As usual, Game will feature a great mix of speakers from top AAA and indie studios worldwide.
Game started as a small one day event with around fifty places and has exploded into two days of talks from world class studios to audiences of nearly six hundred people spread across two venues.
Over the years we have managed to attract some of the biggest and brightest talents in the business and this year will be no exception.
Tickets often sell out long in advance of festival week, so make sure you get booked up as soon as you can to avoid disappointment. To see all of the presentations during Animex Game you will need an Animex Festival Pass or an Animex Game Pass.
The names of our speakers will be released as soon as we receive final confirmations. Keep an eye on our news pages and Twitter feed for exciting updates as they happen.
Schedule
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
| Time | Talk/Event |
|---|---|
| 8:30am |
Registration
Foyer of Europa Building |
| 9:40am |
Welcome
Graham Henderson CBE DL Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, Teesside University Gabrielle Kent Festival Director |
| 10:00am |
Building Paper Worlds
Rex Crowle Creative Director, Media Molecule Rex Crowle unwraps the development of Tearaway, Media Molecule's innovative PSVita game, from origami prototypes to full digital paper world |
| 11:00am |
All Roads lead to Rome: why and how we made The Room
Barry Meade Commercial Director and Co-Founder , FireproofGames “The Room” won a BAFTA, App stores Game of the year 2012, Game Developers Conference award for best handheld/ mobile game 2012 and seven other top awards in games. In this talk Barry, Commercial Director and Co-Founder, outlines the specific circumstances that led to the creation of The Room and its aftermath. |
| 12:00pm |
Lunch
|
| 1:30pm |
Musings on Music
Austin Wintory Composer |
| 2:30pm |
Break
|
| 3:00pm |
Writing for Games
Rhianna Pratchett Scriptwriter and story designer James Swallow Writer Games writers James Swallow (Deus Ex: Human Revolution) and Rihanna Pratchett (Tomb Raider) discuss the joys and challenges of script writing for games and answer your burning questions on the subject. |
| 4:00pm |
Embedded narrative: how The Last of Us tells stories through level design
Mark Davies Game Designer, Naughty Dog The Last of Us has been commended for its thrilling story and fantastic characters, but there was a huge amount of storytelling work that went into developing the game that may not be immediately obvious. This talk will look at how every corner, every small detail of the game was meticulously constructed to help tell the story, to enhance the mood of the moment, and to ensure that players entered a world that they could become immersed in. |
| 5:00pm |
Close
|
| 7:30pm |
Animex Lounge at The Hub, Students’ Union, Teesside University
Join the speakers for a laid back evening of drinks and networking. |
| Time | Talk/Event |
|---|---|
| 9:00am |
Registration
|
| 10:00am |
Kickstarter: The Rollercoaster to Commitment
Jemma Harris Production Director , 22Cans Jemma Harris, Head of Production, discusses the ups, downs, twists and turns of the Kickstarter campaign that revitalised the God Game genre with Peter Molyneux's Godus. |
| 11:00am |
You had me at "Press Start"
Georg Backer A Brave Plan Ltd Georg loves making games and wants you to love it too. Join him as he takes you on a passionate journey about his experiences as both a AAA and indie developer, the challenges, opportunities and different aspects of the industry. He will share his personal insights and what makes him care so much about game development, with useful tips, tricks and advice to help you on your own path. |
| 12:00pm |
Lunch
|
| 1:30pm |
Going Home
Karla Zimonja The Fullbright Company An empty house. A missing family. Games journalist Cara Ellison interviews Karla Zimonja, co-founder of The Fullbright Company, discussing the design and development of emotional exploration game GONE HOME. |
| 2:30pm |
Break
|
| 3:00pm |
Awesome You: Lessons learnt in trying to create a digital likeness of gamers
Andy Bastable Principal Gameplay Engineer, Rare Ltd In this talk Andy describes the technology behind the efforts to scan a digital likeness of gamers into Kinect Sports Rivals as their “Champion”. Under the vision statement of “Awesome You” Andy describes the challenges of generating an accurate, yet flattering & aspirational, virtual avatar as well as the technical process involved in ensuring that the system works across a number of ethnicities and age ranges. |
| 4:00pm |
