Philomena Schwab

Co-Founder, Stray Fawn Studio

Philomena Schwab is a game designer and community manager from Zurich, Switzerland. She wrote her master thesis about “Community Building for Indie Developers” and went on to co-found the indie game studio Stray Fawn in 2016. In 2017 Philomena has been named a 30 under 30 in Technology in Europe by Forbes. She currently serves in the community advisory council of Kickstarter and the selection committee of the WINGS game fund. As the co-founder and vice president of the Swiss Game Hub, she helps the local game industry grow.

Sessions by Philomena Schwab

Validate, Hype, Release: A Strategic Approach To Reduce Your Next Game's Risk to Flop

Virtual Day 1 - 13:30 - 14:00
Language: English (accompanied with Mandarin/Chinese subtitles.)

Maintaining an indie studio is a tough challenge. With roughly 1,000 games launching on Steam every month, it's just too easy to be overlooked.
 

After releasing three profitable PC games in a row, Stray Fawn Studio shares its best practices to validate interest in a project early on, build up hype, and focus momentum at launch. Their latest game 'The Wandering Village' has sold over 100,000 copies in its launch week. Come join this dissection of strategies related to crowdfunding, social media, social news, community building, and digital events.

This talk is targeted at audiences of all experience levels as it shows example from the very beginning of our studio up until now (seven years after founding). Ideally the audience has an interest in marketing and business development. 

Attendees will gain insight into deciding what game to work on next. It introduces the low-risk "stepped development" approach Stray Fawn Studio developed over several projects. Attendees also gain an overview of The Wandering Village's marketing strategy, including a wishlist breakdown and analysis.