Glen Schofield
Sledgehammer Games
{"Filter":"Design","FilterValue":"Game\/Design","Name":"Glen Schofield","company":"Sledgehammer Games","Image":"https:\/\/content.gdsession.com\/2024\/11\/69C20B80-F2D9-EFA6-229E-2DFFA97C7F67.png","titles":"Dead Space, CoD:MW3, CoD::WW2","TalkName":"Inspiring Creativity by Glen Schofield","TalkDescription":"Glen is an extremely passionate developer whose enthusiastic energy can inspire those around him. He\u2019ll discuss new ideas mixed in with entertaining stories from his career. He\u2019ll talk about inspirations for creating exciting new worlds and then filling those worlds with interesting characters and mechanics. Glen will enthusiastically talk about some of his big ideas, creating ideas on a deadline. Join Glen as he encourages and inspires the next generation of game makers & creative leaders","description":"Glen Schofield is an American Video Game Director, GM, Designer Artist. He has shipped over 30 titles and Directed 10 games. He founded two studios- Sledgehammer Games and Striking Distance Studios. He has created many new IP\u2019s including Dead Space, The Callisto Protocol, CoD: Advanced Warfare, Mad Dash Racing , Akuji the Heartless and DisneyWorld Racing . He\u2019s created, written and Directed completely new sequels such as CoD: MW3, CoD:WW2, Blood Omen 2, Godfather 2 and James Bond.","jobTitle":"Game Director, Founder, Entrepreneur","TalkLanguage":"English","TalkHall":null,"OtherTalks":""}
Martin Ostrolucky
Cassagi
{"Filter":"Business","FilterValue":"Business","Name":"Martin Ostrolucky","company":"Cassagi","Image":"https:\/\/content.gdsession.com\/2024\/10\/12674246-4744-FBD1-BB89-CFE3C89DCE78.jpg","titles":"Hell Let Loose, Dead Island 2, Scorn","TalkName":"From Vision To Profit: The Importance Of Business Mindset For Indie Developers","TalkDescription":"It is common for indie game developers to possess strong technical skills and creativity in design and art, yet many view the business side of game development as a burden to be avoided. This often results in unrealistic expectations, poor sales, and disappointment. In my talk, I will outline the business mindset that indie developers can adopt to create successful games and achieve commercial success.","description":"I am a driven leader with over 15 years of experience in business development and game production. As the Founder and CEO of Cassagi, I have led the development of three indie PC games and collaborated with leading AAA studios such as Dambuster Studios, EbbSoftware, and Dovetail Games to deliver high-quality game development services. I also mentor aspiring indie game developers, helping them succeed with their game projects.","jobTitle":"CEO","TalkLanguage":"English","TalkHall":null,"OtherTalks":""}
Martin Boháč
Allodium Games
{"Filter":"Design","FilterValue":"Game\/Design","Name":"Martin Boh\u00e1\u010d","company":"Allodium Games","Image":"https:\/\/content.gdsession.com\/2024\/10\/3F0E6A07-4FAC-55DC-F2F8-30C589088129.JPG","titles":"Infinitum, Fantasy Sport, Sazka Scratchcards","TalkName":"Addiction By Design: How To Hook Players For Life","TalkDescription":"Do you know what keeps players hooked on your game? Could you master the techniques that drive hours of play and spending? Join Martin Boh\u00e1\u010d, CEO of Allodium Games, as he reveals the casino tactics woven into beloved games. Are video games and gambling so different, or just two sides of the same coin? We\u2019ll uncover the tactics designed to hijack attention and explore the hidden strategies shaping our behaviors. Afterward, you\u2019ll know how these techniques work\u2014yet even armed with this knowledge,","description":"Martin Boh\u00e1\u010d is a game designer and developer with 25+ years of experience. After a start at Ogilvy, he founded Allodium Games, creating MMOs like Infinitum 1 & 2 and a Fantasy Sport game that ran in Czechia for 12 years. He also launched GameDevHub, Czechia\u2019s first online game dev school with over 400 grads. Now CEO of Allodium, he crafts online scratchcards for the eGaming market and leads Ionic, a new studio working on an unannounced mobile strategy game. Martin also practices Buddhism, m","jobTitle":"CEO","TalkLanguage":"English","TalkHall":null,"OtherTalks":""}
Paweł Miechowski
11 bit studios
