Animex Game
Animex Game is a packed two day programme of talks from top AAA and exciting indie studios worldwide. Join us for a behind the scenes look at recent and highly anticipated titles, as well as top tips from some of the games industry’s shining stars.
Get Passes13 May 19
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
8:30AM
Registration
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
Registration, Europa Building
9:45AM
Welcome
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
Dr Gordon Marshall, Acting Dean, School of Computing & Digital Technologies
Matty McGrory – Game Co-ordinator
10:00AM
The Importance of Lighting in Game Development
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
Mathieu Lachance | Ubisoft Quebec
Atsushi Seo | Sledgehammer Games
Whilst a common role in AAA studios in the US, the contribution of lighting art within Game Development is often overlooked by many. Starting out with a short history of lighting art in Game Development, the talk examines the increasing importance of lighting work in the AAA space and the contribution that lighting can make to game development overall.
11:00AM
Wargroove – Reviving a Classic
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
Jay Baylis | Chucklefish Games
A look at the creative development of Wargroove, and how Chucklefish tackled the challenge of reviving a classic game series whilst still forming something new.
12:00PM
Lunch
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
1:30PM
Animation Meets Code: Bringing Dinosaurs to Life in Jurassic World Evolution
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
Chris Marsh | Frontier
Ollie Powell | Frontier
Frontier’s Principal Animation Programmer, Ollie Powell, and Lead Animator Chris Marsh take a deep dive into the animation systems in 2018’s Jurassic World Evolution. Together, Ollie and Chris will discuss the technical and artistic challenges they encountered, and how Frontier’s Animation and Code teams worked together to create unique solutions that would bring Jurassic World’s iconic dinosaurs to life in an environment where players have total control.
2:30PM
Break
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
3:00PM
Lessons for a life in games!
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
Elle Dudley | Sony London Studio
Elle Dudley discusses her career from graduation to working on her first shipped title at Sony London Studio.
4:00PM
Communicating to players through Environments
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
Melissa Smith | Santa Monica Studio
The environment art role varies greatly from studio to studio. What stays consistent is being responsible for translating design into art. The player must intuitively understand the designer’s intentions as well as feel immersed in your universe. In this talk, Melissa Smith will illuminate the key strategies she uses to communicate to the player using art.
5:00PM
Close
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
7:30PM
Players Lounge
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
14 May 19
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
10:00AM
Achieving scalable, Integrated Development at High Volume for “Blood & Truth”
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
Ciaran Daly | Sony London Studio
Join Ciaran Daly from Sony London Studio, as he discusses how they altered their approach to external art and development on the studio’s latest PSVR project, Blood & Truth. By adopting and developing new tools and workflows, he will cover everything it takes to rethink ways of working with external teams. Exploring their open and collaborative development approach with partners, he will discuss how this led to London Studio unifying their toolsets and offering a global platform for distributed development. Achieving fully scalable, high volume and integrated development teams across the world for their projects, and the key advantages they have learned.
11:00AM
"My Child Lebensborn" - A documentary mobile game
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
Elin Festøy | Teknopilot AS
Elin Festøy presents the process behind the mobile game "My Child Lebensborn", its part in a broader transmedia project, and how a film, game, campaign, school app and VR experience are created to tell the true story of the Lebensborn and awareness for Children Born of War of today.
12:00PM
Lunch
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
1:00PM
Mini Animex Game 01
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
Jessica Saunders | Salix Games
Andrew Willans | Sumo Digital Newcastle
Andrew Willans gives a sort overview of his career in the games industry before answering questions on various topics including common portfolio mistakes for designers, interview questions and top tips for working as a designer.
1:30PM
Tips & Tricks in Art Co-Development
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
Daniel Vijoi | AMC Games
Daniel takes you through the key challenges and synergies when creating art with an external development team, culminating in his top 5 tips for maximizing the final look of the asset
2:30PM
Break
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
3:00PM
Forza Horizon 4 - The Technology behind the Art
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
Gareth Harwood | Playground Games
A high level breakdown into how technology and art combine in Forza Horizon 4, allowing players to drive stunning cars around Playground Game’s vision of beautiful Britain.
4:00PM
The Animation for Marvel’s Spider-Man
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University
Bobby Coddington | Insomniac Games
Insomniac Games Animation Director Robert Coddington will present the production processes and challenges of various story sequences in the hit PS4 game Marvel’s Spider-Man.
5:00PM
Game Close
OL1 Europa Building, Teesside University