FRIDAY 26 JUNE 2026

RUN FOR THE BORDER

BALLYCONNELL, IRELAND

RunForTheBorderIreland

earlyinterest

ATS US NAI

Run For The Border is Ireland's largest international video games industry event. Game developers from the North & South of Ireland crash a small-town pub on the border for a jam-packed day of knowledge sharing, networking, nosh, and a fair bit of craic.

You missed it. It was class.

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OUR 2026 SPEAKER LINEUP

Jane Tan

Not Here Not There, Co. Clare

@wild_narrative

Lessons from the Trenches

The good, the bad, and the beautiful: what I've learned from my first year as an indie dev, and why I still try to make what I make.

Tom Cuthbertson

Monitr Games, Omagh

@tommycut

A Gambler's Guide to Gamedev

Every creative field is a gamble... A poker fan brings lessons on risk & reward from the gaming tables to the games industry.

Thomas Cashman

Viridian Software, Dublin

@viridiansoft

Porting Pitfalls

10 tips in 10 minutes to make sure your game is ready for porting.

Irina Kuksova

Sharp Glass Games, Belfast

@deathwishbloom

Should you kiss your best friend?

The agony and the ecstasy of designing a 10-dimensional relationship system for a romance-mystery visual novel.

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Brian Baglow

Scottish Games Network, Edinburgh

@brianbaglow

Ecosystem eats industry for breakfast

Our industry has serious issues: it's insular, incestuous and increasingly isolated from the rest of the world... which is a problem, since the world needs us now more than ever.

Caroline Anderson & Katherine Rowlandson

Kippie, Derry

@kippiecic

Lessons from Review Club: How to co-design with kids

After years of designing games for kids and with kids, we'll let you in on the results that have surprised us most.

Sam Redfern

Psychic Software, Galway

@psychicsoftware

How to write 400k words without losing your mind (mostly)

Reflections on my 5.5 year journey directing a massive RPG, and how it somehow worked out.

Treasa McCabe

Spooky Doorway, Dundalk

@spookydoorway

Holding the Vision

Always listen, but don't always act; how iterative feedback shaped The Séance of Blake Manor.

How to Prepare for RFTB 2026

With only a week to go, we’ve put some tips together to help you make the most out of Run For The Border this year: 1. Be memorable! There are 250 people coming to RFTB 2026… how are you going to remember them all? How are they going to remember you? And I'm not talking about "wear a funky shirt" although that's a good start. You need a dependable method to keep the conversation going after the buses all go home. Do you have a LinkedIn account? Do you keep all your business c