JetBrains GameDev
Day 2025

You may be surprised, but people with disabilities play games, too!

You may be tempted to simply follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines when building your game, but unfortunately, it doesn't do a great job of making mobile sites (games) and native apps (games) accessible to people with disabilities. This is because, when developing WCAG2, the Working Group did not envision the current world where mobile is almost ubiquitous. For example, on a mobile device, there is no continual access to a keyboard (unless someone is using it as an add-on to the device, or using a Blackberry Classic). WCAG2 requires that all content be accessible to the keyboard interface, but it does not require that all content be accessible to a mouse or to a touchscreen user, which is essential on a mobile device. WCAG2.1 does include some mobile accessibility requirements, but doesn’t go far enough. Gian Wild led the Mobile Site Sub-Committee in developing a set of Mobile Site Testing Guidelines that are available under Creative Commons. These guidelines are meant to be used in conjunction with WCAG2 (and WCAG2.1) to ensure that sites (and games!) are accessible to people with disabilities using mobile and tablet devices.

Accessibility matters because your users are diverse. They may have a disability or simply be distracted by something else while using your mobile app, device, or wearable. Gian talks about the things that are essential to avoid when designing mobile games to ensure that everyone can use them. She talks about specific mobile accessibility features: pinch zoom, native screen readers, haptic keyboard, etc., and system accessibility settings: font size, screen rotation, high contrast, etc.

Key takeaways from this talk

• Mobile web accessibility is very different from desktop web accessibility.
• Mobile devices have a huge array of system accessibility features, and these need to be tested.
• WCAG2.1 does not sufficiently cover mobile web accessibility.

This session explores how memory access patterns, CPU caches, and object layout affect game performance. We’ll break down why traditional object-oriented programming often works against the hardware and how Unreal Engine’s Mass Entity framework offers a modern, data-oriented alternative. We’ll also take a deep dive into topics ranging from cache lines to aligned entities.

Key takeaways from this talk

• CPUs love contiguous data.
• Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) often works against the hardware.
• Data-Oriented Design aligns with how hardware processes information.
• Mass Entity in Unreal is a practical plugin of data-driven architecture.
• Shifting your mindset from 'what objects do' to 'how data flows' is essential.
• Data-Driven Systems are not a trend – they’re a response to modern game demands.

A deep dive into web-specific game optimizations, featuring general best practices and tips for both Unity and Godot.

Key takeaways from this talk

• An understanding of best practices for browser games, a massively under-tapped platform.
• An understanding of runtime performance vs. build size, where each matters and what you can do about them.
• How to effectively manage asset loading in both Unity and Godot.

Monetization in games is very important for keeping your game alive and players engaged.

At the same time, cross-platform engagement is more important than ever, with players playing the same game on various PC, console, and mobile platforms.

In this talk, we'll use PlayFab and Godot to build a cross-platform in-game store and show how you can integrate with various platforms, such as Steam, to use their payment integration to sell products in-game.

Key takeaways from this talk

Attendees will learn about key technologies for engaging and monetizing players across platforms and implement a cross-platform solution using Godot, PlayFab, and Steam. They will also see how they can manage their projects with Rider, supported by its plugin ecosystem.

This session explores the transformative role of AI in accelerating and automating the CI/CD pipeline for mobile game development. We will delve into how AI infrastructure, from intelligent feedback loops to AI-powered code generation and review, can dramatically enhance efficiency and quality. Discover strategies for leveraging AI to streamline development, reduce human intervention, and move towards a more autonomous, high-velocity development cycle, ultimately speeding up iteration and time-to-market for mobile games.

Key takeaways from this talk

• Accelerated Feedback Loops: Learn how AI can drastically reduce the time from code commit to actionable insights, enabling faster iteration and bug resolution in mobile game development.
• AI-Enhanced Productivity: Understand the practical applications of AI in development, including AI-powered knowledge bases and copilots, to empower developers and accelerate code creation.
• Automated Code Quality: Explore the benefits and implementation of AI-driven code review mechanisms for identifying issues earlier and maintaining high code standards.
• Towards Autonomous CI/CD: Gain insights into the transition from human-centric to AI-driven processes, which paves the way for more fully automated and efficient mobile game development pipelines.

This talk will provide an overview of the features and advantages of Unity's Netcode for Entities framework. This talk will also discuss some considerations to have when evaluating if your team should implement Netcode for Entities in your next project. Some examples and code snippets will be shown as well.

Key takeaways from this talk

Viewers will understand what Unity's Netcode for Entities offers and some of the key advantages it has over other Unity-based netcode solutions.

Great games aren’t just coded – they’re crafted through collaboration, trust, and communication across disciplines. In the fast-paced world of game development, teams often focus on engines, pipelines, and mechanics – while soft skills get overlooked. Yet they’re essential for avoiding crunch, resolving creative conflict, and delivering projects on time without burnout.

In this session, Sheena Yap Chan shares how soft skills like confident communication, psychological safety, clear documentation, and self-leadership help teams work better together – from prototyping to launch. Whether you’re a developer, designer, producer, or narrative lead, you’ll learn practical tools to manage feedback, advocate for your role, and build a team culture where creativity can thrive.

This talk will leave attendees with the human-side tactics to complement their technical toolkit – and help them build stronger games by building stronger teams.

Key takeaways from this talk

• Apply communication techniques to improve feedback loops, retros, and team syncs across roles.
• Use self-leadership strategies to reduce burnout and advocate for clarity and boundaries during crunch periods.
• Foster a psychologically safe environment where cross-disciplinary collaboration leads to better creative outcomes.

In this session, Gabriel Batista, an AWS Solutions Architect focused on games, will walk attendees through the Cloud Game Development Toolkit – a collection of open-source, infrastructure-as-code templates and configurations developed by AWS to help game developers deploy common game development workloads and tools on AWS. Gabriel will cover the key components of the toolkit, including reusable assets like Packer templates and Terraform modules. He’ll also cover infrastructure like Perforce, Unreal Engine, and TeamCity (among others), as well as sample configurations demonstrating how to use the toolkit to set up robust, scalable game development environments. Attendees will learn how this modular, customizable toolkit can provide a head start for game development on AWS and how they can get involved with the open-source project.

Key takeaways from this talk

• Understanding the modular structure and components of the Cloud Game Development Toolkit (assets, modules, samples).
• Awareness of the toolkit's pre-built Terraform modules for deploying common game dev infrastructure like Perforce, Unreal Engine, and TeamCity (Among others).
• Insight into how the toolkit's best-practice configurations can provide a head start for setting up robust game dev environments on AWS.
• Knowledge of how to customize and extend the open-source toolkit to fit a studio's specific needs.
• Learn about the benefits of the toolkit's community-driven approach and how to get involved as a contributor.