Hanging on the Juggernaut: Designing Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag
Ashraf Ismail Game Director , Ubisoft Montreal Assassin's Creed is a massive franchise that has a very well defined production process. Coming in with a new game design vision and defining a new player experience while respecting the production process had many challenges but also some very positive constraints. Game Director Ashraf Ismail will go over the philosophies, challenges and processes used to design ACIV. |
| 5:00pm |
Close
|
OL7 Europa Building, Teesside University
| Time | Talk/Event |
|---|---|
| 8:30am |
Registration
|
| 9:50am |
Welcome
Satish Shewhorak Senior Lecturer, Teesside University Chris Wyatt Animex Screen |
| 10:00am |
Kickstarter: The Rollercoaster to Commitment
Jemma Harris Production Director , 22Cans Jemma Harris, Head of Production, discusses the ups, downs, twists and turns of the Kickstarter campaign that revitalised the God Game genre with Peter Molyneux's Godus. |
| 11:00am |
You had me at "Press Start"
Georg Backer A Brave Plan Ltd Georg loves making games and wants you to love it too. Join him as he takes you on a passionate journey about his experiences as both a AAA and indie developer, the challenges, opportunities and different aspects of the industry. He will share his personal insights and what makes him care so much about game development, with useful tips, tricks and advice to help you on your own path. |
| 12:00pm |
Lunch
|
| 1:30pm |
Going Home
Karla Zimonja The Fullbright Company An empty house. A missing family. Games journalist Cara Ellison interviews Karla Zimonja, co-founder of The Fullbright Company, discussing the design and development of emotional exploration game GONE HOME. |
| 2:30pm |
Break
|
| 3:00pm |
Awesome You: Lessons learnt in trying to create a digital likeness of gamers
Andy Bastable Principal Gameplay Engineer, Rare Ltd In this talk Andy describes the technology behind the efforts to scan a digital likeness of gamers into Kinect Sports Rivals as their “Champion”. Under the vision statement of “Awesome You” Andy describes the challenges of generating an accurate, yet flattering & aspirational, virtual avatar as well as the technical process involved in ensuring that the system works across a number of ethnicities and age ranges. |
| 4:00pm |
Hanging on the Juggernaut: Designing Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag
Ashraf Ismail Game Director , Ubisoft Montreal Assassin's Creed is a massive franchise that has a very well defined production process. Coming in with a new game design vision and defining a new player experience while respecting the production process had many challenges but also some very positive constraints. Game Director Ashraf Ismail will go over the philosophies, challenges and processes used to design ACIV. |
| 5:00pm |
Close
|
| Time | Talk/Event |
|---|---|
| 9:00am |
Registration
Foyer of Europa Building |
| 10:00am |
Building Paper Worlds
Rex Crowle Creative Director, Media Molecule Rex Crowle unwraps the development of Tearaway, Media Molecule's innovative PSVita game, from origami prototypes to full digital paper world |
| 11:00am |
All Roads lead to Rome: why and how we made The Room
Barry Meade Commercial Director and Co-Founder , FireproofGames “The Room” won a BAFTA, App stores Game of the year 2012, Game Developers Conference award for best handheld/ mobile game 2012 and seven other top awards in games. In this talk Barry, Commercial Director and Co-Founder, outlines the specific circumstances that led to the creation of The Room and its aftermath. |
| 12:00pm |
Lunch
|
| 1:30pm |
Musings on Music
Austin Wintory Composer |
| 2:30pm |
Break
|
| 3:00pm |
Writing for Games
Rhianna Pratchett Scriptwriter and story designer James Swallow Writer Games writers James Swallow (Deus Ex: Human Revolution) and Rihanna Pratchett (Tomb Raider) discuss the joys and challenges of script writing for games and answer your burning questions on the subject. |
| 4:00pm |
Embedded narrative: how The Last of Us tells stories through level design
Mark Davies Game Designer, Naughty Dog The Last of Us has been commended for its thrilling story and fantastic characters, but there was a huge amount of storytelling work that went into developing the game that may not be immediately obvious. This talk will look at how every corner, every small detail of the game was meticulously constructed to help tell the story, to enhance the mood of the moment, and to ensure that players entered a world that they could become immersed in. |
| 5:00pm |
Close
|
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