Events
Some of my projects have taken me to various events such as GAMEX (previously know as COMX), University of Gloucestershire open days and private invitation university stakeholder and VIP events such as Future Park. More information about these events and how projects I was involved in as part of a team made it to these events can be found below.
Interactive Futures - June 2025
Interactive Futures Held an industry networking event in Leamington Spa on June 13th & 14th which I was able to attend via invitation, the event was an amazing place to be surrounded by games in progress and meeting the local games industry representatives. This event gave me important information about processes, pipelines, job seeking advise and what its like to work in industry. Speaking with so many game developers that day was a remarkable experience and provided an environment where I was able to truly fit into disusing challenges the industry is facing. I also spoke to people I had previously met at other events, such as Chris McCarthy who I previously met at a Banbury Job Fair who is always a delight to catch up with. I also spoke to Vicky Boyce, Lead Designer at Third Kind Games, who kindly shared her journey through the game industry with me.
This event helped me to generate a better understanding of game industry processes. I was also able to meet up with some members of the collective who lead a small discord society of students sharing their work in the industry.
While I visited this event as a guest as opposed to a presenter, I include this in my portfolio to show my engagement and passion for this industry
GAMEX - June 2025
This Year at GAMEX (previously know as COMX) I presented the game Ants: Leaf-al Warfare as a contractor on this project I was asked to create serval 3D environmental props most of which had levels of complexity which ranged from character interaction to live destruction in engine, more about this can be found in the Ants section of my portfolio.
This year GAMEX was sponsored by Game studio Rebellion, the University of Gloucestershire and The Chartered institute for IT (BCS). I was also very surprised to find out I had been nominated for the award of best games designer at the university. As a level 5 student at the time, competing for this award against level 6 students was an incredible feeling, and while I did not win the award I was very grateful to have been chosen by my peers who believe in my abilities and nominated me for this award.
Running the game stand was an excellent experience getting in-person playtesting and feedback from the general public, it was good to learn in person what works from some age groups better then others as well as hearing the positive comments on the game given to us, meeting industry leaders and a member from OFLIX Interactive who presented the awards.
Best Designer Award Nominees (look for me in the Best Designer Section)
Awards - GAMEX
Ants: Leaf-al Warfare - Now available on Steam!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3777550/Ants_Leafal_Warfare/
Open Day- November 2024
Open Days are events held by the University of Gloucestershire so that potential students, the public and investors can tour the facilities and get a feel for the university.
I was asked to present Manic Mail along with the rest of the development team to potential students and represent the games courses. This has never been done by the university before so they used our work as a test to measure the success of the event and see if its worth doing in the future, and indeed it was. With the release of Manic Mail V1.1 we made the level more user friendly and we entertained many people on the day answering questions about games and letting people play the newest version of the game.
FuturePark - November 2024
FuturePark was the official launch of the universities new computing technologies labs. The event was a closed private invitation only event featuring the stakeholders, investors, university leaders, industry professionals and VIP’s which included the director of GCHQ.
Manic Mail was the only student project to present at the event, being specially requested to present due to our previous experience with events and the game being easy to pick up. On the day we were visited by 6 groups of 20 guests who each talked to us about the game, its development and each of our individual roles within the project. We then played the game with a few of the guests from each group and gave them an interactive experience of the work being produced at the University of Gloucestershire.
Manic Mail V1.2 was created in response to this event, leading to the addition of some reworking on level design, graphics and the addition of a tutorial level, making the game easier to pick up and play.
News articles were written about the event, one from the BBC can be found here:
GCHQ chief opens £5.8m cyber and digital centre in Cheltenham - BBC News
COMX - June 2023
COMX is an event held by the University of Gloucestershire sponsored by game companies such as Rebellion, Neon Play, UK Interactive Entertainment, Playful Online Business (POB), British Computer Society (BCS), Janet Trotter Trust Fund and multiple other individuals.
The Event Showcases the best work in each year group across the game technologies courses at the University of Gloucestershire and I had the opportunity to present my level 4 project, Manic Mail. Since then Manic Mail has also been involved in various other events (FuturePark and University open day) and has been a passion project for a while.
During the event, the development team of Manic Mail and I presented to the general public, game industry professionals and sponsors of the event, talking about the development process of the game and letting guests try out the game. We also was responsible for demonstrating the quality of work that can be produced at the end of level 4 on the games design course.
