Feature
Who is Develop: Brighton aimed at?
It’s for anyone involved in the business of
games. So it’s for everyone from the game
designers to the programmers, coders, audio
management and anyone else involved
with all stages of consumer video game
development.
What are its event components?
We’ve been at the Hilton in Brighton since
July 2006 and we’ve been growing the event
year-on-year. We’ve a three-day conference
with around 100 sessions from top quality
speakers. Running alongside the Develop:
Brighton conference is a two-day Expo.
It’s free for all visitors to attend and brings
together some of Europe’s most innovative
companies from every sector of games
development. The Expo also features the
Indie Showcase, which demo’s some of
the best independently developed projects
around. Then we have a whole programme of
networking and social events.
can choose depending on their budget or at
what stage their business is at.
How is the game market currently?
It’s thriving. We’ve been analysing this
industry for the past 26 years so we’ve
got a good perspective on current and
future trends, where it’s heading and what
developers need to know, to stay engaged.
Events have to be about the take-aways to
stay successful. If developers can return to
their studios and actually implement what
they’ve picked up from Develop: Brighton,
you know they’ll return the following
year because it was worth their time and
investment. EN
Game
on
EN catches up with
Tandem Events, the
organiser of Develop
Brighton and other
key conference and
exhibitions for game
developers
Anything else?
We also run a game jam, which is a free
competition for developers. They can come
along, work on a project for 24-hours and
come out the other side with a game that gets
showcased to our audience during the event.
How much do you consider diversity
when choosing conference speakers and
planning sessions?
Our core aim is to make sure we are
representative of the entire gaming industry
and that we’ve got a rich mix of varying
talents, skill-sets and creatives on the
programme. If we have that, we know that
we’ll have a strong cross-section of gender
and race. We’ve always prided ourselves
on being inclusive, from the smallest
independent developer right up to the largest
studio.
What’s special about Brighton that keeps
you returning year after year?
It’s such a creative community in Brighton
but it’s also easy to access from London so
we know we’ll get the London crowd as well
as the Brighton set. Also, Brighton has such a
great range of accommodation, from Airbnbs
to five-star hotels so visitors and exhibitors
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