Keynotes

DR.RAY MUZIKA and DR.GREG ZESCHUK  - DEVELOP CONFERENCE OPENING KEYNOTE WEDNESDAY

    

BioWare founders and video games legends Ray Muzyka (Group General Manager of the BioWare Group and Senior Vice President Electronic Arts) and Greg Zeschuk (Group Creative Officer BioWare Group, Vice President Electronic Arts) will present the opening keynote at this summer's Develop. BioWare, respected industry-wide for its high quality, emotionally engaging and rich, deep cinematic games, has numerous highly anticipated upcoming titles including Star Wars: The Old Republic, a story-rich massively multiplayer online (MMO) title in development at BioWare Austin, in collaboration with partner LucasArts. 

Muzyka and Zeschuk are the brains behind an already vast portfolio of iconic video games titles, including Baldur's Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, MDK, Dragon Age, Mass Effect and, of course, its best-selling sequel Mass Effect 2, which was released earlier this year. They co-founded the award-winning development studio in 1995, operating BioWare successfully for more than 10 years, leading to a private equity investment by Elevation Partners in 2005. BioWare was then acquired by Electronic Arts in 2007.

TIM SCHAFER - CONFERENCE KEYNOTE THURSDAY



Successful, Creative, GSOH: Tim Schafer's Personal

Innovating in games today is near inconceivable. Funny games are scientifically impossible. So making funny, innovative games is like wisecracking at NASA, which makes Tim Schafer a games industry rocket scientist. Kind of. Or is he our Jack Black? Frankly, the brain behind Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, Psychonauts and Brutal Legend can speak better for itself - which is handy because Tim Schafer's body has brought its brain to Brighton to tell you the secret of making wildly creative and hilarious games that rock. 

ANDREW DAYTON - ART TRACK KEYNOTE

A Journey Through the Pixar Production Pipeline

Pixar films are crafted over several years, and each one goes through many stages of production before the final film is released. Andrew Dayton, Technical Director at Pixar Animation Studios, joins us in Brighton to give an overview into Pixar's production pipeline. He will discuss how Pixar connects up each department such as Story, Art, Sets, Editorial, Characters, Layout, Animation, Lighting Effects, and Render. He will show examples of each department's particular contribution, and talk about how the departments work with one another. Andrew will also show story reels, traditional artwork, animation tests, layout camera work, and examples of shading, modeling, and effects. You will leave with an understanding of how each department is crucial to the final look-and-feel of every unique Pixar story.


CHARLES CECIL, SEAN MILLARD, SIMON NELSON and IAIN TWEEDALE - PRODUCTION TRACK KEYNOTE


     

Whodunnit: Bringing Dr Who to a PC Near You

A Time Lord can move through history and space on a whim, but game production has a schedule and a budget. Make that project a truly collaborative cross-media effort -- and throw a revolutionary free episodic download model into the mix -- and Dr Who: The Adventure Games becomes one of the most ambitious projects in development in the UK today. Join the BBC's Controller Portfolio and Multiplatform, Vision Simon Nelson, legendary developer Charles Cecil, Sumo Digital's Creative Evangelist Sean Millard and BBC Wales Interactive's Editor Iain Tweedale to hear how they tackled the creative and organisational challenges of bringing TV's most beloved time traveller to life. What have Sumo's game developers learned from TV production, and how has the BBC found its latest foray into games? And how has Charles Cecil turned the BBC scriptwriter's stories into an immersive game narrative?


MARK GERHARD - BUSINESS TRACK KEYNOTE

Jagex's Indie DNA: How Jagex Did Everything Right by Doing Everything its Own Way

The games industry is constantly reinventing itself in an endless battle for market share, along the way many developers have lost their path and are focusing too much on creating games which will make vast profits above creating fun, unique and creative games which player really want.

In this session Mark Gerhard, CEO at Jagex Games Studio, will offer an insight into the Jagex DNA and explores how Jagex has succeeded in the global games market by doing everything their own way.  Building on Jagex's experience Mark will outline his thoughts on the future of the games industry and the importance on focusing on gameplay and enjoyment over profit.


GEORGE ANDREAS - DESIGN TRACK KEYNOTE

The Future IS Controller-Free Games and Entertainment

The growth of physical based gaming has introduced an entirely new audience to our industry and like it or not, it's here to stay. As the technology improves, diversifies and becomes ever more complex designing compelling experiences is a challenge but this is something we should embrace as developers and not fear. But where do we go from here?

In this session George - Creative Director at Rare, will talk candidly about how Rare has created one of the premier launch titles for "Project Natal" and the challenges faced regarding the new design philosophy at the studio, "everything you've learnt over the last 25 years - throw it away!" We also take a brief look at Rare's last foray into the physical play space from yesteryear. We outline our vision for the future of physical based gaming and why as an industry we have only just scratched the surface of the vast array of possibilities now available to us, what this means for developers and for future generations of gamers alike.

ADAM LEVENSON - AUDIO TRACK KEYNOTE



The Highly Anticipated Sound Revolution

Any dramatic scene is a series of actions and reactions.  Whether there are two people involved, or a huge army, the characters in a story are interacting with the environment, between themselves, or exploring their own thoughts and emotions.  One day soon, dialogue and music in games will actually respond to those interactions in real-time with a high level of adaptability.  More sophisticated systems will be required to support this fluidity.  Granular, state-driven, and using the principles of modeling, truly interactive music and dialogue will revolutionize storytelling in videogames.  In a fascinating audio keynote, Levenson will outline how he believes this brave new world of games will sound, and how we might design the character performances and scoring of the future.


LOUIS CASTLE - EVOLVE OPENING KEYNOTE



Traditional Games Breaking into Social Networks: A View from the Frontline

"I have recently been attempting to free the games industry from the shackles of bricks and mortar and democratizing music games in the process. It's been an exciting and challenging time and I'm really looking forward to sharing my experiences at Evolve."

Louis Castle is the former VP of creative development at EA and the co-founder of Westwood Studios, which he grew from two to 250 and where he contributed as executive producer, creative director, technical director, programmer and artist to over 100 games. He was also the second person to be honoured with the Game Developer Association's lifetime achievement award (1999).



DAVID HELGASON - EVOLVE CLOSING KEYNOTE

Gamification: How Games are Everywhere

David will draw on Unity's rapid rise to prominence in mobile and browser based gaming to analyse how games are leading the charge on mobile, web, TV and invading social networking platforms. His keynote will address how highly skilled, innovative, technology driven game studios can thrive beyond the boundaries of traditional development.

"I'm looking forward to coming to Evolve and sharing some of the discoveries we've made with Unity. I'll be talking about how games are everywhere and, more importantly, how we can use them to conquer untapped markets. I'm not just talking about fun. Fun is overrated!"

An entrepreneur, visionary, and ex-programmer, David's job is 'to lead the Unity team to stardom', while making sure that each step is taken with love and care. In the past David founded and participated in start-ups in fields such as news and community integration, music distribution, and consulting. He currently serves on the boards of several games and technology start-ups.