{"Filter":"Design","FilterValue":"Game\/Design","Name":"Pawe\u0142 Miechowski","company":"11 bit studios","Image":"https:\/\/content.gdsession.com\/2024\/10\/9317FFF8-CE13-5713-F552-3176A7AD151A.jpg","titles":"This War of Mine, Frostpunk, Frostpunk 2","TalkName":"The Phenomenon Of Emotions (In Games, But Not Only)","TalkDescription":"Emotions are with people since thousands of years. We \"utilize\" them naturally or watch how others percept them. For a reason, it's hard to live without them and very hard when one overdoses them. Let me talk about this phenomenon from a perspective of a person that is working on and selling pop-culture. After all, games are largely about emotions. This talk aims at - hopefully - better understanding of what emotions are, how to process them and use in games and ideally - in life.","description":"Pawel Miechowski - he's been working on games since late 90s (The Prince and The Coward) at Metropolis Software until 2007. From 2007 to 2009 at CD Projekt and then from 2010 at 11 bit studios. In early years a tester, later a writer, eventually working on the PR and marketing side, yet with much love for the creative work for games. Some beloved projects from the career include: The Prince and The Coward, Gorky 17, Infernal, Anomaly series, This War of Mine, Frostpunk series, Children of Morta.","jobTitle":"Communications & brand partnerships expert","TalkLanguage":"English","TalkHall":null,"OtherTalks":""}
Kiryl Kudrautsau
Wargaming
{"Filter":"Art","FilterValue":"Art\/Audio","Name":"Kiryl Kudrautsau","company":"Wargaming","Image":"https:\/\/content.gdsession.com\/2024\/10\/06622AD3-E3C0-DB18-8611-48B6297018AC.jpg","titles":"","TalkName":"Houdini - How To Rock","TalkDescription":"During the production of the Frontline 2023 map, one of the biggest challenges for Environment Art was to create rocks that set a new quality bar in World of Tanks. We\u2019ll guide you through the whole process starting from preproduction to the final result. We\u2019ll reveal new exclusive methods and pipelines developed during production. Let there be rock!","description":"I\u2019m a creative problem-solver with an artistic soul and an engineering mind. As Environment Art Lead at Wargaming Prague, I build and guide our talented team to create stunning environments. My goal is to boos our art standards, refining production pipelines, and collaborating closely with our Art Director to keep everything cohesive. Appreciate smart decisions.","jobTitle":"Environment Art Lead, WoT Development","TalkLanguage":"English","TalkHall":null,"OtherTalks":""}
Maksym Maltsev
GSC Game World
{"Filter":"Art","FilterValue":"Art\/Audio","Name":"Maksym Maltsev","company":"GSC Game World","Image":"https:\/\/content.gdsession.com\/2024\/10\/A5C0B139-86C2-34E1-6951-D39A500B5F17.jpg","titles":"","TalkName":"How We Plant The Seeds Of Wind: Growing A Scalable Pipeline For Foliage Assets","TalkDescription":"I\u2019ll share the journey of developing vegetation animation for a modern open-world game. Starting with analyzing existing solutions, we moved from popular ideas to creating a new solution from scratch to meet creative and technical needs. I'll cover the synchronization of content creation, processing, and import, as well as the assets\u2019 interaction with materials and in-game weather. We focused on achieving flexibility in animation and building an efficient pipeline for vegetation processing.","description":"Throughout my career, I have worked in television, an advertising agency, an ad production studio, and a post-production studio, leading the Layout and Lighting department on film projects of various complexities. I value a systematic approach, pipeline, and teamwork. Over three years ago, I joined the GSC team, where I focus on different aspects of the open world, striving to make it more engaging and lively.","jobTitle":"Technical artist, Lighting artist","TalkLanguage":"English","TalkHall":null,"OtherTalks":""}
Mathieu Muller
Unity Technologies
{"Filter":"Technical","FilterValue":"Technical","Name":"Mathieu Muller","company":"Unity Technologies","Image":"https:\/\/content.gdsession.com\/2024\/10\/91E1E22B-40DE-EA9B-A827-50E02F5AABA0.jpeg","titles":"Unity HDRP\/URP\/VFX, Real-time for film\/animation","TalkName":"The Power Of Unity 6's Graphics Engine","TalkDescription":"Discover what can be achieved with the latest evolution of Unity\u2019s graphics engine in Unity 6!","description":"Leading Unity\u2019s Graphics Engine product strategy, a specialist in real-time technologies and graphics, with over 23 years of experience as a developer and product manager in the gaming, VFX, animation, simulation, and manufacturing industries. After spending the first 12 years working on aircraft simulators, artificial intelligence for games, and game middleware, spent the past 10 years both driving the Unity roadmap and helping studios of all industries across the world to use real-time 3D.","jobTitle":"Lead Graphics Product Manager","TalkLanguage":"English","TalkHall":null,"OtherTalks":""}
