BitSummit 7 Spirits is kicking off this weekend, and the organizers have released more information about the event, including the full BilSummit 7 Spirits, schedule. The independent games exhibition which runs from June 1 to June 2, will be held at the Kyoto International Exhibition Hall Miyako Messe, and is set to feature new, upcoming and existing indie titles from around the world.
Before you check out the schedule, check out the veritable who’s who of speakers who will be holding panels at this amazing event:
- Keita Takahashi, best known as the creator of Katamari Damacy, Noby Noby Boy and the upcoming Wattam.
- Shuhei Yoshida, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s President of Worldwide Studios.
- Too Kyo Games, developers who previously worked on the Danganropa series.
- Kris Piotrowski of Capybara Games, developers of Below.
- Dave Crooks, designer and developer of Enter the Gungeon.
- Adam “Doseone” Drucker, composer for Enter the Gungeon.
- Atsushi Inaba and Takahisa Taura of PlatinumGames
- Inti Creates
- Kojia “IGA” Igarashi, developer behind Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
- Keiji Yamagashi, developer of Ninja Gaiden and Tecmo Bowl
- Kaori Nakabai, developer behind Ninja Gaiden III and Captain Tsubasa
Here is the full schedule of the two-day event, courtesy of BitSummit. The event will be livestreamed on Twitch, and, as such, all times are converted for Eastern Time. If you can luckily attend this event, you can check out the original times for the events here.
June 1
- 9:00PM ET (May 31, Friday) – BitSummit Official Opening Ceremony – Join us for a quick introduction of some of the key people that help put the spirit into BitSummit 7 Spirits!
- 9:20PM ET – Kris Piotrowski: The Weight of A World – This talk discusses Below’s world design sensibilities, exploring the key concepts considered and learned throughout the creation of Below’s gloomy subterranean environments.
- 10:00PM ET – Platinum Games: Training the Next Generation of Disruptive Creators – Making original disruptive games requires disrupting your creators as well. Atsushi Inaba and Takahisa Taura talk about how creative development starts from within
- 10:40PM ET – Pixel Art Game Panel: For the Love of Pixel-art – The indie game world wouldn’t be where it is today without some amazing pixels. We talk with teams who have worked on games known for some beautiful pixel art!
- 11:20PM ET – Inti Creates’ Next Big Thing – Inti Creates joins us at BitSummit for an exclusive world-premiere of their latest and greatest title!
- 12:00AM ET (June 1, Saturday) – Saturday Keynote: The Publishing Path Less Traveled – Flexiblity in Publishing – Two industry Giants, Shuhei Yoshida and Keita Takahashi talk about how Wattam initially started as an SIE title before moving on to a different direction.
- 12:40AM ET – Indie Game Festival Report! – YouTube Gaming’s Iku Igarashi talks about the Indie Games Festival 2019, a look-back on last year, and this year’s contest.
- 1:20AM ET – It’s an Indie, Indie World After All! – A roundtable discussions with many creators from around the world featured in the BitSummit World Pavilion.
- 2:00AM ET – Devolver Digital: Enter the Gungeon Super Star Panel with LayerQ – One of BitSummit’s coolest parts is the ability to have a casual talk with some of the most talented indie creators around the world. Join the Enter the Gungeon team for an open discussion about indie development!
- 2:40AM ET – The Messenger’s Dynamic Duo Cross-talk Panel – A candid Q&A session with the dynamic duo responsible for one of the biggest indie hits of 2018, The Messenger!
- 3:20AM ET – BitSummit Live Concert: Bravewave Presents – Keiji Yamagishi & Kaori Nakabai Present Ninja Gaiden (NES) Live.
June 2
- 9:00PM ET (June 1, Saturday) – Day 2 Opening Ceremony – We welcome folks to the last day of BitSummit and recap some of the great sessions from Day 1!
- 9:20PM ET – The NES’s Everlasting Impact and Legacy: Kazutoshi Iida / James Newman / Iain Simons – The NES (Famicom) and it’s continued legacy on games, the English market, and indie developers. Featuring two of famous game historians James Newman and Iain Simons.
- 10:00PM ET – IGA: A Bloody, Bloodstained Development – IGA talks over the final weeks to the games release and live plays the game!
- 10:40PM ET – The Creative Collaborations in La-Mulana 2 – With the console release of La Mulana 2 just weeks away, Takumi Naramura talks about some of the creative collaborations with other developers they have included in the game.
- 11:20PM ET – Adventure Games from Around the World – The adventure game continues to be a genre that inspires many different creators. We’ll focus on 3 different indie teams from around the world that are focused on this popular genre.
- 12:00AM ET (June 2, Sunday) – Sunday Keynote: We are Too Kyo Games!!! – We’ll give an update on where we are at our second year as an indie dev. It’s both scary and awesome to have complete freedom as a developer and we’ll give you the inside scoop!
- 12:40AM ET – The DWI and its big plans! – The dawn of DWI! What we do, who we’ve worked with, and a bright indie future!
- 1:20AM ET – What Indie Publishers Want! – A round table discussion with four different indie publishers about what they look for in indie content.
- 2:00AM ET – BitSummit Live Concert: Nice Legs
- 2:25AM ET – BitSummit Live Concert: Doseone
- 3:00AM ET – 7th Annual BitSummit Award Ceremony – The awards and closing ceremony of BitSummit 7 Spirits! Please join us in celebrating these amazing creators at the main stage!
If you’re attending this event, remember that the times shown are in Eastern Time for people who will be watching it through the event’s Twitch channel. For the original schedule set in Japanese time, check it out here. You can also view the floor plan for the event here.
