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GI Academy Online 2022

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The UK's Best Free Student Games Event

Take part
GI Academy is an entirely free, digital-only event that takes place in Discord between October 26th - 28th, in partnership with Total War developer Creative Assembly. Industry professionals from some of the UK's biggest games developers, plus a few famous faces, will be dropping into the Discord to conduct roundtables, advise students on pathways into video games, to review portfolios, and share insight into what they do.
Speakers
Agathe Laus-Pillot

Agathe Laus-Pillot

Senior Technical Animator, Creative Assembly

Bence Kovacs

Bence Kovacs

Senior Designer, Creative Assembly

Caroline Marchal

Caroline Marchal

CEO and Creative Director, Interior Night

Daniel Woodward

Daniel Woodward

Learning and Development Manager, nDreams

Edd Coates

Edd Coates

UI Lead, Radical Forge

Emei Burrell

Emei Burrell

Narrative Artist, Media Molecule

Jake Gaule

Jake Gaule

Freelance Game Audio and Composer

JD Kelly

JD Kelly

Freelance VO

Josh Atack

Josh Atack

Lead Concept Artist, Critereon

Liam de Valmency

Liam de Valmency

Lead Creative Programmer, Media Molecule

Louise O'Connor

Louise O'Connor

Executive Producer, Rare

Luke Hardwick

Luke Hardwick

Community Manager, Media Molecule

Madeleine Thrush

Madeleine Thrush

Internal Recruiter, PlayStation London Studios

Richard Stokes

Richard Stokes

VFX Artist, DR Studios

Roberto Geroli

Roberto Geroli

Development Director, Creative Assembly

Sam Barlow

Sam Barlow

CEO, Half Mermaid

Sarah Brin

Sarah Brin

Business Development Manager, Media Molecule

Shane Bromham

Shane Bromham

Principle Level Design, nDreams

Stuart Wilson

3D Environment Artist, DR Studios

Suraj Mehan

Suraj Mehan

Intern HR, PlayStation London Studios

Schedule
    1. —

      Keynote: An Idea and an Emotion - How I make Games - Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid Productions

      Sam Barlow delves into the fundamentals of how and why he makes games, highlighting the core relationship with players and focusing on unifying the mechanical aspects and narrative elements of his experiences from Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, via Her Story and Telling Lies, up to his latest title IMMORTALITY.
    2. —

      1-2-1 Room 1: Steph Darrah, Biz Dev, Playtonic

    3. —

      1-2-1 Room 2: Mark Jawdosak, Managing Director, Gaslight Games

    4. —

      1-2-1 Room 3: Eva Lyncy, UI Artist, DT3

    5. —

      Masterclass: Collaboration first: how to get the best from your team

      We will focus on collaboration and teamwork: how to be a great team player and how to create amazing teams to make work fun. This talk will have a production perspective, focusing on how processes foster good team culture and encourage cross-team collaboration. Roberto will also give tips on how to be a good team member for any discipline, the foundations for developing your career. He will also explore some real-life case studies.
    6. —

      1-2-1 Room 1: Steph Darrah, Biz Dev, Playtonic

    7. —

      1-2-1 Room 2: Sonny Williams, Game Developer, Gram Games

    8. —

      1-2-1 Room 3: Eva Lyncy, UI Artist, D3T

    9. —

      1-2-1 Room 1: Joe Franklin, Associate Character Artist

    10. —

      1-2-1 Room 2: Shane Bromham, Principle Level Design, nDreams

    11. —

      1-2-1 Room 3: Gordon Bell, CTO, Nosebleed Interactive

    12. —

      Roundtable Room 1: JD Kelly, Freelance Voice Over artist

    13. —

      Roundtable Room 2: Emei Burrell, Narrative Artist, Media Molecule

    14. —

      Roundtable Room 3: Liam de Valmency, Lead Creative Programmer, Media Molecule

    15. —

      1-2-1 Room 1: Aaron Morley, Studio Director, The Next Hype

    16. —

      1-2-1 Room 2: Sarah Brin, Business Development Manager, Media Molecule

    17. —

      1-2-1 Room 3: JD, Kelly, Freelance VO

    18. —

      Roundtable Room 1: Shane Bromham, Principle Level Design, nDreams

    19. —

      Roundtable Room 2: Mikael Karnell, EA DICE, Craft Director

    20. —

      Roundtable Room 3: Ioana Iulia Cazacu, Game Designer, Mojiworks

    1. —

      Keynote: Games -- Where Do We Go From Here - Louise O'Connor, Executive Producer, Rare

      A look at how the games industry has grown and evolved in my time as a dev. Some reflection on what this industry means to me and what it can mean to everyone else, as we shape it’s future.
    2. —

      1-2-1 Room 1: Felix Wong, Partner, Level UP

    3. —

      1-2-1 Room 2: Gary Ashurst, Art Director, 3D Generalist

    4. —

      1-2-1 Room 3: Ben Barrett, Business Development Director, Firesquid

    5. —

      Masterclass: How to be a good Technical Animator

      In this talk, Creative Assembly’s Senior Technical Animator, Agathe Laus-Pillot, will break down the core aspects of the technical animation discipline. It’s an essential area of games development, but one not often spoken about. Agathe will talk about the skills required, the purpose and use of rigs in development and the role Tech Animators play in tool development.
    6. —

