Check out our huge line-up for this week's GI Live: Academy

Industry experts from Creative Assembly, Playground Games, Hangar 13, EA DICE, Square Enix, Rocksteady, Rebellion and many more will be speaking and giving advice to students in the UK over the next three days.

More than 65 representatives from over 35 games companies will join GamesIndustry.biz Live: Academy, which opens today and runs until Wednesday. The event takes place primarily in Discord, and includes keynote talks from the likes of Brenda Romero, Mike Bithell and Dan Bernardo, masterclasses from Total War creators Creative Assembly, plus one-to-one portfolio reviews, roundtables on different professions and surprise industry guests.

The event is entirely free for students. Simply sign-up here to get access to the Discord. The event has been funded by Total War creators Creative Assembly.

The full schedule is:

Monday, October 26th

Talks Schedule:

10am: You: The Brand
Speaker: Brenda Romero, Romero Games
Legendary game developer Brenda Romero will give advice to aspiring games developers about how to enjoy a successful career, and how to sell yourself.

11am: Academy Masterclass Making a Monster - Developing Fantasy Characters and Creatures
Speakers: Jas Dhatt (Lead Character Artist, Creative Assembly) & Danny Sweeney (Senior Character Artist, Creative Assembly)
In an in-depth art masterclass from Creative Assembly, Jas Dhatt & Danny Sweeney discuss how to create fantastic 3D character art.

3pm: Special Guest: World famous games writer
Join the Discord at 3pm to meet and speak with one of the world's greatest video game narrative writers

Roundtables Schedule:

12pm: Design and Production Roundtables
Roundtable Room 1: Allan Suleman (Designer, Creative Assembly)
Roundtable Room 2: Ed Perkins (Director of Mobile Publishing, Square Enix)
Roundtable Room 3: Sandy Lockie (Level Designer, FuturLab)
Roundtable Room 4: Ziz Simoens (Freelance Game Designer/Producer)
Roundtable Room 5: Shaun Wall (UX Design, Unit 2 Games)

1pm: BAFTA Crew Roundtables
Roundtable Room 1: Jarran Hobson (Freelance 3D Artist)
Roundtable Room 2: Alanna Butchart (Environmental Artist, No Code)
Roundtable Room 3: Nida Ahmad (UX Designer/User Researcher, Netspeak Games)
Roundtable Room 4: Kilian Lenaerts (Programming, Unit 2 Games)
Roundtable Room 5: Anna Ljungberg (Senior Programmer, Rebellion)

2pm: Get that Job! Soft Skills and How to Make a Good Impression
Roundtable Room 1: Luke Johnson (Lead Recruitment Resourcer, Creative Assembly)
Roundtable Room 2: Nat Griffith (Brand and Marketing Director, Unit 2 Games)
Roundtable Room 3: Meg Daintith (Recruitment Manager, Codemasters)
Roundtable Room 4: Quang Nguyen (Founder, Asobitech)
Roundtable Room 5: Stuart De Ville (Co-founder, Game Dev London)(edited)

Portfolio Reviews Schedule

10am - 12pm:
Portfolio Room 1: Kevin McDowell (Art Director, Creative Assembly)
Portfolio Room 2: Creative Assembly TBC & Leonard Mah (Design, Creative Assembly
Portfolio Room 3: Thom Armer (Environment Art, Creative Assembly)

12pm - 2pm:
Portfolio Room 1: Emmeline Dobson (3D Animator, Revolution Software)
Portfolio Room 2: Nele Steenput (Character Artist & Head of Art, Cooperative Innovations)
Portfolio Room 3: Matthew Syrett (Lead Artist, Table Flip Games)

2pm - 4pm:
Portfolio Room 1: Jason Tzaidas (Programmer, Splash Damage) *Until 3pm
Portfolio Room 2: Guy Mills (Art Director, Hangar 13)
Portfolio Room 3: Mikael Hellberg (Art Craft Manager, EA DICE)

Tuesday 27th October

Talks Schedule

10am: What I wished I knew when I started in video games
Speaker: Mike Bithell (Founder, Bithell Games)
Founder of Bithell Games and creator of Thomas Was Alone, John Wick Hex and The Solitaire Conspiracy, Mike Bithell presents about his games career, how to run a successful games company and what he wish he knew when he started

11am: Academy Masterclass: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Speaker: Natalie Griffith (Brand and Marketing Director, Unit 2 Games)
Natalie Griffith from Unit 2 Games presents a marketing masterclass on understanding your personal brand and where you fit in the games industry.

1pm: My big break and journey in the games industry
Speaker: Adam Campbell (Director of Product, Azoomee)
Adam Campbell from Azoomee presents an honest talk about his journey in the games industry, how he got his break and what it's like creating games and TV shows for a younger audience.

