SEASON ONE

Dialogue Tree is a cooperation between the IT University and Vision Denmark where stakeholders from the Danish game industry and academia meet up to freely discuss topics of concern for both the industry and academia.

The events were not recorded or streamed, to allow speakers to talk freely about controversial issues within the walls of academia. However, the events were annotated by an assistant financed by Vision Denmark, with the goal of keeping a permanent record of the conversations that happened during the event.

As of December 2022, these records have not been publicly released, but drafts can be accessed in this page.

Dialogue Tree succeeded in its goal of creating high quality conversations about relevant topics for the Danish Game Industry, despite the difficult coordinating and arranging conditions that the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent restrictions.

Dialogue Tree will return for a second season at some time in 2023-2024.

October 13th 2021

Vision Denmark and the Center for Computer Games Research at the IT University of Copenhagen would like to invite you to join us on October 13th for a conversation about Labor in the (Danish) Games Industry.

We have gathered an exciting group of speakers to tackle the always interesting topic of labor and working conditions in the Games Industry. Each speaker will have 15 minutes to present their perspective, and then they will discuss in a round table, followed by a Q&A session open to the public.

The speakers for this event are:

Astrid Mie Refstrup CEO and founder of Triple Topping Games, advisor for games investor Kowloon Knights, with, and previous vice president of Global Game Jam and vice chair of Nordic Game Jam.

Emil Lundedal Hammar Postdoctoral fellow at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and at the Center for Excellence GameCult at the University of Tampere, and senior lecturer at the University of Tromsø.

Riley Andersen CEO at Umami Games, who recently received a seed investment from Vækstfonden and angel investor Morten Wulff. Tactile Games alumni, and candidate from the IT-University.

Regö Porkolab BSc in Global Business Informatics at ITU, MSc in Game Design at ITU with specialization in Production. Producer at FlatPonies, independent Danish video game company in Copenhagen, currently working on Rebots.

Martin Buhl Svanum 6-year veteran at IO Interactive, where he now is COO, with past experience in development of investment platforms and fintech. Education in Computer Science from Niels Brock, De Montfort University, and the IT-University

Martin Pichlmair Associate Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen, and Head of the Games Master Program. Co-founder of the indie studio Broken Rules. His latest game is Vitriol

Event Record by Michael Debus


March 30th 2022

Dialogue Tree: The Money Issue

Money. We know it’s important. We know we need it.

But we don’t talk about it. Until Now!

Vision Denmark and the IT University of Copenhagen would like to invite you to a Dialogue Tree event to talk money.

We are thrilled to welcome a fantastic group of panelists

  • Astrid Refstrup, Tripple Topping Games

  • Mads Wibroe, Playdead

  • Helena Sokol, Game Swing

  • Simon Løvind, Dansk Film Institut

  • Riley Andersen, Umami Games

The panelists will discuss hot topics around money in the Games Industry, from Spilordning to venture capital. Following the panel discussion, the floor will be open for the audience to participate.

Event Record by Ronny Mikkelsen


May 19th 2022

Dialogue Tree: The Academia Issue

Vision Denmark and the IT University of Copenhagen would like to invite you to a Dialogue Tree event to talk about the role of academia in the Danish games industry.

Denmark was one of the first places in the world where a games education was offered. Denmark is a world-leading country in games research, with several universities dedicated to the research on the technical, cultural, social, and aesthetic importance of games. In this Dialogue Tree, we will be giving the voice to Danish game academia to discuss their presence in the game industry.

What is the role of academia in the Danish game industry scene and what is the role of the game industry in academia? Are universities supposed to educate the workers of the present, or the leaders of the future, or both? What is the point of academic game research? How is Danish game academia affected by the current educational politics landscape? How can Danish game academics and the games industry collaborate and build lasting relationships that benefit everyone?

If you are interested in learning about the different game programs, educational policies, what and why is taught at university, and if you want to discuss what academia should be doing and how research, education, and industry can work together, come join us for Dialogue Tree: The Academia Issue.

We are thrilled to welcome a fantastic group of panelists

  • Emil Lundedal Hammar, Tampere Universitet, Det Kongelige Akademi
  • Helena Sokol, Game Swing/CBS
  • Henrik Schønau Fog, Aalborg University
  • Miguel Sicart, IT University