requires originality
- Hypothetical: If a person lost in a cave for 20 years came up with Harry Potter completely independent of Rowling, he or she would be eligible for copyright
- $35, can be a compilation

## Trademark
- Right to use mark in commerce
- Lasts forever, as long as mark remains linked to specific product/service
- E.g., escalator--no longer a trademark
- $2,000

## Trade secret
- Right to be from industrial espionage
- Can't do much if leaked; can only go after individual who leaked, none other

## Contracts
- E.g., NDA

Answers to Questions

At one time can I apply for a patent?
- Patent grace period starts when product is sold

How to make money while working towards patent?
- Investment in company ok (e.g., venture capitalist), investment in product not ok (e.g., crowdfunding)

How to prevent a patent from becoming 'prior art' while showing off game?
- If gameplay/talk expose how idea can be implemented, no longer eligible
- Try provisional patent

...

There's a really unique gameplay mechanic in a game I'm working on that could actually be applied to real life situations so a patent would be nice. (I'm a hypocrite!).

What can I say, I'm good at taking notes