The event lineup for BitSummit 2014, the independent developer conference held in Japan, features a keynote by Q Entertainment's Tetsuya Mizuguchi titled "Independent DNA," along with presentations by industry vets, performances from video game composers and more, the organizers announced today.
Confirmed special guests hosting presentations include John Baez (The Behemoth), Hiroki Omae (Unity 3D Japan), Taka Kawasaki (Epic Games Japan), Yoshiro Kimura (Onion Games), indie dev ZUN (Team Shanghai Alice), Brian Davis (Next Level Games), Theodore Reiker (Prior Games) and Mohammed Taher (BraveWave Productions).
Various music performances will run during the conference from composers and artists such as 8-bit maestro Professor Sakamoto; Masaya Matsuura (PaRappa, Vib Ribbon); Pixeljunk audio-visual collaborator Baiyon; Manami Matsumae (Mega Man, Mighty No. 9 ); Saori Kobayashi (Crimson Dragon, Panzer Dragoon series); Takayuki Nakamura (Lumines series); and, Chipzel (Super Hexagon).
Kickstarter's Luke Crane will host a presentation about the mechanics of a successful crowdfunding campaign and numerous new games reveals are expected during the summit. More speakers and artists will be announced closer to the date.
Running from March 7-9, BitSummit 2014 will be held at the Kyoto International Exhibition Hall in Japan, a venue eight times larger than last year's. The gaming public is now welcome to attend on Saturday and Sunday, with Friday remaining press only. Registrations opened for BitSummit last month and further information about the event is located on the conference's official FAQ.
BitSummit was founded by Q Games' James Mielke to open dialogue between international media and independent Japanese developers. To learn more about BitSummit and its origin story, be sure to read our feature and watch our Human Angle: Behind Bit.Summit video.
