The first Develop:Brighton speakers have been announced

Tandem Events has announced the first round of Develop:Brighton 2022 speakers, with talks and roundtable discussions across eight conference tracks: Design, Coding, Art, Mobile, Business, Discoverability, Audio and Roundtables.

The full list is available below, and we’ll have a more thorough look at some of the ones to watch in a future issue, ahead of the event in July. Still, we couldn’t resist highlighting a few speakers in this first round.

By our reckoning, Rebellion’s Sophie van den Boomen talk, titled ‘Just Houdini It – Using Houdini Effectively for Game Development’ is definitely worth checking out. Avid MCV/DEVELOP fans will know that we touched upon Houdini last month, in our talk with Sharkmob about how they’ve utilised Houdini’s procedural tools to bring AAA-design to the free-to-play battle royale space. Having been given a brief overview of Houdini ourselves, we’re certainly keen to learn more.

Explosive Alan Productions’ Ashley Denton is giving a talk titled ‘The Indie Secret Weapon: TikTok (get discovered by doing very little).’ We’ve covered TikTok’s incredible potential for discoverability in the past, and if you’ve yet to start sharing your games on TikTok, we definitely recommend checking that out too.

And finally, Women in Games’s Marie-Claire Isaaman will be hosting a roundtable discussion titled ‘Building A Fair Playing Field.’ Isaaman was just recently presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award at the 2022 MCV/DEVELOP Women in Games Awards. We wholeheartedly recommend taking the opportunity to learn from her insight.

“Develop:Brighton 2022 will once again have a focused selection of high-quality talks, firesides and roundtable discussions offering valuable insights and opportunities for game makers to bolster their skillsets no matter their field of expertise,” said Tandem Events Managing Director Andy Lane.

“The first wave of talks we’re announcing today covers a variety of topics beyond even our eight tracks. As ever, we’ve been listening to the community and will be hosting talks on a wide range of hot topics they want to hear about, including character design, ethical work practices, UX/UI design, TikTok and much more.

“All this and our headline keynote from Arkane Lyon, offering insight into the development of DEATHLOOP from the game’s creative leads.”

Organised by Tandem Events, Develop:Brighton 2022 will take place at the Hilton Brighton Metropole from the 12th – 14th July. MCV/DEVELOP readers can get a 10 per cent discount on their tickets with the code NWQPAH. Those who want an even bigger discount should hurry, as the Super Early Bird rate, which provides an additional 30 per cent off, ends on the 6th of April.

Below are the first Develop:Brighton sessions:

Art

‘Just Houdini It’ – Using Houdini Effectively for Game Development – Sophie van den Boomen, Rebellion        

12 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Making User Interfaces for Games – Henry Ryder, nDreams

Creating Characters with Narrative Appeal – Samantha Hogg, Sharkmob

Audio

What Voice Actors Need from Game Developers – Mark Estdale, OMUK

Post-Pandemic Directions for Game Audio Employment – Alastair Lindsay, Splash Damage

Seeing with Your Ears: The Unique Challenge of Audio and Interactive Storytelling in As Dusk Falls – Ross Stack, Soundcuts

Business

Hiring Ethically and Empathetically – Moo Yu, Team Artichoke

Founding a Game Studio: The Highs and Lows – Sally Blake, Silent Games

How Making Blockchain Games has Changed the Way I Think About the Internet – Robby Yung, Animoca Brands

Coding

Extra Credit – Turning Internal Assets into a Valuable Side Hustle – John Campbell, Triangular Pixels             

A Beginners Guide to AI Character Design – Tommy Thompson, AI and Games

Lecture Coding  Terminal Velocity: How Backend Game Services Power Our Titles – Edwin Jones, Mediatonic

Design

There’s Always Been a Metaverse – Sarah Brin, Media Molecule

Keeping it Simple: Creating a Tutorial for a Grand Strategy Behemoth – Joy Dey, Creative Assembly

Why Designing Inclusive Player Experiences Should be Everyone’s Priority – Tulay McNally, Electronic Arts

Discoverability

Ten Steps to Steam Success – James Gourlay, Curve Games

Building a Contented Game Community – Hannah Flynn, Failbetter Games

The Indie Secret Weapon: TikTok (get discovered by doing very little) – Ashley Denton, Explosive Alan Productions                                                                                         

IBC

The Realities of Starting an Indie Game Studio – Jay Shin, Arrogant Pixel

The Price Is Right: What to Charge for Your Indie Game – Lewis Denby, Game If You Are   

Signing Your Game (and what to avoid!) – Nina Adams, Auroch Digital

Mobile

The Importance of Quality Immersive Social Integration When Bringing Games to Asia – Jorvik Zhang, Tencent Cloud      

Planting Seeds: Designing Games for Organic Growth – James Older, Landmark

Combining the Power of Free to Play with Play to Earn: Creating the Future of the Mobile Gaming Market – Nicola Mizon, Nexxter Interactive

Roundtables  

Inclusion as a Shared Responsibility – Affecting Change as an Individual – Lily Woi , Lily Woi Coaching        

LGBTQ+ Roundtable – Ugonna Nwosu, Rocksteady Studios/Out making Games, Leon Killin, Sumo Group

Building A Fair Playing Field – Marie-Claire Isaaman, Women in Games