{"Filter":"Business","FilterValue":"Business","Name":"Yarr Rash","company":"Mad Crusader","Image":"https:\/\/content.gdsession.com\/2024\/11\/F15776E5-7FA5-A7BA-CD58-C69EF717CF1F.jpg","titles":"Mad Crusader, Wargaming, Sony","TalkName":"Do's and Don'ts of IP Development","TalkDescription":"Do\r\nConsider what you'll do if your IP is successful. \r\nStart with franchise architecture: define the core mechanics and conflicts before details.\r\nChoose a setting strategically.\r\nDesign a product (e.g., game) that delivers the core experience.\r\nThink big: Larger-scale conflicts with wider impact are more commercially viable.\r\nDon't\r\nFocus on short-term success\r\nNeglect planning\r\nMake characters for niche markets \r\nNeglect the setting and depth\r\nFocus on small-scale conflicts","description":"Founder & CEO of Mad Crusader. He has extensive expertise in the game development industry, IP Development (Wargaming), and entertainment. Yarr founded Mad Crusader as a solution to the biggest paradox in today's global entertainment industry: everyone wants new IPs, but no one wants to invest, because it is a risk.","jobTitle":"CEO","TalkLanguage":"English","TalkHall":null,"OtherTalks":""}
Maria Burns Ortiz
Global Game Jam
{"Filter":"Edu","FilterValue":"Industry Support","Name":"Maria Burns Ortiz","company":"Global Game Jam","Image":"https:\/\/content.gdsession.com\/2024\/11\/09ADBF3A-C7B4-B7A7-BEBC-EF9E5E9A5FB0.jpg","titles":"","TalkName":"Making Games For Good","TalkDescription":"Think about how many times a person will play a video game level over again just to see incremental improvement. Imagine leveraging that persistence, resilience, and desire to excel and applying it to other areas of daily lives, from learning math and language preservation to quitting smoking and debunking propaganda. This session will explore how serious games are being used to transform industries, how games professionals can use their skills to create them, and how studios are funding them.","description":"Maria Burns Ortiz is the executive director of Global Game Jam, which organizes the world's largest game-creation event. Previous to GGJ, she was co-founder and CEO of 7 Generation Games, an educational video game company, where she led 30+ games from concept to commercialization.","jobTitle":"Executive Director","TalkLanguage":"English","TalkHall":null,"OtherTalks":""}
Adam Sporka
Warhorse Studios
{"Filter":"Art","FilterValue":"Art\/Audio","Name":"Adam Sporka","company":"Warhorse Studios","Image":"https:\/\/content.gdsession.com\/2024\/11\/D8482113-5B75-276B-9AD8-61CFF692E3C9.jpg","titles":"KCD I, KCD II","TalkName":"Music in Kingdom Come Deliverance II \u2013 The Tech Talk","TalkDescription":"A game-side music logic module in the game code was implemented to receive and process and respond to the game\u2019s real-time input. The Sequence Music Engine middleware was used to schedule the individual scenes and their transitions. Sibelius has been equipped with custom macros to enable the scoring of non-linear music. Custom macros have been written also for REAPER, to enable the transfer of timing data from Sibelius, as well as the recording the non-linear music in near-real-time.","description":"Adam Sporka is a creative technologist in-game audio. He designs and develops software for interactive (adaptive) music and sound. He supervised the music technology of Kingdom Come: Deliverance I and II and as a composer he contributed to these two soundtracks. Adam recently joined Embody, a California-based developer of software technology for personalized spatial audio in AAA titles. He is a guest lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz.","jobTitle":"Technical Music Director","TalkLanguage":"English","TalkHall":null,"OtherTalks":""}