3pm: Special Guest: World famous games musician
Join the Discord at 3pm to meet and speak with one of the world's greatest video game musicians

Roundtables Schedule

12pm: Art and Animation Roundtables
Roundtable Room 1: Kevin McDowell (Art Director, Creative Assembly)
Roundtable Room 2: Jason Pickthall (Concept Art, Unit 2 Games)
Roundtable Room 3: Adam Olsson (Art Manager, Playground Games)
Roundtable Room 4: Jessica Simard (Animator, Playground Games)
Roundtable Room 5: Charlotte Creber (Concept Artist, Playground Games)

1pm: Ukie Games Business Roundtables
Roundtable Room 1: Oliver Pope (Project Manager, Shotgun Mango)
Roundtable Room 2: Phi Dinh (Co-Founder/Lead Developer, Phi Games)
Roundtable Room 3: Caroline Clark (DIY Indie Dev, Scribblescape)
Roundtable Room 4: Nareice Wint (Associate Producer, Lucid Games)
Roundtable Room 5: Riki Casal (Co-Founder/Lead Developer, Playtra Games)

2pm: Quality Assurance (Games Testing)
Roundtable Room 1: Octavia Vasilescu (QA Manager, Team17)
Roundtable Room 2: Jessica Gordon (QA Manager, Creative Assembly)
Roundtable Room 3: Nick McCarthy (QA Tester, FuturLab)
Roundtable Room 4: Arwyn Brock (QA Tester, No More Robots)
Roundtable Room 5: Zayaan Ahmad (QA Tester, No More Robots)(edited)

Portfolio Reviews Schedule

10am - 12pm:
Portfolio Room 1: Kevin McDowell (Art Director, Creative Assembly)
Portfolio Room 2: Joy Dey (Design, Creative Assembly)
Portfolio Room 3: Tjalle Keus (Environment Art, Creative Assembly)

12pm - 2pm:
Portfolio Room 1: John Griffiths (Lead Artist, Fabrik Games)
Portfolio Room 2: Joe Neeves (UX/UI Designer, Sprung Studios)
Portfolio Room 3: Rory Jobson (Concept Artist/2D Environment Artist, Dlala Studios)

2pm - 4pm:
Portfolio Room 1: Jason Tzaidas (Programmer, Splash Damage) *Until 3pm
Portfolio Room 2: Valentin Galea (Tech Director, Hangar 13)
Portfolio Room 3: James Brooksby (CEO, Absolutely Games)

Wednesday, October 28th

Talks Schedule

10am: Breaking into the games industry
Speaker: Dan Bernardo, Playtra Games
Founder of Playtra Games, Dan Bernardo discusses how he broke into the games industry, offers advice for aspiring game developers and reveals what inspires him in the games industry

11am: Academy Masterclass: Videogame Art Leadership
Speaker: Kevin McDowell (Art Director for Creative Assembly)
The art director from the Total War series gives a masterclass on art leadership.

3pm: Special Guest: World famous games designer
Join the Discord at 3pm to meet and speak with a famous video game designer behind a series of hit games

Roundtables

12pm: Games Journalism Roundtables
Roundtable Room 1: Matt Handrahan (Editor in Chief, GamesIndustry.biz)
Roundtable Room 2: Alice Bell (Deputy Editor, Rock Paper Shotgun)
Roundtable Room 3: Marie Dealessandri (Academy Writer, GamesIndustry,biz)
Roundtable Room 4: Andy Robinson (Editor in Chief, VGC)
Roundtable Room 5: Emma Kent (Reporter, Eurogamer)

1pm: Programming Roundtables
Roundtable Room 1: Barni Makkay (Programmer, FuturLab)
Roundtable Room 2: Dan Foster (Programmer, No More Robots)
Roundtable Room 3: Dan Brodie (Programmer, No More Robots)
Roundtable Room 4: Aaron Smith (Engineer, Playground Games)
Roundtable Room 5: Jason Tzaidas (Programmer, Splash Damage)

2pm: Games Marketing/PR Roundtables
Roundtable Room 1: Natalie Griffith (Brand and Marketing Director, Unit 2 Games)
Roundtable Room 2: Mike Rose (Founder, No More Robots)
Roundtable Room 3: Pip Hoskins (Marketing Lead, No More Robots)
Roundtable Room 4: Nicolas Pirot (Technical Artist, Rocksteady)(edited)

Portfolio Reviews Schedule

10am - 12pm:
Portfolio Room 1: Baj Singh (Art, Creative Assembly)
Portfolio Room 2: Leonard Mah (Design, Creative Assembly)
Portfolio Room 3: Juan Cervilla (Animation, Creative Assembly)

12pm - 2pm:
Portfolio Room 1: Edd Coates (Senior UI Artist, Double Eleven)
Portfolio Room 2: Adam Boyne (Senior Programmer, BetaJester Ltd)
Portfolio Room 3: Jarran Hobson (Freelance 3D Artist)

2pm - 4pm:
Portfolio Room 1: Jason Tzaidas (Programmer, Splash Damage) *Until 3pm
Portfolio Room 2: Francisco Alcalde (Hard Surface Modeller, Hangar 13)
Portfolio Room 3: Fung Sia (Associate Art Editor, Playground Games)