Vitaliy Khit, Vitaly Romanov, Kenny Rosenblatt

audio (14 MB)

If you think just the idea is what makes the game - just look at all the clones of popular game mechanics and you will quickly see that very few of them actually reach the same level of "fun" as the original game. With ever rising development budgets, how can a developer without huge cash flows afford to develop a game that is a derivative to a current gameplay or a game that is presenting a completely new gameplay?

Three very-experienced development studios executives will speak on how prototyping process is set up at their companies and how they save on developing new games by that.

Specific examples from Kenny's 20 person development team in Ukraine, Vitaliy Romanov's well-known developers in St.Petersburg and Vitaliy Khit's Absolutist/WellGames studio will bring concrete examples of working with this process not only with a local developers, but with an international team.

Delivered at Casual Connect Kyiv, October 2007

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Vitaliy Khit (email)

Vitaliy wrote his first “tetris” back in 80s and since then designed, sometimes programmed, and produced more than 100 casual games. He has been living “casual” for the whole life, but had to be “hardcore” when he was managing financial flows for big companies. For the last 7 years he is a mastermind behind many of Absolutist games and his biggest dream is to work 24-7 on games. Vitaliy now manages a team of 50+ creative and talented people, gives strategic development directions to Absolutist’s production and marketing. He is a well-known speaker on all the Eastern European game industry events. He’s a fan of mobile devices of all kinds. His latest favorite gadget is a Linux based multimedia center which fits on the laps. The second smaller part of Vitaliy’s life is devoted to family and their cute dachshund. Vitaliy holds a degree in Physics from a leading former USSR university.

Vitaly Romanov (email)

In 2002, Vitaly Romanov co-founded casual game developer and distributor NevoSoft, based in St. Petersburg, Russia. The company's first taste of success came in 2003 when it released the action game, Arcadrome. In addition to selling well, the game earned The Adrenaline Vault's coveted "Shareware Game of the Year" award. NevoSoft went on to develop Dino and Aliens, a special milestone in the company's history that saw it shift toward the development of puzzle and logic games. Today, NevoSoft is one of the top developers of casual games in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Kenny Rosenblatt (email)

He didn’t realize it then, but Kenny Rosenblatt’s childhood prepared him for current role as CEO at Arkadium Games. Kenny not only grew up playing games, he also had a passion for computers. You could always find him playing with his Atari or in later years mastering Donkey Kong on his Coleco vision console. His passion for gaming and the technology that made games work, quickly translated into the co-founding of Arkadium Games in 2000. Kenny’s background and work at Arkadium has not only entertained gamers worldwide, but has also served the needs of international brands such as Harrah’s, CBS, Mattel, Hearst, Hasbro, Sony and Warner Brothers.

Arkadium creates game software for consumer brands, ad agencies, casino operators and online gamers. The company's growing library of over 125 game engines are developed using Adobe Flash, do not require a download, operate on 99% of all computers and can be customized to meet any client's specific needs. Arkadium's games reach millions of people across all demographics through some of the most popular online destinations and corporate branded Web sites.

Prior to joining Arkadium Kenny was VP of Emerging Technologies at On2 Technologies where he developed several Video on Demand systems for iTV and Set Top Boxes. Kenny has a degree in Information Technology and Management from Syracuse University. He also enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, fishing, and building a great business.

HOME \| LECTURES & ARTICLES \| ARTICLES IN RUSSIAN \| PROTOTYPING & INNOVATION audio (14 MB) If you think just the idea is what makes the game - just look at all the clones of popular game mechanics and you will quickly see that very few of them actually reach the same level of "fun" as the original game. With ever rising development budgets, how can a developer without huge cash flows afford to develop a game that is a derivative to a current gameplay or a game that is presenting a completely new gameplay? Three very-experienced development studios executives will speak on how prototyping process is set up at their companies and how they save on developing new games by that. Specific examples from Kenny's 20 person development team in Ukraine, Vitaliy Romanov's well-known developers in St.Petersburg and Vitaliy Khit's Absolutist/WellGames studio will bring concrete examples of working with this process not only with a local developers, but with an international team. Delivered at Casual Connect Kyiv, October 2007 DOWNLOAD Vitaliy Khit (email) Vitaliy wrote his first “tetris” back in 80s and since then designed, sometimes programmed, and produced more than 100 casual games. He has been living “casual” for the whole life, but had to be “hardcore” when he was managing financial flows for big companies. For the last 7 years he is a mastermind behind many of Absolutist games and his biggest dream is to work 24-7 on games. Vitaliy now manages a team of 50+ creative and talented people, gives strategic development directions to Absolutist’s production and marketing. He is a well-known speaker on all the Eastern European game industry events. He’s a fan of mobile devices of all kinds. His latest favorite gadget is a Linux based multimedia center which fits on the laps. The second smaller part of Vitaliy’s life is devoted to family and their cute dachshund. Vitaliy holds a degree in Physics from a leading former USSR university. Vitaly Romanov (email) In 2002, Vitaly Romanov co-founded casual game developer and distributor NevoSoft, based in St. Petersburg, Russia. The company's first taste of success came in 2003 when it released the action game, Arcadrome. In addition to selling well, the game earned The Adrenaline Vault's coveted "Shareware Game of the Year" award. NevoSoft went on to develop Dino and Aliens, a special milestone in the company's history that saw it shift toward the development of puzzle and logic games. Today, NevoSoft is one of the top developers of casual games in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Kenny Rosenblatt (email) He didn’t realize it then, but Kenny Rosenblatt’s childhood prepared him for current role as CEO at Arkadium Games. Kenny not only grew up playing games, he also had a passion for computers. You could always find him playing with his Atari or in later years mastering Donkey Kong on his Coleco vision console. His passion for gaming and the technology that made games work, quickly translated into the co-founding of Arkadium Games in 2000. Kenny’s background and work at Arkadium has not only entertained gamers worldwide, but has also served the needs of international brands such as Harrah’s, CBS, Mattel, Hearst, Hasbro, Sony and Warner Brothers. Arkadium creates game software for consumer brands, ad agencies, casino operators and online gamers. The company's growing library of over 125 game engines are developed using Adobe Flash, do not require a download, operate on 99% of all computers and can be customized to meet any client's specific needs. Arkadium's games reach millions of people across all demographics through some of the most popular online destinations and corporate branded Web sites. Prior to joining Arkadium Kenny was VP of Emerging Technologies at On2 Technologies where he developed several Video on Demand systems for iTV and Set Top Boxes. Kenny has a degree in Information Technology and Management from Syracuse University. He also enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, fishing, and building a great business.