{"Filter":"Design","FilterValue":"Game\/Design","Name":"Tsahi Liberman","company":"GammaGem","Image":"https:\/\/content.gdsession.com\/2024\/11\/688A21C4-246E-C7CD-F3C9-D09C637C5422.jpg","titles":"","TalkName":"The Double-edged Sword: AI, Games, And The Evolution Of Propaganda","TalkDescription":"In this talk, we explore the dual nature of AI as both a powerful tool and a potential source of bias in our understanding of visual content. We examine the historical role of propaganda in shaping perceptions and how modern gaming serves as a platform for information and social interaction. Emphasizing the need for critical thinking, we discuss ethical considerations for game designers and how to leverage AI responsibly to create truthful and impactful messages in an increasingly digital world.","description":"Tsahi Liberman is a veteran with over 20 years as a game designer, business developer, and social impact innovator. Tsahi is currently the Founder and CEO of GammaGem, a transmedia company, aiming to change the world using AI, Storytelling, and games across various platforms and topics (Mental health, Conflict management, Finance education, Misinformation & Fake news). Tsahi is also a fantasy author currently working on a new world and book influenced by Aztec Mythology.","jobTitle":"CEO and Founder","TalkLanguage":"English","TalkHall":null,"OtherTalks":""}
Aleksander Kauch
11 bit studios
{"Filter":"Technical","FilterValue":"Technical","Name":"Aleksander Kauch","company":"11 bit studios","Image":"https:\/\/content.gdsession.com\/2024\/11\/338ABD1E-AC23-0D05-061B-C0D069990860.jpg","titles":"Anomaly series, This War of Mine, Frostpunk series","TalkName":"Changing The Engine And Keeping Sanity. Story Of Frostpunk2","TalkDescription":"How to change the engine, grow the team, change production methods, and still be able to release the game (almost) on time? How to deal with all that and not lose your sanity in the process? I'll go over technical challenges, team management issues, and personal struggles during the development. We came a long way to release Frostpunk 2, and it was not an easy one. No silver bullets, no magical solutions, just a story of overcoming troubled development from the technical and production perspective.","description":"With 13 years of experience at the company, he has worked on almost every production to date: the Anomaly series, This War of Mine, and Frostpunk. Currently leading the technology team on Frostpunk 2, he is highly skilled in programming, game architecture, and the production process. Academic tutor, project mentor, collector of old games, and a lover of their history.","jobTitle":"Senior Technology Lead","TalkLanguage":"English","TalkHall":null,"OtherTalks":""}
{"Filter":"Technical","FilterValue":"Technical","Name":"Dzmitry Sychou","company":"Wargaming","Image":"https:\/\/content.gdsession.com\/2024\/11\/B6C9DFF7-A5D1-15F0-735B-E598463970C3.jpg","titles":"World of Tanks Blitz","TalkName":"Shift Left In World Of Tanks Blitz: How To Merge Before Manual Test","TalkDescription":"Discover how to accelerate game development by implementing shift left testing strategies in Unreal Engine projects. Learn about managing merge-before-test workflow, ensuring robust infrastructure to handle continuous integration for every pull request, and overcoming the complexities of performance testing.","description":"I am a Technical Product Manager at Wargaming, boasting over six years of experience on the WOT Blitz project. Specializing in the development of a versatile Python framework for game testing across mobile and desktop platforms, internal web service designed to provide comprehensive reports for automated tests and tools aimed at enhancing user efficiency. My expertise extends to the automation and optimization of the development cycle, ensuring higher efficiency and quality in game production.","jobTitle":"Technical Product Manager","TalkLanguage":"English","TalkHall":null,"OtherTalks":""}
Aleksandar Markovic
Wargaming
{"Filter":"Design","FilterValue":"Game\/Design","Name":"Aleksandar Markovic","company":"Wargaming","Image":"https:\/\/content.gdsession.com\/2024\/11\/A1775FD8-5474-E0C5-DB5D-FE26D4F42E65.jpg","titles":"Top Eleven, World of Tanks","TalkName":"Mentoring And Design Processes: Building The Next Gen Of Game Designers","TalkDescription":"Learn how to effectively mentor and support the next generation of game designers, ensuring they contribute to your product vision efficiently and avoid burnout. We will cover how to identify and leverage the strengths and weaknesses of your mentees, use familiar games for hands-on learning, and incorporate crucial design processes into their toolkit. Discover strategies for preparing newcomers for the realities of the game development industry and fostering a healthy, creative work environment.","description":"I'm a Senior Game Designer from Serbia with extensive experience in mobile and PC free-to-play games, with a focus on monetization and Live Ops, as well as various indie projects ranging from edutainment to classic RPGs. Currently, I work on World of Tanks at Wargaming Vilnius, focusing on creating new features for the WoT audience. One particular passion of mine is mentoring, and I am happy to have taken several junior GDs through this process, being able to constantly improve together with the","jobTitle":"Senior Game Designer","TalkLanguage":"English","TalkHall":null,"OtherTalks":""}
