Animex Game
Monday 18 - Tuesday 19 February
OL1, Europa Building, Teesside University

This year Game celebrates its 10th birthday and we are pulling out all the stops to make this year extra special.
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
Animex Game
Time | Talk |
---|---|
8:30am |
Registration |
9:45am |
Welcome Gabrielle Kent Festival Director |
10:00am |
Fable: Growing a Franchise Jennifer Clixby Producer, Lionhead Studios Mike West Lead Designer Producer Jennifer Clixby and Lead Designer Mike West discuss the design and production challenges and changes across the nine year development of Fable. |
11:00am |
Shifting Gears Matthew Oakley Artist, Ubisoft Reflections Andrew Willans Ubisoft Reflections In 2011 Reflections Studio took steps to expanded its experience and share its expertise by collaborating on a range of exciting and popular titles such as Just Dance 4, Far Cry 3 and the hugely anticipated Watch_Dogs. Matthew Oakley (Artist) and Andrew Willans (Game Design) will provide a peek into the scrapbook of their experiences of studio life at Reflections, covering how collaborations are vital to creating the AAA franchises of this generation, and the next. |
12:00pm |
Lunch |
1:30pm |
Writing for Games Rhianna Pratchett Writer Rhianna Pratchett, lead writer on Tomb Raider, discusses the unique challenges faced in writing for games, as well as the obstacles to be overcome when creating both original characters, and re-inventing established ones. |
2:30pm |
Break |
3:00pm |
Kickstarting Uncharted 3 Production: The Teaser Trailer Eric Baldwin Lead animator, Naughty Dog Naughty Dog’s Eric Baldwin discusses the production of the teaser trailer for Uncharted 3 and how it kick started production across multiple departments, prompting the studio to dive head first into many complex aspects of the game, from particles, modeling, animation, and the 3D pipeline |
4:00pm |
Musings on Music Austin Wintory Composer, Musician Composer Austin Wintory looks at video game music and the reasons he finds it so compelling, in addition to discussions on film music, concert music and creative processes. |
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. |
Animex Game
Time | Talk |
---|---|
9:00am |
Registration |
10:00am |
Life in the Fast Lane – Designing the World's Best Arcade Racers Richard Franke Creative Director, Open World Designer Richard Franke looks at the evolution of the Burnout and Need for Speed Series' at Criterion Games with a focus on world design and a look at the conception and making of Burnout CRASH! |
11:00am |
Indie Development Panel – The Renaissance Rex Hancox Director/Progammer, Jet Stone Studios Ben Morris Director/Progammer, Jet Stone Studios Ella Romanos CEO, Remode Andrew Walker Ken Wong Freelance artist and designer Moderated by veteran games designer Alex Trowers. This is a very exciting time for games graduates. The range of platforms, engines and market places available to everyone has brought about a renaissance period for games. This panel gives you the chance to quiz a range of indie developers and learn how to make your own way in the industry. Panel Guests: Richard Franke, Ken Wong - Hackey Cat, Ella Romanos - Remode Studios, Teesside graduates Ben Morris and Rex Hancox - Jet Stone Studios, Andrew Walker - Landslide Studios. |
12:00pm |
Lunch |
1:30pm |
From Teesside to Triple-A Janus Kirkegaard Senior Environment Artist, IO Interactive Teesside graduate Janus Kirkegaard talks about his experience going from student life to the chaos of AAA development as an environment artist on Hitman Absolution. |
2:30pm |
Break |
3:00pm |
An Epic Box: Lead, Be Led, and Ship Games the Epic way. Wyeth Johnson Lead technical artist, Epic Creative freedom is a myth when it comes to putting games on shelves. The real hard work is in finding good, cosy boxes for creativity to thrive inside. The best team leads are people who know how to be led, people who ask the right questions and self manage, and people who don't allow uncertainty to paralyze their work. Let's spend an hour talking about the stuff that you only learn by doing: How to become artistic, creative leaders, no job title required. The same lessons apply whether you're working on a student project or a billion dollar franchise. He who ships, wins. |
4:00pm |
The Source Filmmaker Bay Raitt Artist and Designer, formerly of Valve Former Valve artist and designer Bay Raitt will talk about working between film, games and user generated content using the Source Filmmaker, a storytelling tool built inside Valve's Source Game engine. |
