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GI Academy Live continues today: Check out the full schedule

We continue with a Chella Ramanan keynote

The full schedule of talks, roundtables and one-to-one sessions for this year's GI Academy digital event has been confirmed.

Day two is complete, and you can catch up with some of the talks at the bottom of the article.

The online event, which is entirely free to attend, takes places this Wednesday (October 26th) and runs until Friday (October 28th). It feature keynote sessions from indie developer Sam Barlow, Rare executive producer Louise O'Connor and Ubisoft narrative designer and writer Chella Ramanan.

The bulk of GI Academy will take place in a special Discord, where students -- or anyone looking to getting a job in games -- can speak with programmers, artists, game designers, journalists, composers, marketers and many more. You can sign-up here.

Here is the schedule for the final day:

Friday, October 28th

Talks

Keynote Session: How I got here and what I learned along the wayC
Speaker: Chella Ramanan, Narrative Designer, Ubisoft

Chella looks at key lessons learned on her journey from game journalist to game narrative designer and writer at Ubisoft Massive, sharing insights about working in a game team, getting your work out there, and embracing what you as an individual can bring

Watch on YouTube

11:00 - 11:45
Masterclass: Designing for intuitive Player Experience with the ‘3Cs’ (Character, Camera, Controls)
Speaker: Bence Kovacs, Senior Designer

Watch on YouTube

In this masterclass, Bence Kovacs will talk about how to design to best support a quality player experience. He will look at the key elements of Player Character; how to define what a character can do, Camera; how to design what the player sees and perceives in the world, and Controls; how the player controls the game.

Roundtable Sessions

12:00 - 13:00
Room 1: Bence Kovacs, Senior Designer
Room 2: Alice Toft, Learning and Development
Room 3: Roberto Geroli, Development Director

13:00 - 14:00:
Room 1: Jo Haslam, Design Director, Snap Finger Click
Room 2: Daniel Woodward, Learning and Development Manager, nDreams
Room 3: Jake Gaule, Freelance Audio and Composer

14:00 - 15:00:
Room 1: Kev Bayliss, Character Designer and Artist, Playtonic
Room 2: Stuart Wilson, 3D Environment Artist, XR Studios
Room 3: Sarah Brin, Business Development Manager, Media Molecule

One-To-One Sessions

10:00 - 11:00
Room 1: Roberto Geroli, Development Director
Room 2: Lasse Rasmussen, Senior Technical Animator
Room 3: Alex Rehm, Director of Live Operations

11:00 - 12:00
Room 1: Justyna Cichosz, Lead Animation Programmer
Room 2: Cara Houghton, Environment Artist
Room 3: Tjalle Keus, Senior Environment Artist

13:00 - 14:00
Room 1: Louise Andrew, Head of Art, D3T
Room 2: Mark Ffrench, Senior Engineer, Pocket Burger
Room 3: Dan Hutchinson, 3D Artist, D3T

14:00 - 15:00
Room 1: Jake Gaule, Freelance Audio Designer and Composer
Room 2: Emei Burrell, Narrative Artist, Media Molecule
Room 3: Dan Hutchinson, 3D Artist, D3T

Sign up for free right here.

If you missed Wednesday and Thursday's sessions, you can catch up with them here:

Keynote Session: 'An Idea and an Emotion - How I make Games
Speaker: Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid

Watch on YouTube

Sam Barlow delves into the fundamentals of how and why he makes games, highlighting the core relationship with players and focusing on unifying the mechanical aspects and narrative elements of his experiences from Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, via Her Story and Telling Lies, up to his latest title IMMORTALITY.

Masterclass: Collaboration first: how to get the best from your team
Speaker: Roberto Geroli, Development Director

Watch on YouTube

This talk will focus on how processes foster good team culture and encourage cross-team collaboration. Roberto will also give tips on how to be a good team member for any discipline, the foundations for developing your career. He will also explore some real-life case studies.

Keynote Session: Games -- Where Do We Go From Here
Speaker: Louise O'Connor, Executive Producer, Rare

Watch on YouTube

A look at how the games industry has grown and evolved in Louise's time as a dev. The Rare veteran will reflect on what this industry means to her and what it can mean to everyone else, as we shape it’s future.

Masterclass: How to be a good Technical Animator
Speaker: Agathe Laus-Pillot, Senior Technical Animator

Watch on YouTube

In this talk, Agathe Laus-Pillot, will break down the core aspects of the technical animation discipline. It’s an essential area of games development, but one not often spoken about. Agathe will talk about the skills required, the purpose and use of rigs in development and the role Tech Animators play in tool development.

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