Business Intelligence Challenges for Independent Game Publishing With the continuous development of the game industry, research in the game field is also deepening. Many interdisciplinary areas of knowledge and theory have been used to promote the development of the game industry. Business intelligence technologies have been applied to game development for game design and game optimization. However, few systematic research efforts have focused on the field of game publishing, particularly with regard to independent (indie) game publishing. In this paper, we analyse data collected from a set of interviews with small indie game developers. The results indicate that most of the indie game developers have already used business intelligence for game selfpublishing, although three main challenges have been identified: first, how to conduct marketing promotion and improve the return on investment (ROI); second, how to collect game publishing data; and third, how to analyse the data in order to guide game selfpublishing. Our interviews also reveal that the business model applied to a game significantly impacts the role of game analytics. The study expands and advances the research on how game analytics can be used for game publishing, particularly for indie game selfpublishing.

The Mirrorxe2x80x99s Edge: Creating a Dynamic Games Course That Reflects Industry Practices and Manages Student Expectations Industry simulation is an essential part of an undergraduate games studentxe2x80x99s education. It has been outlined by The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE) as essential to developing graduate skills for the workplace. This paper highlights the importance of simulating industry practices within a games degree program, bringing attention to the need for crosscourse collaboration and to provide a dynamic environment that reflects industry practice. This paper presents a casestudy highlighting methods for maintaining student engagement and enhancing project management skills, as well as showcasing techniques for managing student expectations and preconceptions of their individual responsibilities. The study focused on providing smallscale projects, where students worked in crosscourse multidisciplinary teams of between eight and twelve students. Academic staff have acted as executive producers for each student team, reinforcing the professional context of the project. The module has used a livebrief provided by a games industry professional or an external competition, which allowed for creative interpretation by students and challenging them from a game design perspective. The conclusion of this study shows that including crosscourse collaboration between students and providing a structure mirroring industry practices has been essential in preparing students for a games industry career.