Last Friday, Pixel-Lab organised the first ever World of Love, a UK-based indie games development conference hosted by Channel 4. We were there; it was rather good.

In a world of love, anything is possible – for those who dare.

This seemed to be the thread running through the impressively diverse talks during the day. Whether you have never created a game before, you’re afraid of advertising, you can’t find a publisher or you’re broke – the conclusion is the same: yes, you can! Think of it is a game, start at level one and continue fighting till you reach the goal (…even if it means selling your house along the way to survive…)

Terry Cavanagh (Distractionware) took us through the nosebleed world of game jams, where people create games in as little as two hours (!). Sophie Houlden (BOXGAME) convinced us all that we should hurry home and make a game if we haven’t already. Because we can. When you first try you will suck, but one should embrace one’s own rubbishness – and then move to the next level. Because face it, you were a pretty rubbish human when you were born as well, weren’t you? Practice makes perfect.

Eskil Steenberg (Quel Solaar) showed us Love and his passionate talk about the amazing tools he has created kept several people hooked all through the lunch break. Simon Oliver (HandCircus), Sean Murray (Hello Games) and 10 other speakers took us through their experiences.

The talks were inspiring, impressive, useful and funny. Touchy subjects such as business, finance, advertising and law were all handled in typically creative ways. The tone was truly indie – with all associated charming flaws and quirks – and lovely.

David Hayward, who organised the sold-out conference, writes on the website that we should keep alert, because “things may happen sooner than you think.” Yes please. You can find more information on the site. You can also read organiser David Hayward’s post about putting it all together, and Jim Rossignol’s extensive write up of the event if you want to go deeper.