5:00pm |
Close |
Stephenson Building, ICLT 1, Teesside University
Animex Game
Time | Talk |
---|---|
8:30am |
Registration |
9:45am |
Welcome Satish Shewhorak Co-host, Animex Game |
10:00am |
Life in the Fast Lane – Designing the World's Best Arcade Racers Richard Franke Creative Director, Open World Designer Richard Franke looks at the evolution of the Burnout and Need for Speed Series' at Criterion Games with a focus on world design and a look at the conception and making of Burnout CRASH! |
11:00am |
Indie Development Panel – The Renaissance Rex Hancox Director/Progammer, Jet Stone Studios Ben Morris Director/Progammer, Jet Stone Studios Ella Romanos CEO, Remode Andrew Walker Ken Wong Freelance artist and designer Moderated by veteran games designer Alex Trowers. This is a very exciting time for games graduates. The range of platforms, engines and market places available to everyone has brought about a renaissance period for games. This panel gives you the chance to quiz a range of indie developers and learn how to make your own way in the industry. Panel Guests: Richard Franke, Ken Wong - Hackey Cat, Ella Romanos - Remode Studios, Teesside graduates Ben Morris and Rex Hancox - Jet Stone Studios, Andrew Walker - Landslide Studios. |
12:00pm |
Lunch |
1:30pm |
From Teesside to Triple-A Janus Kirkegaard Senior Environment Artist, IO Interactive Teesside graduate Janus Kirkegaard talks about his experience going from student life to the chaos of AAA development as an environment artist on Hitman Absolution. |
2:30pm |
Break |
3:00pm |
An Epic Box: Lead, Be Led, and Ship Games the Epic way. Wyeth Johnson Lead technical artist, Epic Creative freedom is a myth when it comes to putting games on shelves. The real hard work is in finding good, cosy boxes for creativity to thrive inside. The best team leads are people who know how to be led, people who ask the right questions and self manage, and people who don't allow uncertainty to paralyze their work. Let's spend an hour talking about the stuff that you only learn by doing: How to become artistic, creative leaders, no job title required. The same lessons apply whether you're working on a student project or a billion dollar franchise. He who ships, wins. |
4:00pm |
The Source Filmmaker Bay Raitt Artist and Designer, formerly of Valve Former Valve artist and designer Bay Raitt will talk about working between film, games and user generated content using the Source Filmmaker, a storytelling tool built inside Valve's Source Game engine. |
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. |
Animex Game
Time | Talk |
---|---|
9:00am |
Registration |
10:00am |
Fable: Growing a Franchise Jennifer Clixby Producer, Lionhead Studios Mike West Lead Designer Producer Jennifer Clixby and Lead Designer Mike West discuss the design and production challenges and changes across the nine year development of Fable. |
11:00am |
Shifting Gears Matthew Oakley Artist, Ubisoft Reflections Andrew Willans Ubisoft Reflections In 2011 Reflections Studio took steps to expanded its experience and share its expertise by collaborating on a range of exciting and popular titles such as Just Dance 4, Far Cry 3 and the hugely anticipated Watch_Dogs. Matthew Oakley (Artist) and Andrew Willans (Game Design) will provide a peek into the scrapbook of their experiences of studio life at Reflections, covering how collaborations are vital to creating the AAA franchises of this generation, and the next. |
12:00pm |
Lunch |
1:30pm |
Writing for Games Rhianna Pratchett Writer Rhianna Pratchett, lead writer on Tomb Raider, discusses the unique challenges faced in writing for games, as well as the obstacles to be overcome when creating both original characters, and re-inventing established ones. |
2:30pm |
Break |
3:00pm |
Kickstarting Uncharted 3 Production: The Teaser Trailer Eric Baldwin Lead animator, Naughty Dog Naughty Dog’s Eric Baldwin discusses the production of the teaser trailer for Uncharted 3 and how it kick started production across multiple departments, prompting the studio to dive head first into many complex aspects of the game, from particles, modeling, animation, and the 3D pipeline |
4:00pm |
Musings on Music Austin Wintory Composer, Musician Composer Austin Wintory looks at video game music and the reasons he finds it so compelling, in addition to discussions on film music, concert music and creative processes. |
5:00pm |
Close |
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 2013 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.