{"Filter":"Technical","FilterValue":"Technical","Name":"Johny Darkwah","company":"Kapnetix","Image":"https:\/\/content.gdsession.com\/2024\/11\/4331F8A5-4A4D-8971-19EA-794278FC102A.png","titles":"","TalkName":"Lessons From Integrating AI Into AAA Game Development","TalkDescription":"Over the past two years, our collaboration with a leading gaming publisher and AAA studio has focused on automating post-production processes in motion capture using AI. This journey has provided valuable insights into integrating AI within the gaming industry. In this keynote, we will explore the challenges and successes encountered, emphasizing the importance of understanding industry-specific needs, building trust with creative professionals, and ensuring AI solutions meet quality standards.","description":"Johny Darkwah is the co-founder and CEO of early-stage startup Kapnetix. His journey to the industry started as an AI research collaboration with 2K Games, discovering the possibilities and potential of AI for gamedev. Before Kapnetix, he was the CEO of Gauss Algorithmic, an AI research and development company with 10 years experience and over 50 successfully implemented AI solutions in 12 industries.","jobTitle":"Co-founder & CEO","TalkLanguage":"English","TalkHall":null,"OtherTalks":""}
Kate Edwards
Geogrify / SetJetters
{"Filter":"Design","FilterValue":"Game\/Design","Name":"Kate Edwards","company":"Geogrify \/ SetJetters","Image":"https:\/\/content.gdsession.com\/2024\/11\/782A6EA0-6C7C-F479-531A-2383D18EA634.jpg","titles":"Age of Empires, Dragon Age, Halo","TalkName":"Allegorical Distance: The Challenge Of Creating Cultures In Games","TalkDescription":"We've all experienced great game worlds that display a rich in-game culture or present a real-world culture, past or present. Game creators use their inspiration from real-world experiences, but this often leads to unintentional mistakes - such as cultural appropriation. The key to managing this challenge is understanding to concept of \u201callegorical distance\u201d - the degree to which your in-game implementation of culture is different from real-world inspirations.","description":"Kate Edwards is an award-winning 30+ year veteran of the game industry, and the CEO and principal consultant of Geogrify, a consultancy which innovated game culturalization, as well as the CXO and Co-Founder of SetJetters, a film tourism app. She is also the former Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) and the Global Game Jam. In addition to serving in several board and advisory roles, she is a geographer, writer, and corporate strategist.","jobTitle":"CEO \/ CXO & Cofounder","TalkLanguage":"English","TalkHall":null,"OtherTalks":""}
Tomasz Gadomski
11 bit studios S.A.
{"Filter":"Edu","FilterValue":"Industry Support","Name":"Tomasz Gadomski","company":"11 bit studios S.A.","Image":"https:\/\/content.gdsession.com\/2024\/11\/267B07C0-C2A4-26D4-29D1-F6833EEB38CE.jpg","titles":"Frostpunk 2, Invincible, Witcher (TV Series)","TalkName":"Finders Keepers. How To Navigate Free Tools And Free IP","TalkDescription":"Are free Internet tools really free? Can we truly use free textures, images or other IP in our game? Do you use Adobe Creative Cloud, Chat GPT, or Midjourney while creating your game or marketing content? Have you read terms & conditions or just clicked 'agree'. If the latter - this speech is for you. We will review the legal risks hidden in terms of AI tools as well as we will talk about how to use free IP (Creative Commons licenses, public domain etc.) to our benefit or demise.","description":"Legal Expert at 11 bit studio and lecturer of MBA class on Management of IP at PJATK Academy in Warsaw. Being both games and TV addict combines hands-on experience in intellectual property law with passion for media and pop-culture. What brings him the most joy is the ever growing list of movies on IMDB.com he was legal advisor for.","jobTitle":"legal expert","TalkLanguage":"English","TalkHall":null,"OtherTalks":""}
