The opening adress from Dr. Andreas Lober made it clear right from the start: browser games are international! Not only that the program of the Browser Games Forum was held mostly in English but also in the corridors and in the lobby a surprisingly large number of conversations between international conference attendees were heard. The following two-day agenda could be divided into three different ranges of topics:

The main issues concerning 'Production' where game design and technological basics. Balancing, long-term motivation and storytelling, music and payment models - from A to Z everything was discussed. 'Operation' topics covered pitfalls coming up with a released browser game. But not only topics concerning the development of games were dealt with, economical issues were approached as well. Subjects for 'Business' were financing, marketing and distribution as well as legal questions. Next to venture capitalists and founders even the Deutsche Bank gave tips how to raise funds.

Highlight of the first day was the panel discussion with ready witted characters like Bigpoint-boss Heiko Hubertz,  interesting questions from moderators like Jan Wagner of Cliffhanger Productions and the brisk participation of the audience.

An appreciated half-time break for Friday night was the award ceremony of the European Innovative Games Awards to which all visitors of the Browser Games Forum were invited. This award underlined the ambitions of the state of Hessen to mark its spot on the games industry's world map. In combination with the Browser Games Forum this goal was met at leas on the national level.

While on day 1 the main focus were broader subjects and the panel discussions, all topics were deepened in workshops on day 2. During these workshops the speakers presented - based on examples from problems in everyday's browser game business - possible solutions. Especially the technical workshops gave new impulses. E.g. attendees were taught why it could make sense to keep in to work on high-end SUN Systems instead of many small Linux-based servers. Another lecture showed how to create a small 3d browser game using the right engine in only 30 minutes.

Overall the solid program and the already mentioned record attendance made the browser games forum 2009 a full success. Due to selective choice of topics and speakers participants gained an overview of the actual stage of development, main problem areas and exciting trends of the browser games industry. We would like thank the hosts and  are looking forward to next year's conference!