      1-2-1 Room 1: Gerard Muntes, Senior Character Artist

    7. —

      1-2-1 Room 2: Alex Rehm, Director of Live Operations

    8. —

      1-2-1 Room 3: Josh Atack, Lead Concept Artist, EA Criterion

    9. —

      Roundtable Room 1: Luke Johnson, Lead Recruiter, Creative Assembly

    10. —

      Roundtable Room 2: Amanda Cuthbery, Live Operations Marketing Director

    11. —

      Roundtable Room 3: Jak Barnes, Programmer, Radical Forge

    12. —

      1-2-1 Room 1: Jak Barnes, Programmer, Radical Forge

    13. —

      1-2-1 Room 2: Mikael Karnell, EA Dice, Craft Director

    14. —

      1-2-1 Room 3: Liam de Valmency, Lead Creative Programmer, Media Molecule

    15. —

      Roundtable Room 1: Richard Stokes, VFX Artist, XR Studios

    16. —

      Roundtable Room 2: Edd Coates, UI Lead, Radical Forge

    17. —

      Roundtable Room 3 - Luke Hardwick, Community Manager, Media Molecule

    18. —

      1-2-1 Room 1: Edd Coates, UI Lead, Radical Forge

    19. —

      1-2-1 Room 2: Sam Gage, Director, Engage Software

    20. —

      1-2-1 Room 3: Daniel Woodward, Learnding and Development Manager, nDreams

    21. —

      Roundtable Room 1: Josh Atack, Lead Concept Artist, EA Criterion

    22. —

      Roundtable Room 2: Martin Robinson, Editor-In-Chief, Eurogamer

    23. —

      Roundtable Room 3: Madeleine Thrush, Internal Recruiter and Suraj Mehan, Intern HR, PlayStation London

    1. —

      Keynote: How I got here and what I learned along the way. Speaker: Chella Ramanan, Narrative Designer, Ubisoft

      Chella looks at key lessons learned on her journey from game journalist to game narrative designer and writer at Ubisoft Massive, sharing insights and lessons learned about working in a game team, getting your work out there, and embracing what you as an individual can bring.
    2. —

      1-2-1 Room 1: Roberto Geroli, Development Director

    3. —

      1-2-1 Room 2: Lasse Rasmussen, Senior Technical Animator

    4. —

      1-2-1 Room 3: Alex Rehm, Director of Live Operations

    5. —

      1-2-1 Room 1: Justyna Cichosz, Lead Animation Programmer

    6. —

      1-2-1 Room 2: Cara Houghton, Environment Artist

    7. —

      1-2-1 Room 3: Tjalle Keus, Senior Environment Artist

    8. —

      Masterclass: Designing for intuitive Player Experience with the ‘3Cs’ (Character, Camera, Controls)

      In this masterclass, Bence Kovacs, Senior Designer at Creative Assembly, will talk about how to design to best support a quality player experience. He will look at the key elements of Player Character; how to define what a character can do, Camera; how to design what the player sees and perceives in the world, and Controls; how the player controls the game.
    9. —

      Roundtable Room 1: Bence Kovacs, Senior Designer

    10. —

      Roundtable Room 2: Alice Toft, Learning and Development

    11. —

      Roundtable Room 3: Roberto Geroli, Development Director

    12. —

      1-2-1 Room 1: Louise Andrew, Head of Art, D3T

    13. —

      1-2-1 Room 2: Mark Ffrench, Senior Engineer, Pocket Burger

    14. —

      1-2-1 Room 3: Dan Hutchinson, 3D Artist, D3T

    15. —

      Roundtable Room 1: Jo Haslam, Design Director, Snap Finger Click

    16. —

      Roundtable Room 2: Daniel Woodward, Learning and Development Manager, nDreams

    17. —

      Roundtable Room 3: Jake Gaule, Freelance Audio and Composer

    18. —

      1-2-1 Room 1: Jake Gaule, freelance game audio and composer

    19. —

      1-2-1 Room 2: Emei Burrell, Narrative Artist, Media Molecule

    20. —

      1-2-1 Room 3: Dan Hutchinson, 3D Artist, D3T

    21. —

      Roundtable Room 1: Kev Bayliss, Character Designer and Artist, Playtonic

    22. —

      Roundtable Room 2: Stuart Wilson, 3D Environment Artist, XR Studios

    23. —

      Roundtable Room 3: Sarah Brin, Business Development Manager, Media Molecule

Attendees
Creative Assembly
Half Mermaid
Media Molecule
Radical Forge
Ubisoft
Articles
"Nothing is a barrier to being a developer – except maybe yourself"

"Nothing is a barrier to being a developer – except maybe yourself"

Rare's Louise O'Connor discusses the industry's biggest changes during her career, and encourages the next generation to push things further

Alex Calvin

Feature